The LBDDiaries.com Blog

I am so beautiful to me – can’t you seeee??  Oh, sorry!  I am just feeling pretty doggoned special!  I have been given my very first award – the Cherry on Top Award.  Here’s what it looks like:

It’s like the cherry on top of a hot fudge sundae – well, I don’t like those cherries but I do love sharing it with Alpha Hubby – but my point is, someone thought I have a beautiful blog with that little something extra!  Wow.

Thanks to my lovely new blog-friend, Maegan, at (Mrs) Plus Size Barbie – isn’t that the neatest name? – for presenting me with my very first award –

The rules that come with this reward are

1. Task number one:  Answer this question:

If you had the chance to go back and change one thing in your life, would you, and what would it be?

2. Task number two: Pick six people for this award and let them know.

3. The third and final task:  thank the person who gave me the award.

I will start with number three first – thanking the person who gave me the award – Maegan at Mrs. Plus Size Barbie.  THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU. It is an honor to be given this award.  I want to introduce others to Maegan’s website – but first, here is her own award link when she won the award. 

http://mrsplussizebarbie.blogspot.com/2010/09/cherry-on-top.html

I truly love what she had to say for her answer to the question we are required to answer.  I believe everyone should read it because it is uplifting and so true. 

http://mrsplussizebarbie.blogspot.com

The question – If I had a chance to go back and change one thing in my life, would I, and what would it be?  YES I would do it.

My mind immediately went two different directions so I will have to give both answers – one short – I would have stopped the weight gain back when it was first creeping on.  Self-explanatory.

The long one?  OH I would have played more and stressed less.  I wouldn’t have cared so much about housework as a single parent, and would have taken my son off on more adventures.  I would have written more stories for him, sung more songs to him, danced in more mud puddles, and played, played, played.  I would not have worried about what other people thought and would have sung at the top on my lungs all the time (thank goodness, I can sing, but that’s not the point). 

I spent way too many days off cleaning the house.  Now I look back and think, “Why didn’t I take him to the zoo more often?”  I realize hindsight is easy and that I did the best I could at the time, but the other day we gave my son and his new bride a wedding reception.  Last night, when he had trouble sleeping, he wrote me this email – that still makes me cry – and while I would have played more back when he was little, I have no real regrets:

“… (Mom) I thought I would send you an email and tell you I love you. Not cause u buy me stuff all the time or give me money… (smile)… but cause you do fun things. Even at the party you said “who cares if any one comes we’ll have fun any way.” We get there and there’s all this silly stuff on the table that i thought was awesome. Candies nuts dice chips. But the coolest was all the party favors Lieghann loved them. She thought it was so cool and couldn’t stop talking about them. So I wanna say I love you and thanks for making life fun and the best.”

What more can I say?  I did finally learn to play more and stress less.

Now for the last task – Pick six people for this award and let them know. Not THAT easy – I’ve met some amazing bloggers and would like to list all my followers! I will do that in a later post just because they are some blogs you should see, guaranteed!

1 – My best e-friend-blog-Aloha partner, Steph at Momma’s Soapbox.  Her upbeat attitude has helped me so much, and her “spilling the beans one coffee cup at a time” posts always make me smile or think or learn something and always glad I visited her site.

http://mommassoapbox.blogspot.com/

2 – There is a food blog that I discovered one day that, to this day, I believe is THE number 1 BEST and most HYSTERICAL food blog out there – Sticky Cook.  Please, please, please take time to view her videos – they will leave you howling with laughter (and her recipes ain’t bad, either).  She has a website chock full of recipes (with an intro video) and a blog where she introduces recipes and chats in her amazingly funny style! What this woman does with chocolate…

http://stickycook.com/

http://stickycook.blogspot.com/

3 – Leslie over at Words of Me loves words (me, too!!)! This shines through in every post, and neat quotes pepper them along with beautiful pictures.  Drop over and visit her beautiful blog.

http://wordsofmeproject.blogspot.com/

4 – Shelli over at Style Ingenuity is not only a Certified Etiquette and Image Consultant but she posts about amazing styles, products, latest fashion looks, all things I love!  She will help you stay in style and is also creating a Friday Mixxer Blog Hops Directory!  Fun!

http://www.styleingenuity.com/

5 – Miss Jeannie over at Soccer Mom in Giggle Town has a great sense of humor and shares that humor intermingled with wonderful Bible teachings she pens with wisdom.  I always learn something good!

 http://soccermomingiggletown.com/

6 – And finally last, but by no means least, is my newest e-blog-friend Cate at Moments of Whimsy – where do these people get their awesome blog names?  All of them are great.  Cate is an ex-pat Australian living in New Zealand.  Her pictures make you want to MOVE there immediately. 

http://momentsofwhimsy.wordpress.com/

Please drop in and visit these wonderful bloggers and LEAVE A COMMENT to let them know you were there.  It’s the right thing to do!

In the meantime, I discovered this incredible organic flax and sesame cracker from my local health food store… and have to walk away from it with tears streaming down my face.  It is one of those bad-to-the-bone foods I’ve talked about in other postings.

The tip for today is to know what specific foods trigger you to go bad.  Then look at your BFU* elastic-waisted pants and your pretty little LBD and YOU decide – which one do you want to wear for the rest of your life?  Me, too!

THIS ONE?  *Big fat ugly

Or THIS ONE???

Oh, so lonesome for you…*

*Sigh* I miss my pool.  It’s been upper 40’s and lower 50’s weather-wise, with wind.  It makes it VERY VERY VERY COLD in the pool.  I’d be OK if shivering caused weight loss.  I’ve braved it a few times but today it is overcast and seems colder than 52 degrees. 

I do have to say working out in the pool has done me a world of good.  It has been amazing.  I’ve lost pounds and inches, my knees don’t hurt, and it’s fun.  You don’t really clock-watch and feel like you’re working out, either.  This is especially true if you’re trying to spike a ball in front of Alpha Hubby’s face in order to soak him as badly has he just soaked you.  It’s FUN!

And the added benefit of playing in the pool with your Alpha is face time.  And those who play together have more face time in other ways, too.  Heh heh heh (dirty snicker).  Gotcha.  (private joke)

I’ve been seriously thinking about investing in a wet suit – not the deep diving type, but a bit lighter.  It would allow me to work out in the pool for at least another month without turning blue or joining the Polar Bear Club.  Maybe when I have to start chipping at the ice in order to get into the pool I’ll quit.  In the meantime, I find creative ways to inch myself down the ladder, one toe at a time into the water.  It’s OK once you get in, get over the shock and begin to move around.  It’s not OK prior to that point.  Phew.

I just hate giving up the benefits.  I’m finally losing weight consistently.  I want to drag this out as long as possible because the alternative is coming back inside and getting on the elliptical and working out with weights again.  One more month in the pool would help toward that goal.  I am not quitting this journey but I’m not ready to give up the pool. 

Not until they have to drag me out by my cold, lifeless… frozen hair!

 **Written by Texas DJ Bill Mack in early 60′s for Patsy Cline who never recorded it.

So, I finally got on the scale and *phew* discovered I was one pound under where I was before the binge-light started.  I am glad I didn’t get on the scale sooner just because I would have been so upset with myself.  I had already noticed that the week prior to getting back on the scale, I really didn’t like myself.  I was disappointed in my choices and myself.

You know, it just doesn’t do to get upset with yourself.  It isn’t good to kick yourself for a perceived failure.  It is wrong to fuss at yourself and chastise yourself and be mad at yourself and criticize yourself and be unhappy with yourself and moan and groan about how stupid you were and, in plain, be your own worst enemy. Stop that . There are plenty of people around you who can do that for you. YOU need to be your own BEST cheerleader.

In order to get back into our Little Black Dresses, we need to support ourselves, really support ourselves. We need to continually believe that we can eat right, exercise, drink plenty of water, AND really know that we can do it. If you don’t believe in you, why should anyone else?

It may take a lot of practice, this being on your own side for a change. It might take reminding yourself continually, “No, I don’t speak that way anymore, I am now going to speak well of myself.” Keep it up, day in and day out. Get up saying, “I can do this.” Go to bed saying, “I can do this.” Keep it up, keep it up, keep it up, until you finally BELIEVE what you are saying.

Start being on your own team. Don’t allow any negativity around you from anyone, but especially from yourself.  Even if you are the only one on your team right now, YOU are the most important person you have to convince, not everyone else.  YOU CAN DO IT.  I KNOW YOU CAN!

Go team, go!!

Rah rah rah!! 

www.littleblackdressdiaries.com

Remember this scale?  A scale can be your friend or a scale can be your demon-from-hell enemy.

I haven’t been on mine in a week and I AM NOT GOING TO GET ON IT. Since that slight binge I had last Friday with the tacos (oh let’s just admit it, also the cream cheese last Thursday which is what probably started the cravings for cheesy stuff by Friday) – I have NOT been on my scale because if I had gotten on it, I would have just gone down the tubes in here.

I am at the 90 day mark. Employers often enact a 90 day probation (or trial) period of employment. It is a way to evaluate employee’s performance, attitude, and potential for success in the job.  

There have been enough studies to show that 90 days is a perfect indicator of what is really inside a person.  Anyone can fake being a good employee for a couple of months.  As they get more comfortable around the job, they begin to relax and let the “real them” come out.  If they have sloppy work ethic, then that is what will begin to come out.  Their perfectly clean desk will slowly become a pig sty.  They might begin to be tardy to work.

This can be true of relationships, friendships, and – *tada* (bet you wondered where this was going!) – little black dress journeys. I recognized a trend in all my prior weight loss attempts – at about 90 days, things started pressuring me to QUIT, FAIL, STOP, GET OFF THE JOURNEY, EAT SOMETHING WRONG, DON’T EXERCISE, GET BORED AND BLOW IT, GIVE UP, GO A DIFFERENT DIRECTION, AND JUST FLAT OUT STAY FAT.

I caught it – and you know what? It is NOT going to happen this time. I caught it and I am NOT going to fail. I am going to keep going forward even if I had a binge-light last week. I did NOT have one this week. So by next week, I will be glad to get on the scale again and continue tracking my FORWARD progress.

So there, 90 day rule!!!

You almost won but almost just doesn’t count.  I WIN.

Used to be when you thought of women 70 and older, you thought of teased up helmet hair, flabby granny bodies and polyester knit pants and tops.  UGH.  I always swore I would never, ever, ever, wear polyester knit pants, and for sure never have helmet hair, and I never will.

Some time in the early 1970’s I saw a tiny magazine advertisement for a hair product with a picture of women who had beautiful, flowing hair and was in her 40’s.  I was more impressed with how amazing she looked.  Several years later, I discovered who she was and that she STILL looked amazing.  Sure she’d been a model but she didn’t even START until she was 26 then retired at 38. She was still astonishing in her late 40’s. She truly is a testament to taking care of your body, hair and skin.

She’s now 75 and still astonishingly beautiful! We should all look so good at 75! Her name is Oleda (www.oleda.com) and she is someone I admire and look up to.  BTW she’s 69 in that bikini, and age 74 in black dress:

I bring this up because too many people (medical personnel included) say that you have to gain weight as you get older. The belief is that you will have to sag, bag, wrinkle, and look frumpy. You can dress up in modern clothes but just forget your body looking good after 35, OK?  NO!

Sometimes women (and men) who have to lose a significant amount of weight feel like giving up in light of those type of reports. I call them LIES LIES LIES. I’ve seen too many people who have taken control of their bodies, then whipped it into shape to look better than people 20-30-40 years their junior. Or always lived right so that they are still healthy as they age.

I think about Jack LaLane – this man was born September 26, 1914 – and at the age of 94, he (was; he passed away 1/2100 at 96) continues to work out every morning for two hours, spending 1 ½ hours in the weight room and ½ hour swimming.  He’s 91 on the left and 94 on the right.  YES 91 AND 94.

             (w/wife who’s 83)

What were you were telling me about how impossible it is for YOU to be fit over 30-40-50?

My all time favorite is Morjorie A. Newlin (1920-2008).  SHE BEGAN TRAINING AT AGE 72. Yes, you saw that right, STARTED weight training at 72 – and she looked hot in a bikini. At 72 she decided to do something about her fitness (she wanted to be able to lift a 50 pound bag of cat liter).  She began going to the gym, lifting weights, and was soon entering and winning bodybuilding competitions. She’s EIGHTY-SIX, 86, in the picture below.

Part of her story is told at http://www.littleblackdressdiaries.com/Files/MorjorieNewlin.html.

NONE OF US HAVE AN EXCUSE.

We are all capable of losing this weight and keeping it off. We are capable of toning our body so that it is fit and sexy. Sure, it takes some work but you only have to worry about ONE pound today. Do whatever it takes to get off one pound, today and today only. Don’t stress about tomorrow or fret about yesterday.

TODAY what can you do to lose one pound? We can join this amazing group of people who took control of their lives and are living (or lived) to the very fullest, healthy AND LOOKING GOOD.

All I can say is ME, TOO! ME, TOO! ME, TOO!! NO EXCUSES, MY LBD, LRD and SSS* friends.

*Simply Sexy Suit – until you’ve seen a man in liquid black Armani – sigh – oh my!

The hardest thing for me to do was retrain my mind in portion sizes.  Then came not eating heavily after 6:00 p.m.  After years of training yourself the wrong way to eat, now you have to learn a new way of eating!  The reward is that it works.

Love and marriage, love and marriage
They go together like a horse and carriage
This I tell you brother
You can’t have one without the other!

Is now officially rewritten:

Eat right and exercise
Eat right and exercise
They go together like jiggle and thighs
This I tell you brother
You can’t have one without the other…

Unless, of course, you actually do eat right and exercise then it will get rid of the jiggle and thighs – hoho!

So many times I’ve tried to just cut back on calories and drink more water in order to lose weight.  I totally ignored the fact that I needed to exercise.  It’s sort of like the song – you can’t have permanent and healthy weight loss without both – eating right and exercising.  Think of them as things that are inseparable.  Permanently fused together and not to be separated.  Think of them as being like ham and eggs, chocolate and smiles, love and marriage, Dr. Pepper and burps, babies and poopie diapers (sorry), hugs and kisses, Leland and Nan.  I really like that last one.  It just isn’t something that can be separated!

On this journey back into my first Little Black Dress, I’ve had some eye-opening revelations this past month.  I found out that food has to be such a part of my thinking that it is almost inseparable from normal lifestyle functions.  Now I don’t meant I think about food all the time to savor and stuff face with.  What I actually mean is that I have had to train myself to automatically think about food and its impact on my body and weight loss program all the time.  Doesn’t mean I haven’t blown it but that actually is becoming less and less… wow. I can’t believe I finally got to write those words.  Blowing it is less and less apt to happen.  Wow.

Since I gained all this weight because I was mindlessly eating now I have to think about what I am putting in my mouth in terms of being good for my weight loss and eventual maintenance program.  It has taken one month and 3 weeks to retrain my mind.  My mind has fought me every step of the way but it is not the boss of me.  I am no longer able to stuff my mouth with an éclair without thinking about the consequences… and taking the éclair back out of my mouth.  This is a HUGE victory for me.  It also RUINED my éclair affair.

I had to learn to think about the consequences of everything I ate.  This is not bad news.  It is very, very good news.  It is part of why my stomach is beginning to shrink – I’ve lost an overall 4 inches thankyouverymuch – and my clothes really are beginning to get loose again.

Eat right and exercise… dum de dum dum, la la de da de da de da da da da!!