nisey140

Well Hello buddies, it has been so long since I have written anything… My life has been full of ups and downs since I moved out to Arizona (12/30/2008) from my tiny little home town Blythe, California…

It’s been so hard financially, which I know I’m not the only one saying that… But the good news is that I did finally landed a job back in October 09, and everything is going fine there… However our income has been cut in half and it’s been pretty tough to manage…

But (there is always a but) but I have made it through a year here, only by the grace of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ… He has provided me and my families ever need and to HIM I give all the GLORY!!!

So I find myself… In a job where there is potential to grow and my husband is almost 1 year closer to graduating Kaplan College as an Respitory Therapist… YAY for us… (to GOD be the Glory)

I have had a loss in the family recently (a few dayz), my cousin and if anyone knows me, you know how close I am to my cousins… Her name is Tayah Marie Powels… She was 26 and cancer has taken her from this world of temporary into everlasting… Her Memorial is Monday… So pray for me and my family… It has been very difficult for all of us… Tayah, Tayah, Tayah…

And to close this babble, I must report I joined buddyslim on 07/02/2009… I was 248, and now today (01/17/2010) I am happy to report I am 203.2, that is 44.8 pounds… SO YAY, ONEDERLAND here I come!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi buddies, not much going on today… I’m going to go meet with a small business owner later for a possible part-time job… So I’m excited about that… Only part I don’t like is he lives in Scottdale and I live in Glendale so that means the freeway… Boooo, I hate the freeway….

Yesterday, I eat all day it seems (healthy eats)… a tiny bit over 1900 calories, which would seem like not such a big deal if I were looking at it with the eyes I had before July, but I was starving all day :o… It could be because I just went to the store on Thursday and had a bunch of yummies to eat… I thought when I got on the scale this morning it would show up… I was preparing myself for the worst… Well I’m happy to report I am down another pound 233.8, but I not going to change the ticker til I know it’s for sure… I am the fluctuating queen… Down, up, down a little more, up, then boom down… That’s my pattern, I have been tracking it on a chart… LOL, Im good at accounting and graphs and stuff, so I tend to do that alot… LOL

I’m going to finish my challenge I started with my buddy Jennifer today (99 Squats and 64 push ups left) and a few another things, but other than that Im going to focus on this possible job thing…

I know this is very boring… :)  Sorry!  Hopefully I will be more exciting tomorrow… Keep your chin up buddies…

O yea before I go I wanted to share a piece of this song that I shared with one of my other buddies today, if you are feeling a little down, I hope this helps… Its a church song and a little bit of it goes like this:

Some-times you have to encourage your-self

Some-times you! Have to speak victory through the test

And no matter what you feel, speak WORD and you will be healed

Encourage YOURSELF, Speak Over YOURSELF in the Lord

 Stay up Buddies… We can do this!

Hi Buddies, I hope you are having a blessed day… I wanted to share with you a quick update on how I’m doing… Getting back into the groove with working out, I worked out Tuesday and going to do some tread, squats and push-ups as soon as I’m done here… I’m also doing okay with my eating… Staying under my calories, but my groceries are low and am doing the best with what I have (grocery store tomorrow)… I am happy to report that I joined a team… It’s the Wildcats, and I can’t tell you how supportive these ladies and gentlemen are… Thanks kittens boyz and girls…

I am in the 230 club - 235.2 to be exact so I coming along.. I have an appointment tomorrow with a trainer trying to lose 2 for the Friday weigh in… I don’t know if I can pull it off but I’m trying.. I’m doing good started on July 2 at 248 and now on August 12 I’m at 235.2, that is 12.8 pounds in 6 weeks! Yay for me!  A little at a time… And that brings me to the next part of this blog…

I have read some of my buddys blogs and some of them are worried because they are feeling that they are falling short in one or two aspects of this hard hard journey and some of them are feeling neglected when they are so supportive of others and don’t feel the love back… I wanted to leave them with this poem… I want to leave all of us with this poem… 

Making the Difference 

An old man walked up a shore littered with

thousands of starfish, beached and dying after

a storm.  A young man was picking them up

and flinging them back into the ocean.

“Why do you bother?”  the old man scoffed.

“You’re not saving enough to make a difference.”

The young man picked up another starfish

and sent it spinning back to the water

“Made a difference to that one.” he said

You make a difference, everyday

I see this poem and it’s relevance in two ways… (1) If you can’t exercise today do good on your food intake.. If you can’t do good on both because you are going out of town or to a friends party or whatever, keep your water up intake… Stay positive when it seems as if nothing is going right… Make a difference in one thing and it will make a difference in you… (2) This site works because of the supportive people on it… When you read a blog and leave no comments, it hurts, especially if you are one of the ones that read all your buddies blogs and comment, read all the forum and do your best to comment, answer emails and send boosters… And you only have 2 comments and you have 50 buddies it hurts, motivation is a key part of this journey, we must help each other… Just putting a “keep your head up”, or “:)”,  or “You can do it!”… It truely makes a difference… Think about it, peace love and hair grease buddies… xoxoxoxo

Thanks for all your support! 

I wanted to open up to you all a little bit more to let you know why I do what I do, I wonder if you noticed that I pray alot our talk about the bible or God… Well just to fill you in on that I wanted to give you a little history on where I come from…

My Grandfather on my mothers side was a preacher, long before I was born and until he died… I was raised in the church and I’m not exaggerating.  We (me and my cousins) spent Sunday all day just about in church at least 6 hours…  We were there on Wednesday and Friday Nights for bible study.  My grandmother was the first lady of the church… I remember her in her beautiful dresses and hats and giving her all the church (meaning the people that made it up).  She would get up early and go tend the grass and the cleaning of the church, pay the bills, etc… My Aunt Evett was our sunday school teacher, she married a preacher who was the assistant pastor of my grandpa church til he got his own…  My aunt Wanda and Debra have beautiful gifts from the Lord, they sing like angels so they were our choir directors… My aunt Joyce taught all of us girls how to sew at the church every saturday.  I grown up singing in the choir with my cousins… Just like my mom grew up singing with her 7 sisters…

When my grandpa and grandma died, my eldest cousin Sam took over the church and asked me to help him (me being the second oldest - I was the sunday school teacher) we started the church in the same small church my grandpa built in the tiny town called Ripley (outside of the Blythe) I mean tiny, population maybe 3,000… Well people started coming from Ripley and Blythe (Sam is a blessed speaker) and we grew beyond what the little church in Ripley could hold so we moved to Blythe (a much bigger church)… This is my life praising and celebrating the Lord.   Many of the boy cousins became Ministers and girl cousin married ministers… Henry (hubby) became a minister years later after finding salvation at our church.

Me and my  cousins had a big get together in my backyard last year… We were raised more like brothers and sisters than cousins, and before we do anything we thank God for all his blessing, we were raised to go to God for everything (I included a picture) - this is only the cousins and our kids in the picture, except my mom!

So when you see me praying just know it is familiar to me like looking at my face in the mirror… And I believe it is the best part of me and would like to share that with you… Love you buddies xoxoxoxo

Hey buddys just a quick update, I made it back to the gym yesterday for the first time in about 10 days and boy it was hard to get back into the swing of things… I didn’t do weights because I have been having alot of cramping (this week and last, need to get to the doctor soon about that) and I didn’t want to trigger it by straining… However what I did do is 25 minutes on the treadmill, 20 minutes on a cross trainer and 15 on the bike…

I have been eating good, and I am proud to report I didn’t have a soda yesterday, yippie for a small goal met, what am I saying that was huge to me!  

I got on the scale this morning, it went down finally… it said 236.7 (11.3 pounds down) Does this mean I am finally out of the 240s, can I claim this victory, I mean I have been out of the  240s since July 21, that is about two weeks :)  but sometimes that scale plays tricks on me with it’s fluctuations, we have a love hate relationship… Today is definately a love love relationship, we will see how long it lasts

I hope you all are having a blessing day and a great week! xoxoxoxo 

Hello buddies… Just a quick note to let you know I’m back on track… I went grocery shopping today and got what I needed to be successful… Tonight I’m making a fruit pizza with a the kids and having turkey burger burritos… If you want the recipe for the pizza email me…  I will be doing the tread mill later today and tomorrow back to the gym for the first time in over a week… I’m holding strong at 238, I’ve lost 10 pounds in July, so in August I would like to lose 11.  I wanted to share this bit of inspiration with you, I hope you like it!

Growing with Each Day

The potential that lies within each tiny acorn is huge,

just as it is in each of us.  Nature rewards

the persistence and patience of the acorn by giving it

the strength to grow into a powerful, mighty oak.

By realizing your natural potential, you have achieved

great results and continue to grow each day.

 When you believe in yourself,

the sky’s the limit!

So I hope that hits you like it hits me… I had 108 pounds to lose when I started on July 2, 09, know just 30 days from then I have managed to turn that number into 98… It seems like such a big number, but if I just do it 1 pound at a time it will grow into my accomplishment of being who I want to be, my own oak tree, I can do this and so can you, one minute, one hour, one day at a time.. Keep on pushing and keep your head up… God bless you all my buddies!

This post is inspired by my friend Nanette, she asked me to tell her about my journey before this cross - roads so I did and wanted to share it with you all too.

Well my journey starts with me much smaller then 248, needless to say I haven’t always been this big… I have two kids (Henry and Kamryn)

and with both of them I gained 50 pounds (184) was my highest weight, but I lost it with exercise and food restrictions… I went through life after kidz at about 140-150 which was fine with me… Wore a size 7-9… I was hot (lol) if I say so myself…

Ummm… in about 2004 (Nov), I decided to leave my job (I was a correctional officer at a mens prison), wasn’t for me… I left but I left good money and my retirement (and I was the bread winner), so need less to say I got really depressed, for a year I sat on the couch and eat fast food… (Fast Food had alway been a part of my life, I was able to keep off the weight, eating this way in the past because I was active) but sitting on the couch for a year and fast food equals the big fat ass I have now!

Over that first year and a half I gained about 54 pounds putting me at (204) I told myself while I was gaining I would never get over 200 pounds, but I couldn’t stop it, it was like opening the flood gates!

From 2006 to now I picked up another 44, putting me at (248), I don’t recognize myself now… Ive tried to change it a bunch of times, by eating right, exercise, a million different fad diets and pills and I lost at the most 9 pounds… And each failed time I was running faster and faster towards the number (248)…

People look at me different now… And finally I said enough is enough, I have to stop the madness… So June of the year, I joined a gym with my cousin and didn’t really lose at first… On July 2, I started eating right plus exercising and the pounds started to slowly come off… On July 5, I joined buddy slim and now I’m down 10 pounds, I beat my max weight loss by 1… And that is my story in a nut shell, I am so ready now for this fight…

Just a quick note to let you know I’m still kicking… This past week has been a little rough with struggles and sickness, but I’m pushing through… Last Friday I went to go pick up my kidz who have been in California with grandpa/ma for a month… I was actually getting use to the house beening quite and the computer being free… Well I don’t have to tell you it isn’t that way anymore… Friday I did good on the food, Saturday I woke up at my moms and she made this dish from my childhood (that I love) it’s really simple it’s white rice with butter and sugar mixed with crispy bacon and eggs… I love it… So I had a plate… That was my one cheat that day… Sunday I woke up not feeling great (female issues that I have been struggling with since May) I didn’t eat really bad, but I felt I eat all day and my stomach was really heavy feeling, oh yeah and soda got the best of me…

Monday I did better on eating but stomach was to mixed up to go the gym and a repeat on Tuesday (so I haven’t gone to the gym since Thursday)… I’ve had a small gain from 238.2 to 239, which isn’t that bad but I don’t feel good about it… I’m trying hard to get out of this funk, I don’t know what it is, I had a dream about gaining weight and woke up in a panic, I will not go back… My stomach is still a little messed up so this is my plan for this week… Eat right and take it easy this week and hopefully it will pass and I will be refreshed next week, ready to kick butt…

I hope everybody is doing well, I went back to catch up on all my buddies, wow I hate getting behind because I feel bad to not supporting you guys plus there is so much reading and I want to leave comments and send emails with some substance not just ”You can do it”, which started to happen after awhile… sorry…

Well my people, I’m still in the fight… I hope your week is going well, keep your head up and God Bless 

Hey buddy’s, I was reading a story and it was so inspirational to me and I wanted to share it with you all, so here it is -

Believe and Achieve

Each fall, monarch butterflies in Main begin an

unbelievalbe journey to a hilltop in Mexico.

How do they do it?  They focus on the goal,

not the difficulties.  Each day they take their bearings

and set off, allowing their instincts and desire to

steer them.  They accept what comes: some winds

blow them off course, others speed them along.

They keep flying until, one day, they arrive

Your determination makes the difference!

I know we can all do it!  We have to stop making excuses when it gets hard and temptation is stairing us directly in our face… And if we do make a flub here and there we can not let it archor us to this fat!  Keep on moving buddies and we will soar right into a healthier life… Keep your head up and let’s do it!

So I just wanted to jot a few lines down to let you know I’m still kickin.  Nothing fascinating go on, but I have been eating right (a little low on calorie intake) and doing my exercise plan 4 days a week…

I went to the gym tonight and did my whole workout routine (once around) meaning legs, arm, back, shoulder, chest, tri’s, bi’s you name I did one set of everything… Usually I break it down and do all leg one day and all arm, chest, etc the next day (2 sets), but the trainer told me to shake it up and confuss my muscles so I did….

Then I went on the tread for 30 minutes (or at least that was my intent), I was doing 1 run 3 walk and about minute 15, this unbearable cramp would not let go of my left calf… I thought I was going to fly off the back of it… (I didn’t though) I  hit the stop button with a panic and hobbled to the bike where I struggled in pain, but did an extra 20 minutes…

No yoga this Saturday instead I’m going to play tennis with my cousin, we will see how that goes…. 

Well buddddies that’s all I got… Kinda non eventfull but still on track…. Oh I lost another pound… How could I forget that… 241, almost in the 230 club… can I get a what what, LOL!