Hey!  Well, we've moved over to the new website, and they tell me we're going to have actual blogs, not just pages on the website.  So I made sure to copy the old page over to here, and then check back soon for my own new-fangled brand spankin new blog!

Motivation  vs. Determination

Today is June 10th, 2009.

I know, you're thinking. "Rona, you've all but abandoned us". Really I haven't but I just haven't been able to keep up the blog postings with the rest of life going on.

I just read an article that sums up a lot of what I had been feeling. I kept saying that  I lost my motivation...maybe what I should have said is that I lost my DETERMINATION! It may seem like semantics but really there is a world of difference in those two terms.

Here's the blog post that made me think differently...at least today!

Here's what I've been up to lately:

We put on the show Exuviae at the MET. It was very physically intense production so I had a good bit of exercise each night of rehearsed and during performances. I felt better physically...like I was being active. It ended at the end of April.

Since then, I've been going to the gym about 3 times a week (if I fit that in). If I don't get to the gym, I try to take a walk or do something active (including the stupid exercise bike collecting dust at home).

I continue to weigh in each at the FMH Wellness Center. My weight has gone up but that's more a function of me eating a lot more calories than I'm burning (plain and simple). 

It's nice that the warmer months are here because I'm more motivated to be outdoors and do physical activities. 

My eating is a roller coaster. One week, I eat a lot of salads and homemade foods, then the next week, I'm back to my old habits (eating a lot of fast foods and take out).  I'm going to put into my mind that I want to lose 10 lbs by the end of the summer by increasing my activity level to 4 days a week and having only 3 meals a week away from home. That should help. 

So that's me...what about you? You still stickin with whatever plan you started? I hope so. As always, you can drop me a line and let me know how you are doing with this stuff! rona@key103radio.com.

Happy Losing!

Rona 

Here's the deal....

 Today is February 7th, 2009...

I weighed-in recently and I was up 12 lbs!  12 pounds!? I shouldn't act surprised. If I ran down on this blog the things I've eaten since December, you'd realized how those 12 lbs came back slowly. They didn't just creep back without my knowledge, I was fully aware of my sabotage. Those pounds came back because I've been depressed. I hate cold weather. I hate when it's dark early in the day, I hate feeling cold and like I can't shake the winter's chill. It affects my mood. With that,  I stopped exercising after my Zumba ended, and I went back to my old eating habits. At this point, my clothes are starting to fit poorly again, my knees hurt, and I'm having the palpitations again.  They all but went away when I was working out regularly. So what is my problem?  I still don't know. I'm still not motivated. I'm still not getting in control. So I don't know if anyone's reading this or not but I'm sure someone has been where I am now. You lose weight and you iknow exactly what to do to keep it off but you choose not to. Why? I still don't get it. Feeling crummy and gaining weight should be a catalyst but it's not--really. If that doesn't make me want to lose it, I don't know what will.

I talked with one of my friends from FMH Wellness the other day and we talked about what happens when you know what you are supposed to eat and you don't. You just don't care. You could care less how what you stuff into your face is going to affect your thighs. The worst of it is that there isn't anything to make you change it except you.  I guess I'm still searching for some kind of answer inside me.

That's about as open as I can be.

What me waste time?

Today is January 28th

I have mentioned that as of late, I have completely fallen off the wagon. I don't know what happened! I think I allowed myself to eat more than I should have during the holidays and I became extremely sedentary. I did exercise a few times but not to the extent I had been between March and November. Interesting how it finally does catch up to you huh?

Well, now that we are in a new year, I won't try to make big promises, I'm just going to try my best to get back on the horse. By the way, at my last weigh-in at FMH Wellness Center, I was up 7 lbs! Yikes! 

I was looking at WebMD and they had this article about making the most of your workout time. In other words, don't waste time when you go to the gym. Considering  everyone's time is so precious, I think it's a good little article.  Also, it's best to get some workout advice from a trusted source like WebMD.

I figure right about now, the "New Year's Resolution" crowd will start to taper off and it won't be as crowded. You know who I'm talking about, the people who got gym memberships at the beginning of the year and vowed to be there every day and lose their motivation. I've been one of those people so I speak from experience.  

Talk with you soon. I'm off to the  gym.
Ro

Time to get back to it!

Today is January 5th...


Now that we are in 2009, I don't want to be one of those people that makes a resolution to lose weight. Everyone does that! I've made resolutions countless times and regretted it each time and felt like a failure when June rolled around and I was "rolling around" because I hadn't lost any weight. Last year was a different year for me as I wasn't planning on losing weight in the beginning of the year. The change happened when I heard those commercials that just rang a bell for me. The guy from FMH Wellness Center said "Your relationship with  food has gotten out of hand...". It was true and it had. Now that I'm in a new year, my food habits have gotten a little out of hand again. Over the holidays, I enjoyed many of the treats and drinks of the season but just tried to hold my weight steady and not gain weight. 

So now it's time to get back to the program and begin the process of being careful of what I eat and exercising routinely. My plan is to join a new exercise class and making it to the gym 3 times a week. Wish me luck! Anyone else trying to lose this year? Send me your motivation. I some motivation.

Rona

This has nothing to do with weight loss...

Today is December 30th....

Now that we are past the Christmas giving frenzy. I found this little video that made me laugh. I should say that I do love bling too...so I guess, this describes me a little. I enjoy when fun is being made of me too. It made me laugh out loud...so there you go!

Enjoy! Happy Holidays!

Rona

Today is October 10th...

If you have been living under a rock for the past 23 years you haven't noticed, that October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. It was established in 1985 by a drug company to promote getting mammograms. I think in that way, it has been successful in getting millions to get tested and helped in the early detection of the disease.

One of the things that concerns me is the misconceptions and how little people truly know about breast cancer. I've read a bunch of articles about the connections between breast cancer and high fat diets. I've also read bogus reports that lipstick, and anti-perspirant can cause cancer. There's a lot of information out there and it's important to make sure you going to a trusted source for information like the American Cancer Society or the Susan G. Komen for the Cure website . I'll put a bunch of links at the bottom of the page and you can read for yourself. Knowing those facts, can make it less scary and urge women to get mammograms.

Like so many people, I have a family history of cancer. My grandmother died of cancer and my mother died of breast cancer so it's a great concern to me. Having such a strong family history is one of the main reasons that I needed to try and lose weight. I lost weight 10 years ago but didn't keep it off. The brief history is that I was very active in high school, but gained a bunch of weight in college. During my 20's, I gained about 40 lbs and worked hard to lose it through medication, diet and exercise. Then somewhere along the line, I stopped exercising and took up poor eating habits again some of it for cost and convenience. By the time 2008 rolled around, I was rolling around at 263lbs! There were so many things that were wrong, I was eating al fast food all the time, I wasn't exercising, and wasn't getting regular medical care. I needed to try to get back in control. I heard a commercial for the FMH Wellness Center, and it hit a cord. The first line was "Let's face it, your relationship with food has gotten out of hand..." It was true and along with that, I started to worry that I couldn't keep up the poor diet and lifestyle and be healthy. So here I am about 6 months later and I've lost 44 lbs.

During this month of all things pink, I can be proud of myself for doing something to try and be healthier. Even if I haven't lost all the weight, it makes me happy that I at least have lost some of it and I've begun to exercise again. I need to get a mammogram, which I'm going to do by the end of November. Even though I'm under 40, it's important for me because of my family history. It's a scary process but I've started working on "taking care of myself" I need to continue with it. To be honest, my common thinking has been, "I don't want to know". But truly it's better to know and be done with it rather than to not know and have it looming overhead. I have a friend who is a survivor and she's going to go with me when I have it done so I'll have someone to talk to and hold my hand.

Do you know anyone who is avoiding getting a mammogram because they just don't want to know the results? You can count me as one of them. It's some thing I don't want to have to think about but I've got to do it...so I will. If I can do it, so can you!

Originally, I was going to talk about high fat diets but look where my rambling landed me! I'm glad I put it out there.

I have no idea what else to say so....till next time!

If you'd like to write to me, my e-mail is

. 

Check out this little blurb I got from

.

Today is September 28th

I love the website www.realage.com. If you've ever watched Oprah, every week or so, she always has Dr. Oz  as her guest, talking about everything health related. From bodily functions to weight loss, to accupuncture--it runs the gamut. Well, he's one of the founders of this Real Age test. If you've never heard of it, you take this quiz and it tells your "Real age" according to many factors, such as if you smoke, how much sleep you get, how many fruits and vegetables you get in daily, how much exercise you get, how you deal with stress and other factors. If you get a chance, you should take the test.  Be warned it takes about 20 minutes and you'll have to do some thinking! Dave (Hometown Morning Show Dave) and I took the quiz and we were both a few years older than our natural ages. When I took the quiz, I was 42.7 years old!!!!! Almost 5 years older than my chronological age...Ugh! That means I need to get in gear and start taking some years off that "Real Age". 

I signed up for the Real Age e-mails that have a bunch of health tips, message boards and a ton of interesting articles.  As weight loss it a process, my big push is to keep trying to get enough water in each day (the weekends are tough for me). I've also thrown flax seeds into my diet a bit more too (they are supposed to be very good for you).

One of the Real Age articles was titled "5 Reasons You Can't Lose weight--and How to Eliminate Them"! We all can come up with a 1,001 excuses not to lose weight, eat better, and exercise. Why is that?  Some of the best are:

- A couple of chips won't hurt me.
- I don't have time with my schedule.
- It's so tough making a separate meal for my family.
- I don't cook (one of my personal favorites). 
- I got a diet soda with my value meal.
- I'm too busy. (I'm famous for using this one!)
-It's really a lot of extra work to plan meals etc.
-I hate vegetables! 
-French Fries are potatoes, and that's a vegetable.
-My husband doesn't like "diet foods".

Any of those sound familiar? We all have used these at one time or another. In addition to excuses I tend to engage in mindless nibbling.  Who doesn't do that? Tell me if you relate to this: you pick up a small handful M & M's each time you walk by the receptionists desk or you add a lot of cheese to your salad from the salad bar, or you finish your kid's french fries (it's only like 6 of them right?). It's all those little things that add up. So check out the article and see which ones apply to you! You'll be surprised at some of the reasons why those last 5 pounds aren't going anywhere. My eyes have been opened!

When you finish the article, tell me which ones are your triggers. rona@key103radio.com .

Happy day!

I know, I know...where ya been Rona?

Today is September 20th.

To be honest, I've been at the fair pigging out! Yesterday, Dave and I went to The Great Frederick Fair and we both had a Farmer's Burger. Don't know what that is? It's a taste treat that you should have once in your life and then immediately run to the gym to work it off. Here's the description: Imagine a cheeseburger hot off the grill, then they grill an egg--on same said grill, then nice and hard cooked, they plop it on top of your burger...then throw it on a bun. YUM! I should at least redeem myself and say that I did go to my exercise class after that...and felt better for it.   Okay. Now that I got that off my chest. 

So I've talked many times about being body insecure. However, I guess I never realized how insecure some men can be. I guess I only figured it was mostly women. Here's a little thing that I got from Best Life Magzine.

 
Men were recently asked, “What body part makes you most self-conscious?” The top answer, mentioned by 59 percent of the guys polled, their belly (too big). Twenty percent of men think their dangly parts are too small. And about one in ten guys admits the body part that makes them most self-conscious in bed is their butt (too soft). Source: Best Life, 10/08

Here I thought women had the market cornered on being upset about being jiggly. I guess in some way, it's more comforting to know that men have many of the same insecurities we do but they just don't talk about it.  Now that we know that tidbit, I guess it's time to give all ourselves a break huh? We are built as we are built and there's someone who is attacted to your body type.

Okay...let's give ourselves a break and try to accept ourselves for who we are hmm? Got words of wisdom for me? Go ahead and give me a shout. rona@key103radio.com.

Ciao!
 

Today is September 8th...

!

Choices all around

Today is August 27th

I'm still attending the FMH Wellness Center classes. At this point, I'm doing one shake a day and the rest are regular meals. It's been a real challenge to go back on food. To go from having the meals completely planned to now making choices is not easy.  Food choices are the most difficult. It's like the kid who knows right from wrong but does wrong because they can--they hope for no consequences.

I tend to know (or at least I think I know) what the better food choices are and I still don't always make the best decisions.  That stinks! When you know what you should do, but instead you do what you want to do. Or you do what you've always done--which for me is to eat what I want and worry about the consequences later. I have been at parties and eaten way more than my fair share of food as of late. Why am I doing this to myself? That's not an easy answer. I get some benefit out of self sabotage (and anyone else who does that does too). But what is it? Do I want to be heavy, tired, and aching for the rest of my life? Maybe it's kind of scary thinking of being successful? Maybe it's committing to taking care of myself for the rest of my life?  Sometimes, I truly believe that staying heavy is a matter of choice for me. That's a deep realization.

When I do choose poorly, I need to move on from it and not beat up on myself--which is difficult. Recently, in one of our FMH classes we talked about Behavior and change, we took apart what goes into making unhealthy food choices. Is it boredom? Stress? or is it combination of things?  We each were to think of a situation where we made an unhealthy choice then think about exactly what triggered it, and what added to it to get us to the point that we binged or behaved that way. When we got finished we all saw how one small thing can create a snowball effect when it comes to making a choice we'd rather not.  

In that same class, we had a person who wasn't proud of the choices that she made earlier that week and she was beating up on herself a lot. It was something we can all relate to.  Our class was ultra supportive of her and we were telling her just how much we could all relate to her plight. Stories of people eating full boxes of cookies, or ordering 2 orders of fast food and pretending there was someone else in the car with them abounded. We have all done it.  There are people in the class who are well into the program and others who are brand new. No matter where you are in the journey to lose weight, at some point, you have to do the head check and figure out what contributed to you putting the weight on in the first place. Once you've done that, you've got to decide whether you want to continue like that or not. If you do decide to commit to losing weight, then you've got to face the fact that every time you are near food there is a choice to be made. So you've always got to ready to make the best choices.  Even if you don't make the best choice, you can still recover and do better next time. 

After all, you didn't gain all the weight in one meal and one meal won't put all the weight back on in one meal either. I guess that's a healthy perspective to keep.

This week, one of our listeners gave me this link to a neat site that helps you find healthier choices in dining (Thanks Leo!). It's called Healthy Dining Finder (www.healthydiningfinder.com), and it's a great resource to find the calorie and fat count of meals you can eat in your area. The site actually gives you options...Cool! Check it out!


Rona

current jobs. Twelve percent have experienced a weight gain of more than 20 pounds,  while 26 percent have gained more than 10 pounds. In an industry comparison, financial services and government employees experienced the most weight gain. The lowest weight gain was reported by retail and leisure and hospitality employees. Source: CareerBuilder.com, 8/19/08 

I'm baaack! (like a bad penny!)

Today is August 11th...

So it's my first day back and of course vacation was great! Mexico...ahhh was beautiful. I ate and drank a lot on my trip...and I tried to avoid the water (I truly did).  

Now that I'm back into the daily grind again, I've got to get back to a regular exercise schedule too. Sometimes it's a little hard to get motivated.  I mean, who here wants to get all sweaty? Sometimes, I'll find any excuse not to exercise.  I'm famous for procrastinating...like I'll do this. First, I'll get dressed to work out, then I'll putz around my house, doing laundry, cleaning the bathroom, doing dishes or whatever until I've used up my window to workout. It's a brilliant strategy to avoid working out. I'm really good at it.  Unfortunately, I can tell when I've dropped off my activity level and I really feel sluggish. Also, I drop out of it so quickly that I can get discouraged and not want to go back. 

When I was surfing the web the other day,  I found a great way to get motivated. It's this website that lists playlists (compilations of music) to workout to. If your flavor is Hip-Hop, Rock, Club Music, or whatever  they've got it, and the best part is that you can listen preview the music to see if you like it.  Most of them are available on i-tunes or for download so you can put them on your own mp3 player and get down.   The good part is that it gets rid of one of my excuses (which is--that I'm bored with my music). 

Check it out and let me know what you think at rona@key103radio.com .
Its much cooler to put a bunch of new tunes on my mp3 then set it on  shuffle and go!  The other thing I think is cool on this site is that you can pic the type of training you are doing, whether it's walking, the elliptical machine, weight training, or cooling down, there is a mix for your needs.   So no excuses people, download some music then get active in whatever way works for you...just do something.

More soon.
Rona




 

Go Diva, Go Diva!

Today is August 1st...

Whew, this is the day before my big vacation to Mexico and I'm pretty stoked! I will be breaking out the swim dress...keep me in your thoughts! Even your favorite morning show co-host needs to recharge her batteries once in a while. (Why am I talkin about me in 3rd person?) Weird.

So last month they did Artscape in Baltimore. It's an event that I love attending each year and this year I missed it because I ended up having a girls weekend...Dang it!  I hate when I double book my schedule!  One of the reasons I'm especially bummed is that one of my favorite indie artists, Mike Doughty (formerly of Soul Coughing) was there but also, I missed out on Roberta Flack and this interesting group, called "Full Figured Divas!" Wow!

The Full Figured Diva Academy trains full figure gals to love themselves from the inside out and to become models! If you check out the pictures on the site, it shows "women of size" (as I like to call myself sometimes) looking stylish, sexy, and most important--confident.

I'd love it if we all felt good about ourselves whether a size 2 or size 22. Now of course, I'm in the process of losing weight but I'd rather feel good in whatever size the tag says on my clothing--not only when it's smaller numbers. As I scanned their site, they have Boot Camp type classes for Personality Development and runway modeling (which seems kind of fun) and could help a girl feel pretty great. 

I'm just saying it's nice to have something in our region that helps women feel great! Check out this Fabulousness!

I probably won't be writing whilst I'm away but I promise to find one decent picture from Mexico and post it on this page when I get back...probably not in the swim dress.  I'll let you know how it went when I return!  


Take it easy peeps!

Gettin some zzzz's!

Today is July 23rd...

The other day I read that experts say that if you are sleep deprived you are more apt to gain weight. Duh! That seems like a no brainer to me! (When do I become an expert?).  If you are tired, you eat more...anyone else agree?

As you know, Dave and I work unusually early in the morning and our bodies are always craving carbohydrate type goodies to keep us going. Being sleep deprived makes it much harder to make the better food choices.  For me it's because I'm just so dang tired! Can you relate? Personally, I've found myself just eating snacks because I'm too tired to go upstairs, get horizontal, and sleep.

Of course, some people eat out of stress, others out of boredom (I have too) but for me sleep deprivation has the been of the of the biggest factors in my unhealthy eating habits. 

For example, I used to have another job that kept me sleep deprived for a number of years--Newspaper carrier. I'd get up at 3 something am (7 days a week), go deliver newspapers for a few hours then go home and sleep. But before I did, I'd eat anything and everything that wasn't nailed down. Chips, hot dogs, pizza, crackers, anything, part of that was the carb thing..the other was the tired thing. What's the carb thing? Read on here and here! Interesting huh?

As always, I'd love to hear your weight loss successes, stories or frustrations, we are doing this together. Send me any and all to rona@key103radio.com

So I love John Tesh's tidbits...

Today is July 14...

We get e-mails from the John Tesh Radio show and I think they are just too much...try this "food pop quiz". There is interesting stuff to be learned here!

Question #1: **Which of these foods will calm your nerves if you’re
stressed out?** 
A. Fish
B. Cheese
C. Oatmeal? 

When you’re stressed, have FISH for lunch or dinner. Japanese researchers found that giving people two amino acids found in fish reduced anxiety. In fact, the amino
acids in fish activate some of the same receptors in the nervous system
as the drug Valium. The result is a mildly relaxing effect.  (Rona thoughts:who knew? Well, does that mean, I need to down a can of tuna every time someone gets on my nerves too? Probably not.)

Question #2: **Which of these foods will help prevent crow’s feet?**

A.  Pomegranate juice
B. Walnuts
C. Miso soup

The miso soup, because it’s loaded with soy isoflavones. If you had three cups of miso soup a week, and kept it up for three months, you would see a decrease in fine lines and improved skin elasticity. That’s according to Yale University
School of Medicine, which found that soy isoflavones help repair skin
tissue and diminish wrinkles. (Rona's thoughts: Probably better that the answer wasn't Walnuts because I tend to overdo nuts)

Question #3**: How many hours before bedtime should you eat a cookie in
order to fall asleep the minute your head hits the pillow?** 
A:One hour
B: Two hours
C:Four hours

Eat that cookie four hours before bed for the desired effect. That’s according to the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. They say that eating a high-carbohydrate food – like a cookie or a bowl of sugary cereal – four hours before bed can help you fall
asleep twice as fast. Why does it work? Because foods with a lot of carbs release the amino acid tryptophan, which regulates mood, body temperature, and promotes sleep.  (Rona's thoughts: I disagree because I think of that cookie going straight to my thighs while I'm sleeping and most sedentary. Seriously, there's just too much information out there sometimes isn't there? What if that cookie just ends up being converted to fat in my body, perhaps I should just skip it!)

One more question. **Which of these foods will keep your muscles from
getting sore after a workout?** 
A. Peanuts
B. Ricotta cheese
C. Bananas

Eating ricotta cheese reduces the muscle soreness and fatigue
caused by an intense workout. It’s all about the amino acids again – and
the ones found in ricotta repair muscle tissue. Eat some 30 minutes
after your gym session.  (Rona's thoughts: that's a helpful one to those of us working out...just a way to prevent the soreness after working out--Very Cool!)
 

Okay, this post really doesn't have anything to do with weight loss whatsoever but I just needed to post it. Earlier this week,  Dave and I were talking about monkeys. Apparently, a monkey that was trained to be in movies ran away. Now, I don't find it funny that he ran away nor that his owners, trainers and everyone that loves him must be worried sick about him.  However, I

find it funny that monkeys fling their poo. So as Dave was mentioning this story during the show, I recalled a bumper sticker I saw that said "I fling poo". It made me laugh. SO, I figured I'd go ahead and include some links so you could share in the hilarity. I forgot to post it on the Hometown Morning Show Page so I decided here's a good place...I know random.

Check here for another, even more funny example of monkey

!

So I went bathing suit shopping...need I say more?...I will.

Who

to go bathing suit shopping? Stacy doesn’t (you know Stacy Lyn who is on the air from 9:00-3:00pm). We were e-mailing today and she told me that she tried on her bathing suit and she was disgusted by her “cottage cheese legs”! Then went on to say,

(she told me that I can use that information so it IS used with permission.)  I have the same thing YAY! She understands!

Who hasn’t been there right? In fact, I have some shorts but they haven’t been worn in years! Even after losing a weight, there are parts of my body I'm just not comfortable with showing (my thighs in shorts for instance). So it goes.  Eventually, I want to be able to accept my body and my shape for what is and not get so danged worked up about it!  I do find myself obsessing sometimes! Well, Stacy's comment made me realize how much we all struggle with our weight or body image. You know, the skinny one wants to be more curvy, the curvy one doesn't want such big hips, the one with "Asitol disease" wants a little "junk in the trunk".*  So what's the answer?  Looking around and noticing how utterly average everyone is? I mean most people don't have killer bodies right? Or do you do those exercises where you take one part of your body that you like and you say nice things about it over and over so you accentuate the positive?

 I don't know. I guess whatever works for you...the latter has not worked for me, I've tried it though. If you have idea