You might remember that this whole weight loss thing started with the New Year’s Resolution of saying ‘yes’ to living a more meaningful life. Part of the resolution was the commitment to saying ‘yes’ to losing weight – but the other part of the resolution was meant to get me to start saying ‘yes’ to new opportunities that presented themselves … instead of running away from them (like I had been).
Several weeks ago I was sifting through my Gmail and out of curiosity I decided to look in my “spam” mail box. Mind you, I NEVER do this and must have been excessively bored. I get hundreds of SPAM emails a day and never give it another thought. For whatever reason, my eyes were drawn to a email with the subject line: “POVERTY IN AFRICA, please read!”
At first I thought it was one of those scams that try and get you to release your bank account information, but it turns out that the email wasn’t SPAM at all. It was written by a middle school student named Quinn. She and her classmates Kelsey & Hazel were doing a social action project focused on Heifer International. She was asking me to help her spread the word about this organization via my blog.
Instead of deleting the email or responding with quick reply of ‘thanks, but no thanks’ – Paige and I decided to help them out (we have a soft spot for middle school girls). We took a road trip to Bellingham, Washington to meet the girls in person to hear what they had to say and then made a little video about it:
If you enjoyed this video or want to spread the word about Heifer International – please Tweet, Buzz, Stumble or post this video on Facebook. Let’s show Quinn, Kelsey and Hazel that their voices can invoke change and even at their age, they can make a difference through their actions.
“In order to move forward, you have to give something back.”
I know, I should be writing about weight loss right now, but this is too exciting of news not let you in on:
Yep, that’s me!
Though I wasn’t selected to Skype into the show, like my Momversation cohorts – Heather, Mindy, Daphne and Karen, they did use one of my pre-taped clips (one that is completely embarrassing). The show is called, “Secret Lives of Moms” and my face is being featured in the promo (above).
Here to pushing the boundaries beyond my normal level of comfort … the dreaded full body shot. Holy shit.
Oprah recently declared that she had been avoiding the “full body shot” for the cover of O Magazine all year because she felt insecure and ashamed of her recent weight gain. I can completely relate to her on this one (this is probably the only point that I can fathom relating to Oprah on) … I have been avoiding the full body shot for years. YEARS, I tell you.
Apparently a billion dollars cannot buy you happiness or make you skinny. But I already knew that for the most part. Personally, I have spent a small fortune on diet aids like weight loss supplements, gym memberships that I never used, books, exercise dvds, protein shakes. You name it. And let’s not talk about clothes, I have a whole range of sizes in my closet from emaciated to bloated to beached whale. I can’t imagine what a billion dollars can buy you in weight loss paraphernalia. Kudos for her for not getting the fat vacuumed out of her like the rest of them.
Here’s my weekly update. I wish I had the foresight to take a “before” picture last week when this whole weight loss thing blew up, but this will have to do.
Just so you know, I have been faithfully logging in my caloric intake on a daily basis and sticking to a regime of 1200 – 1400 calories. Except for on Sunday, when I totally went off the deep end and started stuffing my face full of carbs … something that I am trying to avoid. Luckily I tossed out most of the temptation foods already and avoided a complete derailment.
I also went to the gym 5 out of 7 days last week. This is amazing to me. On one day, I actually went twice. We must be coming close to the apocalypse.
As I was telling my friends Betsy and Kim and my fellow blogger Sharyn – should CNN choose to fly me to the mothership and interview me live (hint. hint.) I swear to God I will burst out of a fat photo of myself in all of it’s glory. Then I will dance to Flo Rida with Wolf Blitzer.
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