Still around

Hey guys. I'm still here, I just haven't had much to say recently. I'll be back when I have something to write about.

Weigh-In Results!!

This week I lost....




I am ecstatic! Take THAT, Thanksgiving.

Starting weight: 260
Current weight: 225.6
Weight lost: 34.4
Pounds to go until I'm under 200: 26.6

I'm telling you, getting rid of my scale is the key to a lot of this success. I have also been paying real close attention to my internal hunger cues and only eating when I'm physically hungry. Otherwise, I just distract myself. Combine all of that with eating smaller portions and booyah! -3.2 pounds. I'm a bit excited (if you can't tell).

This post is going to be short and sweet since I need to finish a couple more pages for the chapter I'm working on and finish getting ready for work. But, yeah, I'm hella excited right now.

I hope you all have a wonderful rest of your day!

Healthy minds create healthy bodies

Randomness and Q&A

You know, every once in awhile I think about turning off comments to keep my focus on blogging for myself as opposing to potentially blogging for others. But, I don't think I ever will. For many reasons:

1. Comments keep me humble. Whenever I make a gaffe or put my foot in my mouth I like that there are people out there that will speak up and/or put me in my place. I like that. Sometimes it stings, but it's good to be questioned. Other bloggers keep me focused when I veer off track and let me know when I'm being a complete spaz.

2. I don't pretend to know it all. Other bloggers offer valuable insight that I may overlook if I don't allow input from others. Most recently a few people suggested that I put away my scale. Best thing I have EVER done in regards to my weight loss journey.

3. Others that have experienced similar emotions/situations/failures and can give me insight to how they dealt with it, offer me a shoulder to cry on, or suggestions about possible solutions. I find this kind of interaction invaluable and I don't know what I would do without it.

I didn't think that my post yesterday would elicit so many different opinions, but I'm glad it did. I got to hear from some people who always offer me invaluable advice, from some new people with fresh and interesting opinions, and from some people who always give me tough love. (Don't worry Rebecca, I'm not sneezing at my amount of followers. I'm honoured that anyone wants to read what I have to say, let alone on a regular basis.)

And, I have to admit that I got a rush when Jen from Use Real Butter left me a comment on yesterday's post. She has an amazing food blog that I have been following for eons. Sometimes I just get lost in her blog. She is such a skilled photographer. So, maybe I'm just as much of as an attention whore. It's good to recognize our weaknesses, right?



Okay, I wanted to respond to some questions that people have left me in the past week or so. First up is Just Another Fat Girl who asked,

Where does the Turkey come from on Thanksgiving and how did that Candadian holiday evolve? Did you have Pilgrims, too?

I am SO embarrassed to admit that I had no idea where Canadian Thanksgiving came from. All I remember learning about it in school was making construction paper turkeys. Shame on me. So, like the good little history student I am, I went and looked it up. According to Canada First:

[Canada] did actually have the FIRST Thanksgiving, a full 43 years before the pilgims at Plymouth Rock, but, in true Canadian fashion, there was something wrong with it. That first North American Thanksgiving would have been "celebrated" in sub-zero temperatures on a barren, windswept moonscape by a muttering, mutinous crowd wondering whether "the chief" had all his marbles.

In 1576, Sir Martin Frobisher set out to find the Spice Islands. He landed instead on Baffin Island. The complete absence of trees and a pitiless terrain of unrelieved rock and permafrost barely dampened his determination to establish the first English settlement in North America. Not yet disabused of his perennial optimism, he spent two years mining "gold ore". When it was well and duly hauled back to England, it assayed out as iron pyrite. Fool's Gold.

By 1710 we were back on track with this Thanksgiving thing. Records at Port Royal, Nova Scotia, note an October 10 thanksgiving celebration to mark the return of the town to the English. In 1763, Halifax celebrated the end of the Seven Years War with a similar ceremony.

In 1879, Parliament formally declared November 6 as a day of Thanksgiving, and so it remained until after the Armistice of WWI, when Thanksgiving and Remembrance Day would have conflicted thematically during the same week.

When Thanksgiving was assigned to its present second Monday in October, former Ontario Premier E.C. Drury, head of the United Farmers of Ontario, decried the move as a ploy by city-dwellers to move a farmer's holiday "up" the calendar so they could enjoy a long weekend while the weather was likely to still be fine (at the farmer's expense). Canadian - eh?

Who knew? Learn something every day. I'm not sure why we have turkey, to be honest. I couldn't find out any information about it. Do any of my fellow Canadians know?

JAFG also asked,

Think about The Fonze. Wait, did you Canadians get Happy Days?

I'm feeling like a bad Canadian today. Did we get Happy Days? I have no idea. I remember seeing it on Nick at Nite, but that was when I was in the US as a kid. See, this is why people don't ask me questions. I'm highly useless. :)

Well, this is getting a little long, so I think I'll go and catch up on all your blogs. Thanks for reading, as always.

I hope you are all having a great weekend. Thanks for reading.

Healthy minds create healthy bodies

Not part of the cool crowd

Have you ever noticed that no matter where you go, if there's a group of people there will be some kind of hierarchy? There will be the "cool people" and the rest of us. I've never been one of the "cool people." And it's not surprise to me that even in group of people that generally are not the "cool people" (in this case, those who are overweight are generally not seen as popular) I still find myself outside of the "cool" crowd. We all know who is part of the cool weight-loss crowd. They are the people that have 400+ followers. They all tweet and retweet (I think that's what the RT stands for, anyway) each other's messages. They are guest posters and do "cool" things that are meant just for them. We are secretly pleased whenever they comment on our posts. Downright gleeful, in fact.

You might say, "You're just jealous of them, Natasha." Hmmm... it's possible. Everyone wants to feel popular. But there are some things that do bother me a bit. Like giveaways where you need to promote their blog. You have to post their giveaway on your blog, add them on twitter, or any other hoop they feel like making you jump through. Am I berating them for doing this? No. It's their choice to do whatever they want with their blog. I'm just trying to make sense of this. Makes me wonder why people blog. Makes me wonder why I blog.

Do we sometimes blog for the glory? Do we all wish that we could be part of the "cool" weight loss crowd?

Weigh-in results

Big oops!

I forgot to post my weigh-in results! I swear my head would fall off if it wasn't attached to my head.

So... I lost 1.6 pounds! Yay.

Starting weight: 260
Current weight: 228.8
Weight lost: 31.2
Pounds to go until I'm under 200: 29.8

There is light at the end of the tunnel!

I'm currently trying to survive Thanksgiving weekend. It's been trying so far, but I am doing really well. Tonight is turkey dinner. I'm not concerned about it. There is lots of vegetables, I'm going to avoid the bread basket, have only a taste of gravy, and a smattering of desserts. It's the leftovers that I am worried about. I tend to do really well the day off, but then fall off the wagon afterward. I am going to break that cycle this year. I have been using twitter to keep myself on track. Every time I feel the urge to stuff myself I twitter that I am not going to eat X. So far, so good.

As usual, I'm including my latest weigh-in video. There's some footage of an elk that I say in Jasper, plus some nonsense about me rationalizing a daiquiri as a fruit serving. Enjoy. :)




I hope you are all having a great weekend. Thanks for reading.

Healthy minds create healthy bodies

Over the top

First off, thank you to everyone that left me comments of support after yesterday's post. I appreciate it from the bottom of my heart. I felt like I got a big virtual hug.


The wonderful and clever Kimmi gave me this fun award:


The rules stipulate that I need to answer the following questions.

35 Questions:

1)Where is your cell phone? Fused to my hand
2)Your hair? Dark, dark brown
3)Your mother?A friend and foe all rolled into one.
4)Your father? Too much like me
5)Your favorite food? Pizza
6)Your dream last night? None that I remember, which is a rarity
7)Your favorite drink? Shirley temple
8)Your dream/goal? To wear a bikini
9)What room are you in? Husband's room
10)Your hobby? Cooking
11)Your fear? Failing
12)Where do you want to be in 6 years? I drew a blank on this question
13)Where were you last night? At home
14)Something that you aren't? Judgmental
15)Muffins? I have them rarely
16)Wish list item? BMW
17)Where did you grow up? Prince George, B.C.
18)Last thing you did? Watched some YouTube videos
19)What are you wearing? Jeans, hot pink tank top, and a grey sweater
20)Your t.v.? On
21)Your pets? Two degus. They are my furry children.
22)Friends? Few and far between
23)Your life? Rarely what I expect
24)Your mood? Determined
25)Missing someone? The Tommy
26)Vehicle? Honda Civic
27)Something your not wearing? Bracelet
28)Your favorite store? Wal-Mart. It has everything.
29)Favorite color? Hot pink
30)Last time you laughed? Today
31)Last time you cried? Yesterday
32)Best friend? The Tommy
33)One place that I go to over and over? Grocery store
34)One person who emails me regularly? My thesis supervisor
35)Favorite place to eat? L&W Restaurant in Jasper

I hope you all have a great weekend! For those of you in Canada, have a happy Thanksgiving!

Healthy minds create healthy bodies

Finding a way to be more interactive

Something has been bugging me for the past couple of weeks and I was hoping that someone would have a suggestion for me on how to make it better.

I have to start by saying that one of the reasons I keep going is the people that read my blog have given me so much support, without which I would be floundering in a continuous emotional eating cycle.

My problem is that I feel so disconnected from the people that have helped me so much. They leave such wonderful comments, and yet I feel I have little recourse in how to thank them. I can leave a comment on their blog, but it seems so artificial. As if I'm just leaving a comment because they left me a comment. But if I don't leave a comment I feel like people will think that I am an egotistical blogger.

I feel stuck.

So, what am I to do? Do any of you feel this way? How do you cope with it?




Having said all that, I'm humbled to have been given 3 different blog awards. They all require some personal sharing time, so I think I'll deal with them one at a time so I don't overwhelm anyone that reads this post.

The Token Fat Friend graciously gave me the honest scrap award a couple weeks ago.




Here are my ten truths:

1. I struggle every day with the thought that I am a complete loser. Most of the time I feel like a complete, miserable wretch that can barely tie her shoes let alone function in the world. I don't understand why things seem to be harder for me than they are for other people. I mask this feeling of inadequacy for the most part, but it lingers there nonetheless. It disgusts me that I feel this way.

2. My breasts are a constant source of embarrassment and discomfort. They are quite large and are constantly getting in the way. What I wouldn't give to be able to exercise without wearing 2-3 bras, being able to cross my arms underneath my chest, lay down without having them touch my chin, etc..

3. I grew up sneaking food. I would hide bags of cookies and chips underneath my bed all the time. I still have this habit, although it's more under control. My binges are usually in secret. Behind closed door where no one can see my shame.

4. I am a diet snob. I have been dieting since I was 13 years old. I feel sometimes like I know everything, even when I don't. Worse still, I can come off as a show off. It's really just a manifestation of my own frustration with not having lost this weight, despite being at it for more than 15 years in some shape or form. Most of my teenage memories are primarily all the failed attempts at losing my weight.

5. I have been sexually assaulted twice.

6. Sometimes I feel like my mother wants to keep me fat because it keeps the status quo in my family. I fear that if I lose weight that it will alienate my parents.

7. I have a hard time making and keeping friends. I felt a lot of rejection growing up. Every summer my parents and I would go on a trip, and when I came home my friends would no longer talk to me. It happened every year without fail. As a result I have trouble finding and keeping friends. I'm afraid to put myself out there because I fear rejection on such an intense level.

8. I worry that if I lose the weight I will still be completely insignificant to people.

9. I'm really good at cooking. It's one of the only times I feel whole and at peace.

10. Writing these truths is one of the hardest things I've ever done. It's hard to face the reality of your life at times.


The bloggers I pass this on to:

the long hard road out of hell
live, smile, run
skinny me... coming soon
operation size 8
lindsay: under construction
friend of the bear
a cake for a wife
100in12
new start ~ new life
follow the fat girl

As always, thank you for reading. I shudder to think where I would be without the support of this blogging community. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.

Healthy minds create healthy bodies