31st October 2010 todays facebook email

Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.

So the newspapers are trying to steal my thunder and let the cat out of the bag before November 7th! Well you’re still going to have to wait, and all I can say is be patient and don’t believe absolutely everything you read in the newspapers ;-)

All I will say is I’m losing weight because it works, it’s liveable and I love it and I can’t wait until I can share it with you. I haven’t felt deprived since following it and I haven’t needed to cheat and go off track – it is fabulous!

So quickly changing the subject because I’m rubbish with secrets anyway, me and Alfie had a couple of lovely walks yesterday he’s really helping me get active and it’s something I enjoy doing, I love to walk anyway so having to go out once or twice a day and getting fresh air and thinking time is great. It’s so important to find an activity you enjoy otherwise you’re not likely to stick to it.

I continued with my active day, did the ironing, even altered a dress I’d bought a couple of months ago so can now wear it at last, and ended my energetic spurt with a cooking session we had chicken thighs, mushrooms, bacon, broccoli and cauliflower and it was delicious. I made a pineapple and banana smoothie too which I turn a glass of into a cocktail by adding a single shot of rum, mmm. Then decided on an early night but Alfie was having none of it because of the fireworks, he wasn’t scared just interested so wouldn’t settle ;-) hey ho, I got the extra hour this morning.

Got another busy day today in preparation, because I’m away next weekend which is bad time but coming back a day early for the launch, gutted because it’s my annual girls weekend and other than my Christmas holiday it’s the break I look forward to most as I get to spend time with those that really matter to, we don’t need distractions to make it interesting we just spend the time chatting and catching up on each other lives and enjoying each others company, can’t wait. At least being busy earns activity points – yay, I’ve earnt loads this week ;-)

How could you get active today, remembering the “dust if you must” from yesterday, what could you do today that’s more enjoyable, you could spend that extra hour under the duvet with your loved one! Or if that’s not your idea of fun ;) you could go for a walk, the trees are just gorgeous at the moment with their red leaves. Halloween tonight, so how about hollowing out a pumpkin, I’m sure that can be quite hard work, not that I can say I’ve ever done it. I’m going to make grey peas and bacon for the first time ever today though, I love them but have never cooked them!

Here’s some ideas and the duration you’d need to do to use roughly 100 calories, but remember the most important decision when choosing to be active is, “will I enjoy it”.

Aerobic – 20mins
Cross training – 15mins
Cycling – 15mins
Dancing – 25mins
Gardening – 25mins
Jogging – 15mins
Netball – 20mins
Playing pool – 30mins
Sex – 20mins (you have that extra hour!)
Skiing – 20mins
Swimming (breaststroke) 10mins
Tennis – 15mins
Walking – 30mins (less hassle than sex!)
Weight-training – 40mins
Yoga – 40mins (also stress relieving)

Here’s to a none-lazy Sunday ;-)

Remember life starts now?

Are you living yet?

You’re not alive unless you’re living!

30th October 2010 todays facebook email

Use your imagination not to scare yourself to death but to inspire yourself to life. Adele Brookman

I made my mom laugh yesterday, I was reading a magazine and there was a piece that said people who drink 2 glasses of red wine a day are healthier than teetotalers, it then went on to explain why and I read it out to my mom and finished it with what I thought was a very serious question, “how big are the glasses?” ;-) I’m guessing unfortunately that they’d be 125ml not 250ml like I drink! Hey ho, at least one of the two I drink is legitimate.

Today I shall mostly be being a domestic goddess and finally getting round to probably 6 weeks of ironing, so I’d say that’s most of the day! Me and mom will also take Alfie out if its dry, if its not I get to go on my own round the estate.

Yesterday I made a lovely vegetable curry (if you were in your meeting this week we talked about fruit and veg) I used all the leftover fresh and frozen I had, so in it went frozen okra and spinach, then fresh peppers, courgette and a potato, I microwaved the potato first then put it all in a pan with a jar of Sainsbury’s own brand curry sauce, the entire pan was only 8 points! And there was no need for rice because it had potato in it. Good filling evening meal that left me with enough points for a glass or two of that healthy red wine!

We also had a vegetarian lunch, I’d bought two of the meal deals from Sainsbury’s and we had the cauliflower cheese for our lunch with lots of roast vegetables, it was 12.5pts but absolutely delicious and because my tea was only 2 points it balanced out through the day.

Once I’ve done my ironing, I’m going to continue my domestic goddess by doing my weekly meal planning and today’s lunch is chicken with bacon and mushrooms, which was also part of the sainsbury’s meal deal. I know they come with dessert but you are allowed a small piece and if you have a family they can eat the rest!

I’ve just cleared my email inbox and normally I don’t have time to read the jokes but I just read through this one and totally agree with its sentiment, I may be being a domestic goddess today but normally my belief is “dull women have tidy houses!” ;0) I haven’t got time to tidy. Here’s the email;

LADIES!!!

Remember...a layer of dust protects the Wood beneath it.

A house becomes a home when you can write 'I love you' on the furniture.

I used to spend at least 8 hours every weekend making sure things were just perfect - 'in case someone came over’. Finally I realized one day that no-one came over; they were all out living life and having fun!

NOW, when people visit, I don't have to explain the 'condition' of my home, they are more interested in hearing about the things I've been doing while I was away living life and having fun.

If you haven't figured this out yet, please heed this advice.

Life is short. Enjoy it!

Dust if you must .......
but wouldn't it be better to paint a picture or write a letter, bake bikkies or a cake and lick the spoon or plant a seed, ponder the difference between want and need?

Dust if you must,
but there's not much time . . . .
with hot chocolate to drink, rivers to swim and mountains to climb, music to hear and books to read, friends to cherish and life to lead.
Dust if you must,
but the world's out there with the sun in your eyes, the wind in your hair, a flutter of snow, and a shower of rain. This day will not come around, again.

Dust if you must,
but bear in mind, old age will come and it's not kind....
And when you go - and go you must - you, yourself will make more dust!

It's not what you gather; but what you scatter that tells what kind of life you have lived.
I like that, don’t you ;-)
Remember life starts now?
Are you living yet?
You’re not alive unless you’re living!

29th October 2010 - facebook email

Honesty is as much saying everything as it is saying what is true. Richard Snelling
Good morning, good morning it’s 6.30 and still really dark outside and the clocks go back this weekend – boo! Have you tried scooping dog poop in the dark! Not easy as I found out yesterday but since I’ve bought a special torch with inbuild poop bags – is there nothing they don’t think of, how good, you gotta have the right tools for the job! What can I say I’m easily pleased and I love gadgets, yesterday I also bought an apple corer, I can’t eat an apple unless its cut up and the corer/slicer thing does that in one sweep – excellent ;-)
At the moment I’m really started enjoying my new ritual of meal planning. I know this may sound boring but I have a busy life and nothing leaves me feeling more frustrated and out of control than desperately trying to come up with something delicious and quick for my tea each night when I’m driving home from my meeting! So now I put aside some time once a week usually at weekends to think about some meal ideas. I sit there with a cuppa and armed with old copies of YOUR WEEK and Weight Watcher cook books and magazines and my laptop too (I make a lovely mess). I look for other meal ideas too as I don’t want to eat the same lunch everyday. I keep all the recipes in a pad or on my desk top for future use, last night I had stuffed mushrooms, ten minute they take in the oven and about ten minutes to dice the courgette and pepper or whatever contents I choose to include, a delicious meal on a Thursday after a very busy work day.

By having ideas ready for the week ahead, I feel safe in the knowledge that I can still to my plan and stay on track, if I know I’ve got a delicious meal to look forward to, I find it easier to resist temptation. I love to experiment with new recipes and foods because I may be able to lose the fat but I never want to lose the flavour! I love food, plain and simple, I love eating and sometimes I overeat, that’s who I am and who I will always be, there are still days when I eat double my daily points allowance and I just can’t stop myself!

For lots of us overeating is the one behaviour we find almost impossible to change forever. It’s something we feel completely powerless about; it usually makes us feel guilty, ashamed, out of control and overweight. Because let’s be honest overeating is one of the main causes of weight gain and anyone who’s overweight overeats to some degree, some of us are just better at it than others! ;-) When we eat more than our bodies need we put weight on. What I’ve found has helped me personally is admitting that fact, trying to work out why I do it and sometimes if I’m honest I can’t think of a reason or the reason is as simple as ‘because it was there’, or ‘because I was hungry’ other times it can be more complicated, it can involve an whole array of emotions, and stress. However just admitting you do it, and trying to work out why and reminding yourself it doesn’t make you a bad person makes it easier to deal with.

I find the whole subject fascinating, which of course is one of the reasons I do my job. I also don't think it's a bad thing and I don't think it makes a person weak or hopeless or addicted if they do it. It’s not a condition or a disorder, and people shouldn’t be labeled as 'over-eaters', they’re just people who sometimes overeat and let’s be honest probably every women (and a large number of men) you know overeats in some form or other. It is definitely the norm, not the exception in today’s society.

Overeating works doesn’t it? Whether we overeat because we love food, whether you’re overeating out of habit or to give yourself a treat, or whether you’re overeating as a way of avoiding everything that's uncomfortable and challenging such as your feelings, your thoughts, your lives... it does the trick and it does it very well indeed. Otherwise we wouldn’t keep doing it would we!

My aim both personally for myself and professionally for my members is whilst helping you to lose weight, is to get you to think about how to stop overeating and live your life without turning to food as a treat, a comfort, a celebration, to zone out or to escape. I’m here to support you every step of the way.

I’ve learnt to control my overeating I would say 90% of the time, I have lapses for sure, but I don’t beat myself up over them, I don’t use them as an excuse to continue on the destructive pattern and I’ve learnt the reason for my overeating. If I can do it – YOU CAN!

And the best thing of all, the new change on the 7th November realises we do it to!

Remember life starts now?

Are you living yet?

You’re not alive unless you’re living!

28th October 2010 facebook email

Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower. Albert Camus


It’s new, it’s breakthrough, it’s coming soon.

The biggest innovation from Weight Watchers in 15 years!

Oh have I said that already! Never mind just a reminder so you don’t forget!

I’m not saying I’m in the zone, but I was making strawberry and mango smoothie this morning at 5am! Feeling much healthier including plenty of fruit and vegetables and eating meals I enjoy, it’s so important to enjoy your food especially when you’re trying to lose weight. My helpers are in the zone too, Chris and Sandra each losing 5.5lb this week we’re all helping each other and staying in touch and it’s making a real difference.

Our poppy appeal in the meetings is going fab too, they have these gorgeous hessian bags with poppies on and they’re just the perfect size for the new programme material when you receive it and a couple of boxes of bars off the shop, she has orders for quite a few, I’m hoping to have an army of members carrying their bags with pride ;)

It’s Halloween this week and you may be buying a pumpkin to do those lanterns, here’s what sounds like a delicious recipe to use the middle with;
Pumpkin, Sage and Mushroom Lasagne
POINTS® Value: 2.5, Servings: 6,
Preparation Time: 30 min, Cooking Time: 70 min, Level of Difficulty: Moderate

Now that the weather is starting to cool off, it's nice to cosy up with some satisfying food like a lasagne.

1500 g pumpkin
5 spray low-fat cooking spray
4 clove garlic, crushed
750 g mushrooms, (button and Shitake) thinly sliced
375 ml skimmed milk
3 portion shallots, ends trimmed, thinly sliced
2 teaspoon dried sage, or fresh, chopped
250 g lasagne sheet
1 pinch salt, and freshly ground black pepper (or to taste)

Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 6/200°C/400°F. Peel and seed half of the pumpkin and cut into 2cm cubes. Remove the seeds from the remaining pumpkin.

Spray a non-stick baking tray with low fat cooking spray. Place the unpeeled pumpkin on the baking tray, cut side down. Roast in oven for 35-40 minutes or until very soft. Remove from oven and set aside to cool.

Meanwhile, spray a large non-stick frying pan with low fat cooking spray and place over medium-high heat. Add half of the garlic. Cook, stirring for 10 seconds or until fragrant. Add cubed pumpkin and mushrooms and cook for 8-10 minutes or until tender. Taste and season with salt and pepper. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.

Combine milk, shallots, remaining garlic and sage in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Bring to the boil. Cover and remove from heat.

Scrape flesh from roasted pumpkin. Place in a large bowl. Mash with a potato masher. Add milk mixture and mash to combine. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Spray a 24cm x 24cm square casserole dish with oil. Spoon 1/3 mashed pumpkin into base of casserole and spread. Top with 3 uncooked lasagna sheets. Spoon over 1/3 of mushroom and pumpkin mixture. Top with 1/3 mashed pumpkin. Repeat with two more layers, ending with remaining mashed pumpkin.
Cover with foil and bake in oven for 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake for a further 10 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to stand for 10 minutes. Divide into 6 pieces and serve immediately.

Notes
This lasagne is little different to the standard. We've used roasted pumpkin, sage and mushrooms. By using skimmed milk and mashing pumpkin, we haven't had to use a heavy béchamel sauce. Plus it's cheese free too, so this really is guilt free! This lasagne will keep in the fridge for 2-3 days in an airtight container. It is also suitable to freeze in an airtight container for up to 3 months.

Remember life starts now?

Are you living yet?

You’re not alive unless you’re living!

27th October 2010 facebook email

If you think education is expensive - try ignorance. Derek Bok

I’m finding it hard to contain myself now;

It’s new, it’s breakthrough, it’s coming soon.

The biggest innovation from Weight Watchers in 15 years!

I’m so excited about it because it’s so liveable, I can’t wait to share it with you in November, I’ve been following it for about a month and have lost the same amount in that month that it’s took me all year to lose on the discover plan. I think I was just ready for a change, something new to get my teeth into. It’s lovely to feel like a new member with a fresh programme. I can’t tell you anymore because it’s a secret, and I probably shouldn’t have told you this much, so ssshhhhhh! Don’t tell anyone else, just subtly suggest it’s a good time to get back to their meetings ;-) I could do with a few more members, it’s coming up to Christmas and I’ve got to take mom on her annual trip to the seaside, Devon this year, we’ve been to the same place in Wales for a few years now so we thought we’d get cold and wet in a different part of Britain!

Don’t forget to buy your poppy this year, I’ve got a lady selling them in my meeting this week, she’s got some other lovely stuff too, like a poppy bag, armbands etc. Again not sharing too much information but the new programme material will fit in those poppy bags lovely! So get one now. Also can I just tell everyone that although help for heroes is a good charity, it isn’t the same thing as the poppy appeal which has been doing amazing work for 90 years! And the money we’re raising in my meetings will be used around this area too.

Anyway onto food ;-) how do you fancy a fruity breakfast for a change to ensure your hitting some of your 5 a day, I’ve just found this delicious smoothie;

Cranberry, blueberry and cherry smoothie (3pts)

100ml cranberry juice
75g cherries, (defrosted if frozen)
75g blueberries, defrosted if frozen)
1 small banana

Blend all ingredients until smooth and serve immediately.

Aldi sell frozen fruit berries 500g for £1.29, which is a lot cheaper than fresh and ideal for smoothies.

Or if you fancy cake for breakfast, how about a bit of baking –

banana muffins 4 pts per serving, 10 mins to prepare, 30 mins to cook

2 bananas
1tbsp clear honey
100g low fat spread
150g brown sugar
2 eggs
175g self raising flour
½ tsp nutmeg
½ tsp baking powder

Preheat the oven to gas mark 4/180oC. Prepare a muffin tin by lining it with paper muffin cases. In a small bowl, mash the banana and the honey with a fork. In a large bowl, cream the low fat spread with the sugar until light and fluffy with an electric hand whisk or in a food mixer. Next, add the eggs and continue to beat for a few minutes.

Fold in the mashed banana mixture. Sieve the flour, nutmeg and baking powder into the bowl and fold through with a large spoon until all the ingredients are combined.

Pour the mixture into the muffin cases and then bake on the middle shelf of the oven for 30 minutes. Once cooked leave to cool on a wire rack. Store the muffins in a cake tin to keep them fresh.

I’ve had a request for the Weetabix cake again too.

Weetabix pudding 1pt per slice (12 slices)

2 Weetabix
100g sultanas
150 ml skimmed milk
150 ml water
1 quantity self raising flour
1 teaspoon Mixed Spice,
1 teaspoon artificial sweetener, (optional)
1 medium egg, beaten (or use a banana instead for 1 of your 5 a day)

Preheat oven to 180c, 350f or gas mark 4. Put Weetabix and sultanas in bowl, pour milk and water over the top and soak up all the liquid. Stir in flour, mixed spice, sweetener and beaten egg. Spoon mixture into (1lb) lined / non-stick loaf tin and bake for 1hr 15m until cooked. Cool on a wire rack before serving, and then cut into slices.

It has the texture of bread pudding. Delicious, and for a desert why not add a bit of custard for extra points treat.
Remember life starts now?
Are you living yet?
You’re not alive unless you’re living!

26th October 2010 - facebook email

The most difficult thing I have ever had to do is follow the guidance I prayed for. Albert Schweitzer


Ouch, I spent yesterday afternoon at the dentist – boo, the silly man told me as he was about to give me the injection, this needle has to be bigger because the tooth’s at the back of your mouth! I explained after swearing at him – I was able to do that even with his hand and a huge needle in my mouth, that you shouldn’t tell people that especially if they’re scared of needles, so it was a good few hours after the filling that I had full function of my face and mouth ;) and I paid for it, £45, expensive maybe, worth it absolutely! My teeth are precious as is the rest of my body. This is one reason I was a little surprised at a comment I received in my meeting last night, my members were asking me about the new products that are arriving next month and I told them that Weight Watchers are giving a discount until the end of the year and also doing a special bundle back worth over £100 for £69.95 (includes scales, pedometer, new cookbook, clicker, deluxe essentials pack which has shop, eat, track, calculator, pen and tape measure in and a box of toffee bars), the comment that surprised me was, “I’ve got better things to spend seventy quid on”, why did it surprise me, because I’m always shocked at how little importance we put on ourselves and our well-being, we only have one body and by taking care of it we get to hang around this planet a bit longer and enjoy it because we’re healthy and happy. If you look in peoples trolleys and shopping baskets they think nothing of paying £15 for the latest dvd or album, £50 for the lastest video game, £5 for a bottle of wine, £3 for crisps or a pizza. On a night out I know people spend at least £50, I mean how much is a pint these days! I don’t know because I don’t drink in pubs very often.

Money’s tight at the moment for everyone, so by cutting back on things we don’t need such as junk food we can save money, Christmas is around the corner so make sure everyone knows your Christmas list has new Weight Watchers products on it. ;)

I’m following the new plan at the moment, oh have I not mentioned that in my emails yet?! Well all I’m saying is it’s NEW, it’s BREAKTHROUGH and it’s arriving in your meeting from November 7th! Anyway as I said I’m following this new plan and for the first two weeks only had a calculator and the programme material, well I don’t know how people cope without the tools! I’ve always been a Weight Watcher and I’ve always bought the books and tools etc even before I was a leader, and to suddenly not have them was really difficult for me, I love my pedometer to tell me how many steps I’ve done and what its earnt me, I enjoy trying new recipes and using none WW ones, so I use Weight Watchers esource to work everything out for me and suddenly I was having to do it myself which takes up my valuable time! I like my life to be convenient, heck I know I can turn the tv over by getting up and walking over to it, but I don’t have to because I have a gadget called a remote control which makes it quicker and easier. I know if I want to talk to my sister she only lives round the corner, but I have a phone and email so I don’t have to go out in the cold anymore. Yes I love my gadgets and I love anything that makes my life simple, most of all I LOVE ME! Because I’m the most important person in my life, by taking care of me and putting me first, I have the energy to take care of others and help them.

So this Christmas don’t forget you deserve to be on that Christmas gift list too! Because you should learn to love you too ;-)

This week practice putting yourself first, make time for your meeting, stay and listen to the talk if you usually rush in and out, get into the habit of making time for you.
Benefit by staying to the talk, sharing ideas and tips with others and getting support and motivation from people who are experiencing weight loss just like you are. It’s critical to come back every week – research shows that people who attend the greatest number of meetings have the greatest weight loss success.
So become part of that success, you’re worth it; nothing is more valuable than you!
Remember life starts now?

Are you living yet?
You’re not alive unless you’re living!

25th October 2010 - facebook email

What is a friend? A single soul shared by two people. Aristotle


Monday again, you’ve got to love weekends and as there aren’t enough of them you have to make the most of them when they get here.

I spent some time in the kitchen yesterday, made a lovely chicken casserole for today and the beef goulash recipe out of this month’s magazine (delicious). Whilst cooking I was thinking about how much I enjoy good food and fine wine and how it is an important part of my life, I wouldn’t want to cut it out altogether to be slim. I’d rather lose weight at a slower, steady rate and enjoy the foods that I do, I’m happy to lose 1/2lb a week as long as I’m enjoying the food I eat and feeling better.

If you want to change for good you’ve got to do it at a rate that suits you, change is easier if you’re enjoying it. A diet that works doesn’t have to make sense to everyone but it has to make sense to the person who follows it! I know some of the meal choices I make would make others pull their face, but that’s okay because they don’t have to eat it. The reason diets often don’t work is that people treat them like buses; they become a hop-on, hop-off experience for them whenever they feel like it. And because someone else gives the rules of the diet it becomes easier to ignore them, whereas if you adapt the diet to suit you and your lifestyle and make the rules yourself, it’s not so easy to ignore them.

Often when members are struggling I ask them to email me their tracker on a daily basis, this weekend I asked one of those members to analyse her own tracker and point out the good and not so good, her response was brilliant! She suggested that she’d had a lot of bread, hardly any veg, needed more filling foods, needed to stop snacking on crisps & chocolate even if they were Weight Watchers, etc. She knew exactly what she was doing that was helping or hindering her weight loss, and I think that’s true of all of us. We know what makes us fat, just as we know how to lose weight. You know when you are eating for comfort or boredom eating, or when you giving in to a craving. Nobody knows more about you, than yourself – you are the world’s number one expert on you!
You are also the one who knows how much you really want to lose weight, I think this is a really important question to answer, my sister once honestly admitted to me that she would love to lose weight but at that moment in time she wasn’t willing make the trade-off and put in the effort required. Honestly with yourself is the most important thing, I know I want to lose a few more pounds to get back to my goal but I also know I’m not willing to cut out my basic indulgences of the food I eat, so I’ve made a pact with myself that I’m going to do it slowly, half a pound at a time is just fine.

So right now have that conversation with yourself, how much do you want it? What changes are you prepared to make to get the weight loss? Are you willing to take longer getting there so you can still enjoy life? How can you make the Weight Watchers plan work for you? Don’t just listen to your mind, listen to your body too, how does it feel, is it comfortable, is it in pain anywhere that you could help ease by losing a bit of weight or eating better foods?
After all who’s not in favour of living better and living longer?

Remember life starts now?

Are you living yet?

You’re not alive unless you’re living!

24th October 2010

That they may have a little peace, even the best dogs are compelled to snarl occasionally. William Feather

Do you ever really think you want something to eat or drink then when you get it, it’s not as good as you expected it to be? Do you finish it anyway, or do you leave it?

Yesterday I sat there for a good hour pondering the glass of wine left in the bottle from the day before, my dilemma wasn’t that it was going to take me over my points for the days but that it was going to take most of what I had left. Decisions, decisions, on one hand I’ve been trying to cut down on my intake of red wine and have a few wine free days a week, on the other hand I’m trying to eat/drink what I fancy when I fancy it so I don’t feel deprived whilst losing my weight! You can feel my pain I’m sure! So in the end I went and poured the glass took it in the living room sat down and took a sip, aarrhh. But no I didn’t get that ‘aarrhh’ feeling, I just thought that’s not very nice today, is it because it’s a day old, or is it too cold for red wine. Either way I wasn’t sure and it didn’t taste nice, so I took it back in the kitchen poured it back in the bottle and decided that I’ll cook with it instead, I’ve got a nice recipe for a steak fusion stew that requires red wine! Although I’m doing beef goulash today out of this months WW magazine, yesterday I cooked a delicious creamy bacon and mushroom pasta dish with onions and red pepper. For the creamy sauce I used 75ml chicken stock and 75g sweet chilli Philadelphia light, it was delicious.

We managed to dodge the rain yesterday too and get a couple of walks in, nothing too far just enough to keep mom active and by doing little and often I soon build up the activity points on my pedometer.

If you fancy the Steak Fusion stew, here’s the recipe;

Serves 4, prep time 25 mins, cook time: 2hrs, 15mins (total 25.5pts, per serving 6.5pts)

1 tbsp olive oil (2.5pts)
800g braising steak cut into large pieces (20.5pts)
3 medium onions, peeled and roughly chopped
500g carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
30g ginger; peeled and finely sliced.
3 cloves garlic, peeled and finely sliced
4 star anise (get from the herbs and spices counter)
1½ red chillies, deseeded and roughly chopped
50ml soy sauce
250ml red wine (2.5pts)
500ml beef stock (0pts if made with oxo cubes)

4 sprigs coriander, to serve.
Heat the oil in a pan, then brown the steak pieces and set aside.
In the same pan, fry the onion and carrots over a gentle heat for 10 minutes, until slightly tender.
Stir in the ginger, garlic, star anise and 1 chilli, and cook for 1 minute, then pour in the liquids and add the beef back to the pan, make sure the liquid covers the meat – if it doesn’t, top up with hot water.
Cook gently for 1½ hours, then increase the heat and cook for a further 30 minutes, until the liquid is thick and reduced by a third. Serve garnished with coriander and the remaining chilli.

Serve with rice for extra points value or roasted butternut squash for zero points.

Mmm, I could eat that now ;-)
Remember life starts now?

Are you living yet?
You’re not alive unless you’re living!

23rd October 2010

Nothing, no person place or thing has any power over you. You are the only thinker in your mind and it is your thoughts that create your life! Louise. L. Hay

I’m feeling good this morning, had a fabulous nights sleep, I was actually in bed by 8.30pm! Does that make me a saddo, I don’t mind, it’s done wonders for my mind and body. Another glorious day yesterday, fate stepped in to ensure I made the most of it, I was booked in for a massage at 10.30 and when I turned up the book had me down for tomorrow instead, so I said that’s fine I can come back tomorrow, I have no plans. This meant I’d got the whole day free, so me and mom got in the car and drove to West Park and walked round, I haven’t been their for years, it’s beautiful, well-kept, the pools are glorious and full of ducks and geese, we even saw a heron. Alfie was in his element trying to get off his lead to chase the squirrels and there was so many of them. So we had a couple of hours there and a drink at their tearooms, mom had a slice of shortbread too! And waking up this morning seeing rain outside made me realise that things couldn’t have turned out better because now I get to have a massage this morning and we got to make the most of the dry day yesterday.

I cooked the Salmon and Lentil recipe on the cover of this weeks, YOUR WEEK, okay it was too, I wouldn’t cook lentils with thyme again I don’t think but I would definitely eat lentils again, maybe with garlic or adding them to my stews.

How do you plan to spend your weekend? Here’s something to think about if you get a few minutes. Do you feel confident that you can lose your weight? Do you feel confident about everything you do in life? Or do you feel you need someone to help you, or something to happen before you can be confident in anything?

How did you learn to ride a bike when you were a kid? Did you visualise yourself riding the bike and imagine how you would feel one you were riding it down the street? No course you didn’t.

Did you use positive affirmations to re-programme your subconscious? No, I don’t think so.

So how did you learn, well probably you just got on and started pedalling, you may have fell off a few times, but you more than likely had someone’s help when you made your first few attempts. However eventually you were riding your bike solo, eventually without stabilisers and in that moment you became truly confident in your ability to ride a bike.

My point is, if you think about it, your feeling of confidence came after, no before, your action. That’s an important thing to remember. You can’t always feel totally confident about something. So it’s understandable to feel a little anxious about whether you can lose your weight and keep it off, especially if you’ve tried before.

If you’re waiting for the right feeling before you take action – you could be waiting a long time. It’s okay to not feel 100% confident in your ability to stay on track. Hell I’ve been dieting more on than off since I was 18 and I still don’t feel confident that I can get to my goal weight and stay there for life. These days I do feel confident that I won’t ever stop trying to be the best that I can be, and that when I’m not doing so, I feel confident that I’ll love myself regardless!
So quit waiting to feel confident, don’t think too much about it, just start or continue doing it. We can all improve along the way. Visualisation and affirmations can and do help, but starting and doing helps more ;-)
It’s not just about what you achieve in the end, its how you feel about yourself along the way.

Remember life starts now?
Are you living yet?

You’re not alive unless you’re living!

22nd October 2010 todays facebook email

The only man I know who behaves sensibly is my tailor; he takes my measurements anew each time he sees me. The rest go on with their old measurements and expect me to fit them. George Bernard Shaw

How brilliant is that quote above, I received it via email this morning after I’d read a friends facebook status that read, “when somebody says you’ve changed, it’s only because you stopped living your life their way”. Both of these quotes I love because they’re about change and we can all do it if we set our mind to it. Yes you will come up against those that don’t want you to change or don’t like the new you and when you do ask yourself, “why don’t they want you to change, why don’t they want you to grow and improve?” It could be because it was to their advantage to have you the way your were!

When I’m talking about changing and improving yourself, I don’t mean attaining perfection as society sees it. It’s important to realise they’re not such thing, accept that “flaws are us”, so do the best you can and aim to improve remembering along the way, you’re perfect for who you are and you always will be!

When you play the ‘BE PERFECT’ game, you will always end up on the losing team! Why? Because we’re flawed, all of us and personally I like my flaws they make me who I am, and those close to me love my flaws too, my mates loves me for who I am not what I am, my bessie mate finds it endearing that I make her sit through rubbish tv programmes and I sleep through them, but if she attempts to turn the tv over I wake up and say, “I’m watching that” ;0)

So no matter what you do or how hard you try the fundamental fact that ‘we’re all flawed’ remains. You’re not perfect and never will be! And guess what? That’s absolutely fine because nobody else is either.

It’s absolutely OK not to always be okay, it doesn’t mean we can’t continue to improve, it’s just that it’s good to recognise that part of what makes us human is our flaws and by accepting them, you can be FLAWED AND FANTASTIC!

So today accept that you are flawed and fantastic, embrace that thought, because you are, how do I know because I’ve met everyone of you (almost anyway).

Well I was less than perfect yesterday so have 5 lots of paperwork to do now and a whole heap of points to pull back on!!!!

Remember life starts now?

Are you living yet?

You’re not alive unless your living!

October 21st facebook email

There are infinite ways we can enjoy life; one way is accepting others in their way. Satyadaya
It’s that time of year, waking up in the dark, and coming home from work in the dark, so its really important to make the most of the sunshine in-between and yesterday the sky was just so blue and beautiful. I know it’s cold but only if you don’t wear the right clothing!

I had a meeting with my helpers last night after my regular WW meetings had finished and having most of them in one room, made me realise how fortunate I am to know so many amazing and wonderful women and how grateful I am for all their help each week, ensuring that I can do my work. Take a moment to day to think about those people in your life that make it better! I think I’m a very lucky lady.
We had a good laugh during the talk earlier in my WW meeting making me also realise I have the best job in the world for me, I love my work. If you don’t, ask yourself what needs to happen for you to start enjoying it or how can you get another job that you do enjoy. The same goes for your life! If you’re not enjoying yourself then how can you change things so that you are?
I had a delicious lunch yesterday, which backs up the have a bit of what you fancy thought pattern, it was a Homity Pie from Waitrose, they weren’t cheap but it was a treat and one that could be made at home with a bit of effort. It was a short crust pastry case filled with mashed potato, peas, onions, garlic and parsley, finished off with cheese and a touch of sour cream. Absolutely scrumptious and I served it with roasted butternut squash. The pie had ten points in which may seem high, however the zero point butternut squash counteracted it.

This week we’re talking about protein in the meeting so I thought I’d share a delicious recipe with you that I spotted on the Weight Watchers website, it looked scrumptious and I will be adding it to my list of meals to cook. Today or tomorrow I plan to cook the Salmon recipe on the front of this weeks copy of YOUR WEEK.
Yum! Chicken is so versatile. Enjoy it with this Mediterranean-inspired sauce.
Chicken with Tomato and Red Onion Sauce

POINTS® Value: 3
Servings: 4
Preparation Time: 15 min
Cooking Time: 20 min
Level of Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients

1 spray low-fat cooking spray
4 medium chicken breast, uncooked, skinless
1 medium onion(s), thinly sliced
16 portion cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2 portion fresh red chilli(s), (optional)
50 ml wine, (white)
50 ml fresh stock
1 tablespoon vinegar
24 portion olives, in brine
1 tablespoon capers, rinsed
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon basil, (fresh) to garnish

Instructions

Mist a large non-stick frying pan with low fat cooking spray. Add the chicken breasts and cook over a medium heat for about 20 minutes, turning often.

Meanwhile, make the sauce. Mist a non-stick saucepan with low fat cooking spray and add the onions, frying them over a medium heat until soft, adding a splash of hot water, if needed. Add the tomatoes and chilli (if using) and cook for 3-4 more minutes.

Pour in the white wine and stock and cook for about 10 more minutes, until reduced.
Add a few drops of balsamic vinegar, the olives and capers. Season to taste and serve with the chicken, accompanied by lightly cooked fresh green vegetables. Garnish with a few basil leaves.

Remember life starts now?
Are you living yet?
You’re not alive unless your living!

20th October 2010 todays facebook email

You can motivate players better with kind words than you can with a whip. Bud Wilkinson
Well I had a wonderful morning yesterday, 2 members got to goal, Lynne who lost 5 stone in exactly 12 months – WOW, that’s an average of just under 1.5lb a week, truly inspirational. And the other was my Sidney, bless him, he’s done so well and won’t mind me telling you he’s 72 and has lost almost 5 stone too, how fantastic. Both started as referral patients then bought the monthly pass to complete their journey and I know both will continue attending now they’ve achieved their goal because they know that’s how to stay there.
Both of these members have done amazingly well and I remember both having weeks where they gained or struggled, but instead of giving up they stuck with it. Success means changing the way you view a situation so instead of thinking “it’s impossible”, change your thought to “let’s find a way”, instead of accepting your bad habits and thinking “that’s just the way I am”, think “how can improve or change my behaviour?”
How many of you have at sometime thought or said to yourself, “I just can’t do it, it’s so hard”, or “there’s nothing I can do”, we probably all have at some time. However when you just change your thinking to “there’s always something I can do”, step by step, one change at a time you can succeed. Sometimes those changes will be short term rather than permanent but that’s ok, I know I try different activities to get me moving more because I get bored easily and apart from walking I’m not a huge exercise fan but I will try them all.
I know lots of members who think they are different and feel they find it harder than others, that their circumstances make it more difficult for them to lose weight and again I think we can all be guilty of feeling like that person at some time or maybe its true maybe your circumstances do make it more difficult for you to follow the plan. However we could all sit round and feel sorry for ourselves and wait for something to happen but change doesn’t happen when circumstances change; change happens when YOU decide to improve your circumstances.

So how do you make those changes, as I said one small step at a time, and the best way to do that is to communicate with yourself, get to know yourself, by knowing and understanding how you tick you can do all kinds of stuff.

THE MOST IMPORTANT PERSON YOU WILL EVER TALK TO IS YOURSELF!
Communicating with yourself is so important whether you do it out loud (be careful who’s watching) or silently (also known as thinking). A great deal of the thinking we do, we aren’t even aware of, nor do we pay much attention to it. But it is so important because it impacts greatly upon what we do, how we behave and the results we get. If you think you’re going to fail guess what’s most likely to happen? If you constantly think you will succeed and it’s going to be easy, what do you think the outcome will be?
I know before becoming a leader I worked in the corporate industry and worked my way up without really trying (then realised I didn’t want to). Every time I was asked to make a presentation to the board members or anyone to be honest, I used to immediately have the thought, “I hate making presentations, I can never remember what I’m supposed to say, I always look stupid”. So immediately I felt out of my depth and scared, I never got used to doing a presentation in all the years I worked there. Then I left to become a leader where I was having to do a 30 minute presentation in every meeting, the thought of which almost changed my mind because I honestly didn’t think I’d be able to cope, now look at me, I do 12 presentations a week and I love it, Monday I even forgot my notes and managed fine.

So you can change your life by changing your attitude and thinking differently.

It’s true that when you think differently, you feel differently, which means you behave differently and ultimately achieve different results.

By changing my thought pattern to, “maybe I could stand up and talk without going to pieces”, I got myself the best job in the world for me, I love it and I’ve never been happier in my work even with the thought of presenting!
So never forget “The most important person you will ever talk to is yourself!”
Remember life starts now?
Are you living yet?
You’re not alive unless you’re living!

19th October 2010 todays facebook email

You can motivate players better with kind words than you can with a whip. Bud Wilkinson

WOW, have I had a good nights sleep, that has to do with eating well and not drinking, I’m sure! Which goes back to yesterdays email comment about what you think, eat and drink affects your health and it’s so true. So yesterday I thought positive, earnt lots of points on my pedometer walking Alfie twice (I made time) and I ate well, I cooked a chicken dinner with swede and mash and carrots and also prepared myself a pastrami sandwich with a mustard dressing ready for when I got back on the night. Because I’m busier today, I’ve also prepared some leek and potato soup – nice. And I still managed to get everything done, maybe because I expected too!

So did you think about the consequences before doing something yesterday?

I’m loving these dry cold days, idea for taking a brisk walk and its just as important to move more as it is to eat less, the two together give fantastic results and that’s what I’m seeing in my meetings at the moment, one member had lost 3 stone so far last night and is still as focused as the day she joined.

We’re looking at the importance of protein this week and there’s a fabulous salmon recipe in Your Week, so here’s another one to go with it for those of you that don’t have much time in the kitchen;

10-minute salmon with spring onion sauce, serves 4, 5pts per serving

450g (1lb) fresh salmon fillets (14pts)
2 teaspoons salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground white or black pepper
570ml (1 pint) water
6 tbsp coarsely chopped spring onions
1 tbsp finely chopped fresh root ginger
1½ tbsp oil (preferably ground nut) (3½pts)
2 tsp sesame oil (1½pts)

Rub the salmon fillets with 1 teaspoon of the salt and the pepper. Bring the water to the simmer in the wok. Add the salmon, simmer for 2-3 minutes, cover tightly and turn off the heat. Allow to stand for 4 minutes. Combine the spring onions, ginger and the remaining 1 teaspoon salt together in a small bowl. In a small pan combine the oil and sesame oil and bring it to the smoking point. Remove the salmon from the water and arrange on a platter. Scatter the spring onion mixture on top and pour hot oil over it. Serve at once.
Mmm, I might have that myself Thursday when I’m rushed it sounds scrumptious doesn’t it. I love salmon and it’s so good for you.

Here’s a little bit of culture for a Tuesday morning, a poem to start the day;

You’ve got to be sure of yourself
Before you can ever win a prize.

Life’s battles don’t always go
To the stronger or faster man.
But soon or late, the man who wins
Is the man who thinks he can.

Walter D. Wintle.

In other words, if you want to succeed on your weight loss plan, you have to believe in yourself, self-doubt will not help. Never forget you are amazing and can do anything you make up your mind to do!

Remember life starts now?

Are you living yet?

You’re not alive unless you’re living!

18th October 2010 - todays email

The act of smiling is a gift that gives a little piece of joy and sunshine to brighten another's day.

What a beautiful autumn day it was yesterday, mom, Alfie and me went to Hawkstone Follies, if you’ve never been it’s a great place to take the kids, lots of caves and places to explore. We walked for a few hours which killed up both, moms with her knee and back and me the same, we were like two old ladies at the end, then driving back I seized up which was quite a sight as I walked across the supermarket car park! However we thoroughly enjoyed it, I love to get out in nature, I come alive and could spend hours out there. Alfie seems to agree with me bless him, he just went on and on and on! And we earnt bonus points and didn’t sit round all day thinking, “what and when can we eat next”!

So how did you spend your weekend? Were you productive?

In addition to moving more, the best way for us to keep fit and healthy is for us to watch what we eat, drink and think. Our choices of thoughts and food are the major parts of either poor health or good health. Life has given us unlimited choices and it’s up to us to educate ourselves on what really works for us. We’re all unique individuals and have our own special needs. So be aware of how your choice of thoughts makes you feel. When you choose angry or bitter thoughts, do you “feel” good? Wouldn’t you feel better if you chose a thought like, “let it go, all is good in my world”?

It’s the same with foods. Do you choose foods with the pretty picture on the package and then feel tired and irritable shortly after you’ve eaten it? Or do you choose natural foods that build up your energy and create healthy new cells? For the next week, be aware of your choices of thoughts and foods. You can create good health one food at a time, and one thought at a time!

I know sometimes it’s easier to make the wrong choice because we’ve done it for so long, but believe me by making the right choice you are only benefiting yourself. We all have something we know we should limit or cut out, for me it’s red wine and I’m working on it (not in an AA kind of way!) I’m aware that when I cut out alcohol, I sleep better, I function better the next day and I look better. The same goes for too much food or food that makes me feel sluggish.

So I’ve made it through my first week of tracking 100% honestly, some days were ugly but I’m pleased to say over the week I’ve come out more or less on target, even though we did have Waitrose bread and butter pudding (serves 4) with custard yesterday between the two of us! I’ve gone a little over, but it would have been a lot over had I not tracked! This week is going to be a big improvement because I’m starting to feel better in myself, yes I’m still in pain but that’s going nowhere according to my doctor so I might as well learn to love it and accept it. My belief is if you can’t change something; change the way you react to it.

It’s only 68 sleeps to Christmas, that’s under 10 weeks and I plan to be at goal by then and maintaining. What’s your plan? If you haven’t been to your meeting for a while, time to come back, November is going to be an amazing month.

If you don’t already have a monthly pass, why don’t you give yourself an early Christmas present and treat yourself to one in the meeting this week, only £12.95* for the first month, it’s the best tool to help you stay on track in-between meetings, and it will be invaluable in November!

It’s Monday - choose to enjoy it!

Remember life starts now?

Are you living yet?

You’re not alive unless you’re living!



*(£19.99 each month after).

October 17th Facebook email

One of the secrets of a long and fruitful life is to forgive everybody, everything, every night before you go to bed. Bernard M. Baruch


Well wasn’t it a beautiful day yesterday, I managed to take Alfie out three times, we visited Willenhall memorial park on the morning and Cannock chase on the night. Short walks because of my back and moms everything ;0) but we were mobile none the less which shows a little is better than nothing at all because when I added up the total we were walking for at least 90 minutes total throughout the day, slowly maybe but moving.

Anyway I’ve woke up and found an article on my desk that’s been there for a while so it’s made me fancy a curry today, so here’s some tips;
- If you have spices in your cupboard that are more than six months old, get rid of them. Buy fresh ones, buy small quantities and cook with them.
- There are 3 types of curries, light, medium and brown and you master them by cooking your onion properly. For a light curry, like a Korma, you sauté your onion very lightly, so they don’t colour. For a medium curry like a Balti, the onions need to be golden. For a brown curry, like a Vindaloo, your onions need to be a rich dark brown.
- Always use a neutral oil, never flavoured. Vegetable or sunflower is perfect. Never use olive oil in this type of cooking, as it has its own strong flavour, which doesn’t taste nice once heated to a high temperature, and clashes terribly with Indian spices.

Quick Curry Mix

You only need to use five spices when cooking at home according to Atul Kochhar (Michelin-starred chef), Whizz up this combination in a blender for a delicious curry…

1 tsp Whole cumin
1 tsp Whole coriander seeds
Chillies or black pepper – if you don’t like the heat of chillies, use black pepper instead. Add it to your own taste.
1 tsp Garam Masala
1 tsp Ground turmeric

mmm I’m feeling a curry coming on.

If you’re feeling a little more conventional on a Sunday, how about this recipe

One Tray Roast Chicken

Serves 4 = 4.5pts each

600 g potato(es), (1lb 5oz) baby new, halved
1 portion lemon(s), juice and zest of 1
15 g fresh thyme, approx, 2 tablespoons, chopped or rosemary
2 clove garlic, crushed
4 medium chicken breast, uncooked, skinless
1 portion leek(s), use 4, trim, rinse and cut each into 3 chunks
1 medium red green or yellow pepper(s), 1 red and 1 yellow, deseeded and chopped roughly
10 spray low-fat cooking spray
200 g cherry tomatoes, (7oz)
1/8 teaspoon pepper, freshly ground black

Preheat the oven to gas mark 6/200°C/180°C. Boil the potatoes in boiling water for 10 minutes, until just tender.
Meanwhile, mix the lemon zest with the herbs and crushed garlic. Lightly slash the chicken quarters using a sharp knife and rub mixture all over and into the chicken.

Drain the potatoes well and tip them into a large roasting tin. Add the leeks and peppers and spray the vegetables with low fat cooking spray. Arrange the chicken joints on top, drizzle the lemon juice over and season lightly with black pepper.
Roast for 10 minutes, stir everything around, then return the tin to the oven for a further 10 minutes. Add the cherry tomatoes and stir again so that everything browns evenly, and then roast for a final 10 minutes. Check that the chicken is cooked through by piercing the thickest part of the joints with a sharp knife: the juices should run clear.
It’s much easier to skin chicken joints if you grasp the skin with kitchen paper. This gives you a better grip, enabling you to easily pull the skin away from the flesh.
& to finish here’s another story with a moral just for Rachel.

Butterfly and cocoon

A man found a cocoon of a butterfly. One day a small opening appeared; he sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through that little hole. Then it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could and it could go no farther.

Then the man decided to help the butterfly, so he took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon. The butterfly then emerged easily. But it had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings.

The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would contract in time.

Neither happened! In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings. It never was able to fly.

What this man in his kindness and haste did not understand was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the tiny opening were nature’s way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon.

Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our life. If nature allowed us to go through our life without any obstacles, it would cripple us. We would not be as strong as what we could have been.

And we could never fly…

Remember life starts now?

Are you living yet?

You’re not alive unless you’re living!

16th October 2010 - facebook email

Two little words that can make the difference: START NOW. - Mary C. Crowley

I was talking to a lady who’d recently spent 12 weeks on the Cambridge diet and her hair had started to fall out! I’d rather keep my hair, enjoy my food and do it slowly ;-) I’ve had so many members rejoining over the last month that have done these various quick fix diets, liquid diets, even gastric bands, they’ve lost weight very, very quickly, and then gained it and a bit more just as fast. Gastric bands don’t stop people liquidising food or drinking alcohol. And none of the change the way you behave around food, I’m comfortable round food now, I still overindulge but standing by a buffet table no longer fills me with fear and dread ;-)

I’m well aware of how disappointing it can be when you don’t get the loss you expected, I got fully back on track for the first time in a long time a few weeks ago and I truly expected a big weight loss when I got on the scales, instead I’d lost 2lb – I was gutted! But then I realised there’s no such thing as a quick fix, and Weight Watchers is designed so that you lose up to 2lb a week! So now I’ve decided I’d rather enjoy the journey as I’m a foodie, I don’t want to give up the delicious Chicken casserole I had for my tea last night, or the Chinese beef and pineapple noodle concoction I enjoyed creating at lunchtime. The idea of going without something delicious for even a week makes me shiver!

Trying to lose ten pounds before Christmas in can be an achievable goal; trying to lose ten pounds by next week is not. One of the reasons many dieters fail to successfully lose weight (which means keeping it off, not just losing it) is because they set unrealistic goals by aiming for fast weight loss.

Fast weight loss is unhealthy for a number of reasons:

· The pounds that you shed are mainly water weight and not from fat, which can cause you to easily dehydrate and then rapidly regain the weight.

· Fasting or using detox diets can cause diarrhea; the resulting dehydration can cause constipation.

· Rapid weight loss leads straight to fatigue, draining your energy levels and stamina.

· Restricting your calories means risking malnutrition, or not receiving the right amount of vitamins and minerals.

· Your sodium and potassium levels will drop, contributing to a greater chance of cramping and a feeling of illness.

· Losing weight quickly takes it toll on your appearance, causing your skin to dry out, your hair to lack luster and your complexion to appear gaunt.

Not only is fast weight loss unhealthy, but your body is actually designed to prevent itself from losing weight. If you try to lose more than the recommended one to two pounds of fat per week, your body will turn to and burn its own muscle for energy. The loss of lean muscle mass counteracts any weight loss you might be trying to accomplish, as muscle is what makes your body healthy, toned and in motion. Having more muscle makes your resting metabolism work harder, which means you burn more calories while you're at rest. You must consume at least 1,200 calories a day to prevent the loss of muscle. In Weight Watcher speak it would mean eating your daily points allowance as the plan is designed to be safe.

When a body consumes too few calories it will actually slip into 'famine mode,' where it purposefully slows down its resting metabolism, or basal metabolic rate (the amount of calories your body burns when at rest), in order to avoid expending energy. Your body will strain to save calories, preventing weight loss and even harming your metabolism's natural functions.

Striving for fast weight loss usually means entering a nasty pattern; dramatically lowering your caloric intake only starts a cycle of yo-yo dieting and bingeing, all of which leads you further in the wrong direction. The subsequent feelings of guilt are enough to bring anyone more mental grief than they deserve.

Some of the more popular diets that promote fast weight loss are in fact nutritiously deficient, as they rely on liquid shakes or diets built around restricted food to cut calories and shed the pounds. These are not only unhealthy, as a healthy body requires a well-balanced diet incorporating all the food groups, but losing weight the right way means exercising regularly in order to keep your muscles and blood moving and to maintain an active metabolism, all of which contribute to losing the weight for good.

Keeping It Off

Losing weight involves more than just eating less; it also requires increased activity and behaviour modification or weight regain is likely. Take it slow - you didn't put on weight overnight, so you shouldn't expect to lose it overnight either. Taking it slow, by following a balanced diet including a good mix of food groups is the best way to shift fat. Also including the foods we enjoy in a weight loss diet teaches us to manage problem foods, usually in smaller portions, versus 'bingeing' on them.

Studies show that the faster the weight is lost, the faster it is regained. However, the reverse is also true of dieters who lose slowly, so if you want to be one of them, take it nice and slow!

I don’t know about you but I’d rather lose 1lb a week and be looking forward to one-day old chicken casserole (it always tastes better the day after). I love my body I’m not going to punish it by starving it.

Remember life starts now?

Are you living yet?

You’re not alive unless you’re living!

15th October 2010

Love and time; those are the only two things in all the world and all of life that cannot be bought, but only spent. - Gary Jennings




What a week, I couldn’t have got through it without the help of others and for that I’m truly grateful. You can never know too many good people ;)



So how’s you’re diet going? Are you feeling in the zone or totally off the planet? Either way, if you’re still reading these you must want to be focused and losing, so think about what you can do to get you in the zone.



What needs to happen?

What one thing could you do to help you get there?

I’m tracking, even though I’m going over my points this week, I need to be accountable, that way I will hopefully not go too crazy and will be able to get back to where I was last week – in that zone!



As I’m not going to be active this week because of my back, but the pains much better than last week, I’m going to spend this weekend doing some meal plans, checking out some recipes and looking for motivation in my books on my shelves to get my mojo back on track. What you gonna do?



I’m feeling some one pot wonders are necessary for the coming months, so watch this space and I’ll attempt to put together a recipe booklet for you to help you in the cold dark months. So I have paperwork to do first before my weekend begins, so here’s another story with a moral for you, something to get you thinking on a Friday morning.



Don’t change the world



Once upon a time, there was a king who ruled a prosperous country. One day, he went for a trip to some distant areas of his country. When he was back to his palace, he complained that his feet were very painful, because it was the first time that he went for such a long trip, and the road that he went through was very rough and stony. He then ordered his people to cover every road of the entire country with leather.



Definitely, this would need thousands of cows’ skin, and would cost a huge amount of money.

Then one of his wise servants dared himself to tell the king, “Why do you have to spend that unnecessary amount of money? Why don’t you just cut a little piece of leather to cover your feet?”



The king was surprised, but he later agreed to his suggestion, to make a “shoe” for himself.



The moral of the story:



To make this world a happy place to live, you better change yourself – your heart; and not the world.



Remember life starts now?



Are you living yet?



You’re not alive unless you’re living!

14th October 2010 todays facebook email

We find what we seek, if you’re looking for the black in life you’ll find it, and if you’re looking for the white, you’ll find that too.

Mmm, tasty, that’s how I need to react to my food when I eat it, that’s the minimum reaction I expect, if I don’t get it – I DON’T EAT IT! Even if spend hours in the kitchen and cook something, if it doesn’t taste good, I throw it away (or give it my brother as he’ll eat anything!)

My breakfast had that effect on me yesterday, I’ve been looking into natural ways of reducing the inflammation in my body at the moment and food apparently is one of them, so yesterday for my breakfast I had pineapple (which is known to have an anti-inflammatory effect) with 0% Greek yogurt and honey – WOW a real tastebud sensation and low in points.

Do you experiment with food or are you stuck in a rut eating the same old, same old. Today make it your mission to try something different, don’t have a sandwich for lunch, have a couscous salad or some sushi, go on be different.

I’m struggling to eat within my points this week but I’m still tracking, it’s too easy to pretend you’re not bothered, or if you don’t write it down it doesn’t count. But by tracking when you’re not in the zone can be very rewarding because it teaches you about yourself and your habits.

I know by writing it down, I will gradually get back to being within my points, not writing it down will mean I’ll go the other way and get worse! It’s like missing your meeting; you know you’re not going to have a great week if you do that, especially if you did it because you’d already had a back week!

On a totally different subject, did you watch those miners being rescued in Chile yesterday; it reminded me of a story I once read…

A philosophy professor stood before his class with some items on the table in front of him. When the class began, wordlessly he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with rocks, about 2 inches in diameter.

He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.

So the professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles, of course, rolled into the open areas between the rocks.

He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He then asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with a unanimous “Yes.”

“Now,” said the professor, “I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The rocks are the important things – your family, your partner, your health, and your children – things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.

The pebbles are the other things that matter – like your job, your house, and your car.

The sand is everything else. The small stuff.”

“If you put the sand into the jar first,” he continued, “there is no room for the pebbles or the rocks. The same goes for your life.

If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you. Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play with your children. Take your partner out dancing. There will always be time to go to work, clean the house, give a dinner party and fix the dripping tap.

Take care of the rocks first – the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.”



Remember life starts now?

Are you living yet?

You’re not alive unless you’re living!

13th October 2010 - facebook email

The man who can drive himself further once the effort gets painful is the man who will win. Roger Bannister

Do you have a pattern, a way of doing things? A routine, I do, my alarm is set for 5am, I go down and put kettle on for a mug of hot water, whilst waiting for that to boil, I put my mobile on to charge, open the back door for the dog and do a few stretches. Next I log onto the computer, start up iTunes then press play. That’s the start of my day. Is yours typically predictable?

This morning the first song that started playing on my iTunes was “Silence is Golden” which helped me decide today’s subject “meditation”. Have you ever tried it, do you do it? Do you realise how great it is for you and how easy it is to do. I know I’ve talked about it before but I bet not many of you have tried it and if you have I bet you didn’t make it a habit of it like those things you do in the morning. I know because I dabble now and again even though I know I should do it all the time.

Okay then meditation WHY? What’s it all about?

Lots of people including myself at one time, think it’s really difficult to meditate and don’t really know why people do it. Well let me try and make it as simple as possible. meditation describes a state of concentrated attention on an object of thought or awareness. It usually involves turning the attention inward to the mind itself. Meditation can be used for personal development; it can also be very calming, rejuvenating and restorative. When practiced regularly, it can aid in reducing stress, lowering blood pressure and increasing personal awareness.

I personally find guided meditations helpful as they help me to concentrate, however, the simplest meditation doesn’t need anything other than you and a quiet ten minutes, here’s how to do it;

How to meditate

- Find somewhere quiet where you will not be disturbed for at least ten minutes, turn off your mobile phone.

- You could have some relaxing meditation music playing quietly in the background.

- Select a comfortable chair or place to sit, and assume a sitting position with your spine relatively straight, you can do it lying down but your more likely to fall asleep.

- Close your eyes.

- Breathe in, allowing your rib cage and belly to expand as you inhale.

Don’t worry too much about whether you’re breathing correctly, just breathe and relax.

- Exhale slowly.

- Concentrate on your breathing. Be aware of each breath and the feelings of deeper relaxation.

- Allow thoughts and feelings to enter your mind. Acknowledge them, allow them to pass, and refocus on your breathing. You can continue this for as long as you wish.

- Open your eyes after you feel more relaxed and centered.



Tips

- There are many forms and variations of meditation, experiment with them, if one particular form doesn't work for you, try another. Look at some books on meditation to discover which type is best for you.

- Begin with 5 to 10 minutes of meditation each day and increase to 20 minutes or more twice each day. This may not always be possible, but anything is better than nothing.

Well that’s all from me, I’m actually going to practice what I preach and have ten minutes meditating!

Remember life starts now?

Are you living yet?

You’re not alive unless your living!

12th October - facebook email

Love is; when all you want for someone is for them to be happy. Attachment is; when you feel like you need that someone in order to fulfill a need in your life. Unknown


Huge thank you to the lovely ladies that helped me unload my car yesterday so I could still run my meetings, really appreciated.

I love to read and I should make more time to do it, actually remember last week JFDI, yeah so do I so I will make more time to read, from today, 30 minutes a day minimum! I started yesterday with a great book called SUMO (Shut Up, Move On)! I first saw a copy in my brother’s bathroom in Corfu, and unfortunately I didn’t spend enough time in that room to finish the book ;-)

So I bought myself a copy and in just a few pages it gave me lots to think about, so here’s three questions for you to answer to get you thinking.

1) Which person has the biggest influence on your life?
2) Who deserves the most credit for where you currently find yourself in life?
3) Whose advice and opinions do you tend to always act upon?


My answers funnily enough were the same as the authors, wonder if yours are different or the same.

1) I do
2) I do
3) My own

Did they match? Don’t get me wrong there are numerous people who have influenced my life and deserve credit for how they have helped me. And I do listen to the advice and opinions of others, but the only person that determines where you and I find ourselves in life is ‘you’.

If you want to know who is the most responsible for where you are in life, take a look in the mirror!

How does that make you feel? Are you comfortable to stand up and say, “I take full responsibility for my life?”

If you are uncomfortable with that thought or you disagree with it then you’re suffering from BSE! If you think that your current situation has nothing to do with the previous decisions you have made, or the actions you have taken or nothing to do with the attitude you’ve adopted then you are playing your BSE card – Blame Someone Else.

So if this is you, take off the “Victim” t-shirt and replace it with a “I’m taking control of my life” t-shirt. And before you get angry with me, I too have had times where I’ve worn the “Victim” t-shirt and held the BSE card! I’m not suggesting I’m perfect.

Here are reasons you may be wearing the t-shirt in the first place.

1) You feel you have no other choice – “That’s just how it is, there’s nothing I can do.” is the mantra of people who play the victim role. You can adopt a fatalistic approach to life and to the inevitability of being the victim.

2) Low self-esteem and poor self-image. Either of these factors can distort your view of how you see a situation. Your esteem and self-image can be affected by ‘life events’ and you are more vulnerable to seeing them damaged when you have experienced a major change such as a divorce, redundancy or an illness. Such events can knock your self-confidence, which in turn affects how you think and feel about yourself.

3) It’s become a habit. Some people have been putting on the T-shirt so regularly; they now wear it without even being conscious of the fact. Their wardrobe consists of a whole range of styles and colours of Victim T-shirts - one to suit any occasion.

4) People actually enjoy wearing it. Wearing the Victim T-shirt can bring people many perceived benefits:
- people feel sorry for you and give you more attention.
- it can increase your own feeling of self-importance.
- it is a good excuse for not being able to achieve other things (I would have been able to achieve X if only Y had been more supportive).
- Blaming others frees you from the responsibility of taking charge of your own life.

It’s not easy to admit that you have worn the T-shirt. Maybe you haven’t; but if you have, what has been your reason? Can you identify people you know who wear the T-shirt? What in your view motivates them to wear one?

Do you wear one regarding your diet? Mmm now there’s a thought.

My backs really hurting at the moment and Saturday / Sunday I played the victim, had the pity party, but yesterday I decided to get a grip, I can either be in pain, smiling and eating healthy, or in pain, crying and eating junk! Either way I’m in pain and it’s more likely to go away quicker with a positive attitude! Alfie loves that I can’t sit in a chair at the moment and am lying on the living room floor, he thinks it’s a game. There’s good in every situation if only you look hard enough.

If you find this idea interesting, treat yourself to the book by Paul McGee, I’ve not finished reading it yet, I’m still rereading the bit I read whilst sitting on a toilet in Corfu – now there’s an image to start your morning ;-)

Think about it, taking personal responsibility frees you from the trap of blaming, complaining and resenting!

Removing your t-shirt requires courage. It can be uncomfortable to admit to yourself that you have been wearing a Victim t-shirt. This is even harder to do if you feel you are a genuine victim. I do believe there are innocent victims in life who could justifiably wear the t-shirt, however some genuine victims choose not to! They decide not to allow events or circumstances to define their identity. Why? Because they have the following belief – I am not always responsible for what happens to me, but I am responsible for how I choose to respond.

Remember life starts now?

Are you living yet?

You’re not alive unless you’re living!

11th October 2010 todays email

Always do right. This will gratify some people, and astonish the rest. Mark Twain
Where did that weekend go? I spent most of it lying on the floor with back spasms – you gotta laugh, but when I do it hurts at the moment ;-)

Anywho, what shall we talk about today? Mmm. I was going to talk about self-pity because that would be really easy to do this morning with my back at the moment but I’m not going to give it the attention it’s seeking, it’s not broken so it can just get better because I’m not stopping.

Instead let’s have a lesson from Pooh, anyone who knows me knows I only found the world of Winnie the Pooh a few years ago and he’s now one of my gurus, I see his books as self help books, as good as any of the others on my shelf ;-) So here goes;

Oh Bother! That’s what comes of a help-yourself with Rabbit.

And a Help-yourself with Rabbi
Though it may become a habit,
Is a pleasant sort of habit
For a Pooh.

(The House At Pooh Corner)

Pooh is a habitual snacker. At about 11am every day he has a little something, whether he’s hungry or not (but, of course, he always is). And we would not want him to change, but we might want to change our own behaviour by observing the effect that habitual over-eating has on his belly. Pooh starts the day with breakfast, followed by elevenses, then lunch, then very nearly tea and then tea – only Hobbits and Hilary’s eat more!

Small changes do make a difference. By eating one less biscuit a day, or one less teaspoonful of honey, or walking a mile a day, we can ‘save’ a point or two a day. It make not sound much but over time it adds up to enough to prevent the average two pounds weight gain that most adults put on each year of their adult life.

Sticking to 3 meals a day, and limited snacks, will help prevent weight gain and health problems. Snacking in front of the TV, for example, adds the equivalent of an extra meal a day to many people’s food intake. That adds up to a lot of extra calories in a short time.

Aim to eat your five a day; it really does help with feeling full and satisfied. Include wholegrain foods and protein at every meal. Maybe up your activity levels, take the lead from Pooh, who often has a brisk stomp through the forest before lunch or as a prelude to taking tea with Owl or Rabbit. And if you eat more, move more!

Remember life starts now?

Are you living yet?

You’re not alive unless you’re living!

10th October 2010 today's facebook email

You can motivate players better with kind words than you can with a whip. Bud Wilkinson

Out of the 7 dwarves Happy would be my favourite ;-) can you name the other six? Don’t google it until you try and remember them! And if you really want to know right now, I’ve written them at the bottom of this email!

Even the word happy brings a smile to my face, it’s the main ambition I have in my life because I’ve noticed if I’m happy good things happen by default.

So can you decide to be happy regardless of what’s happening in your life? Many of the experts say that being happy is a choice; that it’s a decision you make every morning, that it’s possible to say ‘today I am going to be happy’. But why is it that some people seem to find it easier to have that inner contentment and others struggle to put a smile on their face? If you ask people there does seem to be certain themes that are repeated: People feel happy when they have a fulfilling relationship, a career they love, great health and energy and a variety of interests.

Often those people also have a positive attitude to life and they see challenges as opportunities to learn and grow. Following are some suggestions that could help you experience more joy and happiness in your life.

Start to value yourself - treat yourself the way you would treat the most important person in your life. To be happy you need to learn to appreciate, be kind and loving to yourself. If you make a mistake, forgive yourself, hell you won’t be the first person that’s done the same or similar. Think of challenges and mistakes as opportunities to learn and move on. When you experience success, however small, celebrate it (refer back to yesterday’s email)

Commit yourself to happiness - Make a commitment to be happy. Recognise that you can choose to be happy and regularly affirm to yourself that happiness is your right. Spend some time discovering what makes you happy and then make these things a priority. Time is precious and so are you!

Be open-minded as it can expose you to wonderful new opportunities and give you a unique outlook on life. You can find solutions to many stressful situations and maintain a state of internal happiness if you have the flexibility to consider new things and embrace change.

Look after your health as it is much easier to feel happy when you have great health and vitality than when you are feeling ill. It is important to pay attention to your body and treat it with respect. If you are feeling very tired, give yourself time out. If you are stressed, relax and meditate. Make sure that you have a good diet and an exercise program that you enjoy. Spending time in nature is another great way to relax and revive.

Keep your sense of humor, learn to laugh at yourself and find humour in testing situations. Life is full of challenges and if you take them too seriously it is easy to become frustrated and depressed. It is important to develop a sense of humor and to see the quirkiness of life.

Believe in the power of laughter. Think about it how do you know that a person is happy? The obvious signs are when they are smiling or laughing. Someone who laughs a lot simply keeps the channels to happiness open.

Appreciate the lucky charm of happiness - being happy is like having a lucky charm, which attracts people to us, helps us handle challenges and embrace opportunities. Happy people appreciate what they have, get more done quickly, live longer, have better health, attract great relationships and enjoy their lives more.

Remember life starts now?

Are you living yet?

You’re not alive unless your living!



For those who want to know and couldn’t remember, the seven dwarfs are Doc, Happy, Grumpy, Bashful, Sleepy, Sneezy, & Dopey.

9th October 2010 today's facebook email

Do what you can, with what you have, where you are. Theodore Roosevelt

I had a fabulous day training yesterday with Weight Watchers yesterday and all I can say is if you usually enjoy the celebrations on Bonfire night, wait until November 7th that’s when the real fireworks will start! My back felt particularly weird yesterday it felt like it was about to seize up or lock out, but instead of waiting for it to happen, I chose to ignore it and kept saying to myself, it’s fine, relax, it’ll loosen up after a bath later. It’s still not quite so good this morning but I’m sure it’ll be better after a massage later!

We’ve been doing the gratitude thing so now lets do celebrating! Why shouldn’t we celebrate every single thing at every opportunity? I know a lady who doesn’t need a reason to celebrate; every dinner is a cause to break out the best china. She paints her toenails even in the winter when they’re always covered with socks and boots! She drinks even squash from silver goblets, and she only has “best dishes” and uses them no matter how many children are running around her house. If you go round her house you soon get sucked into the “What the hell!” mentality she has and end up drinking wine at 10am in the morning! I love her attitude, “create feasts, make noises, and celebrate every little thing”

Why not give yourself the chance to celebrate the sheer fact of being alive. Think about it, if something is worth doing, it’s also almost certainly worth celebrating!

So seize every excuse to celebrate. You woke up toda, why not have a tea party later, make some weight watcher cakes. You can read – you must be able to cos you’re reading this! So celebrate by buying yourself a good trashy novel. You ate when you were hungry yesterday so today eat something just because it tastes good even if you’re not hungry – food doesn’t rule you, you rule it. You didn’t lose weight this week, which means you must have choose to havea good time eating! You did lose weight this week which means you’re choosing to get your eating habits under control.

The next thing to decide is how will you celebrate! Remember celebrating does not have to be eating and drinking! It could mean you’ll set the table tonight and light a candle, even if you’re eating alone. Buy a single stem flower everyday when you pass the florist and collect them in a vase, when one dies you will replace it and have a never ending bunch of flowers. Send yourself a card through the post to remind yourself later in the week how marvellous you are or how well you’re doing. It’s not raining; celebrate by wearing a bright yellow t-shirt. You’ve got arms and legs, so dance around the house.

Robbie’s back with Take That, learn the words to their new song and make a video with your daughter of you singing it together!

You didn’t win the Euro, go and blow a tenner on something frivolous anyway ;-)

Celebrate what you have; it’s better than ending up old and cranky! I’d rather have a bad back and be in pain with a smile on my face than sorrow in my heart!

Find anything, any reason to celebrate and just do it.

Remember life starts now?

Are you living yet?

I am and today I’m celebrating the fact by having a massage and going to the theatre with my friends. Hell that’s what painkillers were invented for ;-)

8th October 2010 - today's facebook email

Do not free a camel of the burden of his hump; you may be freeing him from being a camel. G.K. Chesterton

Yesterday I was told a lovely tale by one of my members about how she was reading my email whilst walking her daughter to school and at one point she laughed out loud so her daughter wanted to know what she was laughing at. She read the email to her daughter and on the rest of the journey they decided to smile at everyone they passed, and guess what, everyone smiled back. When her mom said, “It works people do like happy people smiling, they smile back don’t they”, the very clever wonderful daughter replied, “yes mommy and when you do it, it gives you butterflies in your stomach”. Isn’t that just wonderful, and isn’t she so right, don’t you feel great being nice to others and being happy. So if you didn’t give it a go yesterday, be nice today.

Your first ‘be nice’ action can be responding to this email saying, “I read it”, so that I can get some idea of how many of you out there actually read them as some of us were also discussing that yesterday too, and we’re curious to know if anyone actually reads these emails that tax my brain each morning at 5am!

This week in my meeting we’ve looked at “loving what is”, learning to see your body through different eyes, appreciating it for the amazing things it can do and the wonderful way it looks.

So just to add to this weeks talk, remember that thin people have cellulite too! Lot’s of us in our fattest thoughts, have wished more than cellulite on those who just don’t gain weight no matter how many mars bars they eat! And I don’t want to talk about revenge on the naturally thin; I want to look at the truth.

No matter how thin, gorgeous, rich or long-legged someone is, she will still have cellulite, get old and die! And the reason it’s important to remember this is because we forget it all the time. We see these women through rose tinted glasses, and think they’re living the dream so to speak.

We unconsciously believe that reaching our goal not only gives our lives meaning, but will also protect us from pain, from cellulite and from death. Oh and I used to imagine my goal weight making me a foot taller and blonde!

Goals are important, but reaching them does not protect us from anything except the frustration of not reaching them. Think about it; what dill losing weight give you? Does it change the way you feel about your self worth? Make a lost of all the things you thought or think it might give you that it probably won’t.

How can you move toward getting some of those things before you’ve lost weight?

What would need to change about your life now so that you could prioritise those things?

What could you do next week? Tomorrow or better still – right now?

I thought losing weight was the answer to everything in my life, that it would make me happy, it didn’t. I’m happier now than I’ve ever been and that has nothing to do with my size, that’s because I realised, “I’m me”, I don’t need to try to be like anyone else, I don’t need to be liked by everyone else, I don’t need to be perfect, I don’t need to get everything right, I don’t need to be ambitious, I don’t need to have children and get married to be accepted. No I realised that it’s okay just to be me, to live the life I want, not to be terribly ambitious, to want to live a quiet life, not to want children or a husband, to mess up occasionally, to cry now and again, to admit defeat sometimes, to ask for help often.

I think they call it “being human”. So are you human? Or are you trying to be a perfect android!

The Miracle is you. this is a wonderful video that I’ve posted before about the miracle of you, always worth a second watch.

Remember life starts now?

Are you living yet?

I am and I’m enjoying living an imperfect one, which is perfect for me!

7th October 2010 - todays facebook email

It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit. Harry S. Truman

Yesterday was a good day, I got one of my members to goal at my Bloxwich meeting and it was extra special because she needed to lose weight to have an operation on her legs, the surgery is next week and yesterday she reached her goal weight having lost 8 stone! Amazing success, such an inspiration to us all, well done Margaret.

I’m constantly looking for ideas and tips and things to share with you all daily through these emails, and yesterday I had a member tell me that together with her sister they’d been trying to work me out! They’d decided I wasn’t just a WW leader I was some sort of life coach or similar. I took this as a huge compliment because although I’m not trained to do any of those things, I do love their work and have always been interested in those roles. What stops me from following that career path is that the majority of us “normal working class folk” can’t afford one-on-one sessions with life coaches and therapists, hence the reason I try to use their ideas in my meetings and through these emails. So thank you to that beautiful lady and her sister who made me feel good last night by making me believe that in some small way I’m doing that ;-)

I’ve decided to make today, Bev’s Weight Watchers, “Be Nice Day”, so today I want everyone of you to be nice to people, no matter what mood you woke up in! Randomly tell people they look nice, but don’t add “have you lost weight”, onto the end of the sentence, just tell them they look good, you don’t have to lose weight to look good, you can look good anytime. Even better still if you can see someone wants to talk – listen, give them 5 or 10 minutes, it might be a little old lady in the street, for me yesterday it was two ladies in two different shops, an errand that should have taken me 10 minutes took me an hour, did I have time – no, did I make time – yes!

So at least for today;

Be nice
Think Happy Thoughts
Champion Silver linings
Love all things (not just cute things like babies and kittens)
& when you do love – love like they do in power ballads. (you know like on a cliff with the wind in your hair and your eyes shut, knowing you’ll never know another love like this)
Watch out for the dog poo.
Smile at people – even the grumpy ones.
Be nice (oh I already said that)
Remember that anything is possible and whatever you do always try to look on the bright side.

Life’s too short to be unhappy, even if you can find a reason to be! And lets be honest, if we look everyone can find a reason to be miserable, but if you look a little harder you can find a reason to be cheerful. Remember those gratitude’s.

Today, I’m grateful for
- A good uninterrupted nights sleep.
- The rainbow I saw last night
- The beautiful warm sunshine that was burning my back through my office window yesterday afternoon.

Your turn!

Don’t worry, be happy ;-)

Do you remember that song! Don't Worry Be Happy, Bobby McFerrin

Have a happy day.

6th October 2010 - facebook email

The experience of a lifetime is the privilege of being who you really are. Joseph Campbell

Yesterday I was hungry! More so than usual, so guess what I did – I ate! Not only that but on my way home I just fancied “white bread” to make a sandwich of the lamb joint I’d cooked at lunchtime (I’d bought it reduced in Co-op). And it was so delicious, I then had another slice of bread, check me out, am I a rebel or what!

My point is having a bit of what you fancy now and again, or a second helping does not a fat person make and should not cause you to feel guilty after the event. It’s all about balance, a little bit of what you fancy does you good, and a little bit extra sometimes is just what you need.

Today the lamb has gone so it’s unlikely to happen again ;-)

Guilt is just another obstacle that blocks your progress, it fits nicely alongside fear and perfectionism. You might encounter one of these as a problem or even all of them as they tend to go nicely hand in hand,

Guilt can be a valuable emotion so long as it doesn’t last too long dragging you down into chronic self-hatred. A certain amount of guilt is a valuable response to overeating because it lets you know you’re doing something self-destructive. But I’m not talking the sort of thing I did last night, or occasionally having an extra portion because something was delicious, I’m talking radical, persistent overeating. Guilt can become a serious problem when it’s constant, then you feel guilt most of the time, probably about everything, what you eat, how you look etc. This will block your progress because it keeps you stuck in low self-esteem.

Guilt may work as a motivator initially and help you lose a few pounds, but eventually you motivation will fade because of the guilt and the low self-esteem and often you’ll end up thinking, “what’s the point, I’m fat anyway, so why on just eat anything I want?”

We worry so much about how we look rather than how we feel because everyone else can see how we look and make a judgement about it, whereas on we truly know how we feel. However your harshest judge is always yourself, and this keeps you from making real and lasting changes because you’re too busy giving yourself a hard time and the side effect of that is usually weight gain.

So what’s the cure for guilt – it’s simple, its forgiveness!

Forgiveness is merely a choice you can make by getting in touch with yourself and claiming your worth, and you are the only one that can do that. Always remember you are amazing and beautiful. Totally gorgeous and unique! Oh and if you’ve laughed uncomfortably or smiled sarcastically whilst reading those last few sentences, that’s proof of low self-esteem! If you nodded – go you, you’ve come a long way and you’re loving yourself.

So start by forgiving yourself for any overeating you’ve done in the past ever! Follow it up with a promise to take care of yourself because you are gorgeous and you want to stay that way. Think of one thing you can do to help that, something that you don’t already do but that isn’t too difficult, such as drinking more water if you don’t already drink enough. Maybe aim to add more fruit and vegetables into your diet, or promise your body to move it a little more this week to help it be stronger and more flexible. Do something to nurture your gorgeous body.

Let go of the black and white, all or nothing thinking we all can be guilty of, and instead start to thing in shades of grey, or percentages. Instead of aiming for perfection or 100% aim for 75%, if that’s too high go for 50% and aim to improve on that slowly and gently over time.

You’re gorgeous, amazing and wonderful.

Be You (tiful)

Because you are!

Remember, life starts now!

Are you living yet?

Bev xx