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Introduction Text A fellow sparker ask today "Do you have to be mentally ready to lose weight?" To which I replied : "I think it has every bit to do with the mind. Once you open your mind up and allow yourself to realize that no matter what excuse/issue you give for not losing the weight there is always a way around it. YOu might have to do alot of research,work,asking others, etc to get it done,but it can be done. The only thing standing in your way is you. And it is not enough to think you want to do it, you have to find a way to do it and move into action. You can not pay for a membership to a gym every month and sit on the couch 29 days of that month not going and wonder why your not losing the weight,then telling others "Well I joined the gym 6 months ago and I haven't lost a pound I just don't know why I am not losing any weight." You have to get real with yourself and join the desire in your mind with your mouth and body and move into action. BY you I mean the in general you as in everybody including me." This is my new mindset and I know I have came a long way because I remember all this time making so many excuses as to why I couldn't ever get to my goal and why it was not my fault. Let's go over some of those: ***It cost to much to eat healthy?*** Well when I set my mind to it I found that when I cut out the take out and only shopped the outer isles of the store (Being mostly healthy) and stuck with a basic way of eating, and matched ads including produce. I actually saved money. *** I don't have time to eat healthy (this is one friends use I have all kinds of time)*** A crockpot does all the cooking for you, you just throw it in and turn it on. A Foreman grill, takes about 10 to 15 minutes to cook a peice of chicken with a side of veggies. If you keep your meat to the same size and take note of exact cooking time with your first use you can use a timer and it will cook itself. Many veggies you can eat raw or if you don't like raw throw a steam fresh bag in the micro. Or on your day off take some time and batch cook for the week, you can even do the whole month in advance. Keep homemade snack packs in your car for when you get stuck out to avoid eating out or if you know you will be stuck bring a lunch in a mini cooler. ***I can't afford workout tools*** Well I had more money for those if I wanted since I was saving money on food. Besides Spark has free workout videos as does youtube, you can use can goods for weights. You need something to do with those anyway cause most of them you don't eat any more now that you are healthy. NO can goods grab a water bottle etc. You can use a towel for many of the exercises on here. Walking is free. ***I am to big to workout I can barely stand or walk*** The standing/walking part is true for me, but I found chair workout videos online, even free on youtube. I can still use the water bottle weights and the towel etc. You are never to big to workout unless your doctor says so and even then they can usually give you a list of things you can do, you may not be able to do every kind of workout right off the bat,but you can do some kind and work your way up. ***Well I can't eat healthy because my husband won't*** This was a big eye opener when my husband died and I gained 100 lbs the first year after. The truth was I was deflecting my own problem on to him. I wanted to fix him so I didn't have to pay attention to me. He had to decide to make the choices himself. I could have helped him by leading by example instead of turning him off to getting healthier because I offended him by treating him like a child and trying to force him to conform to my idea of healthy. Again I only control myself and again I was just using an excuse. ***I can't ever get healthy because bad stuff keeps happening to me and my family. Every time I try I get knocked back down.**** There is always going to be bad things come up in your life. Loved ones will die, jobs will be lost, there will be family and friend fall outs, you will get hurt there will always be obsticals. Do you really think skinny peopledon't have these same issues. It is how you choose to deal with those that will help you in the long run. You do not have to eat six tubs of ice cream to comfort yourself. You can comfort yourself by snuggling up on the couch with a warm blanket, taking a warm bubble bath, beating the crap out of your pillow, writing,painting,so many things. BUt even if for arguments sake you really thought you had to eat someting why not 6 bags of carrots instead of 6 tubs of ice cream? ***There is always someone trying to sabotoge me with food Well it is the holidays and then my birthday and then so and so's birthday and then Valentines day and then a family bbq, and the people at work keep bringing in junk and my mom bakes me goodies every time I am on a diet and the list goes on and on*** Yes there is always going to be healthy lifestyle nazis or an event around every corner. BUt it is up to you and you alone what goes in your mouth. Unless they tie you un willingly in a chair, pry open your mouth, shove in a dougnut and work it down your throat you are fooling yourself! And you better bet someone ties me to a chair one time I will never be back around them again problem solved. Holidays events, bring a healthy dish. I have been known to come to a family bbq with a baggy full of my healthier bread and one full of my veggies and was suprised when I got there and my sister in law had a veggie platter with dip and crystal light on the table as well as bottled water and my brother was grilling chicken beside the burgers because they knew I was trying so hard. I didn't even ask they just kind of picked up on it when they saw how hard I was trying from other get togethers. BUt even if you had an event with all non healthy food every day of the week, if you portion controled every bite,picked the healthiest choices possible and stayed close to your calorie range for the day you still would not gain weight from it other than maybe some water retention weight from salter foods. And perhaps the worst one yet::: ***I will start fresh on monday, I will start tomorrow, I fell off the wagon.*** Horse crap when is the last time you where on a darn wagon? YOu didn't fall off of anything. YOu may have slid back (into old habits) but I bet like hell if you where walking up a steep hill and you not getting to the top meant your loved one would die and you slid backwards you would quickly jump back into place and keep moving until you got to the top. And guess what? YOu are a loved one, by many including yourself. At times you may feel you don't value your life, but I assure you that you do. I have felt the same in my life but when I was looking down the barrel of the gun my husbands murderer had pointed at me you better bet I figured out real quick that I valued my life. You better bet I was begging for my life and I gauruntee you would do the same. There is no tomorrow. There is no Monday anything could happen at an minute to take those away. You only have right now. This moment, this meal. So in closing it is time for SELF TOUGH LOVE. I hope you all will find that same mindset and tough love for yourself. BUt I can't make you because I can only control myself. Love and Smiles :o) JJ

Eventually I want to get down to at least 150, but right now I am just trying to get under 300. I want to have more energy to be a better mother and grandma and I want to go back to work.

We have no vehicle at this time so we are having our food delivered by Schwans. I eat their Livesmart meals and add fruit and extra veggies. I drink skim milk, sweet tea (in moderation), water and apple juice (in moderation) I wear a FITBIT 24/7 and log every calorie into their website. I challenge myself to more steps very week and more movement every day.

I'm from Missouri I am a widow with two wonderful bratty teens and a beautiful new grandbaby.

I write poetry. I am currently working on a poetry book to raise awareness about many forms of child abuse. I want to start a program that helps to make siblings of special needs children not feel invisible. I also help raise awareness for Autism and help raise money for the Autism walk "Dylans tribe". (Autism Speaks But my nephew roars!!!)

Add a Link ***THE ONLY PERSON STANDING IN YOUR WAY IS YOU*** If you beleive it then apply it and keep doing it you will acheive it. I am always asking God to listen to me. What if I started listening to God? Smile it confuses people. Cherish every moment with your loved ones for you never know when it may be your last. Every little tiny thing a loved one ever does to annoy you, you'll beg for if you ever lose them, so savor even the annoying things. The
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