Deidre, Her Blogging and Her New Site.

So have you seen it?! Dee's new and improved official page? You gotta go see it if you haven't already! There are so many wonderful products available for purchase! You should go to her new and exciting site and go check out the new gadgets. She's got great information on her new book coming out on July 20. "Deidre Hall's Kitchen Close-Up" should be exciting and I'm sure all of us will find it very helpful. Dee also has a beauty section that is filled with all natural products that are easy and great on your body. Things like sunscreens, eye lash enhancers, primer and more. If you're interested go check it out! There is also a tab on there that I use. It's for the support on your deit and exercise. The Chubettes, that's what Deidre called her weight loss contestants, are incredibly supportive and push determination your way. You'd be amazed. I owe part iof my weight loss to them even though I'm not finished. Deidre is now blogging like us! There is a tab to take you to her blog. She's just starting but I bet it'll be great. She's also going on tour to Australia to do a health, beauty and empowerment event that has been in the making for 32 years. I can't go cause I already have plans but if I were you and I had some extra change and wanted to have some fun in Australia I would go. I really wanted to go but as I said before, I'm pretty busy. So yeah, go check her new site! Maybe every now and then you should check out her blog. Deidre's a funtastic lady and I bet you'd like what she's doing. What a role model! Good luck on all your programs and progress! You'll be fine! Succeed together, fail together and conquer together! Oh jeez! I almost forgot to give you the website link! Whoops! Hah! Here you go: www.deidrehall.me

Can I Have Some Fettucini and A Bikini?

I was looking in the mirror the other day. It looks as if these crunches have been doing some good! I'm going away for holidays next week and where I'm going has a pool. Is it time? Is it time that I finally try a bikini? I've told myself well, let's go shopping and try on a few first before we make this wobbly decision. So where to go, where to go... Anyways, I looked at the scale yesterday. Can you imagine that I'm only a half a pound heavier even after all the junk food, snacks and sugary sweets that were consumed during those stressful weeks I was telling you about?! I can't believe it! Maybe my metabolism is beginning to behave. I guess all this work has been doing some good, huh? Any who, I'm still kinda nervous to go into that change room and try on a bikini. I love to eat but I'd love to fit into a bikini. I have a problem, don't I? Wouldn't it be nice if I could have lots fettucini but still be able to wear a bikini? That's pretty corny isn't it? Well, you know what I mean... Do you have any bikini or bathing suit stories you are willing to share? I'd love some reassurance. So if you could just get on reassuring me, that would be great. Thanks! Hah! Succeed together, fail together and conquer together.

To Those Who Are Still Here...

For those few people who are still checking up on this blog I apologize for not updating. Yeah it's been a while but boy has it been busy and stressful. It was hard to find the time to update you on what has been going on with the weight loss plan. I wasn't to impressed with my diet and exercising so I thought what was the use in telling you about it when I did get some spare time. So since I have some spare time I can tell you it hasn't been easy keeping with this plan ever since Deidre Hall's Weight Loss Challenge ended. Though there has been some reassurance on her Weight Loss Challenge Forums. The Chubettes are just dandy and still super supportive. I'm glad that Deidre and the crew didn't get rid of the forums because I bet some of us just would've fell apart. But we didn't and the forum is still here so cheers! Hah! I appreciate those who still visit this blog every now and then but I am disappointed to tell you my diet and exercise hasn't been so consistent. I am back in the loop now but I felt so bad when I wasn't. Due to the stress and things that happened this past month made some stress eating happen. I am a bad stress eater! I hate it. But I realized that when the stress was over how much easier it was to focus on my plan. I am almost stress free now and am proud to say I am back on the plan and bursting with determination and energy. I really hope you all come visit this blog every now and then to see the progress that I make. Even you could share a few stories, comments or complaints on how you have been progressing through your plan. You know I'd love to read them. I hope I made this clear enough! I didn't make this blog only for me but you too! So come along with me on my journey of weight loss. Don't be afraid to fail because only you and the support of this blog with reassure all of us. Succeed together, fail together and conquer together!

Should I Welcome You?

So as we all know, today is Weight Day. This morning I thought to myself before I weighed in, should I be welcoming Weight Day or dreading it? The answer today was apparently welcoming! Surprisingly after my holidays and all the Easter treats that I have received I dropped four pounds. That's ten all together! I'm actually pretty happy! That is ten pounds in three weeks! I hear from a reliable source that is this the healthy speed to be losing weight. So if you are all listening please do not lose weight too fast! It isn't healthy for your body. Besides it's kinda the point to still lose weight but stay healthy, isn't it? Well that's what I think. So, my weight loss challenge is off to a good start! I feel energized and determined, hopefully that feeling will continue till I reach my goal weight! I am doing well hopefully all you "wanna-be-thinners" are doing great as well. If not, feel free to share what you have been having trouble with in the comments box. I really recommend that all of you "wanna-be-thinners" visit Deidre's weight loss challenge/forums page. I am so glad to be apart of it. The support on those pages are amazing! Well I have things to do so please, share your progress with us! We'd love to hear... Oh and should I post another smoothie recipe? Any ideas on what kind of healthy things to broadcast? Again, feel free to share! Succeed together, fail together and conquer together!

Simple Smoothie Recipe

Okay, so today I was thinking what I should include on the blog and came up with a pretty good idea. I've been telling you I have been drinking these homemade milkshakes/smoothies right? Why not tell you some good recipes every now and then? They're healthy! They taste good! Come on, try it! You know you want to!

Fast Strawberry Yogurt Smoothie

Ingredients

• One cup (250 mL) plain low fat yogurt
• Four cups (1 L) of ripe strawberries
• Half a cup (125 mL) of fresh or 100% orange juice
• *Optional* 1 tsp of sugar or honey.

Directions

Put all ingredients into a blender and blend/chop/or whatever you do with your milkshakes for about 15-25 seconds. If the drink is not fully blended try blending for a few more seconds. This recipe does serve four people so feel free to make one for your friends or family. Especially if they come to workout with you! They make good breakfasts, snacks and healthy little "rewards" So go ahead! It's that easy! Oh man I sound like the 'Slap Chop' guy off those commercials... Hey! Maybe you could use a slap chop for those strawberries, huh?

Succeed together, fail together and conquer together!

Rough, Tough and Chocolate

Boy! Don't you hate it when Easter comes around and there is all this chocolate everywhere? Well I don't hate it cause I love chocolate but it's a tough time to be loosing weight. I got these little chocolate eggs with the coloured tin foil cause they look so good and plus it's kinda like a tradition in our family. It was a hard process on which to get them but hey, they say you should have at least 5 peice of chocolate a day. Don't take that from me cause I heard it on the radio and who knows where it came from. So since I've been back from holidays I have been working out like crazy! It is so busy with work and all it kinda just drains you out doesn't it? Rough and tough are the two words I would use for losing weight this time of year. I just got back from a fast and long bike ride. I also did 100 crunch-like things. I think I might do another 100 tonight. Today for lunch I had another salad. Twas very good indeed. I put lettuce, peppers, tomatoes, and all that jazz in there along with some straberries. Just so I felt I was eating right there was some pork chop to go along with that. I say try to make your salads interesting! It's more fun! Different and exciting salads are better than just normal ones that bore you to death every time you decide to have one! Come on try it. Think of some good things to put in there and then tell me what it is! I would love to try something new aswell! Stay STRONG! We all know how difficult that is this time of year! Succeed together, fail together and conquer together! J.

Holidays Have Ups and Downs... Yikes!

DO NOT be like this guy!

Hey all! Sorry it's been a while since I updated... I am now back from holidays and am feeling bad about how much chips and crap I ate over the holidays. I did too much snacking. I hope I didn't let y'all down but then again you know how holidays are. Anyways, I'm getting back into the routine and have exercised today. I did some abdominal work and went for a speedy bike ride. I feel so energized! I didn't check my weight on Weight Day like I was supposed to. I'm sorry! I'm just so scared to look cause of all the crap I consumed over these holidays of mine. I'm just happy that I am home and can get motivated to get back in the mode. I'm really wondering how all of your programs are going. Care to tell me? Hmm. It makes me curious. Anyways just a quick update not much to tell. You should go check out Deidre's weight loss blog, she's updated it. Here is the link. ---> http://deidrehall.me/challenge_blog.html Stay strong everyone and stay happy! Work hard but not too hard! Take a break once in a while... Succeed together, fail together and conquer together. J. Ps. Happy belated Easter! :)

Upcoming Week

Happy Thursday all! Guess what? It's Grey's Anatomy night! Can I get a woot woot? Ok I'm just updating you all on what has happened. I wouldn't say much of anything interesting has happened but hey an update is an update. Well I have been a little more stronger with my diet this week. I have been eating salads for my lunch this whole week and even some for suppers. Though I had some really good pasta and sausage last night for supper. I am hoping the scale's numbers will have decreased by the time I check the scale this weekend. Which reminds me, I am on holidays this upcoming week so I am not sure how well I am going to be able to update y'all. I have been exercising and hope that my hardwork will pay off soon. I have been drinking some great homemade milkshakes latley and some fresh fruit. My local grocery had a good deal on pinapples and mangos this week so guess what I bought. Mmmm. They're pretty tasty. Is it bad if I had pineapple, a mango AND a milkshake last night? Gah! Oh heck am I hoping I dropped some weight...Gotta get to my goal weight, don't cha know... Hah! Anyways, I'll talk to you all sometime soon hopefully. Stay strong and tootles! Succeed together, fail together and conquer together! Yes! J.

It's A Fun Kind of Ouch.

Hey all! I just wanted to update you on what happened this fine Monday. Well when I got back from work I put on my sweats, a sweater and tied my hair in a ponytail. Hold on, hold on! I know that wasn't that interesting but I ended up going for a bike ride with a friend. We went for about an hour. It was great. I'm kind of sore now though. I think I need one of those jelly seat pads for my bike cause my butt is just killing me. My legs are feeling the nice worked sensations too. Well the comforting feeling is that I can have a nice warm bath later and be proud that I went biking for that long and that hard. I'm sure you all can do it! You should try it's actually pretty fun! I do recomend doing it with a friend though, it is so much easier! Support is the best thing you can do other that exercise and eating healthy when you are trying to lose weight. Take it from me! Anyways, after I came back from the ride I had a few spoonfuls of yogutrt. I heard that milk products are good for you after you work out. My friend had a smoothie. Those are good too! Smoothies with milk, yogurt, bananas and strawberries. You can pretty much put anything in it!I plan on having a salad tonight for supper. Boy, I feel good! I love the proud feeling you get after you worked your butt off, literally. Anywho, I know that was a short update but just wanted to tell ya about my little biking adventure. Succeed together, fail together and conquer together! J.

Scale Day! Ahh!

Happy Sunday all! Hope you all had a great weekend. Today as we all know is Scale Day. Ahh! Well I weighed in and surprisingly I am the same weight I was when I checked last weekend. I expected that I was going to have gained a few pounds. I expected that because last week was very stressful and well, I'm a bad stress eater. I think my exercise played a role too though. I wasn't as determined as I was the week before. There is gonna be a change to that, I'm gonna give 'er this week and decrease some more numbers on the scale. Well I was watching the TV last week and you neer would have guessed what I saw. There was really nothing on the TV and I was trying to look for something that I could watch and work out to so I was flipping through the guide when I came upon "The Bonnie Hunt Show". I always thought Bonnie Hunt was pretty nice and heard her show wasn't all that bad either so I decided to watch some. It was so weird, I was watching while I was exercising and she brought out this fancy little weight scale. The fancy thing about this wasn't just that it looked snazzy but didn't tell you your actual weight. It simply just told you if you gained or lost some pounds! Isn't that neat? I found it kind of funny though because this came on when I was working out. Anways, Windows 7 is now installed on my computer. It's gonna take some getting used to but I think I'll manage. I really hope you guys keep on checking in on Deidre Hall's weight loss challenge. I know I am. Again, feel free to comment and share your weight loss stories. I would love to hear from you all, you know that! Hah! So go ahead feel free to tell me about what has been going on, possibly your weight, maybe even your goal weight and where you are now. I think it would all help us to feel a little more supported if we do this together. So join us! Say it with me, succeed together, fail together and conquer together! J.

Stay Strong! No Excuses!

It's very hard to type and eat an apple at the same time. Yeah, you better believe it! I'm eating a apple. Gosh, apples are good...and healthy! Wooh hoo! Well this week has been very stressful. This is dangerous because being stressed is not healthy! Especially when you are trying to lose weight or any other time I guess. Stay away from stress they tell me! What if you can't? Anyways, I'm staying strong and hopefully everything will be alright. Unfortanately I didn't go for my bike ride today. The wind was way to strong to go against which would most likely be a good workout. My excuse is that I am working out every night anyway. That's another thing! Try not to make excuses! Weight loss can be tough but and so can trying not to make excuses. When you are trying to lose weight and for example you say, "Ah, I'll just start exercising next Monday I took the stairs today anyway..." BAD! You will get yourself no where! No where! Determination in the key once again. Just kick yourself in the butt and tell yourself to go for a walk or jog after work. Who knows you might not even need to go those two things! There are many types of exercise! Me? I do biking, walking and running. I don't even do those all the time. I do different things... I work my abs, arm muscles, leg muscles. Come on! Try anything. Be free my little "wanna-be-thinners"!! You'll thank me in the end! You just gotta eat right(healthy), snack less and exercise! You'll feel good and that good feeling will boost that determination that allows you to keep it up. Trust me! It works! I'm reporting this from many people's views not only my own! It works for me so far. I've lost 6 pounds in two weeks. I must say I could do better but it is a pretty good start hey? Well Deidre Hall updated her weight loss challenge blog. Go check it out! www.deidrehall.me/challenge_blog . She recently weighed 133 and then some of her Chubettes were complaining that she was getting too skinny. So she made the desision to maintain that weight. Turns out in her latest blog she quotes, "No surprise, maintenance is not as easy as it sounds. I'm 135 and back on two shakes a day and being a little less cocky." Hah! The woman is right! You got to work to maintain! Thats a fact! Anyways, I think thats a long enough update. Just wanted to get you caught up! Please, if any of you feel you want to share any weight loss stories... Well, you just go right ahead! Keep in mind, succeed together, fail together and conquer together! Stay strong! J.