13 Weight Loss Blogs for Motivation and Inspiration

I look for motivation in the blogs I read. I also identify with the struggles of those who write them. These are the top 12 blogs that I read and lurk on almost everyday. I hope you find some encouragement from them.

1. Ann Is Living Large No More. Ann has become a real confidant and inspiration. I consider her a friend.
2. I just started reading Mindful Martini Mouse. This is the story of a woman who is trying to lose weight while living on the road. She and her husband are long-haul truckers. Imagine the challenges of this lifestyle.
3. A Crazy Little Thing Called Life is truly inspiring. This young lady has already lost quite a bit of weight. But she is also looking for inspiration. Stop by and give her some encouragement.
4. SkinnyHollie. What a journey this lady has had. Health issues, a divorce, and being a single mom haven't stopped this lady from losing more than 60 pounds. Stop by to give her your support.
5. I really identify with Losing Weight After 45 Is a Bitch. Boy, do I ever know that. Lose the weight while you're young. It just gets harder the longer you wait.
6. I read The Heart Scan Blog because it reminds of why I need to lose weight. It also provides great information about heart disease.
7. Jacksh*t Gettin' Fit is just plain funny. What else can I say?
8. My Journey to Fit: A Forty-Somethings Weight Loss Journey inspires me. I know there's still hope.
9. I identify with 266. She's lost a lot weight and journals her struggles along the way. I hope she inspires you, too.
10. What is there to say about Paula Wanna Cracker? She continues to hang around my blog even though I haven't had much success in over a year. But her blog is great. Stop by to give it a read. I'm sure you'll find something to motivate you.
11. Katie J is on Her Way. I just love Katie. She's a warm, friendly woman who chronicles her successes and failures with equal depth.
12. The Bloggest Loser is one of the first weight loss blogs I started reading. I still read it. You can find recipes and inspiration here.
13. A Walk in the Park. Eeek. I almost forgot about Susan. Please forgive me, Susan. This lady has been there for me through a lot of stuff. She is having some concerns of her own right now. Stop by her blog to say hello and let her know you're there for her. Believe me, she'd do the same for you.

This only part of my reading list. I hope you find them as inspiring as I do. Enjoy!

It's Moments Like These

After a weekend with my girls, I'm exhausted. I took the morning off so I could sleep in--I have a huge amount of vacation time that I need to take before I lose it. I just don't take that much vacation time anymore. There's nothing to do when there's no one to enjoy it with you. So I slept in. I actually slept for 12 hours. After two nights of little girls tossing and turning and throwing their legs over me, I need a good nights sleep.

If there's one good thing in my life about being a widow it's that I love sleeping alone. I can sprawl out on the bed. I can sleep in direction I wish to. It's Heaven. But I would trade it if I could have my buddy back.

Anyway, since I slept in, that means I didn't go to the gym. But I will tomorrow. I also will begin a new eating plan. I'm going to get back into Sparkpeople.com. I haven't kept up with it in a long while. It really did help me keep the eating under control. I want to keep a journal that I can write in through out the day as well. I need a smaller notebook for that. I'm constantly starting journals that I write in for a little while then don't keep up with. There are these little half-started journals everywhere in my house, my purse, and who know where else. Sometimes I think about what will happen when I die, and my family runs across them. Oh well. I couldn't possibly find them all. So, I guess the cat will be out of the bag then, won't it? But what will I care? I'll be dead.

Honest to God, my neighbor put up his Christmas decorations yesterday. Seriously.

Having my girls here over the weekend was great. Oh we had our moments--like yesterday when they started fighting over a wagon--like one of those little red wagons but it's plastic. I couldn't take it anymore, and they both went to time out. But there are funny moments, too. Like when The Little One got hurt--not that that's funny--and I asked,"Show me where you got hurt?" And she pointed to the edge of the patio and said, "Over there." Of course I meant where on her little body did she get hurt. I laughed until I cried. She ended up laughing, too.

The Little One has figured out that if she cries, I'll pick her up and hold her. At first she had me buffaloed. But I've caught on to her scram now.

Anyway, I don't pay a lot of attention to what I was eating while they were here. Although I was getting a lot more exercise--I don't think it was enough to X out all of the extra calories.

OK. I'm going to relax a little more, and then get ready for work.

I Have My Fat Suit On

This morning I met with a psychologist at my gym. As part of our program, we have the opportunity to explore why we overeat. I had my first session today. I know that I'm an emotional eater—and any emotion will do. I eat when I'm angry, happy, sad, whatever. So what I needed were some tools to deal with it. I'm going to try using a rubber band wrapped around my wrist so I snap myself whenever I have a negative thought. I'm going to try tracking how I feel about myself when I want to overeat. You've probably heard all of this before. I have too. I'm just actually going to try to do it this time. 

And as it turns out, I have a lot of emotions going on right now. My number one difficulty is a fear of success—not failure but success. If I succeed in my weight loss goals, I won't know how I'm supposed to behave. I won't know who this person is. I've hidden behind my fat for so long that I'm not sure I can make it without my "uniform." I think that's also one of the reasons that I plateaued and couldn't get past it. So we'll see what happens if I snap myself enough times. 

Today I feel unsure of how to move forward. I have some ideas, but I'm not entirely sure. I want to meet my weight loss goals. I'm just not sure of how to get there. I'll write more later.