[frannymae]

OK, troops! Listen up! It has become painfully obvious that our brains need a workout! Our gray matter is behind all our problems, and we need to whip it into shape!

Before we can seriously consider our squadron fit for duty we need to get our brains in shape. Our brains can be our worst enemies or our closest allies. Our choice.

I was going to talk about the ever important food aspect of the trinity, but decided to delve into the issue a bit deeper. I am strugging with food this week, mostly due to my orthodonic nightmare. But it goes deeper than that...it always does.

Today I want to talk about "Mirror Magic." So many of you have said you can't or won't look at yourself in the mirror, or have pictures taken. Don't worry, I'm not asking you to parade down the street in your skivvies! But I am asking you to create a little mirror magic and to try and make friends with your body.

Your body, right now, right this very minute, is doing amazing things! You are reading this so you must be alive, right? That alone is a major accompishment! We need to learn to like (note I said LIKE, not LOVE) our bodies as they are this very minute. Now, don't get too attached to your physical self as it is changing so quickly you won't recognize it in a few short months!

So, just how do you go about learning to like what you see in the mirror? Where does the magic come in? Good question, and I'm afraid the answer is different for all of us. I can only tell you what has helped my self image immensely.

I started taking better care of my physical self. Not just eating better and exercising, but the basic "get it ready to face the world" stuff. I found a perfume I love. I bought some really nice lotion and use it EVERY DAY! I started wearing make up on a regular basis. I started taking better care of my face and skin. I shaved my legs even if I wasn't going to wear a dress! I started treating my physical shell with respect and kindness.

I found a part of me that I liked. For me it was my shoulders. Even at 218 pounds they were nice and shapely. Smooth, no lumps or bumps, clear skin, a few freckles...I could live with that!

I used positive affirmations. I stopped saying "you are so fat" and started saying "you are a work in progress!" I looked in the mirror not with a critical eye ready to pick up on all the faults displayed there, but with an understanding eye. An eye that could say "nice shoulders!" and NOT "what a cow!" This took some practice, as I had many years of being very mean to myself.

I gave myself the chance to succeed. I set small, attainable goals like "I won't use butter this week" or "I will walk at least three times this week." Then when I was able to meet my goals (which was almost all the time once I got on a roll!) I could put another tick in the WIN column! Nothing like success to help you succeed!

I tried to see myself as I COULD be..as I WOULD be. I had an old picture of me at a healthier weight that I could refer to, so that helped. It has to be realistic, and you have to like the image you see in your mind's eye.

I'm sorry this is so long, but this has been on my mind for a while. I honestly believe that our collective struggles with weight and fitness all have their root in our brains. To change our bodies we need to change our minds!

Your challenge, if you choose to accept it, is to find something you like about yourself at this very moment! And once you find that something, you have to replace a negative self message with a new, positive one that includes what you like. I suspect that many of you have made tremendous strides in this area and the whole mind/body connection isn't news to you! But we can all use a reminder of what our ultimate goal is!

I'll continue to tally and post activity...today is the first day of the week, so get your times in! Our goal for the week is 2000 minutes. We did more than that last week but we need our goals to be attainable, right?

Don't forget the trinity, and pay special attention to how your mental messages affect what you eat, drink, etc. You may find a connection you didn't know existed!

Group Activity for the week of 9/14- 2174 minutes!

[ellis]

Good idea, Franny. I'm going to dig out some of my creams and things and start taking proper care of my face. I'm SO lazy when it comes to that. I keep thinking I'm going to see my 18 year old face in the mirror, and then ... it's a woman pushing 40. A FAT woman pushing 40! A fat woman pushing 40 who doesn't look after her skin!
Okay, I'm going...

love and hugs to all...

[Nikkiloo]

Ellis, I do the exact same thing ... my skin is neglected and I'm 43. I was reading an article yesterday in "Health" magazine that says for a skin care regimen to show results it takes about 6 months !!!! I can't remember to use moisturizer for 6 DAYS in a row. I'm starting to look like I'm 60 ...

Okay Franny, I need a body part I like ... actually I like from the waist up ... it's that d*!* paunch that sit's just below my belly button that is driving me crazy. Everything else is fine except for that one stupid spot and it is the only thing I focus on. Everyplace else on my body is well defined ... I actually like my legs and arms. WHY CAN'T I LOOSE THIS GUT????

Okay, focus, focus, focus ... my body part to like will be my arms and I will not look at my belly all week!!!

Maybe what worked for you will work for me ... during the week I will go thru the makeup that has been sitting in my makeup case for about a year and half ... throw most of it out and start again with the basics, mascara, lipstick ... I never really learned how to apply makeup to my advantage. And the makeup counters at department stores generally try to make you look like whatever salesperson is selling the stuff. I will shape my eyebrows correctly and buy an eyebrown pencil ...

(My kids and the folks at work will wonder what alien replaced Kathy ...) That will be my project for the week.

[Lizziepie]

Pvt. Lizzie reporting:

A really good 'pep' talk for us all.

One of the things I had to tell myself, after my 'first life' came crashing down, was that God doesn't make junk, and He made me, and I am okay. That was the beginning for me. As a kid, my parents always boosted my self image, and I felt okay with myself until the marriage crash. Then I lost a lot of weight. When I met my DH and we began life together, a certain contentment set in and I let the weight creep up and up. I had accepted that I am a 'Pear' and just like my Grandmother. But this 'pear' kept getting wider and wider.: A good look in the mirror made me realize that I had to do something. That and high cholesterol/tryglycerides. And I don't want to take medication.

So- the diet routine. And here I am.

I like my skin, and frequently have had comments about it, especially as I am 'over the hill' big time. I haave finally started to use a regular skin routine every morning. Cleansing lotion, astringent, wrinkle hiding cream and sunscreen/moisturizing lotion. Night time just gets the first three. Since I am a 'pear' the upper half of my body is fine. It will take a lot more body defining at Curves to make me like the VBB(very big butt) Curves has even helped me reduce my 'batwing' arms.
There is always hope and room for improvement.

Sarge: I want you to know that your formula for Ricotta/chocolate pudding was a big success at our dinner party last night. Since there were 6 of us I added enough Ricotta to make 16oz. So I did have to add more ff half and half. Nearly a whole cup, but it was just like chocolate mousse. You are a

So all you young gals, treat your skin well, and you won't need wrinkle cream. Lizzie

[HarmonyBreeze]

I look in the mirror and all I can focus on is that "ledge" of fat right below MY belly button (so, Nikkiloo, you aren't alone). I should focus on my legs (which are looking quite defined) or even my behind (which is significantly smaller and tighter now). Good encouragement. I AM a work in progress, and I can't get there in one day! But, definitely, making strides. I worked out today to make up for Friday..... 20 minutes on the treadmill, 20 minutes on the bow flex. I went 1.6 miles. Yay! And I lost a pound since last week, even though I cheated and ate a granola bar yesterday. (There are worse things to blow your diet with, I guess.) Have a wonderful night!!!

[Rowan Bailey]

I have not been posting here, but I have been following it along. I found your share Franny so inspiring. In my hypnosis, my therapist is telling me that I should make decisions as my "thin self" and I realized that I had been waiting until I got rid of all my weight to live my life that way, but really it is the other way around....

I love face creams, I wash with Ahava and use Clairns products. I use the cream with the bronzer tint every other day, and I love the samples they give you at the counter. They also do free skin analysis. I shop at a discount store and try to always have nice clothes, I get a silk wrap manicure every other week and a pedicure (even when I broke my foot, I made them color my toes). I buy Mac makeup, its expensive so I buy them in small doeses and over the past two years I have a nice collection. I love smelly oils if I didn't do all of those things, then I don't think that I would care as much as I do.

I also get massages whenever i can afford it, and my girlfriends and I always make someone's birthday spa day, spending the day in the sauna, getting treatments and jacuzzi's....we force don't buy gifts, we split one treatment for the birthday girl, she gets a free bath and then we get a treatment ourselves...it is super !!! just like an episode of sex in the city!!!

I like my hair-- my skin, my eyes, I have decent feet and respectable clevage....I just wish there was just less of me overall!!!!