On My Way to a Healthier Lifestyle

For quite some time now, I've really neglected my physical health. I have always struggled to maintain a figure and a couple of years ago, I sought out a nutritionist. She's fantastic and at one point, I had lost almost 30 pounds with her. I looked great and felt so much better...until I got sick. More accurately, I became severely stressed out with my job and life in general. It would take them 6 months, multiple tests, and several specialists to diagnose me with "STRESS". During that time, I gained all my weight back and then some.

I have a doctor's appointment coming up at the end of this week. A couple of weeks ago, "just for fun", I weighed myself. Never in my life have I weighed this much. I decided it was time to do something about it! I went back to my nutritionist and she gave me a VERY specific diet, tailored to my needs. I ate the same thing every day last week while telling myself that I would eat dirt if it would help me lose weight. I lost 5 pounds last week. I also started working out again. I have two left feet but I LOVE to Zumba!! I also enjoy the challenge that Jillian Michael's gives me! . I feel so much better about myself and look forward to reaching my ultimate goal....to lose 50 pounds by May 2012. I would post the specific date if I knew what day my graduation from my EdS program was, but I have not heard the official date yet.

One thing I have felt that I can't live without is pasta. I LOVE PASTA! I could eat it for every meal but my nutritionist says I can't have it until I lose another 10 pounds. However, she mentioned I could have spaghetti squash. Hmmm....I've never had that, but OK! If it works and curbs my craving, I'll try it. So, tonight, I made some spaghetti squash with homemade sauce (no added salt tomato paste, tri colored bell peppers, mushrooms, garlic powder, onion powder, crushed red pepper, and some basil). It was fantastic! It worked! It tastes just like spaghetti! I wanted to share the pictures with you as I also had some other veggies. In total, this meal was 415 calories after adding in the 4 oz of grilled chicken!

What have you done to be healthy lately?

Bloggiesta is here!

I love the weekends!! This one is going to be great! It started off at 5:30 am when I got a call from the Superintendent saying that school was canceled due to the snow! Those of you living in the North would die laughing if you saw our snow. It's ridiculous...there is more snow in my freezer than on the ground in my 8 acres of land! LOL I'm glad they are concerned about the ice on the road though...it's worse after the sun goes down.

Anyway, the other great part of this weekend is Bloggiesta!! Natasha, over at MawBooks is our gracious hostess and she has all sorts of great things planned. I won't be able to participate as fully as I'd like but since I'm not working today, the party for me will begin a few hours earlier! Some of my goals for the weekend are:

1. Finish reading Green by Ted Dekker Finished at 2:30 AM EST 1/9/2010. One of the most interesting books I've read. Look for review soon!
   
2. Finish reading Calamity Jack by Shannon & Dean Hale with illustrations by Nathan Hale Finished at 4:25 pm EST 1/8/2010...look for blog tour next week! 5 of 5 stars!!!
   
3. Write reviews for above mentioned books
4. Start Mailbox Monday post for next week Set to post early Monday Morning!
   
5. Write Teaser Tuesday posts for month of January
6. Clean up Google Reader (too many blogs that are not even active anymore)
7. Learn how to make buttons for my contests
8. Learn how to make a signature for my posts
9. Write up contest posts for upcoming blogger birthday (there will be many so be sure to come back and check it out)
10. Update numbers for 200 Followers Contest and The Last Surgeon giveaway
11. Update spreadsheets with new books and challenge books for this year Completed at 7:32 PM EST on 1/8/2010.
    
12. Participate in at least 5 challenges (Here's the list to choose from)
    

• Rebecca from The Book Lady’s Blog – 2010 Resolutions. You know you got them!
• Pam from MotherReader - Blogging is about community, so check out this Comment Challenge (watch for a Mr. Linky to be up on Saturday for you to complete this challenge).
• Danielle from There’s a Book – Blogging takes time & I’m sure we’d all love to blog faster. Using a cheat sheet is just one idea of how to save time. Completed at 10:35 PM EST 1/8/2010. What a great challenge!!! Everyone should do this one!!
  
• Pam from Bookalicio.us – There is nothing worse than seeing your post on somebody else’s blog. Talking about blog copyright and what you need to be doing to protect yourself.
• Beth from Beth Fish Reads – Using categories & labels to find what you’re looking for.
• Jackie from Farm Lane Books – Do not lose it all! How to back up your blog.
• Karin from Karin’s Book Nook – There is nothing worse than landing on 404 error pages. It’s time to go on a dead link hunt!
• Chelle from Tempting Persephone – You have some great content. But can people find it? Here’s showing off the best of the best.
• Kristen from Bookworming in the 21st Century - Introducing a new blogger mentoring program and forum.
• Jenn from Jenn’s Bookshelves – Got nothing to say (not likely – that’s why you’re blogging in the first place!) but here is an opportunity to brainstorm blogging topics. Completed at 1:30 AM EST 1/10/2010. Now trying to figure out how to upload PowerPoint into Google Documents to post here!
  

13. Comment on other bloggers posts!!! I don't do this near as often as I should!

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BBAW: Goal Setting

Today for BBAW, we are to talk about some goals for our blogs in the coming year. Am I happy with my blog right now? I am ok with it but there is so much that I want to do!! So, my goals are as follows in no particular order:

1. Get my tabs fixed and in working order (Ali is helping me out with this! Thanks Ali!)
2. Go to 3-column instead of two
3. Clean up some of the "stuff" on my sidebars
4. Become a more active blog commenter
5. Write more interactive posts to gain more readers
6. Fix the gap between my "share" link and my "tweet" link
7. READ MORE BOOKS! :)

Happy Blogging and BBAW!!