You're Here! You're Really Here!

Hello? Is this thing on? Testing, one, two, three.... You can hear me? Okay, good! If everyone would just please grab your coffee or tea and find a seat, we can get started. What? What's that? The brownies are gone? I am so sorry. I was really nervous about our meeting today, so I ate one or two. Or seven. Or fourteen. Really, I am quite sorry. I promise to make more for next time. Now, please scoot over towards the middle of the rows so there will be plenty of seating for everyone. Great! Are we all comfy? Ready to go? Good!

First off, let me welcome all of you to my new blog, More of a Woman. This will be my own personal blog that will deal with life, marriage, mommyhood, and weight loss, not necessarily in that order.

Let me give you a little background...I have been married for fifteen years to my college sweetheart, Roger. We have two rugrats: Zachary, age 11, and Alison, age 2 (and boy, is she TWO! But that's fodder for other posts.) I work from home in the healthcare field. I do bookkeeping, marketing, and case review for a medical review company located in a different state. I get to travel for conferences and training several times a year, which I greatly enjoy. I am soon to be 37 (ouch. That was soooo hard to type!).

And for as long as I can remember, I have struggled with my weight. I am genetically predispositioned to have a weight problem. Women in my family? We are a rotund bunch for the most part. I have never been one of those naturally skinny women who can eat whatever and never manage to gain an ounce. (My sister in law is like that. She is also tall, beautiful, and just about the sweetest person I know. So yeah. I can't even hate her. How is that fair? ) I can walk by a bakery window and be up a pound the next day.

I began Weight Watchers in July 2006. So far on WW, I have lost about 14 lbs. Well, actually more like 18 lbs, but I am at a plateau where I keep gaining and losing the same five pounds since December 2006.

So, where am I going with all this and why do you need to know? A big focus of this blog is going to be health and weight loss. Now, I am sure after reading this for a week or two, you will see that in no way is this actually a HEALTH or WEIGHT LOSS blog as you would normally picture it. I am not a doctor, but I do play one on the Internets. I would like for this to be a place where we can all feel comfortable in our own skin, while we are trying to make that skin surround less mass. I want to focus on getting healthy, not just getting skinny. I know some very fit-looking people who are very unhealthy, and some very overweight people who are actually healthy. It is about more than the numbers on the scale.

If I can ever figure out how, I will have a place for recipes and weight loss tips and lots of other good stuff. If I can't, then those things will just be included in my postings.

And for those of you who came over from SC, you would not know this is my blog if it weren't for the pictures of my kids. I told my husband that one thing we manage to do really well is produce cute chirrens, and far be it from me to withhold said cuteness from the world. So you will get lots of that too.

I will try to post at least 3-4 times a week, but again, that is subject to work and life and other things I can't control.

Thanks for coming by and I hope you will become a regular. And speaking of regular....Today's health tip is DRINK YOUR WATER. Did you know that in one university study, one glasssof water shut down midnight hunger pangs for almost 100% of dieters? Lack of water is a large contributor to daytime fatigue. Most of the time when we think we are hungry, we are actually dehydrated. The next time you are in the kitchen between meals looking for something to satisfy you, try a big glass of water first. If you are still hungry five minutes later, then get something to eat. A friend of mine who began her own weight loss consulting business told me this several years ago and I have never forgotten it: "Water is the winning ticket in the weight loss lottery." You will never lose all the weight you want without drinking water. It's just a simple fact.

So instead of fighting water, let's embrace it! Toss a couple slices of lemon and orange into your water, add a dash of Splenda, and bang! You have a citrus-y drink that you didn't have to pay $1.99 for. If water isn't your thing, try upping your intake of herbal tea. Now I love a good soda just as much as the next gal, but this week, let's all try to limit our intake of soda to just one glass or can a day. Can we do that? Just that small step will get us one step closer to our goals.

Have a great day, everyone!