Wellness Wednesday- It's all about accountability....

As in the case of my blog title, i've also been thinking about what I should call this feature. I've been contemplating whether or not this is an appropriate forum for  my musings in this regard, or whether I should start a whole blog all together. I've decided that I have enough blogs to juggle at the moment. Hmmmm could blog juggling be called bloggling? Anyway, so here it is and here it will be. It's my blog, to do with what I wish. I am hoping not to turn off my readers and that in the event that this isn't your thing, you'll at least tolerate my ramblings, if not enjoy them and if I can project an optimistic thought, perhaps even be inspired by a word or two! If all else fails, I'll be happy if some of my banter produces a chuckle!

So, back to my original contemplation-WHAT do I call this column. WHAT is it that I'm getting at? Well it's this. For those of you that have met me in person, you'll know that I'm a hearty woman......lol. For those of you that have known me for many years, you've seen me at various levels of heartiness. Extremely hearty, (Would that be Hearty Har Har?) Quite hearty and I would say Moderately hearty at the moment. You can insert {........} here; other adjectives that could describe hearty: heavy, overweight, chunky, chubby, fat. Please, whatever you do, don't call me a burly girl.......THAT would make me feel like Paul Bunyan or some other sort of iconic Lumberjack! Point is, i've been struggling with my size for most of my life. I've gained a lot of weight, i've lost at least a gazillion pounds, gained some back only to lose again and repeat the cycle.

I must say that I have had some measure of success in maintaining an 85 lb weight loss over a few years ( I had actually lost 107 lbs, but I seem to struggle with  the 22 lbs in between the two numbers. For the last three years i've yo-yo'd up and down between that weight range, when my true goal is to take off about another 25 lbs. I KNOW that some of you may say that it's not all about the weight, but rather the inches or the size of your clothes, or how you FEEL, but I know that it's an approximate number that should bring me to my ultimate goal of wearing a size in the single digits. Now that is the VAIN part of me speaking. My vanity factor has greatly diminished over the years; in fact I feel that I'm aging gracefully and would even go as far to say that I feel far more attractive at 47 than I did at 22, when my hair was much bigger than my waist. My personal drive to get the last bit of excess baggage off my body (geez, to bad I couldn't just hire a bellhop to carry it away) is to feel better overall and having been through this process a gazillion times (you need to do a gazillion different programs to lose a gazillion pounds) I KNOW that I have WAY more energy when i'm eating better and moving. Moving makes me feel GOOD!

I've done almost every diet out there. I've done it on my own (actually, that is how I took off the last chunk) enrolled in extremely expensive programs and with an informal support system. I've had a difficult time remaining motivated in the last year or so and have been thinking about signing up for yet another weight loss program, but then......wheels in motion here, I realize it's really not about the program, but rather the accountability. Having to be accountable to a paid program has been helpful with regard to achieving my goals. Quite frankly, with the cost I am incurring due to my return to University, I simply can't afford to purchase accountability. I know, I really should (and have in the past) been able to be accountable to myself. I'm just finding it difficult. Sooooooo I am enlisting YOU my readers (even if you skip this post) as my support system, my mentor's my people to which i'm accountable. Each week I'm going to keep you posted with my progress with regard to my choice of diet, exercise and progress. I'm not really comfortable displaying my weight on the internet for all to see, but i'll make an honest effort to report my progress with regard to my goal of eating healthy and moving and perhaps how many notches i've reduced on my belt. I'm also going to include a photograph or two...........don't worry, i'm not going to display myself in bicycle shorts and a sports bra, but I think even in a snug t-shirt and some faux lulu's we'll be able to see the difference! I'm going to include some websites that i've found to be helpful, perhaps share some literature and tips for both weight loss and over all wellness............yes, overall wellness is my goal here.

One of the tools that i've been dabbling with over the last year is the My Fitness Pal website. It's a free online community that includes food and exercise tracking, a place to set and track goals and well, a community. You can blog, peruse various discussion boards and the best thing is that it's FREE! You can also get the app for your smart phones, so that you can track ALL day long, wherever you are, so there's really no excuse not to........although I must say i've been hit and miss with this. So my goal for this week is to MOVE 4 days out of 7, to avoid Candy and Desserts and to make a committment to let you all know how i'm doing next week.

I am at an advantage of having a beautiful place to walk each day. Living in a somewhat rural area, I can walk along a road that's not too busy, or I can venture out into the back yard and down the hill into the conservation area. Yesterday, Sydney and I enjoyed a long walk. Here is some of our finds

 A sure sign that Autumn is coming!

I find cattails so pretty!

Here's another blog that I find inspirational : The amazing adventures of Dietgirl. Shauna lost 175 lbs over 5 years. It took a long time and like me, she's had her setbacks and regains, but she's seen overall success. Real people; just like me, just like some of you. Essentially, most of us have struggles with something or other, so perhaps the inspiration can be transferred to something that is more conducive to your own personal goals.

See you next week for check in!


And about my project of course. I made this fun journalling page using some stamps and dies from IOstamps. I created my background with Tim Holtz distress inks in Spun Sugar, Tumbled Glass and Peeled Paint. The quote is from Maya Angelou. What a strong, determined and intelligent woman she is! I finished off the page with some Diamond glitter for a little  pizzaz and some fun dies from Impression Obsession.

Supplies

Stamps: Sing,  Cover a card Tree line  Impression Obsesssion

Dies: Birds     Nest and Hole

Ink: Tim Holtz

Glitter, Marker, Sakura Gel Pen, Art Journal