Do What you Love. Thoughts on Exercise

Hey Divalicious ladies......I hope you all are enjoying the beginning of this beautiful new week. Unfortunately, for me, it was one of those blahhhhh days. It snowed last night about 2 inches. Everything was covered with a nice little blanket of white and it was 55 degrees inside the house when we all woke up at 7:00am. It's mornings like THIS one that make you want to crawl back into bed, pull the covers over your head and just stay there all day with the remote control, (or a good book OR just SLEEP AND SLEEP AND SLEEEEEEEP.) (Yeah, THAT would have been really nice....but NOT!!!!!!!) Simply because I don't think I would have been able to get away with it so easily. My husband would certainly have called me to the mat on the whole sleeping in thing.

As he scoots off to work this morning, he reminds me how he's , "Going out into the cold, hard world to earn a living for us...." He's SUCH a Drama Queen!!!!! I laughed as he headed out the door and reminded him of his own words as a self employed success.....He told me once..."Honey, If you do what you love every day, then it's not really considered work. It's just fun, but you get paid to do it." I don't think he found it amusing when he stepped out to 28 degree weather to go to work this morning but he DID get me thinking about exercise.

For me... exercise=WORK!!!! Yuck. But not lately because I found something I love to do. Have you ever heard of Zumba? Well....Zumba has a motto on their website (www.zumba.com) that says, "Ditch the workout. Join the Party!!!!". And this is exactly true. Zumba is like Latino Line Dancing for me. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE IT!!! It has completely changed my view on exercise. I'm out there on the workout room floor sweating my fanny off with the best of them and having a ball, thinking to myself, "Who would have ever thought that workout like Zumba could burn as many calories as a boring old treadmill or elliptical?" I'll take Zumba ANY DAY.

So here it is ladies, The Big Fat Truth Tip # 2. Do what you LOVE for exercise and it will never be "work" again. I promise. Remove the excuses. Find what you TRULY love and then go for it. It has been my saving grace in getting a jump start to this whole new lifestyle. I hope you can find what you love too and then JUST DO IT!! Have a beautiful day.

~Christina

Believe and Be

Hey Y'all Skinny Divas out there. I want to start off my blog today by thanking all my friends, family and fellow bloggers out there. The start of this blog has already become such a milestone for me. I appreciate all your love and support and encouragement. Let's keep the momentum rolling. I encourage your comments and feedback.

Today (this whole past week actually) I have been battling a head cold. The temps were freezing outside so I decided to do my workout at home on the elliptical. (I love that thing because it's friendly to my knees.) I ate pretty good today too, need more veggies and less carbs but stayed within my calories range. Though, I didn't get in my strength training as I had hoped.

I also added some enhancements to my blog. You will see lots of new things in the left column, including current pics of how I look. Pictures are a wonderful "truth" tool. They help you see how you REALLY look.....because if you're anything like me, you have a false perception of how you actually look. Just like anorexics see a "fat" person when they look in the mirror....unfortunately....I I see a skinny person. Well..... not exactly true....what I DON'T see is a "fat" person...at least not THAT fat!!! And honey, the pictures don't lie!!! So tip #1 on getting started with the whole Big Fat Truth, take current pictures and look at them often. Don't cry like I did...It's supposed to get better from here. LOL

With that said, I titled today's blog "Believe and Be". While searching the net for some inspiring things to read, I came across this quote and thought about it for a while. It's quite fitting as we start a new journey like this one. Growing up, my parents used to say something like this to us kids. Mom would say that...by "acting" AS IF we were already in the place where we wanted to be on the path we've already chosen, it would make us all the more successful. I'm an eternal optimist so I can tell you that this mantra does wonders for my self esteem. Especially starting out.

Funny enough I had a small opportunity to put it into action today while picking a new a new e-mail address. (We switched internet providers and got rid of the cable-Hooraaayyy). So I selected, theskinnydiva@gmail.com. At first I felt a bit embarrassed. My thoughts were something like this.....Everyone knows I'm a Phat Fatty (lol) so why not use, thephatfatty@gmail.com (which is available on gmail by the way) and I thought no, "Believe and Be" and if I'm gonna choose an e-mail it better be something self fulfilling anyways....theskinnydiva@gmail.com it is!!!! So it's Monday. Let's try to focus ourselves on what we are trying to become and act as if we already are. I believe in myself and I believe in you. Let's "Believe and Be."

When Did I Have "That Moment"? The one where the lights finally came on .

So, many of you are wondering about my "light bulb" moment...that one instant where I first realized that I needed to make a change. Well, it wasn't the time I left the movie theater feeling "sick" because the seats were too small and uncomfortable to sit in for two hours. And unfortunately it wasn't the 3rd (yes 3rd) time I had broken the toilet seat trying to reach an unreachable place to clean myself and then later when asked by my husband... I blamed it on standing on the toilet to hang something on the wall behind it. And amazingly, NO it wasn't the time my 3 year old asked me if I had a baby in my tummy and got excited because she so desperately wants a sibling. No, my moment came to me in a simple but small way.....about a week ago, late one night while flipping channels on the cable TV.

I'm not a big follower of reality TV, but in my quest to find something decent on the cable, I came across "Ruby"- a woman who once weighed in at 750 pounds and had lost over half of her body weight so far. Ruby is a beautiful Red Head with lots of heart and a big personality from Georgia. I could relate to Ruby AND her struggles. I've watched parts of her show here and there over the past few months so, when I ran across her show that evening , I decided to sit and watch for a few minutes.

Ruby was in a group setting among friends with a therapist who advocates a 12 step approach towards food. During the therapy, words like "comfort zone", "enablers" and "denial" were thrown out there and as Ruby fidgeted and squirmed in her seat she and I BOTH realized we were in DENIAL and that the only way to overcome was to invite the Lord into our problem. Now how about that???!!@#$%&*

I couldn't believe it. I had never realized that I (Yes ME!!!) could be denial. Like I said before, the truth is out there. I was always blaming everyone and everything else around me, but what I NEEDED to do was STOP........ and just simply ASK my Father in Heaven for HIS help. I NEVER, NEVER, EVER thought of that before. Of actually asking God to help ME?? I had always figured that I got myself into this mess and that somehow, I would get myself out, some day, later, whenever I had the time. But that's not the truth of it.... that's not how it works. Every day, little by little until one day I can become whole again, I'm going to ask for help from above. Help to resist the temptation of food, help to get up when I'm tired and still exercise and do what I know I should be doing. Help to not be too hard on myself when I fall short. And maybe one day.....I can become ME again. It would be nice to recognize my own face in the mirror once more.

So here we are starting a new plan. It's gonna take fatih, some attitude, understanding, drive and most of all love and friendship. Today's Big Fat Truth, we all need a little of God's help to get through. Are you ready????

Monday is a new week, I'll begin posting stats and more info. Please feel free to comment, uplift, inspire and offer advice. My ears are open. :-)

So Who's The Skinny Diva and Who's The Fatch Chick and Which One Are You?

That's like asking if Dr Jekyl and Mr. Hyde were the same man. The Skinny Diva is that strong, confident woman inside of all of us. She appears when we have the courage to tap into her energy and become her. She doesn't put up with all the crap that society puts on her. She's free to be herself and feels comfortable in her own skin. And she's not afraid to know the truth. She makes time for herself and she knows what she wants and needs and how to maintain her sanity. So why and how did she get eaten? Funny you should ask.

For me it was falling into a rut. And ruts REALLY suck!!! You don't even see them coming. It happens gradually over time. Little by little, one small decision after another. I was never prepared to admit that until recently. I made each compromise and sacrafice until one day I looked in the mirror and didn't even know who I was any more. I had lost me. I had blown up to just over 300 pounds. How did THAT happen??? Oh there were lots and lots of warning signs along the way. I certainly ignored them. Living in Denial always seems easier...you know? I put sacrifice and service to others and my family before me. Every time we got busy, it was fast food to go. Every time I was too tired to cook, I'd pop something awful from a freezer box into the microwave. Every time I was lonely because my husband was working too many late night hours, I'd bake cookies for the kids' lunches and eat half of them with a glass of milk. It was small choices here and there that made me turn to food. Not just sadness, but with everything. And with each bite, I was consumed by her. And eventually she ate me whole and I became "The Fat Chick". The Big Fat Truth is that it doesn't have to be that way.

Introductions Please!!!

Okay, so here's The Big Fat Truth......I've been contemplating a blog for a long, long, VERY long time and have just been too lazy, tired, busy or preoccupied to get started. Yeah, yeah, yeah. WHATEVER!!! Blah, blah, blah.

So here I am, a 38 year old morbidly obese (I hate those words) mommy of a precious 3 yr. old princess and CEO wife of a very successful busy, busy entrepreneur. My life is crazy! Full of madness and absolutely NO schedule. I come from a wacky pack brand of looney toon relatives and the list goes on and on. As you can read, my life to this point has been full of excuses. And excuses...., quite frankly, have gotten me nowhere. So recently I had that moment, you know.... the one where the light bulb goes "bing!!!!" and all of a sudden you can see EVERYTHING in your life that's wrong and you see clearly the reasons why. Well my moment, (which I shall share later) struck me so hard to the very core that all I could do was cry..... for DAYS AND DAYS!!! I cried. And I realized for the first time that everything that I have blamed on everyone else for so long that was wrong in my life is and has been because of ME!!!! Because I LET IT BE that way. Shame on ME!!!! And the tears fell and fell. So with the beginning of this blog is the beginning of a new me and a journey that I hope you will take too as we go along.

So let's start our journey together and realize that WE are the only thing stopping ourselves from achieving our dreams. Whatever they may be. Nothing can stop us... not excuses, fear, laziness or uncertainty. Let the journey begin.