Tomorrow is the beginning of a new month.....what choices are you going to make for eating healthier?

The choice is yours to plan to eat healthier. You can choose to put that food into your mouth or NOT!

You can choose to go off plan and start all over AGAIN, but what do you gain if you keep taking steps back instead of putting one foot in front of the other and plugging onward?

You can choose to read lables. You can choose to keep to the <4 grams of sugar.

You can choose to be a winner in your own life. OR you can choose to falter.

You can choose to be happy, be fit and to eat healthy.

You are the master of your own life's plan. You only have to report to yourself.

What choices are you going to make for a better September?

My choices are to keep coming HERE and to post daily.
Reading and writing are great tools while changing a behavior.

I am going to choose to be happy, to get in some form of exercise and I am going to choose to move forward NOT backward.

I hope you make good choices today and for the next 30 days.

Have a day filled with POSITIVE choices.

Hugs to you all.

Lady

Thanks, Marcie. I've already made some positive choices. One of them was to plan meals far ahead. Right now I have seven meals in my freezer which are ready to pop into the oven on a day when I need a break - and there will be lots of them.

One choice I made a while ago was to eliminate negative people from my life as much as possible. These are the folks who say things like "You look tired" which immediately makes me feel tired. I feel like saying mind your own business but now just say, "Not at all!"

Yes, it's a new month starting tomorrow and I've made a new goal - to be able to get into my wedding dress by December 30, our 20th anniversary. I am perfectly able to get the food under control and am starting to enjoy exercise for the first time in my life! Whodauthunkit? Hershey is benefitting too - her weight has dropped to 55.7 ftom nearly 60 in the spring! She's getting a new boyfriend for her last litter so that's her motivation. (hmmmmm - maybe that would motivate me even more! )

We are off to Church in a few minutes. Afterwards we will walk in the park - both Girls are learning the double lead well, now that Im using the prong collar on rambunctious Lucy. This afternoon I'll make salsa as the tomatoes are in full flush and I'm getting behind.

I hope everyone is having a fun and safe holiday weekend. Enjoy this last bit of summer - winter has its moments but.....

You said it Marcie, it's definitely all about choices! I'm with you, I choose to be happy, I choose to be healthy, and I choose this new WOL as the means to attain my goals! Coming here and checking in EVERY day helps to keep me on the right path, and it also helps me to realize that I am human and will make the occasional slip, just as everyone does once in a while. So I choose not be beat myself up when I do stray, but rather to get right back on track and keep moving forward. E + R = O

By the way, love your new avatar!! It's so cute!

Ruth, I hear exactly what you are saying about eliminating negative people from your life as much as possible!! I too have been trying to do this over the past several months. I have come to realize that life is too short to spend with those whose sole purpose in life seems to be to bring us down and bring negativity into our lives. I deserve better than that! I love your goal of fitting into your wedding dress for your anniversary! Good luck, I KNOW you can succeed!!!!

Today is going to be a totally ME day! I got the cleaning done yesterday that I had planned, plus the grocery shopping, so today I'm going to reward myself by reading a new book that I came across with an intriguing title The PMS Outlaws. Sounds like a book I can really relate to!

Have a Sunny Sunday on the beach everyone!!!

Good morning, beauties!

Marcie...your avatar is too cute! I had almost forgotten than tomorrow is a new month. Well, I didn't forget it was a new month but I hadn't thought about what it meant...a chance to renew my committment and make better choices!

I hadn't thought much about it, but in many ways I have stopped spending time with a negative person....ME! I can honestly say that I haven't been this happy and content in a very long time...and it feels GREAT! Thanks for the wonderful reminder that WE are the architects of our DESTINY!

Ruth, your new goal reminded me of mine! I don't have a wedding gown to get into, as we eloped, BUT we are going on a cruise in November to celebrate our 10th anniversary and will be renewing our wedding vows. I have already bought a simple, elegant gown to wear and it still doesn't fit! I need to get down 1 more size to be able to wear it. I KNOW I can do, but it will take a concerted effort on my part. Maybe I should get the dress out and hang it up where I can see it everyday? I really want to have something special this time! We CAN do this, Ruth! ALL of us can do this!

My "girl," Emma, also needs to lose a few. She is such a sweet doggie who follows me around and is always underfoot. And there is a lot of her to trip over! I wonder if she would do my WATP tapes with me?

2dog-enjoy your ME day! While I do have a few errands to run and some sewing to do, today should be very enjoyable. I think what I will do today for ME will be to eat on plan. That should be a no-brainer by now, but weekends are killing me!

I have FINALLY realized that going back to Phase 1 yet again is not going to solve my problems or erase my challenges. I need to face them head on in the context of how I eat now. And that means making better choices for the right reasons!

Have a wonderful day!

Good Morning Beactsters!

That new avatar is to cute, Marcie! Brings a smile immediately to this here face.

Ruthie & Franny - great anniversary goals! I know you WILL do it and I look forward to seeing some pics posted for us to admore.

I had a couple of nsv's at the market yesterday - I THOUGHT about carrot cake, and cruised the frozen treat area but didn't cave - made my SF cheesecake to take to a housewarming today, had some yummy grilled FF kosher franks and unsweetened iced tea and felt pretty about my positive choices!

Max, the original operadog, is also benefitting from this WOL and has more pep in his cute Norwich terrier 14 year old step -

Thanks for the positive start to September, Marcie, Ruthie, Franny & twodog!

Hugs to you and all the other adorable Beachsters!

GOOD MORNING!!!!! Woke up late, finally got DS13 off the computer, and here I am!!! Hoping to make today productive in a "slow and steady wins the race" kinda way. Feeling GREAT this morning. House is still SOMEWHAT cleaned up, had fun with friends yesterday, and plan to have relaxed/productive day TODAY. (Lots of leftovers too, so I don't need to cook today!!!)

Marcie-Thanks for the positive inspiration!! Feeling positive myself for once!!

Ruth-I agree with you about eliminating the negative people. I have started to gradually do that myself. Mostly the people who make me feel bad about MYSELF, as I can be pretty darn negative myself sometimes (in a cute and amusing kind of way of course!!! )

2Dog-GOOD for YOU!! You SHOULD have a "me" day!!! YOU DESERVE it!!!

Franny-A cruise? Sounds like fun!! I think your goal (and Ruth's) of fitting into your special dress is GREAT!!!

Anna-WOW!! Sounds like you have been making all the right choices!!! GOOD GOING!!! Remember, there is ALWAYS room on my couch for book lovers!!!!!

To all of you coming later today.....HAVE A GREAT DAY!!!!

franny, congratulations on your upcoming anniversary and cruise!! I KNOW you'll meet your goal of fitting into your new dress!

operadog, your NSV yesterday reminded me that I have a very similar one to report too! As I was shopping, I looked at the bakery goods....cakes, pies, donuts, cookies....the things that would make me drool in the past....and I realized that they do not have the same impact on me anymore!! In the past, I could so vividly imagine the smell, texture, and taste of these things just by looking at them that my body literally would respond by shooting out more insulin, causing a drop in my blood sugar, resulting in totally uncontrollable cravings for these foods, which of course I then could not pass up buying a bunch and eating half of them in the car on the way home. Yesterday when I was looking at them, I remembered how sweet they tasted, but I didn't have the old physical response, and I also remembered how yucky and sluggish I feel after eating them. Suddenly I realized that they no longer really appealed to me!!!! I know.....I could hardly believe it myself!!!!

den, it sounds like you have a fabulous day planned for yourself today...and I absolutely love how happy you sound today....GOOD FOR YOU!!!! Enjoy your day!!

Marcie: I will definitely work on making good choices for September. that is my birthday month and more than anything I need to keep up with the good choices. Thanks for the reminder. that and the E+R=O should keep me on track.

Ruth: Any chance you could post your Salsa recipe. It is easy to get tomatoes here and I'l like to try it. do you get to Kingston very often? There is a wonderful store there on Montreal street called Quatrocchis Market. They have every conceivable bulk food you could imagine. flours of all kinds, herbs and spices, and some exotic stuff like garham masala I missed getting there this summer, as I always bought my supply of all those goodies to bring back with us. I really missed our visit there.

Nickiloo: I tried the chocolate meringues but was disappointed. did you use regular eggs or the egg whites in the container. I used those as it says you can whip them. but I only got 24 small ones, and they were sort of bitter from the cocoa. What did I do wrong. Also used Splenda, as that is the Sugar sub. that I use.

Frannie: I too realize that just going back to Phase 1 over and over isn't going to help me overcome the need to just make the right choices. I can't always read the food plan out of the book.

You girls anniversary plans sound great. Our anniversary is in Dec. but we are going on a cruise in January. I don't have my wedding dress anymore. It became a short dress, and then went the way of all clothes. Guess since this is the 2nd time around I didn't have quite the attachment I might have. And the song is true about 'love is lovlier the 2nd time around'. : At least in our cases.

Just a thought about negative people- Sometimes it is not possible to just eliminate them from our association, so I find that if I say something very positive to them, smile and catch them unawares, they often have a change of heart. Sometimes I think that negative people are just very unhappy people with a bad self image, and they want to have everyone on their level. I don't think that they know any other way to behave. What is the old adage 'Misery loves company' so I refuse to let myself get down there, so say something positive or tell a joke. Anything to be joyful.

Now on the other side of the coin - if someone is just plain evil,
I run as fast as I can. I don't think there is anything anyone can do about that.

Have a great rest of the weekend, full of good choices and positive thoughts. Ann

Good afternoon everyone !!!

Marcie, I do plan on making positive choices and am hoping that now that the weather is cooling down I'll be more inspired to try different recipes ... hate to cook when it's hot out ...

Good job on the NSVs twodog and operadog; those are certainly steps in the right direction ...

Franny, that is such a sweet idea renewing your vows on your 10th anniversary ... and you WILL fit into that gown!!!

Ruth, you are surely doing a better job of loosing the negative people than I am ... (when someone tells me I look tired I just wanna whack 'em one) ...

Lizzie, I used 3 regular eggs in the meringues (1/4 t cream of tartar) ... this is NOT an easy recipe ... eggs should be at room temperature, use a glass bowl. It took me about 3 tries before I really got it right ... I kept changing the amount of cocoa powder and Equal each time (I ended up using a little more sweetener and a little less cocoa powder) One of my friends at work has been trying to make them and hers keep coming out flat. The recipe takes some practice and eventually a dozen eggs before you finally get it right.

Have a nice evening all ...