A New Year...A New Blogger!

That's right! With 2011 we are adding a new blogger to the Twitloss ranks and expanding our blogging coverage to Saturdays! I am so excited about this. :D Please welcome Tyhada of Tyhada's Place to Twitloss! That's right, yet another of our fellow book lovers has joined us in the fight against flab. You can follow her on Twitter as @tyhada.

In addition to bringing Tyhada on board, we will be shifting our posting schedule around a bit for 2011. So, keep your eyes peeled for your favorite posters on new days, opportunities to guest blog, and of course whatever new and crazy ideas we come up with! Also, we have a 1 year anniversary coming up! It should be a wonderful new year around here, we all hope to see you around.

As always you can contact us with ideas, suggestions, stories, requests to guest blog, things you'd like to hear us talk about, or any old comment you didn't want to post on the site at twitloss (at) gmail (dot) com.

Merry Christmas Eve!

Merry Christmas Eve to my fellow Twitlossers!

I had this post all planned out where I talked about the food we're preparing for the party tonight and how I had every intention of resisting the delicious food that's guaranteed to add inches to my ass and pounds to my body. But I'm not going to do that. I'm not planning to resist. I'm going to indulge my sweet tooth. But I'm not going to overdo it. I've found lately that I can't eat much anyway (which is definitely a good thing), but I've learned that overeating is my biggest problem when it comes to losing weight.

I get comfortable, which is bad. I'm happy with where I'm at weight-loss-wise, and even though I'm still eating healthy foods, I find that I'm eating more than I should, which leads to overeating when I'm grubbing on foods that are bad for me. And before I know it, I'm right back to where I started: eating too much and hating myself for it.

So I'm not resisting tonight. I'm going to sample the foods PK's family slaved over, and on Sunday I'll sample the foods my mom's sisters slaved over. But I won't overdo it, because I hate that overstuffed "I feel like I want to vomit" feeling. I much prefer the "Wow, that was really nummy!" feeling. :)

Merry Christmas, my Twitloss loves!

Pictures

I posted a "before and after" photo of myself at my old WordPressblog, something I was hesitant to do because I hate having my photo online when it's not locked behind a password or where only my "friends" can see it (like on Facebook), but I had to show my progress. From November of last year to March of this year, I managed to drop 40 pounds and I looked better than I had in a long time.

For a while, I was kicking ass and taking names. I hit the gym every day, I was eating right, and I was feeling great. Then finals for my summer classes kicked in and I took a break. The break was only supposed to last through finals, but it ended up lasting a lot longer. Money got tight, motivation got thin, and I slowed way down. I still ate fairly healthy, but working out was something I now only do in my dreams. And no matter how many situps you do in your sleep, I promise you that your waist does not shrink.

I bought an elliptical machine a couple of months ago. It's still in the box and is now in my oversized "garage" closet because we needed a place for the Christmas tree. Unless we do some major rearranging in the living room, we don't have room for the elliptical. So, I'm going to have PK take the box to his old apartment and I'm going to set it up there. The apartment is in our complex, and I have to go clean out the place anyway, so this gives me extra incentive to get over there.

Anyway. Even though I haven't been working out, I'm still eating far less than I used to. I walk a LOT while I'm at work because we're so busy this time of year. And yes, I did the Nu-Lean program for 2 weeks (something I want to do again after the holidays are over). I gained 2 pounds back after I finished Nu-Lean, but I'm still showing 183 on my bathroom scale at home. I'm ok with that. I'm 59 pounds lighter than I was last year!

I was getting ready for my office Christmas party today and as I was putting on my makeup, I realized that my stomach doesn't wave at me nearly as much as it did last year around this time. It's because of this that I'm even willing to post a picture of me wearing a spaghetti strap shirt - last year, I had all my spaghetti straps hidden in the back of my closet, relegated to being under shirts instead of options for when the Texas heat skyrocketed to over 100 (as it routinely does in the summer). Now, I'm ok with wearing one out. I might not wear it to work or school, but my self-confidence is slowly coming back.

How are you doing in your weight loss journey? Do you have any "before" and "after/current" pics you want to share?

Community

This will be my last post for 2010. I am taking the next two weeks off and relaxing. Hooray! I just wanted to stop and say what an amazing year it has been here on Twitloss.

I love that both here on the site and most especially on Twitter, we have developed such a supportive and involved group of folks! (#Twitloss) I love watching as someone tweets a success and the group rallies around them to celebrate. More importantly when someone tweets feeling low or like they have failed, I love seeing you rally around her and pick her up. I love seeing you dust her off and tell her it's okay. She'll do better next time, or better yet it wasn't a failure just a minor setback.

I have to say without all of you I would have likely given up on this journey yet again instead of continually fighting back. I would not look away from the weeks where I failed to make my workout goals and look forward to the next week ripe with possibilities. I would not look past the cupcakes to see that healthier options can taste good too! So to all of my Twitloss tweeps and peeps I want to send a heartfelt and deep THANK YOU! Thank you for being you! Thank you for being there when I need you, thank you for being there when others need you, and thank you for asking for help when you need it!

I hope you all have a wonderful and relatively healthy holiday!

All my Twove!
Dara

Quick Check In

Holy cow it's been busy! I have been trapped (technically I am still there) in training for two weeks. I wrap up this week, and then I can get back to my normal schedule. Last week was a disaster for my workout and my diet. Stupid donuts. So here I am struggling along. Still. Are you all as tired of reading this as I am of writing it? I really want to sit down and be able to write about my successes. I want to shout from the hill tops that I have lost weight and that I am keeping it off.

I suppose if this was easy, everyone would have done it. Sigh. The numbers on the evil little scale in my bathroom are not encouraging, but DH keeps telling me he can see a difference. I dunno. I am probably overdue for a measurement check in, so that will come next week. In the mean time I want to start plotting...I mean planning for success in 2011. How about you? Any plans for successful weight loss in 2011?

Cease and Desist

Dear Insensitive Co-Worker,

I am writing to ask you, why? Why do you insist on bringing fattening, unhealthy, anti-diet food to work and then leave it in the kitchen? Why do you feel the need to "share" with everyone in the office? I'm sorry that your guests didn't eat all of your corn muffins, dinner rolls, and cookies. It is not my problem that you had a craving for cake and didn't want to eat the whole thing. It is not my fault that your Great Aunt Emily dropped of six dozen of her double chocolate chip cookies. I don't want them! I don't need them! I AM ON A FREAKING DIET!

I must ask you to cease and desist with this behavior immediately. If the urge to "share" overwhelms you- bring fruit! Bring granola! Bring protein bars! But for the hope that one day my thighs will fit into a size 10 again PLEASE DO NOT bring that crap I keep finding in the kitchen.

Sincerely,
Dara

P.S.- I know it's the holidays...I don't care. You bake it. You eat it. I don't want it.