Who even knows what day it is anymore (I promise I'll check before next time)

Hello long lost blog world,
I know I've been letting you down... I've been letting myself down but it's been a whirlwind of crazy going on around here and sometimes I just can't find the time to blog. What can I say, my family comes first. And this weekend my every aching head has demanded to be first. I just allowed myself to take my migraine meds for the first time all weekend because it has just gotten that bad. But I NEEDED to speak with you... I NEEDED to motivate myself.... so I NEEDED to update this little bloggy blog. A friend of mine - Ms. Jessica Dowty - whom I love and miss VERY much has sent me a letter. She is on a weight loss crusade as well and has blessed me with some amazing information that she is also letting me share with you! How great is that? She has lost almost 60 pounds, so this is some expert advice in my book - I've defintely never been that good. She is pretty amazing so I just went ahead with the copy and paste, here it be:
 
1. Start taking care of your skin now! I am constantly bathing myself in lotion. Good lotion. Lotion that is full of vitamins, aloe, cocoa butter, and anything with collagen elastin! I also found a bath wash made by St. Ives that has collagen elastin and I use that stuff religiously. This part of the weight loss process is not exactly cheap but I am hoping it will be worth it once I get all of this weight off of me. I have several friends that had the lap band surgery over a year ago and now they are having some sagging skin issues. I am trying to avoid this problem and so far I think all of this is helping. Also, stay hydrated! Drinking lots of water is probably one of the best things you can do for your skin, not to mention that it is good for shedding pounds too.

 2. Let’s face it…sometimes you just have to eat fast food. I saw on one of your entries that this has already happened to you. This is my trick for eating fast food - If I absolutely MUST eat from one of these greasy, really-bad-for-you places, I get a kids meal. I know it doesn’t seem like much food but if you try it (only if you are eating there to avoid passing out from low blood sugar or something), I think you will find that it’s not so bad.

 3. If I go out to eat at a sit-down restaurant I only allow myself to eat half of my meal. I get the waitress to bring me a to-go box before I even start eating and I put half of it away and out of my sight. Sometimes I end up eating the rest later that night but chances are that I would have eaten something else anyway, even if I had devoured it all at dinner. So I am still eating less either way.

 4. Eat on smaller plates at home. You will automatically eat less – I promise.

 5. Buy Orville Redenbacher’s Smart Pop popcorn. It is the 94% fat free one and it is butter flavored. This is a good snack to have on hand whenever you want something to munch on. Don’t get the individual serving bags. Get the big bags. Put some of that fancy, flavored popcorn salt on it and eat the whole thing! It is crunchy, takes a while to eat, and goes great with evening television shows! Keep some at work too. Seriously, this stuff can save you.

 6. I saw on your blog that walking is hard for you so I am giving you permission to stop walking…for now. When I first started losing weight, I had terrible problems with my feet. I have massive bone spurs on the bottoms of both heels and they used to hurt like crazy. Now that I have lost some weight they aren’t bothering me anymore and I am just now starting to work out some. In other words – I lost about 55 pounds without ever working out. I think it is important for you to start working out in the future but it is not a necessity right now. Not to mention, it can be rather discouraging if it is painful for you.

 7. Don’t try to be too fancy with your meals. I have found that it is easier for me if I eat the same things over and over again. My lunch is pretty much the same thing almost every day. It is either 2 lean pockets or sandwiches (without mayo and cheese). This might be a good thing for you to try at work. If you want to do sandwiches then buy the Natures Own bread that is 40 calories per slice. That is half the calories you find in other breads which means you can eat two sandwiches without feeling guilty. And, if you are the kind of person that really wants to have chips with your sandwiches then get some 100 calorie packs. I find that the sandwiches are enough for me though.

 8. Go buy the book, “The Four Hour Body” by Timothy Ferriss. OMG – it is great! It has a really good diet plan in it that you don’t have to do…haha. Besides the diet plan, it has a lot of really neat and easy ways to boost your metabolism like: drinking a big glass of cold water within 30 minutes of waking up, using cinnamon and fresh garlic, and icing certain parts of your body daily. It also has some really easy workouts that you only have to do a couple of times a week (and they won’t bother your knees). There is a lot more in it than what I just mentioned.

I'm gonna go ahead and let you know that I'm pretty much going to follow ALL of her advice - like I said EXPERT! And I also already downloaded "The Four Hour Body" onto my kindle - so I will update you on that book as I read along. Also, I'm headed out (well when my migraine ends) to get myself some new lotion - it's important. No saggy skin here, no thank you!

PS- I'm obsessed with Pinterest - I think you probably already knew that, but regardless... I found this SUPER cute idea on how to visualize weight loss. You take 2 glass vases and decorate them however you'd like - the example showed "Pounds to Go" and "Pounds Lost" on the vases - I'm going to come up with something a little funnier I think. But then you get yourself some of those decrative clear (or colored- I got multi-colored purple) rocks and put 1 per pound in the "Pounds to Go" and move them as you lose them. I put my set on the counter near my scale in the bathroom. LOVE IT!

PPS- THANK YOU, JESSICA DOWTY :) You are officially my hero.