1. Make sure you have a picture on your computers hard drive to use.

2. Go to this link:

3. Click on “get your gravatar today”.

4. Enter your email address.

5. Go back to your email inbox and look for a confirmation email. Follow that link.

6. Enter your user name and password (You’ll make these up according to their directions.)

7. Browse your hard drive and locate your picture.

8. That’s about it.

If you have trouble you can watch a video of me following these steps. (It is five minutes long.)

(You’ll get a kick out of me trying to put in a password that works.)

Smile!

Sandra

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Participating in the Pounds to Lose program was a great experience. One of the great things I learned is although I know a lot about dieting-I still had a lot to learn about being tuned in, being reasonable, affirming myself, and having multiple plans for eating healthfully.

I benefited from the group mainly by being connected to others going through the same experiences. It helps end the isolation so many overweight women feel. Even when we have overweight friends-it can be hard if you are ready for a change and they are not. Although everyone had a different journey- we were all on the same path. I also liked knowing that every Monday I had a ‘date’ to check-in and be real about how things were going. I liked the topics we discussed and also enjoyed giving and receiving advice. I am outspoken, and I appreciate the fact that Sandra was encouraging about my (all of us) giving our thoughts and advice to support one another.

One of my biggest challenges was feeling that I was on a roll (I had been losing weight with a friend since January) so I wasn’t sure if I needed the program. I knew I had issues (other wise I would not be losing this weigh again) but wasn’t sure if the program was for me. I guess you could say challenge was fear that I was losing weight in vain again. I also feared spending money on ‘yet another’ system that I wasn’t sure would ‘work’.  What helped me get over it was an answer Sandra gave me when I sent her an email. She was both empathetic and tough at the same time. She didn’t let me off the hook and her answer was something that I had never expected or heard. I thought as I read the email- wow-I can learn from her.

Yes- I have lost weight before. This process was different because of the ‘top down/bottom up’ concepts, being connected via the phone, blog, and working with Sandra directly.

I think breaking down the weeks and trying a variety of diets was helpful.

Sandra’s note… with the Pounds to Lose group we try on four diet “types” : listing (we do a clean eating list of food)/ counting (we count calories)/mindful/devise your own diet. This helps not only in (a) attaining knowledge of dieting; (b)  the resulting weight loss, but (c) most importantly in understanding how to go through transitions without “checking out” in between… so that when in the future you get tired of dieting, you know how to transition to something different instead of just throwing up your hands and letting it rip. You may think you know everything you need to know about calorie counting, but that is one of the things that members find out… they don’t know it all when it comes to learning to do it in a reasonable, instead of all-or-nothing way.

Although it was tough, the mindful eating week has helped me a great deal. Now, I have no issue eating with the TV, laptop, or radio off. Eating my food with my own thoughts isn’t as scary as it used to be. And no, it is not like all of my thoughts are always pleasant, but I am working on just feeling how I feel-especially when it is fear, loneliness, etc.

Calorie counting was freeing in a lot of ways. It allowed me to stop viewing food as good or bad and got me more in tuned to what I was putting into my body and its possible consequences or benefits. It allowed me to have things I would normally have passed on-as long as I had my fruits and veggies for the day- what’s wrong with a chicken soft taco?

Clean eating is amazing and I think the single best way to eat. It was a tough adjustment though- but I am glad I hung in there and did it. I guess that is what made the process different-we were challenged to do things that we normally would not have tried and we were encouraged to stick with it-even if it was hard. I liked the devised diet because it allowed us to take elements that are working for us right now and use them to help us to ‘eat with the intention of losing weight’.

I think the people who would benefit the most from the Reasonable Diet are folks who have tried a few different things and haven’t found there way. I think the RD is different from other weight loss programs because it isn’t ‘my system is better than your system’ it is more ‘let’s find out what’s going to work for you and do it’.  I also think people who like to make excuses and not take responsibility would benefit from Sandra’s ‘you gotta do something to connect’ style.

My best strategy is clean eating with exercise. I think this combination is the most powerful because it many ways it is top down and bottom up. The food is the bottom up piece. Eating mostly veggies, fruits, lean protein, and complex carbs-how do you go wrong? It eliminates trigger foods, provides a ton of vitamins, minerals, fiber, etc. For me, exercise if top down because it works as an anti-depressant for me. It connects me to other people at the gym, helps release anger, worry, etc, and gives me something to do which helps with boredom.

My main surprise was learning that I have a lot to learn. It was also important for me to focus on being reasonable because I have a tendency to be on the very high or very low end of a diet. I also know that I will hit a point with my current eating when it will no longer work for me and that is ok- I just need to find something new. Staying checked in is the key. I finally feel like I know not only how to get to goal-but how to maintain it. So exciting. I also liked the books that Sandra referenced.

I feel that I am moving in the right direction now. I have also learned that coaching is very important- especially with all of the transitions I am want to see manifest in my life. It is not a sign of weakness or indulgences- it is an investment in my most important resource-me.

Here is where you can get all the info on the Pounds to Lose group

http://www.reasonablediet.com/sp/poundstolose.html

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Sandra helped me by giving me a fresh outlook on a topic I have been dealing with my entire life.

I have been researching diets and dieting my entire adult life.  I thought I had heard it all.

But Sandra managed to give me new ideas on this familiar topic and to see things in a different light.

There were ideas that were swimming around in the back of my mind for many years.  Things that I wanted to try, but kept putting them off.  After speaking to Sandra, these ideas came to the front of my mind and I finally decided to put them into practice.

As Sandra would say I became “checked in”.  I became more mindful of what I was doing.

I became more mindful that time was passing by and the time to act had arrived.

As Sandra recommended I thought about what I am actually willing to do right now. (I got over just thinking about what I could do, or should do.)

I also enjoyed the group calls and reading what others had posted on the blog and all of the information that Sandra provided with the Member resources.

Although I attended most of the call I really enjoyed listening to the recordings. (Since there are two calls each week, I could listen to the one I wasn’t on and get more information and motivation, but I even notice things I missed before, when listening to the call I was originally on.)

I have lost weight before, but this time I feel like someone is on my side and in my corner.  I have someone I can turn to for guidance. I got a lot of good ideas from other group also.

The incident that got me started on the Pounds to Lose program was a big scare I got from my family Doctor about how my health was rapidly going down hill and I was heading towards a dire future.

I have really surprised myself! I am  trying so many interesting things and becoming so pro-active and seeing things in a new and positive light.  In the past I thought of dieting as all negative, now I see it as making positive changes in my life and especially in my health.

Thanks,
MaureenO in NYC.

Here is the link to the Pounds to Lose group info

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It’s true… I’ve submitted my audition for my own show on Oprah’s new OWN network.

Please vote for me! Wouldn’t it be CRAZY if I won? Why not? Crazier things have happened and I know the show would really be a wonderful opportunity to help America come to their senses about dieting, weight, and living a wonderful healthy life. Please vote every day. You can even vote several times. They just have it set up so as to eliminate auto-voter soft ware, but they don’t set a limit on how many time a real human can vote. THANKS!

http://myown.oprah.com/audition/index.html?request=video_details&response_id=13179&promo_id=1

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500 miles on a  bike. bicycle. (When I say bike, people think I mean motorcycle.)

My husband (Kevin) and I are preparing for our 7th annual, 500 mile bicycle trip. We start at our home and loop through the Midwest, arriving back home one week later.

To answer the most frequently asked questions: We stay in motels. Kevin pulls a small trailer. We average 500 miles per trip and 70 miles per day. (Although I have traveled 116 miles on one glorious wind blown day!) Primarily we ride on highways, looking for wide shoulders and low traffic.

Is it hard? Well, ummm, yeah.

Then why?

Being an almost decision-free vacation means it is very stress-free. We simply decide in the morning which direction we will go, then we get on our bikes and ride – trying our best to coordinate our exhaustion/collapse with the availability of a motel room.

As I get out of decision-making mode and into a place of simple observation and reflection, I tune in to the hundreds of variations of green. I notice every smell. The clouds are all unique. The houses and their yard trash become anthropological wonders.

The biggest hurdle is the start to the day.

I groan myself awake at 6:30am, take some Advil and check the wind direction. I eat some fruit or nuts and force myself onto the bike. I feel sorry for myself, especially the part that meets the seat. I tell Kevin, that today I probably won’t be able to go as far. (He hears this nearly every morning of the trip.)

As the miles loom before me, I assess and reassess the six outside factors that influence the day’s ride: wind, temperature, surface, shoulder, traffic and hills. Somewhere around Mile 8 I’m able to see that all factors aren’t really against me. (And if they truly are all against me, I should change routes or just shut it down and get a hotel room. No one is making me do this, right?)

I stop worrying about how hard it “might” be or how difficult it “will” be. This allows me to start adjusting to what actually is.

When I make it to Mile 10, I realize I’ve already ridden half the distance I wanted to accomplish before my morning breakfast break. Just another 10 miles and I can guiltlessly stop for what ever presents itself. That might be a cup of coffee and pancakes, or it might be a granola bar, juice and a donut while I read the newspaper under a shade tree.

I start appreciating the blue of the cornflowers, and I spend a minute fondling a youthful memory of gathering tiger lilies for my mother. My thoughts drift to her current health and appreciating her in my life before I notice a wheat field, and wonder why there are so many less than there used to be.

As I follow my thoughts, I’ve now passed a barrier. My breathing evens, and I appreciatively observe the sun on my face.

One morning, as I was overcoming that 10-mile attitude barrier, I suddenly realized I was actually enjoying the rain that had almost stopped me from leaving the hotel room that morning. All the other factors were in my favor: it was warm, and I was riding on a quiet, flat, wide-shouldered highway with the wind at my back. I thought about how few times in my adult life I actually have been out in the rain. I noticed the rain felt good on my skin.

I was grateful that it was gentle and that my visor was keeping my glasses clear. Life was good.

Are you on a challenging journey?

Maybe you are on a challenging journey. Perhaps you are figuratively groaning yourself awake as you assess how hard it is to change your habits.

You need to honestly assess all the factors and realize that everything is not against you. You need to push through Mile 8 and adjust the biggest factor of all – your attitude.

By Mile 9, you’ll be approaching the zone. You’ll have established habits and be ticking off the miles/the pounds/the debt.

As you push through Mile 10 and move into acceptance, you’ll find pleasure in the things you “can” enjoy and find you can let go of the obsession about what you “can’t” have.

You may even recognize a “halfway-to-breakfast” landmark approaching. You’ll find that despite the fact you occasionally have to turn down a piece of cake or stop eating fast food, there are still plenty of positive things on which to focus.

Life is good.

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This is available as a magnet.

Go here before June 26, 2010 and I will mail this refrigerator magnet to you!

Amanda seemed a little embarrassed when she told me that often she finds herself just standing at the fridge, when she knows she isn’t even hungry. “Do you ever do that?” she wanted to know.

Well, duh?! Who doesn’t?

Okay… I know there are those non-food-issue folks out there, who don’t have this deal, but come on. Really.

Not only do I do it, but working from my home I find it especially tempting to go to the fridge, for example, every time I want to procrastinate, or have to make a tough decision, or when the bottom line doesn’t balance. I do it so often, I had to come up with a very specific strategy. Actually, I  have two of them.

1. Wide open celery. If I have celery cleaned, cut up, chilled in water in an open container with no lid… so it is absolutely the easiest thing to grab when I open the door, often my battle is over right then.

2. I tell myself, “Sandra, the answer isn’t in here.” That’s right, if it is not meal time and I’m not hungry, the answer is not in the refrigerator. ” So if the answer isn’t “food” then the question is not, “What are you hungry for?”

So as I start munching my celery, my little brain goes scampering off thinking about what the “real question is”…and wha laaa, no more Sandra standing at the refrigerator.

Food for thought.

Bringing You Peace of Mind,

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Here is my audio practice recording for my audition that I’m going to send to Oprah to be on her OWN TV network.

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