EAT to live, NOT LIVE to eat.

Hello everyone!

I want to talk to you a little about dieting. Yes, ladies I know we hate this word, and anything that has to do with dieting. But for the last couple of weeks I have really seriously been thinking about my health, I might have to do with my birthday coming up soon in march, or even the fact that me and my husband had a long talk about what we really want in the next couple years, aka kids.

I've never been a very active girl despite my stunning ability to catch a ball or always be on first base when it comes to baseball. Yup, that’s about the extent of my athletic abilities. I’ve always been somewhat of a couch potato, and even a snacker. I loved books and the library when I was a girl, not much of an outsider, although surprisingly loved swimming and the outdoors as a kid.

So, yes you guessed it, I’ve always been a bit chubby, and even heavy when I graduated high school. It finally hit me when I was in my twenties and the envy set in even as an adult that I just didn’t measure up. Okay, enough with the sad stories, but it’s my story, and it made me who I am today. I got up enough nerve through some tough situations to join weight watchers.

Weight watchers was such a big step for me, but it really helped me with the building blocks to start eating healthy. It may have even taught me to cook. Yep, minus some ups and downs for my first year, I managed to go from a size 24 women’s jeans to a size 16! If you haven’t guessed it 73 lbs. down, and I had lost 8inches off of my waist.

Over some years, and some ups and downs, I met my wonderful husband. Who saw me in a light that I ever knew. He loved me unconditionally. Sooo unconditionally that I gained back 50lbs of, what I like to call, Happy Weight. - Yeah, we'll go with that.

In the next couple of months, I’d really like you to join me, as I succeed once again. This time hopefully for good.

I started with a couple of searches online about meal plans, platies - which is my fav, and really just wanted a good solid jumping off point. I found Simply Nourished Living. It’s an awesome website written by a wonderful women named Martha. A blog entry that she did about the "Step by Step" approach is really what I needed to get back into the game without feeling so overwhelmed with jumping back into weight watchers.

Weight Watchers offers so many good tips, to just get you started, But I wanted a Pre-Weight Watchers jumping off point. Something I could easily accomplish right now. When you do WW, the tips and keys to success really stick with you, even after time, like switching up your food to a healthier version, eating one more serving a fruit and veggies a day, or even just starting to write down what you eat. You can even start as small as tracking your water. I wanted to share with you these keys to success with Martha’s "Step by Step" approach.

So, for all your documenters, This Week in the Shop I’m going to be offering "Before & After" New weight loss pocket page cards without all the jogging shoes, and cheesy stuff. These cards are crisp clean, and minimal. They have mint, yellow, and some teal thrown in with a light texture.

I also have a Mini Flair and Cork Embellishment set that coordinates with the Before & After Set, or can be used to document a goal that you want to achieve from your holiday resolutions.