I Won By Losing!

What a great feeling!

January 2012

I won second prize for the December 2011 Get Skinny Contest! The winners were announced last night, and I won second prize. Can you tell I'm excited?!?!?

I lost just over 7 lb in December even though I was away from my own home and routine for nearly half the month. I decided that I would stick to my program and absolutely ENJOY every moment of the holidays this year. In fact, I think it’s the first December I have felt good for the whole month!

First, I visited my family members' home for four days. We had great meals and lots of goodies (gluten free for me, of course!), and I ate everything I wanted!

Night in Vegas

Next, I travelled with some family members to Vegas. We walked a lot on the Strip, went to a show, and ate at some fabulous restaurants. We had the Magic Spoon Buffet at the Cosmopolitan – what a feast that was! I particularly enjoyed the polenta with mushrooms and truffle oil. And I ended my meal with a bowl of whipped cream and fresh strawberries. Yum! We had a breakfast buffet at the Venetian, and a simple, rich steak dinner at Envy.

When I left Vegas, I visited my best friends, Ashley, and her husband in Seattle. It is Ashley and Duffy who introduced me to Dr. Glidden and Dr. Wallach. They, too, have found that eating gluten free has improved their health. Ashley is a fabulous and creative cook who loves to share her talents with those she loves. I ate like royalty at her table!

I chose to enjoy everything that fit within my eating program, and I continued to support my body with nutrition.

And with all the travel, the buffets and feasting, I still gained health and lost fat! This is a testament to the nutritional support I am following and the simple adjustments I have made to my food choices. I am convinced that anyone can experience fabulous health.

It's an easy choice!

There are Forks in the Road...

ON the bridge!

What a great day we had!

I got to be with my two best friends on a road trip!

If you have ever seen old black and white film of a bridge "dancing" -- twisting and turning, as it failed to do its job -- it was probably the film of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge. What I hadn't realized was how close that location is to Seattle. Such a famous bridge, and we drove across the sturdy replacement bridge.

It's certainly safe now. And strong. Like our friendship and our health - we build something strong when we pay attention to it and do what we know is good for it.

Here we were looking at a bridge, and these are the friends who introduced me to Dr. Wallach and Dr. Glidden and we're getting healthy together.

Well, we continued on the road trip...

The next bridge we crossed was, as hard as it was for me to believe, actually floating on water several hundred feet deep. It amazes me when I think of airplanes flying, and here we were on a very sturdy bridge, floating! There are so many ways in which my mind was stretched on this trip!

We continued on. And with close friends who are in close proximity, there was a lot of laughter and conversation. We had a great day together.

We stopped when we were hungry at a grocery store, one of a chain which promises lots of healthy choices. Unlike many of the grocery stores near my home, this one had a cafe and many options for healthy choices within the Good Foods list! We enjoyed being inside looking out at the rain, and examining the store from the lofty lounge perspective as we ate.

Back on the road we continued along the remote lake to the point of our destination, the town of Forks!

My niece introduced me to Stephanie Meyer's books, and not only have I read them all, I've seen the movies and listen to the music. I'm a fan! I enjoy the fantasy -- from a distance! In person I don't want vampires and werewolves in my life! And I was really excited to have a chance to see the area of the world in which the books and movies are set.

Forks gets a lot of rain. It seems it rains there all the time. There was certainly a lot of rain during our drive. And when we arrived we were told it holds the record for rainfall in the Pacific Northwest area. They don't get centimeters or inches of rainfall. They get FEET of rain annually.

Inside the tourist welcome center we were dry and warmly welcomed. There's a display dedicated to the movies, and the town thrives on the Twilight connection. We even had our photos taken in the display.

We spent a little time taking in the displays and then checking out the various locations around the town.

Then it was back on the road for our return to Seattle. It was a great day for a road trip. It was great to see sights I had only read of or seen in movies.

Best of all was the chance to share the journey with my friends.

Best December Ever! Two Months of Success!

January 2012, size 20!

What a great month! I think this is the first time in my life I have thoroughly enjoyed the month of December, with all the family events and holidays, and still lost weight! For nine days in December I was away from my own home, had no access to a scale, and simply maintained my nutritional program. I lost weight AND inches!

I stuck with SlenderFX and Dr. Wallach's and Dr. Glidden's recommendations for 90 for Life, ate the "good" foods, avoided the "bad" foods, maintained gluten free choices, and still enjoyed the treats and the travel. I visited with my family for four days and enjoyed the holidays with them, then travelled to Vegas for a further five-day extended family holiday.

In Vegas I indulged in the buffets -- I had lots of strawberries and cream for dessert one day! -- and still found that when I got to my best friends' home in Seattle, I was down 7.4 pounds, and 2 inches from my waist and 1.5 inches from my hips for the month!! Can you tell I'm excited about this program!!!

The SlenderFX and Get Skinny program is a great support to my weight loss program. It is easy to follow and clearly works! What I also appreciate about SlenderFX is that it, along with the 90 for Life nutritional products, supports my body to build and rebuild health as I am burning off fat. This is the first program I have experienced in which I have 100% confidence that the difference it makes to my body is not only real, but also PERMANENT!

While other programs may use shakes and reduce calories in one way or another, I don't believe there's another program that provides my body with everything it needs -  all 90+ essential nutrients! - to support on-going health.

I had told my friends that I wanted to spend some time shopping in Seattle for new jeans and pants, making sure to get some that fit me now and one or two that will be my next "goal" pants. In the past shopping for clothing has been a negative experience: I have had trouble finding a size that both fit me and looked good on me.

Ashley shows me just how many inches gone!

When I looked at some "goal" pants this time, my friends encouraged me to try them on. I was convinced they would be too small and refused until they insisted. To show them that the pants wouldn't fit, I tried them on -- they are so comfortable and they FIT RIGHT NOW!

My size has reduced from 24-26 to 20, and my next goal pants are size 16! This is a lesson to me to continue to practice "seeing" myself as a slender person -- something very new to me!

One thing I have learned that is a real "key" is that weighing myself every day is a good thing. It took a couple of weeks before I stopped reacting emotionally to the daily ups and downs that the scale documented. In the past I would make all sorts of judgements about my body and my own ability to understand the results of the particular diet program I was doing at the time - I often felt like a failure.

Now I look at the daily weight measurement as information about how my body is responding to the choices I am making for food and beverages, and simply make adjustments.

This is giving me more freedom than I have ever experienced before as I get skinny!