Stress, Life and Losing Weight

I apologize to my regular readers for not posting more often. Sometimes writing life demands make blogging the least unprofitable use of my time, but I had to stop in to let you know that all is well. Promotion of my book, Beyond the Fifth Gate, is going well. It can be downloaded as an ebook and is also available at Amazon.

I'm also reading books and developing upcoming classes for Writer's Village University. Who would have thought years ago when I signed up for membership there that I'd find myself in this current situation! I attribute much of my success to that move and highly recommend their classes to anyone with the desire to improve their writing.

With all this, my role at LoveToKnow is also changing as I'm being promoted to Group Editor over Diet, Business and Cruises. Training starts in November! I'm very excited about this.

This is just part of what's keeping me busy, so you may be wondering how I'm doing with my weight. I admit, I've struggled a little with my eating, but it's not running away with me. I've stopped weighing daily, but when I stepped on the scale today, I've lost another 2 pounds. Now how exciting is that? This makes a total of almost 25 pounds since I moved to Georgia!

I haven't bought a "lick" of Halloween candy, either. Instead of handing out candy, our family has a tradition of going out for dinner--a healthy dinner. This way I don't have left over candy AND I don't even have to make dinner.

No Sugar Headache

Meant to stop by yesterday and report on the weekend, but I had such a headache I only did what was necessary. I'm going through sugar withdrawal. Its not that I never plan to have sugar again, but it is one of the things I know triggers me to eat more than I need, and I've done that yo-yo bounce back where I've gained back the five pounds I'd lost. So for now, I'm not eating sugar--no dessert, snacks, drinks, etc. if they have sugar.

Last night I attended a writer's workshop and was asked to bring cookies or something. I made a pan of chocolate brownies and a pan of butterscotch brownies and I didn't even lick the spoon! Plus as I cut those moist goodies into serving size pieces and all the gooey delight clung to the knife--instead of going into my mouth it went into the trash. When I take steps like this I realize all the extra calories I tend to put in my mouth unconsciously.

The writer's workshop was good. An interesting speaker who is an editor and author by the name of Chris Roerden. She talked about submitting your work and how to get it past the first "gatekeeper". She didn't offer gimmicky tips, but reminders to take care to watch out for the bad writing pitfalls that get your manuscript tossed into the reject pile.

I'm so glad I attended even though I had that headache. As an added bonus, I met new people and it looks like I may have an opportunity to do a book signing at the Harris Art Center. That would be great. It would be my first signing since the release of the revised edition of Pumping Your Muse with its new cover, and the first since Beyond the Fifth Gate came out!

Eating...and Eating

My guests left yesterday morning. The weekend was filled with visiting with people I haven't seen for years and plenty of eating...and eating. I started out with good intentions, and even enjoyed smoothies for breakfast each day, but going out to buffets and all the pot luck scenarios did me in. Even with that, I did exercise. So while I did not stay the course, I also didn't wander from it totally. And now, it's time to get back in the groove.

I've decided to do a cleanse in October. I don't know exactly what I'll do yet, but I'm leaning toward the Master Cleanse as the last time I did that I had more energy than I do now, and it is not as expensive as a regular juice fast. We'll see.

With all this going on, my book Beyond the Fifth Gate was also released on Fictionwise yesterday. Normally I'd think of going out to dinner to celebrate. Right now, I'm just thrilled to have another book out and very happy to get back to eating for health rather than to celebrate or "feel good". That's progress!

One of the Keys to Weight Loss Success is to Plan for It

I just walked in from exercising and thought I'd better stop by and say hello to all my faithful readers. Trying to get done with all the last edits, interviews, etc. that go along with the release of my next book, Beyond the Fifth Gate has slurped up most of my blogging time. Plus, I'm trying to work ahead on article assignments so I'll have time off to have fun with two different sets of company this month.

With that said, now you know I'm well. Still kicking, and still struggling to make healthy choices in eating. I thank God the No Excuses Work Out System is working for me. Now if I could just learn to harness my cravings. I start out each day with all kinds of resolve, but then it is so much easier for me to eat something quick and keep working. So for the coming week, I've decided to make a big pot of vegetable soup for lunch throughout the week. Maybe that will help. We'll see! One of the keys to success is to plan for it!