Day 26: Don't dwell on the past (there is no future in it)

"You can't have a better tomorrow if you are thinking about yesterday all the time." ~Charles F. Kettering

That quote is one of the truest statements I think I have read in a long time. Sometimes we think so much about what happened yesterday that we can't even begin to think about tomorrow. We can't think about today, for that matter.

Oftentimes I think we get into the "blame game". We take responsibility for nothing. "It was our parent's fault! It was the school's fault! It was our neighbor's or uncle's or brother's or sister's fault! It was God's fault!"

Instead of taking responsibility and moving on, we dwell in the past so that the past is all we see. We are the "helpless victims" of whatever wrong was done to us and that is where we stay. I am just as guilty of falling into this trap as anyone else is.

Don't get me wrong, abuse of any type is terrible and it is not the fault of the one who was abused. It is hard to move on from those things. I understand that. I am not saying that a person is awful because they are dealing with some bad stuff from their past. But that is the whole key, "deal with it" and then move on. Don't dwell on the past, there is no future in it!

Sometimes I think we carry this "victim" thinking with us when we work on weight loss, too. "It is not my fault that I am fat!"

Whatever our reason is for being overweight, we are here now. That's a fact. Something we have to deal with and move on from if we hope to lose weight.

I hope I am not coming off as being uncaring and rough about this issue. It is just that unless we can start to take responsibility for our part in things, we never go anywhere. We sit and dig a rut that we wallow in and go nowhere. I have done that in my life. I suspect that many of us have done that. Unless I can start to look forward toward tomorrow, then I will go nowhere. Personally, I want to move ahead. I am guessing you want to move ahead, too.

If I am totally off on this post, please don't be afraid to comment. Sometimes I am not the best at explaining what I mean if I am feeling "fired up" about something.

Be good to yourself and to one another.

Karin

Day 24: I can think of nothing

Do you ever have one of those days when you just can't think of anything meaningful to say? Well, today is one of those days for me.

Remember to be good to each other and to yourself.

Day 23: Problems can make us stronger

"Problems are to the mind what exercise is to the muscles; they toughen and make strong." ~Norman Vincent Peale

I hope all of you that attended the weigh-in and were able to hear Ben Dehn talk to us about exercise enjoyed it. I know I did. One thing that stood out for me was that "if you believe you are working out/exercising, you do better." It is mind over matter. You have to "think" you are exercising.

Hmmmm... if you "think" about it that way, you would be strengthening your mind and your body!

Another thing that we learned was that according to the American College of Sports Medicine (acsm.org) we should be doing moderately intense exercising for 150 minutes a week, or approximately 30 minutes a day five days a week. This can be in the form of fast walking or other cardio type activity. Weight training is one of the safest forms there is.

Some of you asked how we figure the percentage for weight loss. This is to figure out the percentage of weight you have lost, not the percentage of weight you need to lose.

We will use my weight to show the calculations.

Take your new weight (258) and put two (2) zeros behind it (25800). Divide that by your starting weight (263)=98.1 (I rounded it up as was the rule in math when I went to school 100 years ago (I rounded that figure up, too!).

Next take the result, in my case 98.1 and subtract that from 100=1.9. That is your percentage. So I have lost 1.9%. Woo hoo!

On that note, I will end this post with this thought: remember that any problem that confronts us can make us stronger if we exercise our minds over it. It is not the problem, but how we respond to the problem that defines us.

Be good to yourself and to one another. It's a nice day, take a walk and enjoy it!

Karin

Day 22: Are we content with failure?

"The great question is not whether you have failed, but whether you are content with failure." -- William Shakespeare

Don't you think that sometimes we are content with failure? Isn't it sometimes easier to say, "okay I failed, so what?" I think it is a harder course to forge our way through the failure, get to the root of it, and turn it around.

Of course, I am speaking of this in terms of weight loss, but it could be applied in other areas of our life, too.

We can always take a situation where we have failed and make something good come out of it, even if it is "just" learning a lesson.

When I step on the scale I am seldom content with what I see. I would guess for most people this is true more often than not. I think few of us are "content" with not losing weight. We want to lose weight and we want to see results. When we don't see results we become frustrated and feel like failures. I don't know about you, but I am not content with failure in this case.

Contentment can take many forms, though. I can say I want to lose weight and am going to do "better," but instead I do nothing. That is my curse. I get frustrated with my inability to consistently lose weight and I become despondent and find myself no longer wanting to try. I get frustrated with my failure. I get frustrated to the point of giving up or at least seriously wanting to give up.

I am often content with mediocrity in some areas of my life because it seems like it is too much work to strive for greatness. Are you also content with mediocrity or failure?

Ask yourself today what you want to aim for and go for it!

Remember, in the face of our failures to be good to yourself and to others!

Karin

Day 21: I'm bored! Pass the potato chips!

"If we are what we eat then I am fast, cheap and easy."

There are several habits we can fall into in the realm of over-eating.

On of the big ones appears to be eating out of boredom. I have heard a lot about this lately. Actually, I have done a lot of this lately. You know what this is: you are sitting watching TV or doing some other semi-mindless activity and you are chomping away at a bowl of popcorn or chips or something equally unhealthy. (I never find myself munching on a head of lettuce or a stalk of celery.)

It is so easy to fall into bad habits, isn't it? It seems to be especially true with eating-or overeating. We can so easily fall into traps related to food from telling ourselves that we "deserve" to over-indulge to telling ourselves we are never going to lose the weight anyway so why even keep trying?

Well, as for me, I am working on changing those falsehoods and trying to fill myself with good, healthy messages not only about food, but about myself, as well.

Be good to yourself and to others.
See you Monday at the weigh-in!

Day 20: Keeping the faith

Sorry, no quote today, so let's just get right into the "meat" of it!

I think that our emotional health is as deeply a part of weight loss as is our physical health, perhaps even more because we don't always think about our physical health unless something is wrong, but I know that I think about things ALL the time.

I promised you a link to the short course I took online about emotional eating. It was pretty good and I think you will find it refreshing.

From Ginny's site:
Do you need to release excess weight?
Are you a thin person screaming to get out?
Are you being hindered in your life's purpose because of emotional eating?
Do you long for freedom from food addictions?

Does any of this sound familiar to you?
- "I NEED chocolate"
- "This stress is killing me...what can I eat?"
- "I'm depressed...I need some ice cream"
- "I'm SO tired...I need caffeine"
- "I'm bored...restless...angry...where's the food?"

My FREE mini e-course will teach you 10 Biblical principles for overcoming emotional eating, and get you started on a journey of releasing excess weight, learning how to deal with emotions from a Biblical perspective, and creating the life you were designed to live. Sign up here to receive 10 Biblical Principles to Overcome Emotional Eating.


Coaching you back to hope,

Ginny Edwards, Owner
Times of Refreshing Wellness Center
ph:901-488-4167 fax: 662-349-0592
ginny@timesofrefreshingwc.com
www.timesofrefreshingwc.com
"creating wellness...from the inside out"

I think you will be blessed and enjoy the information.

Remember to be good to yourself and to each other.

Karin

Day 19: Give humor a try

"I'm not gaining weight, I'm retaining food." ~Janice Taylor, Our Lady of Weight Loss from her new book titled, All is Forgiven, Move On, Our Lady of Weight Loss's 101 Fat-Burning Steps on your Journey to Sveltsville

Is it just me or do we sometimes forget to laugh when it comes to weight loss? It is so much easier to get all stressed out about it and get down on ourselves. Do we forget that we "fat" people are supposed to be jovial souls?!?

Some argue that weight loss is no laughing matter. I disagree. I think any situation can be turned into something that we can laugh about, not years down the road, but right away. We have to dispel the false belief that we can't poke fun at ourselves. Granted, we can tend to be cruel to ourselves, but let's turn that cruelty into something better, let's turn it into a laugh.

I think if we laugh, if we truly laugh, the deep laugh, you know, the one that makes your whole body shake because you are laughing so hard, we will be certain to lose weight. If we laugh like that every day (10 times a day 10 reps each time) we wouldn't have to diet. Additionally, think of the awesome abs we would have!

There is a lot to be said about laughter and the healing powers of it. Why not try it out today? It could be the best and easiest "workout" you've ever had!




Disclaimer:
Please note that I am NOT a therapist or mental health professional. I have my degree in psychology, but it doesn't make me a shrink any more than going to McDonald's makes me a hamburger. I am simply writing about things I see, read or think. These are my beliefs or opinions (unless otherwise noted) and should be taken as opinion and inspiration only, not as recommendations by which to live your lives. Thanks, I just wanted to clarify things in case anyone had any concerns.

Day 18: Filling the gap

"I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody." ~Bill Cosby


I was thinking about emotional eating, today.I don't know why I was thinking about it, except for the fact that I had recently read about it and I was eating greasy, carb-laden french fries at the time I was thinking about it. Correlation? I don't know. You decide.

I don't know a whole lot about emotional eating. I have read a few things like I indicated above. I even subscribed to a miniature course on emotional eating (over-eating). What I have come to understand about it is that sometimes we eat to fill areas where we feel we are lacking. If my interpretation is accurate, then we are trying to fill "gaps" or self-perceived "gaps" in ourselves or our perceptions about ourselves.

Food has been an easy antidote for me. Have a bad day? Eat a bag of potato chips. Fail a test? Eat a pan of brownies. Think I look fat today...eat everything in sight!

I don't understand how this happens. I have not researched this topic in depth. I just know that I do this. Maybe you do it, too.
I do have to say that it has gotten better for me just because I want to heal some of the damage that my over-eating and being large has caused in my physical body.

However, dealing with the causes of emotional eating or over-eating have to be dealt with as well. My friend and I were discussing this today. She said that she has concluded that people who do over-eat and get heavy do it because somewhere along the way we lost our self-esteem. We said to ourselves, "I'm already fat—who cares if I eat that, too?" Then you feel even worse after you eat all of that junk so it just spirals until it is out of control.

It seems like those who have more self-confidence or will-power can say "no" to eating if they are feeling a little "fat".

I can't speak for others, I can only speak for myself. We need to find something to fill these perceived "gaping holes" in ourselves with something other than food.

I will find the link to the emotional eating mini course that I took and include it in a future blog. It is God-based, just so you know. Personally, I find nothing more wonderful that filling myself with the Word of God than with food, but I can't tell you what you should do. This is just something that works for me. There are also many other emotional eating resources on the Internet. Just go to Google and type in "emotional eating".

Remember to be good to yourselves and to each other. The weather is great! I love spring. Let's get out there and walk.

Reminder: We have a mandatory weigh-in on April 27 from 1 p.m. until 6 p.m. at the Eagle Bend clinic. At 5 p.m. we will have Ben Dehn, a physical therapist from the Long Prairie Hospital talk to us about exercise. This is also at the clinic.


Disclaimer:
Please note that I am NOT a therapist or mental health professional. I have my degree in psychology, but it doesn't make me a shrink any more than going to McDonald's makes me a hamburger. I am simply writing about things I see, read or think. These are my beliefs or opinions (unless otherwise noted) and should be taken as opinion and inspiration only, not as recommendations by which to live your lives. Thanks, I just wanted to clarify things in case anyone had any concerns.

Day 17: Believing in the impossible

"There is no use trying," said Alice; "one can't believe impossible things."
"I dare say you haven't had much practice," said the Queen. "When I was your age, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast." ~Lewis Carroll

Do we dare to believe "impossible things?" Do we dare to dream the dream of losing weight? Do we dare to do what it takes to pursue the "impossible?"

Sometimes it might seem like losing weight is just impossible! We feel like all we are doing is eating and eating and eating! We think to ourselves, "I can't lose weight anyway, so I might as well just eat!"

I know that I am easily discouraged so it is easy for me to lose faith in what I am doing. If I don't see immediate results, I find myself wondering why I didn't just eat that piece of cake or whatever. I think to myself, "It doesn't seem to matter what I do...I gain weight, so I might just as well do whatever I want."

It is hard for me to believe the impossible. It is hard for me to believe that I will ever be "thin" because I believe that to be something that is impossible.

However, if I think along the lines of yesterday's blog, if I want to change things, I have to change how I think about them. I need to change my mind about what is possible and start focusing on that.

On a different note: I have been following a blog about weight loss on beliefnet.com. If you want some further encouragement, go to that site. I have also been posting some information on my facebook page.

Remember to be good to yourselves. Don't be discouraged. Trust me, I know what that feels like, but if we keep on keeping on I think we will be pleasantly surprised. Even if we don't lose all of the weight we wanted to or don't win the contest, we can be pleased that we persevered!

Karin

Day 16: Changing what we think

"What you thought before has led to every choice you have made, and this adds up to you at this moment. If you want to change who you are physically, mentally, and spiritually, you will have to change what you think." ~Dr. Patrick Gentempo

Have you ever wondered how you got into the situations you have gotten into? It just doesn't seem possible that we get into some of the predicaments that we do.

While I was gaining weight, I knew what I was doing. I made my choices. For some reason though, I was living under the false belief that exercising less while eating the same amounts had nothing to do with me gaining weight. I thought, "There must be something wrong with me. I should not be gaining weight like I am."

There was something wrong all right, but I didn't or couldn't see at the time what the problem was.

I want to change who I am physically. That means a change in the way I think. Not just the way I think about food and eating and exercise, but in the way I think about me, too. My thinking about things in my life has to change. If you want to see change in yourself, your thinking has to change, as well.

If we can change the way we think about this, just think about the other things we could change in the world (even if it is just our own personal world) if we would just change what we think?

Remember you can get information on our website

If you want to read the most current Be A Loser With Karin articles or check on your progress, go to: www.inhnews.com. Click on the Be A Loser link and you should find what you are looking for.

Remember to use your Be A Loser cards at our advertisers establishments. They help make this contest possible!

Day 15: TGIM

"Have patience with all things, but chiefly have patience with yourself. Do not lose courage in considering your own imperfections but instantly set about remedying them—every day begin the task anew." ~Saint Francis de Sales

Having patience with ourselves seems to be a malady of our humanness. It is hard to keep the faith when we are not seeing results. I speak from experience. I stepped on the scale today hoping and expecting to see a reduction in my weight. But, alas, there was no reduction. In fact, I had gained! How could I have gained? I was starving! I had been counting my carbs, eating the bare minimum and, yet, over the weekend I had gained a whole pound!

I was sad. I wanted to get mad at myself, but then I realized, what good would that do? I had done everything right. I was following a course of counting carbs. I was not cheating. I just needed to remind myself to be patient. Sometimes the scale does not immediately reflect what we are doing. Sometimes other factors interject themselves. I just have to remind myself to be patient. If I keep on the course I am going, surely the scale will reflect my hard work (and losing weight is work, isn't it?) and I will be rewarded by seeing a lower number when I step on the scale next week.

The last part of the quote is equally important. We need to set about the task of remedying our imperfections, or our perceived imperfections. I am working on that.

Remember to thank God it's Monday!

Be good to yourselves and to each other. The weather has been great lately so get outside and enjoy a walk! If you see me, join me!

Day 13 & 14: Every day can be a fresh start

"I am still determined to be cheerful and happy, in whatever situation I may be; for I have also learned from experience that the greater part of our happiness or misery depends upon our dispositions, and not upon our circumstances." ~Martha Washington
(1732 - 1802)

What a positive attitude!

I really can't add anything to what she said.

I finally got my home computer to work for writing my blog, but find myself curiously with nothing to say.

Enjoy the quote! Enjoy the coming week.

Be good to yourselves and to each other. Remember, this coming week is another great opportunity to encourage each other as we press on toward our goals!

Day 12: Music has a way to make it all better

"If music be the food of love, play on." ~Shakespeare, Twelfth Night

The following is the lyrics from the song Mirror, by Barlow Girl. It is a religious song, but even if you are not religious, this song certainly has relevance. We often look in the mirror and let that piece of reflective glass define who we are. I wrote about this a few days ago, but it is worth repeating: WE ARE MORE THAN WHAT IS ON THE OUTSIDE!

We may be overweight by a little or a lot, we may have gray hair or bald spots, but the inside is the place from which our true beauty is reflected. If we get our insides "right" the things that are "left" (like our being overweight) are really immaterial, aren't they?

Remember to be good to yourselves and to each other. Enjoy the spring weather by taking a walk!

Barlow Girl
Mirror Lyrics:

Mirror, Mirror on the wall, Have I got it?
'Cause Mirror you've always told me who I am
I'm finding it's not easy to be perfect
So sorry you won't define me
Sorry you don't own me

Who are you to tell me
That I'm less than what I should be?
Who are you? Who are you?
I don't need to listen
To the list of things I should do
I won't try, I won't try

Mirror I am seeing a new reflection
I'm looking into the eyes of He who made me
And to Him I have beauty beyond compare
I know He defines me

You don't define me, you don't define me

Day 11: Don't always deprive yourself

"I have this theory that chocolate slows down the aging process.... It may not be true, but do I dare take the chance?" ~Unknown

When we are "on a diet" we tend to deprive ourselves of important foods, like chocolate. As a diabetic, I know that chocolate and other things with a lot of sugar in them can be dangerous to my health. However, if I constantly deprive myself of those "bad" things, eventually, all I can think about is chocolate or a can of pop. If all I am thinking about are those things, then I am not on a good path because I will, more likely than not, fail.

I think some depravation is good for people, but not all the time. When I deprive myself of the "good stuff" for too long and I spend all of my free thinking time, thinking about chocolate or pasta or rice or whatever, then when I get my hands on it, I gorge. NOT GOOD.

If we practice moderation in our eating habits, all eating habits, I think we would be better off. As a diabetic, I have a list of dos and don'ts and the number of carbs I should eat a day. It forces moderation, but I do feel better when I eat the lower amounts. Still, I don't totally deprive myself either. I just don't think it benefits me to just cut off chocolate completely!

If you are diabetic or think you might be, check with your doctor on what you should or should not be eating or drinking.

Before starting any diet, contact your physician! Drastically reducing your intake or your intake of certain foods can be risky. Do it right and talk to your doctor first.

Be good to yourself and each other. Try to encourage another "loser" today!

Day 10: What is success?

"Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm." ~Sir Winston Churchill

If the above statement is true, then I am afraid that I would have failed miserably as a success.

It is so easy to lose our enthusiasm isn't it? When I stepped on the scale on Monday I was dreading it because I knew I had eaten quite a bit throughout the previous week and I had neglected to do more than a mile or two of walking in total. I was getting ready to face my failure to lose weight. However, I was pleasantly surprised when I saw that I had not gained. I had not lost any weight either, but I had not gained and I was so happy about that. I counted it as a success, even though all I did was ...nothing.

I want to do more, but I lose my enthusiasm when I fail. It seems like sometimes in the weight loss "game" that I fail more than I succeed.

I decided that I can't beat myself up over these failures, however. I find that when I "beat myself up" I end up eating more or doing more of the very thing that I beat myself up over in the first place!

Be good to yourselves and keep up your enthusiasm!

Day 9: We have to move

"Even if you are on the right track, you will get run over if you just sit there." ~Will Rogers

There is a lot of truth in the above statement. Sometimes we get on the right track and instead of moving along, we just get stuck and stay in one place. Instead of the bold strides we made at the beginning of our journey, we become stagnant and unmoving. We tell ourselves it is okay because "at least we are on the right track."

Thinking of this in terms of weight loss we can be doing everything "right." We are counting our carbs and calories and whatever else it is that people count when trying to lose weight. We are on the right track. But we are not investing ourselves in physical activity. We are not "moving."

I am a big advocate of walking as I am sure some of you know. I have seen the benefits of this simple activity and encourage myself and others to walk whenever they can. If you can walk, you should because in addition to all the other "counting" that we do, if we added in "counting our steps" we would have the added benefit of "moving".

I can't speak for anyone except myself, but when I walked I felt so much better and not just physically. Walking has a way of making me feel better emotionally as well. I am sure there is research that has been done to explain why this is, but I don't have that information, all I know is that it works!

I bought a tire pump so I can get my bike ready for some riding also. It's that movement thing. I encourage all of you to join me in walking, riding, running (not me yet) whatever it is that you like to do, go ahead and do it, but get moving. Don't get run over!

Be good to yourselves and each other. Remember, even though this is a contest, we still will benefit if we support and encourage each other!

Days 6-8: Let your light shine

People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within. ~Elizabeth Kubler Ross

I missed posting this weekend. Part of it was a technical problem. It seems that my computer at home does not have the most current version of something and so it would not allow me to get to the page where I could type. I apologize for that and with hope will have the problem resolved by this coming weekend.

I like quotes. The above quote was one of the top ten quotes on a website that I frequent. Here is the link. If you like quotes, too, you will enjoy the site. http://www.famous-quotes-and-quotations.com/inspirational-quote.html

Sometimes I think we forget the simple things in life, like the fact that our true beauty lies within, not on the outside. We can brush and polish and hone the outside to a shiny finish, but without that same thing done to the inside, we really won't shine. Our true selves won't show through when all around us darkness prevails.

I am not saying that we should not take care of our outsides, but we should never neglect the inner us, either.

Day 5: Sugar can be a "big" problem

"Never look down on anybody unless you're helping him up." ~Jesse Jackson

As some of you know, I am a Type II diabetic. One of my biggest fears was becoming diabetic because I have a huge fear of needles. I am not at the point that I have to take shots, but even just the testing process terrifies me.

Consequently, I have been reading more and more about natural cures and ways that they claim diabetes can be cured permanently and safely with herbs and things like that. I am not sure I believe that, but I want to try out all my options before I resign myself to a life of medication.

I received an e-mail today about unbalanced blood sugar. It was an advertisement for a natural herb remedy, but I thought some of the information they presented was interesting. It stated that unbalanced blood sugar...

"Makes it tough for you to lose weight, no matter how hard you try..."
"Drains you of energy, always leaving you tired and sluggish..."
"Puts a big strain on your heart, cholesterol, and arteries..."
"Negatively affects your memory and moods..."
"But the real shocker is: New medical research warns that too much sugar reduces your immunity by up to 92 percent!"

Wow! If this is all true, it certainly explains a lot of what has been going on in my life! I have had a tremendous battle losing weight, I am always tired and sluggish, my memory is shot (if I don't write it down, it didn't happen!).

The biggest thing for me was the thing about the immunity. I have been sick much of this past winter which has made it extremely difficult to keep up with walking or working out. In fact, I have done very little walking or working out since I first got sick in December. It was another sinus infection which I have been plagued by since my youth. I have since had at least two other sinus infections. The last one is still hanging on (going on 3 months now).

Well, I don't always believe everything I read, but if this is even half true, we really need to evaluate things, or at least I do. I have not been very conscientious about counting my carbs lately and this shows again that I need to do that.

I must also confess to you that I have been drinking soda pop again. I started drinking it again in February on a regular basis. I had stopped drinking it except on a rare occasion, last April. I have been limiting myself to only a can a day (sometimes two), but I know that I really need to cut that consumption off again. Pop is doing me absolutely no good!

Be good to yourselves! Remember you are the only you that you have.

(Sorry if this post seems a little scattered...It's that tired and sluggish thing....)

Day 4: Either way you are correct

"Whether you think you can or whether you think you can't, you're right." ~Henry Ford

Henry Ford nailed it with the above quote didn't he? If you think you can, you are right, but if you think you can't, you are also right.

Losing weight and getting into shape follows this thinking. If we think we can lose weight and get into shape, we can. However, if we think we will never be able to lose weight or get into shape, we are right about that, too.

It is not easy to break old habits and change our eating habits, but it is something we are fully capable of doing. We just have to set our minds to it and do it.

Our minds are our biggest barriers to weight loss. Forget what the scale says, it is what our own internal critic tells us about ourselves that makes us or breaks us. A pound or two on the scale up or down, means far less than the critic who tells us that we are destined to remain heavy.

Part of losing weight and getting into shape is telling that internal critic to be still for a while. Proper mindset can make or break the battle for each of us.

Choose today to do what you know you can do. I am behind you!

Day 2 and 3: I don't want to work out!

First off I wanted to apologize for not posting anything yesterday. This is something new and I am not used to doing a daily blog yet and simply forgot to do it. I apologize.

Now for Day 3:

I don't want to work out. I paid my money already at the fitness center, but I can't make myself go. It is like the old saying about you can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make him drink! Same thing here. You can take me to the fitness center, but you cannot make me workout if I don't to do it.

The fact is I would like to work out every day or even every other day. When I was going to the fitness center on a regular basis last fall, I felt great. I looked forward to the time at the fitness center putting everything out of my mind and just working out.

It isn't easy to commit to something like working out or losing weight, but if it is something we truly want to do, then we have to put it in our minds that we are going to do it. If it means "making time for it" or just not being lazy (that's my problem), then we have to dedicate ourselves to overcoming whatever is holding us back! I know that this is easier said than done, but we must at least make an effort.

The "Real" Day One! April 6, 2009

Well my fellow losers, whether we are ready for it or not, today is the day we do our first weigh-in. The day we face the scale and say that we will not be afraid to look our problem in the face and say we will no longer let it rule us.
We can take control of our weight. For some of us it will be harder than for others. For some of us, it will be a daily struggle, but one that we can make it through.
Battling the "bulge" has been a struggle for me for many years. Like many of you, I didn't become out of shape and overweight overnight. It was a gradual process that crept up so slowly at first that I didn't realize it was happening. Once I did, I felt helpless to do anything about it because I thought I was too fat to exercise. Besides, I couldn't possibly be as "chunky" as the scale said I was. That thing had to be wrong!
Well, the scale wasn't wrong. Once I started admitting that I had a problem, I could come to terms with it and either let myself remain as I was or I could change it.
I chose to change it, partly for health reasons and partly, I will admit, for reasons of vanity. I am tired of looking fat and out of shape!
It's exciting to know that I CAN do something about my weight. I found that out last year when I lost weight after years of thinking it just wasn't possible.
For those of you in the area who are joining the Be A Loser With Karin challenge, I look forward to charging forward with you as we encourage and push one another along toward our own personal goals!
Good luck and Press on!