Saturday Weigh-In ~ Week 41 (Confessions)

Starting Weight: 258 lbs (Dec 10/08)
Last Weigh In: 192 lbs (Sep 19/09)
Current Weight: 195 lbs
This Week's Loss: 3 POUND GAIN...

Hi guys,

Well unfortunately I have a gain to report this week... a 3 POUND gain!!! I can't be upset or even disappointed because I totally caused this gain. I wasn't at all careful with my eating and I missed a 3 days of exercise. I didn't fall off the wagon, I literally pulled it over, parked it and jumped off!!

As you know, I've been away on business this past couple of weeks. I also wrapped up phase one of my project at one of my pilot locations which in itself was a cause for celebration. I celebrated freely by eating cake (2 pieces) and rice krispies squares....yum-oh!!! I even had 1/2 a glass of Coca-cola (way too sweet btw - didn't really enjoy it) but the cake and squares were to die for!! I knew the scale would have no love to give this week. I also had "not so healthy" dinners, like spring rolls (fried), dried ribs, chicken wings and sweet potato fries. In addition to the bad foods, I accompanied my meals with a beverage or two or three (Heineken beer, wine and bellinis!!) I think the only thing I did right this week was my water consumption!! :)

So there, my confessions!! Forgive me Rob (my trainer) for I have sinned!! BUT THE FUN is over. This morning, I woke up and got right back on my wagon and going full force. I've just returned from my 5K walk with my son (stroller and all). I plan to do a weight training session later this evening as well. I had a 3-egg white omlette with spinach and broccoli for breakfast. So far I've had about 2 litres of water for the day. So it's all good.

Today is a new day and the past is in the past. So that's the update for today. I'm going to do some reading, catching up on my blog buddies and to get some inspiration!! Have a good day y'all.

Until next time...
Joania (2KMINE!!!)

WEIGH to GO BLOG BUDDIES!!

When I first started on this weight loss journey and decided to BLOG MY PROGRESS, I really did not know what to expect!! Well, I can affirm, that I have "met" some wonderful people who are in the same or similar situation as I am... ON AN AMAZING JOURNEY TO GET FIT!!! It's funny, I don't "know" any of these people but I share in their ups and downs and today as I'm catching up on all the blogs I follow, I am so filled with pride and joy for quite a few of them right now, especially these two!! Talk about inspiration!! You guys ROCK!! Keep it up!!



SEAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am so very pleased for you and proud of you !! Congratulations on losing 201 pounds!!! 201!! WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!! You enjoy it, you deserve it and keep it up baby!! Dancing for you right now..I really am.....(listening to Beyonce's Single Ladies - song doesn't fit, BUT I'M DANCING FOR YA!!!!)!! Please click on his name above to check out his 201 POUNDS GONE!! post!! Congrats bud!! I am truly and sincerely happy for you and your fam!! Fantastic job!!


STEVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My southern buddy LOSING IT right!! Steve is very close to his GOAL of weighing 175 pounds . His last weigh-in put him at 196.5 POUNDS!!! THis is simply amazing!! I'm so proud of you as well...keep it up...I can't wait for your next weigh-in!!! Keep up the fantastic work!!

So if you guys get a chance, swing by their blogs and give them a "cyber-HIGH-FIVE"!!! Awesome job guys!! :)

Until next time...
Joania (2KMINE!!!)

I'm Out of the Slump.....

Hey guys,

It's Saturday morning and I had a great workout this a.m. I rocked it!! I didn't work out on Thursday or Friday and I was starting to worry. But I must say, I received a few emails and comments after my previous post and they were so encouraging!! It really helped me to get back on track. Thank you so much guys!!

My trainer, Rob is awesome!! He not only provides me with the right tools to become physically fit, but every now and then he will send me some "words of inspiration"!! He just seems to always know the right things to say to get me pumped and ready to go. He just sent me the following, which I plan to recite on a daily basis:

"You were born with potential.You were born with goodness and trust.You were born with ideals and dreams.You were born with greatness.You were born with wings.You are not meant for crawling, so don’t.You have wings.Learn to use them and fly." Rumi

Anyway, I'm feeling better. Next week should be my last "crazy-busy" week at work and things should get back to normal after that. So for now, it's one day at a time!!!

Until next time...

Joania (2KMINE!!)

Saturday Blog Love - Support and Gratitude

Hi everyone

I've mentioned this topic before, but I feel it necessary to discuss it again. Blogging about this journey has been such a motivating factor to me, specifically in terms of me staying on track and reaching my goals. The amount of inspiration and support that I receive from the blogging community is nothing short of amazing. I truly appreciate the support and I honestly believe it to be one of the main reasons for my success thus far.

There are days when I feel like I just can't do this anymore; this journey does take daily and continuous effort. It's a constant mental struggle. I wake up having to remind myself everyday of the importance of and reasons for my journey. Some days (like yesterday, for example) I felt like doing absolutely nothing, especially having to do with exercising, and that's what I did ...NOTHING - no work out at all!!!! Not only did I feel it, as I was low in energy and somewhat lathargic for most of the day, but I felt it necessary to blog about it. There's something about writing your thoughts and feelings down on a regular basis that helps you regain focus and stay on track.

So this morning I woke up, ready to get started on my workout and decided to check my blog first. I do that sometimes and then think of things to write about while working out. Anyway, today I received a comment from someone (Anonymous) who bestowed and amazing compliment, telling me that "I was the epitome of hard work!" WOW!! Thank you so very much...that just made my morning and gave me an instant boost of energy!!! AND that was not all....this individual also advised me that another blogger had written an entire post about me and my journey. CHECK IT OUT HERE!!!!

I went to the site (http://gpwebdiary.blogspot.com/) and checked it out!! WOW!! It was an amazing post!! I am so flattered. Thank you so much, Raju!! I really appreciate that. I felt awesome after reading it and went right down to my basement and totally killed that workout...I think I smiled right through most of it. This type of support is incredible to me and definitely keeps me accountable.

This is what I mean about the support that you receive from the blogging community...the encouragement and warm comments!! It's just wonderful!!

So I'm back on track and feeling EXTRA great today!!

Until next time...

Joania (2KMINE!!!!)

Sunday BLOG LOVE - GRATITUDE

Hi guys,

Today's post will be all about gratitude...

When I started on this journey almost 3 months ago, I had a few different sources of inspiration and reasons for embarking on this journey. Number 1, was my 2 year old son - getting healthy to be around for him and be able to play with him was top of my list. My husband and family - just to be around to enjoy life with them! My health - just to do it for me...I did not want to be young and unhealthy or unhealthy, period!!! A few of my friends had lost loads of weight before and they also inspired me beyond belief (Julie and Jude), and lastly, Rosy, a woman who embarked on a body transformation project and successfully achieved her goals; she blogged about it, although she was not the first to lose weight and/or do it publically, she and her blog were inspirational nonetheless. I've always loved keeping journals and diaries and decided I too would journalize my journey, only this time electronically!

I wanted to write today about all the fabulously wonderful and supportive individuals on weight loss journeys, transformation projects or simply attempting to get healthy!! These are individuals who regularly check in with me, comment on my blog; whose own blogs bring me such wonderful inspiration and motivation, support, tips and tricks, and sometimes just simple entertainment.

I've come to find out that there is a very large community of individuals who are "blogging to lose" (myself included)! This has been going on for years and years!! I've been lucky to make contact with quite a few individuals who've gone through the process (successfully and some trying for the second or third time); those who are currently going through the process (like myself) and those maintaining after being extremely successful in the process. Their blogs are so inspiring and entertaining! It's wonderful.

There are also several websites dedicated to blogging for weightloss and/or overall health, even blogger conferences!! It's all been amazing and rather enlightening to me. Anyway, I think it's high time I showed some love to these individuals as they have helped me so much along the way and some may not even realize just how much. Some people feel that they are alone in their journeys and projects but I'm here to say that you're not!! Also, I've been receiving so many comments from individuals complimenting me on my blog and wanting to know how to start one of their own. I figured it was a good time to write this and show them that there is support out there, if they want it!!

Well, I am certainly not the first to create a blog of this nature nor embark on this sort of journey; and from all the blogging friends I've met over the past few months, these types of blogs have been in existence for years and years! I'm not sure that we could even pinpoint the first person who started - if anyone out there knows who was the first body-transfoming-weightloss-journey-blogger, please share!!!!!

There are so many wonderful transformations and weight loss success stories, journeys and projects going on! It's great!! These blogs/bloggers act as wonderful support/inspirational system for me and many others worldwide. They comment on my posts, give me advice - especially when it's something that they themselves have already gone through or dealt with or currently going through. It's amazing. Sometimes it's as simple as just finding strength from one of their posts.

One of my favourite blogs is by FatBridesmaid. She is amazingly honest and candid, whitty and just always seems to have the right things to say. Every Tuesday, she hosts an open, "let's all watch the TV show Biggest Loser together" live blog/chat event. It's just fabulous and I enjoy it so much. Thanks FB.

Another blog which I try to read everyday, as it is such a wonderful source of honesty, inspiration, motivation and pure entertainment is the anti-jared. He is fabulous. This man lost over 200 pounds in a year and has the pictures to prove it, y'all!! He has a very keen sense of humour and I just love the way he writes. He is my daily dose of inspiration and sometimes humour!! His only flaw - he loves cauliflower...yuck!!! Thanks Tony!!

Speaking of sense of humour and whit, Karen from Fitcetera. First off, I just love her - I love that she is "crazy ass happy and hopes that everyone else is too!" She is very honest with her journey and owns up to it!! I look forward to her blog as she exudes strength and inspiration. Keep it going girl!! :)

There's a woman who lives in Japan and I just adore her blog, ADivaOnADiet. I love her outlook on life (especially spiritual) and the manner in which she chronicles her weightloss struggle as a whole. I love her candid approach as well - her blog is quite inspirational to me. Keep on keeping on, girl!

Another one of my fav's is TheVegNextDoor. Her blog is full of wonderful and delicious recipes. I go there frequently for food ideas and suggestions. She's kind enough to put up pics and ingredients on her site - great stuff and delicious. She's helped to make my cooking life a bit easier!! Her "Neat Balls"...YUMMY!!!! Thanks!

Speaking of yummy foods, on this blog, TheIncredibleShrinkingFamily has loads of healthy alternative recipes and mouth watering food pics and just an overall great blog for inspiration showing you how to get it done with your family!!

As you can see, I could go on and on. There are so many from which I draw inspiration that I will from time to time mention more of my fav's, there are sooo many...like NIA (but for whatever reason I can't link to her blog) she regular checks in with me and sends me encouraging notes, and I always look forward to her comments and suggestions -thanks Nia!

I really would like to mention all of you and hopefully I will get the opportunity in future posts. When I make it to that finish line, I hope you will all of be there with me so that we can all celebrate like it's nobody's business!! You guys are awesome.Although I am thankful for all these blogs and blogger support/friends, I can't say enough about all the support I receive from ALL of you (including my non-blogging friends)...SO THANK YOU!!! Anyway, just thankful to all the people who started these "blogs to lose", "journeys", "transformation projects", etc.etc..

I also want to thank my trainer Rob, who has just been amazingly helpful and more importantly available to me. Thanks for your suggestions, knowledge and ALWAYS cheering me on!

So for any of you out there looking to embark on your own weight loss or body transformation journeys, and/or want to start and maintain a blog while you progress - take comfort in the fact that even though you're not the first, you're not alone. There is lots of support out there.

Until next time....


Joania (2KMINE!!!)

EXTRA! EXTRA!! Read All About It....MY BIG NEWS!!!!!!!!!!

So, I received an email yesterday from (you're not gonna believe this), Canadian Olympic medalist, Alison Korn. She won a silver medal in Atlanta (1996) and a bronze medal in Sydney (2000) in Rowing (womens coxed eights)!! She's a freelance sports writer who writes for The Ottawa Citizen ( for my blogger friends outside of Ottawa - that's our major newspaper) and a number of other newspapers/magazines including the Toronto Sun.

Anyway, she contacted ME, requesting an interview as she would like to feature ME and the story of my weight loss journey in NEXT WEEK'S PAPER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Can you believe it??? She even checked out my blog!! My little old blog!! Crazy and wonderful all at the same time!!! Anyhoo, I spoke to her for about an hour yesterday responding to her questions regarding my journey, weight loss, program, exercise etc. She was quite friendly and easy to talk to and well you know I don't have a problem talking!!

So after completing the interview, she said that she will need to send over a photographer to take some pics. The timing could not have been more perfect. I told her that I was meeting my trainer in the morning at his training studio and it would be a good place to take the pics...but I needed to contact him just to confirm. She said no problem and asked that I call her back. I called Rob and left him a message...I was so excited I'm not even sure of what I said...I also sent him an email..Anyway, he responded that it would not be a problem - thanks for that, Rob!!

This morning, the photograper showed up bright and early, right on time at Rob's studio to take our pics.

When I woke up this morning, I was thinking, "maybe I should really pretty myself up for this". Then I thought, no way, I'm gonna be sweating and working my ass off (because Rob doesn't play when it comes to working out) I'm just gonna be me, just gonna be real...and that's exactly what I did (although I did spend a little time on my hair this morning)LOL!! Nothing major - just simple! :)

The photographer was friendly and it was over in minutes. My only request to him was to ensure that he did not take any unflattering butt shots!! He obliged :) , took the pics and was out of there. Rob and I continued on with the program!

You know, when I first decided to go public with my journey, I must admit that there were somewhat selfish reasons behind it. For one, I knew if I went public I would stand a better chance of succeeding because I did not want to fail or quit and have to inform and/or justify it to everyone. I also wanted to show people (especially those struggling with weight) that this could be done, THERE IS HOPE!

Over the last 6 weeks, I've come to really appreciate what going public with this journey is doing for me and others. First, I have and continue to receive such an amazing amount of support - it's incredible, thank you. I have also met so many people with the exact same struggles (some even worse) and they look to this blog and facebook group for support an inspiration. That's just amazing to me. What's rewarding to me is the number of individuals who have been inspired by what I'm trying to accomplish and have started "journeys" of their own. That makes me happy!!

Now, this feature in the Citizen, just means that I will be able to reach even more people and show them that a regular, fulltime working-wife and mother of a 2yr old can accomplish these goals. It's awesome!! I WILL SUCCEED (now more than ever!!)

So that's my BIG NEWS!! The article should be in Wednesday's paper (Health Section) but I will confirm that shortly!! I'm excited!!

Until then....

Joania (2K MINE!!!)