Hey Oz~~ Way To Step Up To The Plate On The Thread Issue`` The Other Gal Is Kinda Right....maybe A Little Nasty.....great Job Of Doing The Right Thing!

That's our Ilene...she's the Smilies Mistress here at 3FC.

I've been reading this thread with a lot of interest...because you guys are hitting the nail right on the head IMO. You know what...one of your most important tools in attaining your goals (not just in weight loss but in LIFE) is your...noggin. That is...using your head in PLANNING and having a long-term STRATEGY...rather than depending on "willpower" or the Miracle Diet of the Week. Through my own personal experience I'm convinced that "willpower" either doesn't exist or is VASTLY overrated. What will *ultimately* be a MAJOR key in losing AND KEEPING OFF weight is not "Willpower"...it's "BRAINpower".

Think of yourself as a five-star general planning a major battle...or a football coach strategizing a play in the Super Bowl; that's what YOU are doing - a lot of your success in this "game of weight loss" is the success of your strategy - planning AND follow-through...creating a healthy environment geared for success in your endeavors by eliminating 'land mines' in your house (i.e. junk food for example), a positive environment by surrounding yourself with support (one of my personal mottos is *Accentuate the Positive* ) and sticking to your plan by prioritizing your health - instead of finding reasons why you CAN'T exercise, find ways to fit MORE in your life...just like anything else, practice makes perfect - nothing like healthy habits to get those positive juices flowing and affecting everyone around you as well!

Brainpower also means (IMO of course) learning and reading from as many sources as possible (also separating the good stuff from the giant loads of crap that litter the weight loss landscape!). To supplement your reading of Winning at Losing you might want to check out the following books - these are definitely worthwhile reading...

• Dr. Phil's Ultimate Weight Solution -yeah I know there are a lot of folks who are not really big Dr. Phil fans, but this book is the real deal - it goes into the whole 'head issue' more than any other book I've read, before or since.
• Body for Life For Women by Pamela Peeke, MD, MPH, FACP - not the same as the original BFL plan but I think it's BETTER - it's a book that women can keep on the shelf and refer to again and again; I love the fact that Dr. Peeke stresses the differences in women at different ages and the weight loss issues at each age.
• Thin for Life by Anne Fletcher...what can I say...just check out our Maintainers Forum here for the reading group threads.

Incidentally, all of the above books should be available at your local library or via inter-library loan - I'm a staunch believer in 'read before you buy' whenever possible

If you find you enjoy weight training (it's GREAT!) and want to learn more and discuss strength training with like-minded women, you need go no further than our own Ladies who Lift forum Check it out...oh and I must mention everyone's favorite weight training site (well MINE anyway... ) - Krista Scott Dixon's Weight Training for Women website - with OODLES of terrific *FREE* info (not to mention extremely entertaining reading!).

Okay...as usual once I get started it's IMPOSSIBLE to shut me up...but my Calgon bath is calling... time for my nightly R&R...

Somehow I missed out on the drama that started this new thread...but it seems to have brought out the ramblers...I say amen to that!

I need to work on more planning....I find I enjoy rifling through recipe books finding new ideas...

Thanks for the thoughtful posts. Mrs Jim...I like searching your user name to reread your posts. Jeez - I sound like a stalker...but I learn so much from you!


OOOOOHHHH New Xmas smilies (Doncha love people with short attention spans?)....Yay!!!

Thanks EZMONEY I'm glad you approve. Did you notice you had a message deleted? Naughty naughty Yay I was wondering how I'd use that picture.

Thanks for all that MrsJim I do love research so I'll be going through all your info. You'd think at 31 having been dieting since I was 8 that I would know what I was doing by now.

Hey chick, nice hat. You didn't miss any drama. Looking just made the point that it would be better for Jillian if there were just questions in that thread so she didn't have to read so much stuff. As it was Lookings thread and as she had asked a couple of times before, I decided I should apologize for knowingly going against her request. So I started this to write the crap and I'll write questions in the other. I think some people thought I was pissed off so there may have been some confusion which perhaps caused drama. I probably didn't use enough smilies. You can never have too many you know!

Now on to the important stuff, let's talk about me.

So today 12 women and 12 men should have received calls saying that they had made the next stage of the casting for the Aussie BL show. The problem is that the casting people have as yet failed to realise the error in their ways and haven't re-added me to their list.

A number of really great people have sent me messages here of encouragement and telling me to make them change their minds. Thanks so much!!

So the situation is getting pretty dire and if anyone has any suggestions I'd love to hear them. All I have come up with is asking people to email letters of support, so here goes.

I humbly ask anyone that has the time and the urge to please email Kirsty at [email protected] and suggest in anyway you feel appropriate that I be reconsidered as a cast member. My name is Alisa Campbell as they would not know me as OzLoserToBe.

I know none of you know me so don't feel obliged in anyway, it was just a thought...

You see how desperate I am, there's hardly any smilies in this post. Sheesh!

WOW! OZ~ I have over 1,000 posts on 3FC and have never had one deleted! Maybe you ARE a trouble maker

Sent in my choice for BL for you.

Ok Oz, I have emailed my desperate plea to them.

I ended with this....

"I'm sure there were hard decisions to make and many wonderful, deserving people to choose from. But if I can do anything to get Alisa reconsidered for the show, I will. Although this email seems like a small thing.... I've heard that sometimes small things can make a world of difference.

Thank you for reading.

Laura"

So, let's hope that resonates within SOMEONE over there.

Thanks so much girls. It means so much to me that you'd do that, even though I am a trouble maker.

Anyway I heard back from the casting director and she said thanks for the emails and that if someone was to drop out that I would be considered. She also said that she was only 1 of 4 in the decision making though. So now I have to find a way to get to the other 3.

Thanks again and I think we can stop writing to Kirsty.

OK I'm off to research.

In other words, "tell those insane people at 3FC to stop writing to me!"

Maybe Jillian gets a say! Go bug her, now! hehehe, just kidding.

Who are these 3 other mysterious people? One can only imagine.

If I had Jillian's backing surely they'd listen, I'm sure she gets many people asking for help though. I did message Emma to see if she would email her about it though. Gotta try.

The other three people were at the auditions. Two were from Crackerjack the production company and the other was a woman from the network. The only name I know for sure is Carl Fennessy, he's the executive producer at Crackerjack. Am yet to find a way to contact him. Will keep trying though.

oz - don't stress! we can do our own 'online' version using jillians help and kick butt

i think we will be one of the few who will actually be able to watch the aussie version too.

i admire you for trying out - i thought about it but couldn't bring myself to do it. i have enough of a fear of people knowing that i might exercise (not to mention a fear of exercising in front of people), let alone letting the country watch me go through it all.

i am not sure if you said this before - but did they give you a reason why you weren't accepted?

No reason, they just made a cut. I think it was just if you fit into their plot for the show.

I'm not at all worried about the losing weight and getting healthy part, I know I can do that without the show. It's other opportunities that would come from the show that I'm after.

I was really depressed earlier this year, really really bad and it was a couple of things on TV that I saw that helped me. One was an interview on Oprah with Brooke Shields, of course I didn't have the post baby depression but seeing her recovery really helped me. I thought I'd never feel normal again but I figured if she could do it so could I. Another was a guy that had been hit by a car on two occassions and as a result was paralised (how dare I feel bad for myself) anyway he spoke of how he felt as though his soul was outside his body instread of being inside. It's hard to understand unless you've felt exactly that but for me knowing that someone else had gone through the same mental/physical experience as me, well it really helped. I want to be that for other people. I want people to know there is no shame in feeling depressed or anxious and I want to inspire people to fight it. I want to help people fight their weightloss battles because life is way too short to spend being tortured by this demon. This show could put me in a position to do that. Anyway I haven't given up.

I think it was your post that mentioned you had a couple of deaths in the family. I'm so sorry to hear that and hope your family is dealing as well as can be expected. You're in my prayers.

I think the last day I ever felt truly sorry for myself was right before I saw this guy on TV... I don't remember his name or what show he was on, maybe someone else saw it.

He was a young studly guy living in San Francisco, then got into a bad motorcycle accident. The gas tank emptied onto him and he was set on fire and burned very badly over most of his body. I believe he lost his fingers from the fire as well.

He talked about wanting to die so badly in the hospital, but of finally one day just making the decision to live, and to live well.

One of his dreams was to be a pilot so he wound up taking lessons and learned how to fly a small plane, despite his lack of fingers.

Anyway, his plane crashed, leaving him now paralyzed as well.

To hear this guy's story, and to see the positive attitude he found again, is just amazing. Life is pretty damn good for most of us, that's all I have to say!

Update: just found the site about him: http://www.wmitchell.com/about.html

Well, guess what? You already are doing that for me (and who knows how many other people who read this forum)...for that I say THANKS!!!

I still hope you make it on the show

Wow hey. The strength people find is amazing.

I have travelled through Africa a bit, I am obsessed by that continent. One memory that sticks in my mind was one day when I was crossing the border between Kenya and Uganda and there were people all over with really bad deformaties. They were using sticks as crutches and some had turned old bikes into wheelchairs. The numbers were unbelievable. When I asked what had happened I was told it was polio, yep a disease that is prevented by a 50c droplet that is put in our mouths as babies and supplied by the government.

I felt so angry, felt helpless, felt inspired.. the range of emotions was somewhat confusing and overwhelming.