November 14, 2012
I'm Josie,
Mom, daughter, sister, friend, business owner, and sugar addicted stress eater..
I was 38 when I got pregnant with my daughter. The same week I got pregnant I had a skiing accident which led to a total ACL reconstruction of my left knee. The rigorous exercise program and healthy eating habits that I had followed for ten years was put on hold. In the years that followed, my fairy tale life of love, marriage, family, health and fitness, began to unravel around me. With that, I became a stress eater and sugar my culprit.

Fast forward … My daughter is 14 and I am 80 pounds over weight, I have tried every diet including the “Raw” diet without success. Today I am challenging myself to change; change my eating habits, change the way I feel about myself, CHANGE.... I will be blogging daily, starting with today, my 53rd birthday. I will share with you my challenges, some solutions I come up with, photos, recipes and each success. It is my hope and desire to make a difference in my life as well as the lives of everyone that visits me here. Thank you for supporting me. I am now publicly accountable to myself and each of my readers. Come back often to read and see how I evolve. My goal for this year is weight loss and wellness. My diet is simple, whole foods and nothing artificial! I am using experience, logic and you to keep me going.

A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step. – Lao Tzu

My First Christmas Party Challenge ~ Day 34

Sat. December 17, 2011 11:03 pm

Tonight was my nephew JP’s annual Birthday Christmas party celebration. It’s has become a festive family tradition for 13 years now. Lot’s food and spirits and laughter. This is not a party that caters to anyone watching their weight so I knew I was completely on my own. 30 minutes before we were leaving, I prepared a full dinner for myself from leftovers I had made the night before. My very healthy version of Austrian style pork loin, red cabbage and parsley potatoes. I ate it before we left and then I grabbed one of my raw fruit and nut bars and threw it in my bag in case I needed to eat something while dessert was being served.

As I suspected, there wasn’t one dish I could eat that would be on my eating plan. Loosing weight doesn’t happen if you don’t put in the work. There is always an excuse to wait until tomorrow but changing it tomorrow never comes unless you start changing it today.

I often leave my camera home now while attending family parties because I always have so many images I am sorting or editing already. I decided to bring her along this time so I could occupy myself while everyone else was eating and drinking. Besides food and drinks, there are always lots of beautiful little ones there. Here are two of my favorite pictures of the night along with our visit from Santa Claus.

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Anna - December 19, 2011 - 8:27 am

Occupying yourself with camera while everyone is eating is an excellent idea, Josie! I’ll definitely use this trick!ReplyCancel
Kathryn Donatelli - December 18, 2011 - 10:17 pm

Thanks for posting these photos. This reminds me of how we grew up always being in the presence of baked goods. Sugar, sugar, sugar. I’m surprised we’re not all diabetic. But anyway, great job! Very smart idea of keeping yourself absorbed in the photography. That’s a thin persons mentality.ReplyCancel
Debbie Phillips - December 18, 2011 - 3:12 pm

oh, my gosh, Josie, thank you. Beautiful post and the photos are so delicious I could take a bite out of them! I too love that you refer to your camera as “her.” “She” did a fantastic job creating beautiful memories for “her” family:-)ReplyCancel
Loreen - December 18, 2011 - 12:38 pm

Beautiful photos! I like how you refer to your camera as “her”. And what great willpower! I definitely would’ve scoffed down one of those delicious looking cookies! Good for you. 🙂ReplyCancel
maggie Griffin - December 18, 2011 - 12:17 pm

I guess we can “change it now” or “eat it now.” Thanks for sharing your story of discipline and encouragement. Very inspiring for me…ReplyCancel