LEAP DAY EBOOK GIVEAWAY WINNER: Betty!

Betty W, your number came up on the random generator. So, let me know via email which of the listed giveaway ebooks you want (as long as Amazon still has it available)--whether it's TRANSFORMATION ROAD or one of the others. I think I only need your email to send it, so it should happen pretty fast.

THANKS to those who entered. Keep reading and learning!

LEAP DAY GIVEAWAY: Ready to Transform? WIN AN EBOOK to read on your laptop, smartphone, Kindle...

We only get a February 29th once every 4 years. So, I'm gonna do something to celebrate it.

An ebook giveaway. I love books. I love ebooks. I have found books ESSENTIAL for learning and for keeping up my motivation on my journey of transformation. I've mentioned many books that have been pivotal for me, here, on this blog.

So, if you are getting ready to embark on your weight loss/life change, and you've had many years of issues with obesity, how about TRANSFORMATION ROAD by Sean Anderson? This is very much a first person, memoir type of account of how he finally got a handle on his eating, controlled his calories, changed his life, and became a hottie. Um, that last part was just my opinion, NOT HIS.

The amazon ebooks are readable on any computer and, naturally, on Kindles, smartphones... I use both my Kindles and my laptop to read my ebooks, no problem. So, this is the new millenium. I'm giving away EBOOKS, not hard copy books. Got it? :D

If you already read TRANSFORMATION ROAD or already bought it, then you can choose from one of the following:

THE END OF OVEREATING by Kessler
WILLPOWER! by Gillian Riley
The New Evolution Diet by Arthur de Vany, Ph.D.
Pilates Illustrated by Portia Page
The Paleo Solution by Robb Wolf
The Smarter Science of Slim by Jonathan Bailor
(You can choose the eWorkbook, instead, if you have this already)
The Perfect Health Diet by the Jaminets 
Coach Yourself Thin by G. Hottinger, MPH RD and M. Scholtz, MA
Wheat Belly by Dr. William Davis
Made to Crave by Lysa TerKeurst


To give an ebook/Kindle book as a gift, I will need your email address.

To enter this giveaway, leave a comment UNDER THIS BLOG POST specifying how you want to transform and what you think is your major obstacle. Make sure you include an email address (even if you disguise it, ex:  janedoe atsy gmail dotsy com).  I will choose a winner at random from the comment entries and announce the winner in a post next week.

If you want an extra entry, you simply have to promise to review the book you win on your blog or website or facebook within the next couple of months. That's it..just pass on the good word to someone if an author's work has been of help to you in your transforming LEAP!

This leap day, jump over your wall, jump across the barrier, and leap into your new self. Begin the new journey or reinvigorate the current journey  RIGHT NOW...today.

Are you leaping?

Do it...and be well...

Note: More informational interviews continue at The Paleo Summit. I strongly, strongly,STRONGLY recommend the interview with Mat LaLonde, Ph.D., an research biochemist at Harvard U., who discusses things like anti-nutrients (the hype, the science reality). Interesting, informative stuff, and he is a clear speaker (as much as I like Dr. Jaminet, he's just not gifted with verbal fluidity or verve).  Don't be intimidated by the "science" of it. He's very understandable.

Note Plus: THIN FOR LIFE is a bargain book RIGHT NOW on amazon (less than 6 bucks). This is a compilation of successful maintainers and how they do it. It's not a new book...but it was a helpful book to me years ago to show me if I was gonna do this, things had to change RADIACLLY, and here were the case studies to prove it. No magic bullet, folks. :)

Day 9 of P5: Thoughts on becoming "less ugly", um..."more pretty?" Also...What sort of prize would you want in a giveaway...and Oh, yeah, that's right, it's supposed to be a CHALLENGE and HARD! And a V-Day pic I turned into Profie Pic...

Tanita-san says I'm 221.8. 

Small downtick. Good. Lagging this week, but hope another whoose is a-coming.

Beautiful day today in Miami. Thoughts of beauty have been swirling in my brain in tones of aqua, lavender, and minty green. :) A scosh of raspberry pink here and there for delight.

I think because I've gotten so many compliments the last few days--from strangers, neighbors, and family--that I'm thinking, "Okay, I guess I'm less ugly."

See, that's how my brain wants to work. So, I tried to do an auto-correct:

"Okay, I'm looking nicer. Enjoy it!"

I have a hard time thinking of myself as anything but homely or averge or plan or, on bad days, just plain butt ugly. I've never been the "pretty" sister. I wasn't the pretty teen. Even my best male friends would tag me as "average". Only those besotted with my charms would venture a compliment about my looks.

I'm not one of the pretty people. Never have been. Though I was cute at times as a kid. I got the pics to prove it. I wasn't a beautiful bride--hubby would dissent here--and I'm not a beautiful middle-aged woman.

I have a hard time sometimes with compliments. I have to stop, unfreeze my brain, and learn to say thank you when someone says, "Wow, you're looking great!" or "You really look good!"

I have to learn to be gracious and less self-critical.

I've seen women who are not standard-beauty  beautiful who consider themselves beautiful, act beautiful, and convince many people they are in fact beautiful. I could learn a thing or two from them. Just act like you are, and people may well start to see that, too.

Well, at nearly 51, I should try something different, yes?

Been thinking I'd like to do a giveaway. I did one on my previous blog...and never did one here. I don't get stuff from sponsors, so I'd pay for it myself.

I have had a lot of insight and value from certain books, and I thought maybe give one of those away. But maybe I should ask:

If you could get something in a contest (and no, I'm not talking cash or a huge prize, cause I ain't Bill Gates here), something modest but useful to your weight loss journey, what would it be?

What's your first choice, and what's your second one?

1. Book
2. Exercise DVD
3. Some exercise item (a fitness circle, a toning ball set, resistance bands)
4. Some low cal or "healthy" food item
5. Inspirational/Motivational audio tape
6. A weight loss reward item: like lipstick or nail polish or a commemorative bead bracelet
7. Some mystery prize you won't know what it is until you get it
8. A gift certificate to Amazon to pick your own "health enhancing" item or weight loss reward

And do you prefer giveaways with some task (write a 25 word blurb about what works best to motivate you, a limerick, an essay, a photo, etc) or one where  you just add your comment with email?

Just wondering as I plan for one for this blog.

Got a cute motivating email from our Fearless Leader. Reminds us we're supposed to be, er, suffering? Um, no, "challenged." Yeah, that's it.

Well, anyone doing the exercises knows it's a challenge. (Really, I'm not the only one dying from the strength ones, right?) And some days, 1200 calories are tough, some days not so much. So, the level of "challenge" varies. But it's supposed to be hard. It's not the Phase 5 DDDY Picnic. It's the Phase 5 CHALLENGE!

Am I challenging myself enough? Well....that's a thing to ponder. How much am I pushing this to do the best I can. Don't wanna waste the opportunities, right? And, hell, there's a killer set of prizes!

So, those are my thoughts today....and now I'm off to workout: Be well. Be very well. Be good to yourself. Call yourself beautiful...and maybe believe it.

Oh, and here's a V-Day pic. I put on a lip gloss I bought last summer for Xmas, but saved for V-Day. Very red! My shoes and purse were red. My top black lace. Hubby said it was sexy. Good. He's the only one I was out to wow:

Red V-Day Lips!

Not day 25 of the P4 Challenge: Pic of Friday Date, Packet Received for Phase 5, Itchy and Spotty In Miami!

Eating, fine. Water, fine. Skin...OMG, I'm dying of the itch here!

I must have gotten some sand flea or something bites on my walk. My legs where the capri pants didn't cover are riddled with itchy-as-hell bites. My arms and chest and hairline have some bites, a few, not crazy like my shins/calves--I did stop a few times and bent over to tie sneakers more loosely, must have come within sand flea range. Or whatever biting things these were.

I've covered myself in Benadryl cream, used a prescription cortisone cream--it still ITCHES!!!!!!!!!

I'd finally gotten my hives/eczema/dermatitis skin in some sort of normalish looking state and now, this. The multitude of bites have set off a wider reaction, so I'm feeling a bit off. Taking C, Quercetin, and creaming things up and hoping it will not leave scars. I scar easily. My face is full of pocks and scars and hyperpigmented spots from a  lieftime of acne and dermatitis/eczema, and this annoys me. I start getting to a happy place and, bam. Bugs.

Oh,well.

Eating is good. Rereading bits of motivating books to keep me going. Appetite is slumbering nicely--no FF beast in sight these last couple days.

Today, the Phase 5 Challengers got their packets. I'm opened and am reading them. The exercise is definitely...um...scaring me. HAH!  Yes, yes. My default reaction.  Looks tough.

I have no illusion of being one of the grand finalists--unless just about everyone else drops out!--but the secondary prizes are lovely. An iTouch (hubby has one, but who wouldn't want their own), an Amazon Kindle (I have the latest generation, and I like it and was reading some REFUSE TO REGAIN on it today while doing bathroom duty), and an Acer Netbook (don't have one, but would like one, heh).

Not too shabby, huh?

My goal is not to drop out or be asked to. To stick to the plan and stop being obese. The chart says my expected loss will bring me below 186 lbs (the line between obese and overweight). Think..in 4 months I can be at a weight I haven't been since THE EIGHTIES! Since before my thyroid dropped dead and I got so sick I had to quit working. Possibilities open up when "obese" drops away, yes....?

Here's a pic of my beloved hubster and myself on the balcony at the opera house at Friday's date night:

Anyway, happy Sunday and may this week bless you in many ways, but specifically with regard to health and weight loss. Later!

Not day 35 of the P4 Challenge: Grand Prize revealed--whoa--and a great date night, nice dinner out, another loss...and official P5 weigh-in!

Such a lot of laughing and flirting and fun last night. Hilarious round of WWDTM (see previous post) and then dinner at the Hallandale race track, a restaurant with really nice patio areas and some live music/dancing. I stayed safe (grilled chicken with BBQ sauce and salad, used less than a teaspoon of dressing, decaf, water, water, water). Sang along with the band. Flirted even more with hubby. Walked a bit. Had a great date night.

I knew we'd be eating out, but thought we might make it to the Mi-Mo place with the killer veggies. But we didn't get out of the Opera house until almost 11pm, so we headed back nearer home and places open late. Worked out fine.

Weighed in today: 224.6

This is the official Phase 5 weigh-in I mailed to Allan. Down again from yesterday, which was 225.2.

See pic of my feet (red toes! Did them for date night! Much easier to do nails without the extra-deluxe-uber-behemoth belly I used to have) on my Tanita-san. I weighed several times, and came up with 224.4, 224.2, 224.6, 224.4, etc. I went with the higher one (which only came up with the camera weight added, but so what...it's my habit to always take the higher weight of the series. Usually, it's consistent, today, I was more variable cause I had to move the scale to get better light on my feet and the numbers.

I was amused at haing my feet closer together. I bought Tanita-san years ago, cause I needed a wide, wide platform. My fat thighs didn't much let me get my legs closer together. This pic showed me how much comfier and natural it is now to bring my feet closer in. :)

Did you see Allan's blog today? (That is, for those who didn't get the email from him.) Taht's an amazing prize, huh? A beautiful dining spot, a delirious view. The hotel, the spa....Wow.... Someone is in for a treat.

But we know what the biggest, hugest, grandest prize of all is in this Challenge (and any weight loss challenge). Gaining health, getting to goal, reducing the risk (or healing from) metabolic issues like diabetes, improving cardiac health, gaining muscle and balance and strength, and finally learning to eat like a normal healthy person in order to eat that way FOR LIFE.... That's the BIG WIN!

We can't all get the Grand Prize. from Allan. We can get the Grandest of All Prize for ourselves if we stick with the program, move, eat smart and clean and LESS, and learn the daily strategies to make it stick.

Let's all be grand prize champions in this fat fight! Happy Saturday!

If You Like Chili Mac (I do!) and If you have naturally curly hair...

727 days to go...

I love beans. I love tomatoes. I love ground beef (or the fakey soy crumbles you can use like ground beef). I love cheese. I love it mixed together, and I love it mixed together and then thrown over pasta.

These days I use super-high fiber pasta from FiberGourmet as my first choice (though I still have a stash of DreamField's higher fiber pasta to go through). Hubby loves chewy texture that holds up to next-day reheating. I like that we get a super dose of fiber. (Not the gas, but, hey, fiber! Filling and regulating!)

So, if you want to make a less diet-deadly version of Chili Mac than, say, Steak and  Shake's version, visit Hungry Girl's remade recipe of this comfort food, that is, if you like the following stats for 1.5 cups of the stuff:

Serving Size: 1 3/4 cups
Calories: 297
Fat: 2g
Sodium: 637mg
Carbs: 55.5g
Fiber: 9.75g
Sugars: 11.5g
Protein: 19g

POINTS® value 5*

If you're doing the WonderSlm diet, you can add the veggies, more spice to the Vegetarian Joe and throw that on half a cup of  FiberGourmet pasta and top with lite sour cream or lite cheddar and you're set. A little carb cheat, but you get lots of filling fiber that shouldn't spike up your sugar.
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If you're a naturally curly girl (or you just want to use very gentle styling products without silicones or sulfates), there's a giveaway today. You only have until 11:59 to leave a comment on the Naturally Curly facebook page (scroll down to the giveaway entry on their wall). They've been doing giveaways for some days--this is the 8th day and they will do 10 total. Today, you can win a Deva Curl set of products (NoPoo hair cleanser, OneC conditioner and I can't read if there is a styler, but prolly).  You need to leave 3 reasons why you need this sulfate-free product line. :)

If you google Deva Curl or Deva Chan, you can find out about the line and salon that coined the term "Curly Girl Method" for caring for curls.