An Emotional Testimony

Wow -- thank you to everyone who has subscribed to my YouTube channel, posted comments here on the blog, and sent me notes of encouragement via email. I am truly thankful for your kind words; you have no idea how motivating they are!

Today I'd like to address the number one question I receive when I first tell someone that I have decided to give up soda, Starbuck's, alcohol, and soda for an entire year. And that question is: "Why?!"

As in, why would I give up all the creature comforts that make everyone else so happy? How could I possibly turn my back on the things that millions profess that they JUST CANNOT LIVE WITHOUT?? How about this:

1. I'll save at least $1,000 alone in kicking my Starbucks habit. ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS. That's $20 per week for 52 weeks. I used to go four times per week, and spend $5 per visit. And that was just on "coffee," and does not include what I spent in addition to the drinks, such as a muffin or scone. How much a week do YOU spend on Starbucks? Why don't you just write me a check for $1,000? At least I'll put it to good use . . .
2. Since we're talking about Starbucks, I'll address what I used to drink four times per week: A "Double Venti, Extra Hot White Mocha with Whipped Cream." Seriously. And I wonder why I'm so frigging fat? Try this on for size: That drink contains 450 calories, 22 grams of fat, and 53 grams of carbs. If you're a point-counter, that's a 13-point drink. Which is more points than a McDonald's Sausage Egg McMuffin!
3. About the alcohol . . . I was more than your average casual drinker. I'd go out for cocktails a couple of times per week, as well as indulge at home. I won't even begin to try to count calories on that one, I just know that (a) I'll be saving an additional $200 per month on drink bills and BevMo receipts and (b) I'll be doing my liver a HUGE favor.
4. I hate my teeth. They're yellow and I've always had problems with cavities. Know why? Because I was addicted to soda. Hopefully kicking my soda habit will brighten my smile as well as reduce my waist size!

Last, but not least: How about, "I'm just tired of being fat."

Nothing more, nothing less.

I'm tired of people looking PAST ME, not at me. I'm tired of how being morbidly obese makes me feel. I'm tired of pretending that I'm happy with shopping at one store because they're the only one who carries my size in anything that looks halfway decent.

Why can't "I'm tired of being fat" be a good reason to drink only water for a whole year? Why can't people understand that I'm not crazy, I'm not pregnant, and I'm not broke? Is everyone so brainwashed that they can't process the fact that there are people in the world who really CAN live without Starbucks and going out for drinks?

*Sigh*

My husband and I have always taught our kids that life is about choices. You can choose to be happy or sad, grateful or selfish, and fit or fat. In the past, I always chose fat, because it was the easy thing to do. It was what everyone else did, right? Easy is awesome.

And after 38 years of choosing easy, I'm learning how difficult it is to re-train my way of thinking.

Not a day goes by where I don't wish I could be drinking a Pepsi. Or a "Double Venti, Extra Hot White Mocha with Whipped Cream." Or a Raspberry Lemon Drop.

I say to myself, "No one will know. You can just have one Pepsi. Or one little cocktail . . . and nobody will be the wiser.

But somewhere between choosing easy and choosing fit, I grew a conscience.

I'll know that I did it. I'll know that I broke down and had some Liquid Satan. And I just can't do that to all those who received a personal guarantee that I'd finish. Or most importantly, to myself.

Weigh-in Sunday #1 -- January 2, 2011

Hello, everyone! It's Weigh-In Sunday!!

I weighed myself at 9:30am this morning, and I am SUPER HAPPY to report that I have lost 4.5 pounds!! Can you stand it? The video is below to support my claim. However, I'm not sure why the Wii Fit recording system stated that I'd gained 14.5 pounds. Maybe they're still going off the last goal I had. Who knows.

I am quite sure that when I weighed myself last week, it read "294." So, I'm going with it. The video I shot this morning now proves I weigh 289.5 pounds. Which is nothing to be proud of, but shedding almost 5 pounds without really doing much but avoiding soda and staying within my Weight Watchers points balance is pretty damn cool.

My youngest son and I are going to go shopping today for a new workout DVD, since he got hold of the last one and scratched it up so bad that it almost killed our DVD player. I may look into the Jillian Michales Wii Ultimate Fitness game too . . . Or, for more fun, Wii Dance Party . . . :)

Oh! I almost forgot! I've also uploaded my First Official "Before" Photos.

UGH. How I let myself get this way . . . .

Anyhoo, they're over on the "Visual Progress" page. I'll post those monthly as I continue towards my goal to lose 135 pounds before I turn 40.

As you can tell by the photos, I've got a LONG way to go, but I'm motivated . . . LET'S DO THIS!

Happy New Year, Everyone!

Woo hoo! I hope your New Years' Eve was as fun as mine. I got to spend it eating a "one last hurrah" dinner with my husband (including cocktails) before heading out to watch fireworks with he and my two sons. AWESOME way to close the book on 2010.

So, about 2011 . . .

I. Am. PUMPED.

Or, I'm at least trying to be.

For some reason, (the one last "hurrah" meal, maybe?) my stomach is a little "knotty" and I am crazy tired today. But, I stood by my promise to go water-only and stay within my Weight Watchers points allotment. Which is a HUGE success. In the mean time, I feel like all I could really do is lay around, read my new "Self" magazine and weight loss books, and then sleep. ALL DAY.

Which means I have no motivation whatsoever to exercise. But that won't last long . . . I'm sure of it!!

Oh! And I know I promised a picture, but I'm holding off until tomorrow.

Tomorrow is my first official weigh-in after dropping soda and most of the alcohol from my bloodstream. (Or, as I like to say, "There's blood in my alcohol stream!") Moving forward, I will videotape all of my weigh-ins so that you know I'm being honest.

I will also take the "Before" pictures tomorrow, and post them on a new page called "Visual Progress." Then, on the first Sunday of the month before a weigh-in (weigh-ins will be weekly), I will take a picture and post it to the progress page to track how I look from week to week.

I will try to wear the same shirt and shorts every time, and try to take the picture in the same spot of the house, so that when comparing them side-by-side (or from top to bottom), the results are easier to spot.

What do you think? Should I be doing something differently? Have I motivated anyone to try to drink water only for one year?

Come ON!! I need some accountability partners . . . :)

By the way, I will also be posting about my other goals (finances, photography, family, etc) in the future. "A Better Second Half" is about making life changes, which include weight loss and good health. But, those are only part of the whole plan!

Trash Talk

The awesomest thing happened to me on Tuesday.

I pitched to my Facebook family that I was considering drinking only water for an entire year. And only one person gave me the thumbs up. Everyone else acted as if I had said I was going to sleep upside-down in a coffin until December of 2011.

Which, actually, gave me all the motivation I needed to TOTALLY DO THIS.


Screw you, haters. Bring it on, non-believers.

Because it's been two days of solid non-soda and non-alcohol drinking.

Seriously. I even WENT OUT TO PIZZA at our favorite pizza restaurant and drank only water. The servers didn't know what to do with me. My sons asked me if I was sick. My husband was quite proud.

Tomorrow night (New Years' Eve) I will have a couple of cocktails to end the year and say goodbye to old habits. Then, I'll be getting on with my goals.

But remember, it's not just about the water.

"I will look fabulous. Feel fabulous. Be a fabulous wife and mom. And a fabulous CEO of my own house and finances."

But, drinking water is a major part of that goal. As Mike Adams wrote:

"Water is one of the most powerful healing substances available to each and every consumer in the United States and around the world. It's virtually free; all you need to do is keep drinking it, and don't wait for your thirst perception to tell you when to drink more. You have to make a commitment to hydrate yourself throughout the day on a regular basis. At the same time you have to make a commitment to avoid drinking beverages that result in dehydration, such as soft drinks, sport drinks or any beverage with caffeine or added sugars. That means avoiding cow's milk, fruit juices, beer and alcohol, fruit punches or any other drinks that simply don't substitute for the healing power of pure water."

The more I read, the easier this decision becomes.

Anyone want to join me?

So, Let's Call it a "Practice Week," Shall We?

Or, maybe even a "Dress Rehearsal."

I knew that going to work today would pose some major challenges for me, the biggest being that I work for Pepsi, and have free access to fountain soda all day. (I know, right?)

I once heard soda referred to as "Liquid Satan," but I can't go so far as to call it that. I love LOVE Pepsi. But I have to give it up.

Lucky for me, Pepsi also bottles and distributes Aquafina! I drank plenty of that today, but when it came time to have lunch, I broke down and drank 16oz of Pepsi. Which, actually, is a major improvement considering I usually drink 64+ ounces of Pepsi a day. Baby steps!

So this week will be a good trial week for me. I will keep track of when I get hungry and pack my lunch bag accordingly with lots of healthy snacks. My grazing habit keeps me looking for food ALL DAY. So, I have a feeling I'll be eating lots of carrots, apples, and any other one-point Weight Watchers snacks! :)

I also recorded another video today on my way home from work. I really need to sit down and plan my day so that I can fit some sort of exercise in between the time I get up and the time I go to bed. I go to work at 6:00am, so I technically wake up the roosters. I may have to get up as early as 3:30am to get exercise in before work. ACK!

Tomorrow I'll begin my search for a good workout DVD. Maybe you can help me choose, since my husband wants to bust out the "P90X" and I'd rather not go there. I'm not sure if I'll make it through 10 minutes of that, so I need to find something that will help me transition from "Plus-Size Sedentary" to "Plus-Size Semi-Mobile"!

OH -- one more thing . . . Tomorrow is "picture day." Ugh. I'll spare you the "Biggest Loser" half-naked high-def imagery and go with a t-shirt and shorts. (At least for the blog. I'll keep the half-naked picture handy for reference, since I hope to be able to run through the neighborhood in just a sport tank and runner's shorts by the end of 2011!!)

First Video -- Day One (Sort of)

Today I decided that I'd incorporate some video blogging into the website.

One thing I'd like to put out there -- I discuss in the video that I have a goal to drink only water (and nothing else) for the upcoming year. The only exception to this rule is that I am allowing myself milk in cereal and oatmeal.

I know that this has been tried and done before. However, I am hard pressed to find someone who has stuck with regular posting and updates for an entire year. My goal is to make it through 12/31/2011 drinking only water for thirst. Then, on that New Year's Eve, I'm going to have one giant fricking cocktail.

Wake Up Call

We all get one.

A wake up call.

You know -- that something that brings your attention to the one task (or for me, a list of tasks) that you need to get done in order to avoid DEATH.

Okay, so maybe not all of the tasks I've got to get done will help me avoid death. But the first one is sure to keep death away. And diabetes. And heart disease. And cancer.

I'm 38 years old. I've got two children and a wonderful husband. And if I don't lose weight soon, I may not live to see 40.

I've always had a weight problem. The only time in my life when I was not obese was high school, and the one year immediately following.

Between then and now, I've lost weight, gained it back plus more, and so on and so on, at least 8 times.

I've tried weight loss programs, weight loss "strips," and read tons of weight management books.

Yet, here I am, nearly 135 pounds overweight.

And at my age, losing that kind of weight is not easy.

I had definitely planned on "getting back into shape" after the new year. But something happened today that made me get my ass off the couch and put a plan into action.

We bought our kids a new Wii game for Christmas -- "Kids Dance Party" to be exact.

And I could barely finish ONE SONG before feeling light headed and winded.

One song.

"Funkytown."

And if that wasn't bad enough, I decided to bust out the Wii Fit board and weigh myself for the first time in months.

Weight: 294 pounds

Seriously.

It's the most I've EVER WEIGHED. Ever.

No wonder I always feel like crap. And my clothes don't fit. And I can't sleep.

So here I am, at the very beginning of a long journey. It became so important to me that I couldn't wait until January 1 to begin. I had to start NOW.

I've spent the first half of my life being stupid. Period. There is no other way to describe it.

I eat like a pig. I drink like a sailor. And I spend money when I shouldn't.

The second half of my life will be better.

I will look fabulous. Feel fabulous. Be a fabulous wife and mom. And a fabulous CEO of my own house and finances.

This is the first of many posts. I've started this blog because I need it for accountability and a point of reference. I also needed a way to share my experiences with other people who have started or need to start the same journey as me.

One more thing: You wouldn't go somewhere you've never been before with out a map, right? Well, I've never been HERE before. (I've been at the start of a weight loss goal, but NEVER at this weight, and it's never been more important than now. So technically, this is a "different" journey. A new trip.) So, I mapped out a plan and put it on THIS PAGE.

I've also set up a page that tracks progress. First, it will track progress of my weight loss goal. From there, I will also track progress of the other tasks on my "List" page. Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither will this blog. It will always be evolving and expanding!

That's it for today.

Tomorrow will be better.