Monday, January 28, 2013

First Loss with NutriSystem

I wasn't sure I was going to blog about my weight loss journey, but I decided, with some prompting from friends, to go ahead and do just that.  On January 12, 2013, I started the NutriSystem program.  

This is actually my third time with NutriSystem, the first being way back around 1988-89, when I lived in Denver.  Back then, they had small storefronts in mini malls, and you went in every week to get weighed and counseled and to pick up your food for the week.  The food was fair, but I wasn't expecting a lot from diet food anyway, and some of the items were tasty.  After about four months on the program, I had lost 30 pounds, which I was very happy about, but I had noticed that I was having cravings for things I had never even eaten before, like raw mushrooms and oysters.  At least twice a week, I found myself buying raw mushrooms and stopping for fried oysters on the way home from work.  Obviously, my body was craving something that I wasn't getting through my NS food, and that concerned me, and I noticed an odd aftertaste from a lot of their foods.  Not long after that, I quit the program.

My second shot at NutriSystem was in 2006, and by then they had online ordering and mail delivery.  The food was all shelf-stable, no refrigeration required, but you still had to provide your own dairy, lean proteins, fruits and vegetables.  I stayed with the program for over a year and lost 60 pounds.  I eventually started eating non-NS food, and left the program again, hoping that I could keep the weight off by eating sensibly.

My plan didn't work so well, and I gained back some of the weight I'd lost.  It wasn't that I was eating a lot of unhealthy foods (though I must admit to some junk food eating), it was the quantity of foods that caused the problem.  So, I'm back on NS again, and the majority of their food is still shelf-stable, but they also have frozen foods available, which I'm thrilled about.  All of their food has been greatly improved, and knowing that I've lost weight on their program before is really motivating to me, so I'll be able to stick with it until I get down to a healthy weight.  I'm not interested in being stick-thin, but I do want to bring my blood sugars down to a manageable level without medication and to just feel better and be more active, so I'm excited about this.  

I'll keep you updated on my progress.  Wish me luck!

Oh!  I forgot to say that I'm only checking my weight every two weeks, and in the first two weeks of the program, I lost 12.2 pounds!  I know the weight loss will slow way down from here on in, but it's a good start :)

Monday, January 21, 2013

Life After NaNo

NaNoWriMo ended on November 30, 2012.  It's now the 21st of January 2013, and I've had a tough time with the writing.  I've FINALLY decided to give in to my characters and let them write Chrysalis as a romance.  It's a story being told by two people, rather than the single-sided story I had intended.  

But characters, as you know, have minds of their own, and after fighting with them back and forth, I give up.  Why the battle? I dislike reading romances with a passion...unless they have an excellent plot.  So, I thought, "Why should I write a book that I wouldn't want to read?"  

The answer is simply that this is a book I WOULD want to read, with depth to the plot, a wonderful location, and characters that anyone can relate to.  These aren't stunningly beautiful well-toned young 20-somethings.  My characters are fairly well-along in their years, experienced with life and its pitfalls, who somehow find themselves living at the same time in a quaint little town on the Washington coast, at a place in their lives neither of them expected to be.

Monday, January 7, 2013

God on a Harley by Joan Brady

It's a short story, but pretty profound.  Here are the six commandments as written in the story:

1) Do not build walls, for they are dangerous.  Learn to transcend them.

2) Live in the moment, for each one is precious and not to be squandered.

3) Take care of yourself, first and foremost.

4) Drop the ego.  Be real.  And watch what happens.

5) All things are possible all of the time.

6) Maintain Universal Flow.  When someone gives, it is a gift of generosity to receive.  For in the giving, there is something gained.

They sound like good lessons to learn.

Three things I would like to get rid of this year

1) Procrastination

2) Laziness

3) Fear


Sunday, January 6, 2013

State of the Union Address 2013

Okay, so seriously, I'm not the President, so this is actually the "State of My Life 2013".

Will be spending more time on spiritual matters.

Will be writing all year, including in the three NaNo events.

Will be submitting at least two poems for publication.

Will be reading 100 books this year, already finished the first one.

Will be sorting through, organizing and donating a bunch of stuff.

Will lose weight and get out more.


Will hug my friends and family more.

Will have a good year :)


Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Books Read in December 2012

Campbell, Joan; Jennifer Fromke; Sheryl Holmes; Deanna Klingel
- The Christmas Tree Treasure Hunt
Fiction.  Short story written by several authors about a woman fighting an old hurt, and the treasure hunt her grandmother sends her on to find balance.

Hill, Nancy
- Twelve Days of Fruitcake
Fiction.  The story of people connected by a fruitcake.

O'Dell, Scott
- Island of the Blue Dolphins
Fiction.  Fictionalized representation of a true story.  In the book, a young Native American girl is accidentally stranded on a small island off the coast of California, when the rest of her tribe flees to the mainland. Her quest to survive under harsh conditions with little more than her two hands to make her way as her life is threatened by a pack of wild dogs and Aleut hunters.

Thomson, Rachel Starr
- Worlds Unseen
Fiction.  First in a fantasy series starring a group of people united in a common cause to save the world.

Wagler, Ira
- Growing Up Amish
Non-fiction.  Autobiography of a man who struggled with being Amish and went against everything he had been taught and left his family and his religion to find peace.