I am reading a lot of this.  This is real for people as you are exposed to many of your favorite foods during the holidays and many of you are feeling deprived from what I am reading.  Remember this.  You can work in a holiday meal in the right proportions and figure it out on a website so you won't get into crazy calories for the day.  You are in control of your destiny.  The fact of the matter is whether you eat NS prepackaged food or regular food from the grocery store it is all only one thing.." Food."  Start thinking of these prepared meals as food you would buy from the grocery.  It is really there for a goal you set for yourself and while getting over this hump of time, it is time to remotivate.  How do you do that you say?  Easy for me you probably think since I lost my weight long ago and it stays off now.  But it is always something I control.  And when you are at goal, you will be cognizant of it all the time.

Remember that reason you went on this diet.  Remember how excited you were when that first shipment was arriving.  Remember that first time the weight on the scale dropped.  This needs to come back to the front of your mind.  Write out pos*** with that goal and put them everywhere:  On the cupboards, in your wallett, in the mirror so it is the first thing you see, or on your desk at work.  You are not being deprived now.  You are reaching your goal.  You are stretching yourself to get there.  You are regaining your health.  You are becoming stronger.  You are putting yourself first. 

If you gained a few pounds this holiday, forget about it.  You need to stick with how far you have already come.  So if you still are ten pounds less than when you started, you celebrate it.  Do not allow yourself to go to negative thinking and think oh well here goes again. 

Next make a commitment to make time for yourself.  You need to exercise and take care of you too.  This new year, you will hit your goals.  I did and if I can do it anyone can.  I expect to see all of you on this side.

So one, two , three... give that chicken fat back to the chickens.. and don't be chicken again...

Happy New Year

Cheri

Thanks everyone.  The well wishes extended are greatly appreciated.  I have been on Chemotherapy off only briefly for about four years with these drugs and two with another.  But I am blessed!  There was a time when this bottom could not walk without falling, talk without confusion, spent half years at a time in the hospital and through God's good grace working through the hands of some of the best physicians in the world, today I walk and speak with no problems.  Blessed, so blessed are we all.

During that time, three years to be exact where movement was limited to a wheelchair or walker or a cane.  A woman who was a jock all of her life had my weight increase by 118 pounds.  This was not only due to the lack of exercise but the enormous amount of steroids that they had to use to keep my brain in check.  Now imagine after three years awakening from that nightmare and working with a physical therapist in your home and finally finding out you are going to be able to do some minor exercises at the sink.  That was all I needed and with the help of NS which I went on to maintain my weight and lose some if I could, I indeed went quickly from the holding onto the countertop, to taking the cane to the gym and exercising with weights and treadmill or bike depending on how steady I was.  I did it everyday.  No matter what.  No dust was going to settle under this bottom.  It had never before I was ill and it wasn't going to after I was ill.  And boy did my weight come back down and slowly and surely over those same years I ended up losing 137 pounds.  I remember asking God to just let me even lose one pound and I would never complain about my weight again.  Till this day I have kept that promise. 

The point of this whole thing is sometimes life does throw you lemons.  You have to move through them with a positive attitude, think about what can I do to change this situation and make it happen.  Keep on moving, moving freely is one of the biggest God's blessings as well as your sight.  I have been blinded in both eyes with return of my sight and it is a frightening event.  The last time it happened though I just thought it is not staying this way.  This was only six months ago.  I went on a heavy chemo regime again and guess what.  It didn't stay that way and I can see again.  And guess what else, no dust settling below this butt today.  I am going to the gym in ten minutes in spite of having the chemo yesterday.  It keeps me menatally stable and it keeps me positive. 

So Cheri's rule for the day for all of you is Don't let the dust settle. 

Happy new year,

Cheri

I have not posted for eleven days! Shame on me and merry post Christmas and Happy New Year to all.  Just a quick hello now as I need to go for chemotherapy this morning.  More back at you later.  Be good to yourself and positive thinking going into this day!

cheri

I read a great blog today that was only a few sentences long and it revealed a fear I hear expressed over and over… I am going to get on the scale and think I weigh 5 pounds more even though I was 100% of the plan. It is a very normal fear. You stayed 100% and you are going to lose it. I know it for sure.  Even if it takes time. I am 132 pounds thinner and a size 4. Nutrisystem works. I have weighed this much less for almost five years. Sometimes even when I wake up in the morning, I half expect my belly grew overnight.  Then I shake my head and think why do you even think this? You trust you are doing the right things on maintenance. But even the little seed of doubt can last in an old timer like me. The key is you need to stay positive and not let this work against your weight loss.

I have said before you are what you think.  

You have seen here: 

1.  I have cheated.

2.  I have slipped

3.  I have eaten bad foods

4.  I know I have gained weight because of what I did

5.  I always do this.. I just can't manage to stay on a diet.  I am doomed.

.

 You see there is no such thing as a bad food, a slip, a cheat, a bad day that made me emotional eat.  It is all about one thing.  Eating.  We were put on this earth to nourish ourselves and there are plenty of things we can choose to do that with.  Those things include all the food groups:  Proteins, Carbs, Fats etc.  You need these things to stay alive.  You make choices which ones you put in your body to do that with.  So again there is nothing good or bad.  It is all good.  NS is good about teaching you that you can eat everything.  Did you ever think you would eat dessert every day?  Probably not.  I know I didn't. 

Losing the word "bad" or 'cheat", makes the thing no longer wrong to do.  Somehow when things are wrong or out of reach is when people want them more. You know that feeling when something creeps up in your head because you haven't had it for so long and it looks larger than life.  When something is not a bad thing, it looses that.  You control it and it does not control you.  Somehow funny enough it becomes less desirable.

When you use the word bad or cheat, it also makes someone feel like I did something wrong.  That can lead to the spiral downhill and a complex set of events that leads to more feeling bad about yourself and more supposed cheating. You did nothing wrong and you have never done anything wrong.  For example, say you ate a cookie.  Guess what it probably isn't going to matter as long as you don't consume it daily or eat the whole box.  You made a choice.  Nobody is looking and it is part of life.  You hop back to staying within your framework and you will continue to lose.

One of the reasons I was good at maintaining my past state of being large was I was really good at beating myself up over anything.  Extra food consumption was just one of many things.  I no longer do that.  I have not for five years now.  I made peace with food and know I can eat anything and not gain as long as I stay within my calorie allotment for the day even on holidays, keep a journal of what I am doing and just allow myself a bit of something when I want it.

You can do this too.  Good luck.  Think positive and I plan on seeing all of you on the other end of this at goal. 

Cheri

I wanted to respond to too many blogs today about this so I figured I would just write a blog about it.  The dreaded plateau is the bain of all dieting existance and can be avoided if you try a few simple things.  I never ever plateaued using NS.  I lost 137 pounds.  Here are the reasons why and how you might avoid it. Choose among them, you don't have to do all of them and I hope they may help you break your slow downs and at least get you back to a pound a week.  Remember a healthy weight loss is O- 2 pounds a week.  If you are coming off a month where you lost sixteen pounds say, you might expect a few weeks of zero as your body readjusts.  That is not a plateau.  A plateau is five weeks at the same weight.  Are you screaming now? I know I would be.  Here are some thoughts.

Sameness creates plateaus.. the same amount of calories per day, the same type of exercise per day, the same patterns of eating per day...

The key to breaking a plateau is TO DARE TO BE DIFFERENT everyday!!!

Ok Cheri what the heck does that mean?  I am going to give you examples and as you think of more write them down here for everyone else.

If you are running everyday as your exercise at 3mph, MWF, at the same pace it is time to change that routine.  This Monday I will walk at 2 mph for one hour instead of a half an hour that I usually run, on Wens.. for 45 minutes I will alternate running and walking... at differnt speeds.. on Friday I will run for 35 minutes at 3mph...

An even better plan would be to change up what you are doing:  elipitical on Monday, aerobics on Wensday, Running on Friday.  Keep your muscles confused so they never get use to what is coming next.  This will maximize your calorie burn and help keep your from plauteauing.

Next.. calories per day.. NS comes out to the same amount of calories almost everyday.  Once your body gets use to that, you can plateau.  I suggest you look at the amounts daily and vary it.. for example.. monday= 1,200 tuesday - 1,400 wednesday- 1250... Keep no two days the same.  This is easy to track as it is done for you on your tracker.  I know that what I said for tuesday might be above your plan.  But it will keep you from plateauing and it won't make you gain.  Some people take one day off a week. 

Finally vary your breakfast for lunch, dinner for breakfast, example.. turn it around.  Use higher protein at the recommendation of a NS counselor.  You can call for help.

On a final note, make sure you are journaling your foods.  Sometimes if we don't journal everything, we can add excess calories and we don't lose.  To this day, I journal everything I eat.  I can eat 2,000 calories a day now and not gain, but if I go over that consistently I will. 

So some advice.

Cheri

aww.. thanks for all the kind notes on the affect of positive thinking.  My goodness the actual things people were psyched about were awesome.  It seems everyone knows that this journey changes their life for the positive.  God, family, friends and a peaceful existance all are something that make up good days.  Thanks for sharing with me your very kind words and thoughts.

Cheri

Well I always thank God for a challenge.  About two months ago, I had a pipe break under my foundation.  My brother was kind enough to get to the pipe and fix it, but did it when he could.  Now when you are getting something that hard to do for free, you don't complain.  I am the type when there is a problem I like it fixed and now.  So I thought this is good for my patience.  When he finished he concrete he left me a big mess to clean up and I needed to contact contractors to put up cement board and take out half taken out tile etc.  Interesting enough I called a number of contractors who came out and then they come out again and then I don't hear from them.  I was thinking isn't that how somebody makes a living.  Oh well, so guess God is giving me another lesson.  I just took down the rest of the drywall and took up the flooring which was a challenge based on this glamorous sink that is there. That sink is  probably easy for a guy who knows what they are doing but a challenge for me/  But yeah it is done! 

The good news is .. boy have I probably burned some serious calories today.  No extra bon bons because I focus hard on the holidays to stay as close to a good eating as I can.  The other good news is  it reminds me of how lucky again I am to be able to see with both of my eyes.  I don't feel bad using a saw any longer because I am not worried about hurting myself by accident.  Another gift from God this Christmas.

So with that all being said, time to go get tile and go to the gym. 

Happy day everyone,

Cheri

Writing good things makes you feel good.  The fact is you are what you think.  I thank God everyday for what I have but this morning I am exceptionally happy.  I am going to give you three good things in my life and feel free to leave me a message on the good things in your life.  I would love to hear.  Remember thinking good thoughts and feeling good about your life will help keep that weight coming off and staying off.  Ok here goes!

1.  137 pounds gone for four years!!!!!!!!! wooohooooooooo... Gotta love NS...

2.  Joe came over and put up all the new fixtures in the bathroom.  This was a pleasant surprise as I usually do anything from putting in faucets to putting in drywall.  Joe and I have been together only a few months and he helps me all of the time.  Too sweet...

3.  I am no longer blind in my Right eye.  I was blind in my right eye five months ago.  They upped my chemotherapy and it cleared the blindness in four months!  Every day of seeing again is a delight.  Thank God.

Your turn to tell me something good.

Happy day to you.  cheri

Stay Focused is one of the ten rules I live by...

I think in a world full of distractions everyone on this plan should applaud themselves daily because you are staying focused.  People who stay focused  like Lance Armstrong get to the finish line first.  People who stay focused like Serena Williams are still playing tennis and beating everyone when people think the youngsters will be taking it away from her.  People who stay focused like Donald Trump come out on top.  Why? They stay focused.  They have a long term and a short term goal and they get what they want.

You are among the greats who can stay focused.  Remember to keep your goal always in sight.  It will help you when temptation rises.  I think most of you know I have been on maintainence a long time.  I keep a picture of myself at 265 pounds in my wallett at all times.  If I am tempted by chocolate, donuts, etc, I always have to look at that picture before I pay for anything.  My goal comes right back in my head and I can leave it and stay focused. 

I can still pat myself on the back.  (whew).. but sometimes it is hard.

Cheri