Fessin' Up: THE LAST WEEK Y'ALL!

I am re-posting (at the end of the update) Mari McCarthy's guest post from Wednesday where she discusses journaling and weight loss. It's not too late to join the giveaway for her new book, Who are You? How to Use Journaling Therapy to Know and Grow Your Life. All you have to do is tell me in the comment section that you want in! 



AND I have read all of your wonderful comments on my last post and will respond to those ASAP now that I'm home and can use the computer instead of my phone on which my fingers are so much bigger than the keyboard that I always hit the wrong keys and have to go back and change everything before I finally get it right and it's just HARD.

The LAST week of the Slimmer this Summer challenge is OVER! This is sad news AND great news!

Sad news because I always hate it when something really fun and inspiring ends. Great news because the challenge was the absolute best thing I've done for myself in a long time!

My goals for the challenge stayed safe throughout! FOR 12 WEEKS Y'ALL!

Water intake: I've had at least 64 oz of water every single day FOR 12 WEEKS Y'ALL!

Exercise: My WEEKLY total of walking FOR THE LAST WEEK Y'ALL was--- 25.66 miles! I fully intended to go further but I got rained out early one day (thanks Irene) and use Saturday and Sunday as recovery days so I only go about 1.5 miles on those days. 

Calories: Maybe the most amazing part of it all was the fact that I kept my calories within challenge limits FOR 12 WEEKS Y'ALL!

Here's the breakdown for week 12-THE FINAL WEEK Y'ALL:

• Monday:1018
• Tuesday:1210
• Wednesday: 1220
• Thursday:1345
• Friday:1324
• Saturday:773
• Sunday: 780
• WEEKLY TOTAL: 7670 calories

Discoveries?  YES! This LAST WEEK Y'ALL ended with my family reunion. My SOUTHERN family reunion. With COMFORT FOOD EVERYWHERE! I ate NOT ONE SINGLE BITE Y'ALL! I took my own fruit and sandwich! That's right. AND for the car trip up on Saturday, I prepared snacks- carrot sticks, lowfat string cheese, bananas, apples, grapes! And I had a salad for dinner that night! OH- Pictures of the reunion will be posted on Tuesday y'all!


Here are the numbers FOR THE LAST WEEK Y'ALL:

Weight loss:  -2.5 lbs (Total for 12 weeks: 44.5 pounds gone forever!).

Inches: -0" total (chest:= -0"; hips = -0"; waist = -0"; neck = -0")  Total for 12 weeks:-25.5 inches off forever!


Absolutely cannot wait for the next challenge to begin! LET'S DO THIS!

Lose Weight the Journaling Weigh

You might think that shedding excess poundage and keeping a journal have little in common. How could lounging in your easy chair playing around with a pen and notebook have any positive effect in your struggle to lose weight?

Well, that unassuming pen and journal pack a lot more punch than you'd think. In fact, they can become central to achieving your goals.

Losing weight is a matter of changing your diet and exercising. Everybody knows that. But even more fundamentally, it's a matter of making a commitment, setting a goal, outlining a strategy.

And even more fundamentally than that, losing weight is a matter of honestly wanting to lose weight.

And then the Ultimate Fundamental that is absolutely necessary for weight loss is the belief that You are capable of getting what You want.

This is not simply rhetoric. I'm talking hard core practicalities. No weight loss program will be successful in the long term unless the individual

1.  believes she can succeed,

2.  deeply desires to weigh less and become more healthy,

3.  is willing to make a commitment to stated goals,

4.  makes a detailed plan of action towards achieving those goals,

5.  and finally, amends her diet and starts exercising.

And where does journal writing come into the picture?

I don't know about you, but even though I'm generally self-confident, there is always that far away shadow of doubt, that deep down worry that I might screw it up and fail. This isn't uncommon, I'm sure. It would be suspicious if I had no fears at all.

So the issue is not to become fearless, the issue is to maintain fear and confidence in proper balance.

The journal is where you can keep that balance. Your journal is your repository of plans, records, stories, reflections. Your weight loss journal might include:

·         Thoughts about being overweight

·         Visions of a slimmer You

·         Plans for losing weight

·         Menus

·         Exercise routines

·         Daily reports (calories consumed, time exercising, discussions with pals on the subject, descriptions of how you feel, stories about what happened today)

·         Discussions with your Inner Coach

·         Confrontations with your Inner Critic

·         Helpful quotations or resources you came across recently

… and whatever else you can collect as support for your weight loss project.

From time to time, as you look back on previous pages in your journal, you build an appreciation for how far you have progressed. Even if you've not come as far as you'd hoped to by now, in re-tracing your journey you find new motivation.

Your journal is not just helpful in your weight loss endeavors; you may actually find it indispensable.

By Mari L. McCarthy - The Journaling Therapy Specialist, founder of Journaling for the Health of It™.  Please visit Mari's blog at http://www.createwritenow.com/journal-writing-blog/. In Who Are You? How to Use Journaling Therapy to Know and Grow Your Life (http://www.createwritenow.com/journal-therapy-store#ecwid:category=1077033&mode=product&product=4674145), Mari presents a gentle process for self discovery through journaling. Mari's latest publication is titled, Your Money Matters! Use Journal Writing Therapy to Get Financially Fit Now. See http://www.createwritenow.com/journal-therapy-store#ecwid:category=1077033&mode=product&product=5436679 for details.