Day 13 - Guest Message

WdotE is the organization which my daughter started in her senior year of high school. It stands for Women's Empowerment. She believes that more women need to believe that they deserve to be empowered. More women need to believe that they are beautiful. WdotE is continuing in the high school. Some of my daughter's classmates said that they wanted to change something about themselves. When asked, the changes were always physical first. They often loved their personalities but did not love their bodies or faces. They all felt that they were being led by the advertising around them which emphasizes extreme skinnyness and stereotypical beauty. Now that she is at a university, my daughter thinks that there is less pressure than in high school, but it is still a struggle. She notes that none of her professors is a woman, and finds that strange. She is less self-conscious as she was in high school when she was on a dance team.

My daughter would say to overweight women and men losing weight, "Make sure that you are doing it for the right reasons and that you want health and a healthy lifestyle. It isn't about beauty, it's about health and vitality. You don't have to be unusually thin in order to be beautiful. Start by liking yourself as you are and then optimize your health. My daughter's boyfriend says, "Women are beautiful no matter what size they are as long they have self-confidence." He sayshe would love my daughter even if she gained alot of weight.

My daughter is proud of me and says, "Blogging about it helps you so much more. It's great toshare and it helps to have readers -- it promotes discipline." She is doing a paper in her English class about weight-loss blogging. She wants to do her own blog this weekend about her own journey.

Today was long; was in the office with children until 8:00 p.m. Trying to catch up after moving my office upstairs to the 2nd floor of the building. I have to climb stairs to the office which isgood for me! I an happy to be doing that. I am still not getting the exercise I need; I have to find the way to get in the walking or gym-trip that it will require. My eating is healthy -- I had a delicious salad with light vinegar dressing and a bottle of water for lunch. I had a wrap with a bit of beef and some mustard tonight. It will be okay calorie-wise, but wasn't a well planned and balanced meal. The kids and I waited until 7:30 to eat -- not the right time -- too late, but I didn'tovereat. Had some popcorn at the movie last night -- a downfall -- I'm eliminating it from my diet forgood -- totally cold turkey. No more popcorn; my lips were chapped and sore and I realize that I eat it compulsively. I will go back to drinking water and eating nothing at the movie theater; we don't go to movies often.

Ate no breakfast -- that is unusual; I was "salted" from the popcorn and was pleasantly hungry at noon. It is so easy to drop into a bad habit, though I am using the calorie bank and trust concept that Sean Anderson uses and haven't gone over the balance, I also try to focus most on delicious and nutritious foods. Had a Macoun apple with lunch too. Really wonderful. I always eat breakfast, but I listened to my body. It said, "Let me rest until noon. It was struggling with the movie popcorn load."

Thanks to all of you who comment. I need your words of encouragement; I am trying to visit many websites to get acquainted. I like the network of people cheering each other on. Wishing everyone a great week -- Tuesday is almost gone!