Yup,  213!!!  (For those that visited earlier this week; wish it were 113… LOL)

It just keeps coming off. 

I am not changing what I eat yet.  Yesterday I even ate two doughnuts.  Wasn't happy with myself for eating two would have been OK with one.

But I am eating smaller portions of everything else and I know I cannot have doughnuts, oreos or soda in the house period…

I exercise 15 minutes a day.  These days that has consisted of shoveling snow or cleaning the house. 

Next week I am going to review what I am eating and make a conscious effort to eat more protein and fewer carbs.

Remember this isn't a sprint it is a marathon and I am committed once and for all the making real life changes to get my weight down and improve my health so that when I am 92 I am that crazy, mustang driving, long grey haired cat and dog lady everyone loves…

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Just a quick update….

115lbs as of 1-8-10

Ate 5 pieces of pizza last night; on the surface looked like a bad night but in the light of day I realized 2 were eaten at 3:00 as a late lunch and 3 were eaten at 7:00 for dinner. 

I can live with that.

And best of all I did not have any soda with them!!!!

Now that is a true test of my ability to change my life….

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Ok it’s a really bad pun pertaining to weight loss.

I have committed to sharing Chuck Stebbins (CEO of TamPogo) 100 day journey to change my eating habits and lose the weight once and for all.

I got a late start.  I missed the last stair on my basement stairs the day before New Years and I fell funny on my left foot.  I even thought I broke it for a day or so but it is slowly healing I just can walk too well.  So I didn’t get started on Chuck’s 100 days till 1-3-10.

Since then I have just been tracking what I have been eating which in turn helps me to think twice about what I eat.  I have NOT changed a single other thing about my eating.  I know that if I try to “cut” things out I will end up wanting them even more.

I have done a little exercise.  Some lifting of water jugs; I don’t have weights and I find water jugs or canned food works just as well.  A little goes a long way.

As of 1-3-10 I weighed 117 lbs.  I am under 116 lbs as of today 1-6-10  (is anyone else having problems typing that 10; I sure am…)

I will continue to give you updates and keep you posted.

Make the commitment today to change your life in one small way; you pick…

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Looks Too weird…

I know that a lot of people will be reviewing their year, their decade and their lives today.  I have been ever since I got up this morning…

2009 has been a year of change and uncertainty for quite a lot of us and 2010 at first glance may not look much better.

BUT IT WILL BE…

It will be because you are taking action.  Just by visiting this site you are taking action.

Now we need to apply it…

I make a commitment to you that I will continue to bring value and real tools and techniques that any networker can use to help build their success.

But you have to make a commitment to yourself; you have to apply it. 

Join us every morning at 10:00am EST  608-649-1800  access code 314611# and we will help you find that accountability to yourself.  We are going to be creating accountability teams and if you want to be a part of one just leave a comment on this blog and I will be in touch with you or be on the call and get all my contact information. 

No one will do this for you…

Stop waiting for life to hand you success…

Make an effort and meet success half way…

Take action, apply what you learn and help others do the same and success will find you!

I will give you the path you need to be the wheel and hit the road…

Be safe, Have FUN and we will see you next year!!!

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This is the year I will take control of my life, my weight and my health…

As always Tampogo is creating a path to follow to create real change in my life.  Chuck Stebbins our CEO is going to offer 100 days of health and weight loss advice and I am going to be taking advantage of this. 

I will also be using our new Crystal Thin product to help me along this journey. 

Come back often and watch me take control of a new healthy lifestyle.

Here is some initial information Chuck has supplied:

Diets don’t work.  This fact is obvious since each and every year a greater majority of the population gains more and more weight. They didn’t work ten years ago when everyone was trying low fat diets, they didn’t work five years ago when everyone was trying high protein diets and they don’t work today when everyone is convinced that low carb diets are the “holy grail” of weight loss.

It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that if you are trying to lose weight that you can’t follow the crowd since the crowd is gaining weight rather than losing weight.

Research consistently demonstrates that of all the various target behaviors studied, greatest weight loss doesn’t come from any fad diet.  It doesn’t come from eating more vegetables, from eating less fruit, from trimming fat from the table or from planned exercise sessions.  The target behavior that results in the greatest weight loss for overweight individuals is portion control.

 The problem is how exactly to train yourself to eat less…

The real key to portion control and to losing weight, believe it or not, is found in the nose.  That’s right, the nose. 

For years, medical doctors have known that when nasal centers are damaged, more often than not, obesity results.  Logically, since the less effective a person’s sense of smell is, the more weight they gain, researchers believed the opposite might be true.  This led to recent, groundbreaking studies demonstrating that a heightened sense of smell during eating results in faster satiety and less calorie consumption.  For example, studies carried out by one of the world’s leading medical researcher’s, neurologist Dr. Alan Hirsch, have found that overweight individuals lost an average of 34.7 pounds in six months simply by sprinkling his creation of specially scented inert organic crystals onto their meals and snacks.  This research formed the basis for the original scent product, Sprinkle Thin.  These astonishing results were confirmed and replicated in an independent study of Crystal Thin Diet Crystals ™.

Crystal Thin Diet Crystals ™ do not change the taste of the food, however they do activate nasal sense receptors that trigger patterns of electrical activity in region of the brain that affects appetite.  In other words, during each meal or snack, the specially scented crystals trigger your brain to tell you that you are “full” faster.  The net result is that you are happy with your meal, you stop eating earlier and end up losing weight.  And since this feeling of meal fulfillment is relatively enduring, you don’t end up rushing for snacks due to hunger.

Incredibly, all the weight loss occurred totally as a result of the messages that the scent crystals relayed from the nose to the brain.  This is reinforced by the fact that all the people studied were allowed to eat the same foods that they normally ate, they were not instructed to avoid any foods or sweets whatsoever, they were directed to eat the same amount of food they were accustomed to and they did not have to increase their activity levels or begin structured exercise programs. 

Again, all they had to do was shake a few “taste-less” crystals on their food prior to eating.  Who would have thought that it would end up being the nose that changed feelings of food deprivation into satisfaction and ultimately was responsible for reversing the population trend toward obesity and ushering in a new era of sensible food consumption?

Be that fly on the wall…

You know you want to…

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I hope this finds you all enjoying the Holidays and attempting to clean up from the onslaught of cards, cookies, paper and packages. 

We are holding our own here at the Rocha Ranch but definitely still recovering.

Here is the best part of this holiday season.  My children finally learned the true gift of giving and how much more satisfying it is to give rather than receive.

For the first time ever my daughter had her own money; earned from various babysitting jobs and she was able to go out and buy gifts for the family on her own.  She had so much fun shopping, wrapping and giving hints.  I have never seen her more excited anticipating Christmas morning. 

My son made my gift in school and worried himself silly that it would not be done in time for him to bring home.  He was jumping for joy the last day of classes because he was able to bring my gift home.  He hurried into his room and spent over an hour wrapping the gift and getting it under the tree. 

On Christmas eve both kids were beside themselves with excitement and kept giving me hints; trying to drive me crazy. 

We all went to bed with visions of smiling family members in our heads…

My kids were up at 4:00am and starting the coffee; they couldn't wait any longer…

So yes we were up at 4:15am opening gifts and having a ball.  I received new slippers, pj's and the new Steven King novel from my daughter and my son's vase was beautiful.  I was so happy and it just kept getting better…  For the next 4 days both kids kept talking about how much fun it was to get me things and watch my face as I opened them.  It was a really cool experience; especially when your 12 year old tells you how much more fun it was to shop for others than to get gifts. 

One of those magical moments when you know you must be doing something right as a parent.  They don't happen often so trust me you enjoy them to the fullest when they do…

I have been having the bestest time and we have lots of fun stuff planned for this week so while I will be posting when I can there may be some days when I just can't get to it this week.   

So be safe, have FUN and remember others… 

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Be Safe and Happy and Have some Fun and We will See you All on Monday 12-28-09…  

Tracy Symowoniuk                               

Isaac McLemore                                   

Colleen Rocha          

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I absolutely love this time of year.  I love putting the Christmas lights up (just wish someone would help me sometimes…) I love decorating the house, I love baking the cookies.  The only thing I hate but I do it anyway is sending out the dreaded Christmas cards.  I hate addressing the envelopes.  I know, I know there is software to do that but I hate people who have printed envelopes and then just sign their card.  No message no nothing.  How boring…(Sorry if you are one of those people but come on if you are going to spend $.50 to send a card this is just going to end up in the trash please write at least one line of test telling me how you are doing…)

But no worries even though I don’t like the card part I still do it.

I woke up this morning at 6:00 (yup, slept in a little) it was still dark out and the snow is falling.  So all I saw was a field of white reflecting red and white Christmas twinkles; a picture perfect hallmark moment!

I stopped and gave thanks….

So even though most of us may feel overwhelmed with the Christmas shopping hustle and bustle; kids home; complaining that there is nothing to do and a bank account that has taken on a whole new meaning to being in the red; take a moment and reflect on what you do have…Take just 10 seconds to give thanks…

Then just right back into the Christmas Crazies…

I am going to be working a little today but most of this weekend is family time.  I am taking both my kids and a couple of the neighbors to go see Avatar this morning (its half price before noon…) IT IS A 3 HOUR MOVIE; it better be good…

Then I am dressing up and heading over to the neighbors for a little Christmas cheer.

Tomorrow is all about basketball.

Next week I will be touching base with you all through Wednesday morning but Wednesday at noon I am shutting her down and will not be back online till the following Monday.  I chose to work from home so that I would have times like these to spend with my family and I am going to do that.

So I hope you day if full of fun and fantastic adventures…

And remember give thanks for all you do have each and every day…

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I woke up today fully rested, with a clean house, all the Christmas decorations up; including the tree and a heart full of joy and happiness.

 I gave thanks…

We all know that we don’t wake with these feelings as often as we would like but I can say that with some minor changes in my life I have begun to experience this more and more.

I was a typical career mom.  I worked 60-70 hours Monday thru Friday.  I would race home to spend at least an hour or two with the kids and then plop myself in front of the TV to watch 2+ hours of T.V. believing that this was “my time” to relax. I was lucky if I was getting 3-4 hours of sleep a night and most of those were spent tossing and turning with stress and anxiety.

Because of all this I protected my weekend time because it was the only time I had for my family… 

Well the weekend would roll around; I was exhausted, had a filthy house, no clean clothes and kids full of energy, ready to go out and do something…

I would always choose my kids first so we would go out and have our adventures and I loved every minute of it.  Then we would get home and I would feel overwhelmed by all I had to do. 

I would stay up all night getting things done and get only 3-5 hours of sleep a night.

Folks I was running on empty…

I like to think that I was giving my kids, family and career the best of me but I am sure each of those areas was suffering and you can be 100% sure  I was suffering because I made ZERO time for myself. 

Finally, I decided I had had enough.  There had to be a better way…

So I quit a really good six figure job and tried building a home business for myself.  I thought I had a good idea and I sure knew enough about running a business and while it did OK for a year the economy in Michigan was failing and so did I. 

I had to go out and get a JOB… Not again…

So like most I went out and got the same kind of job I was used to; guess what, I got the same results.  Working too many hours and making less than half of what I had been making before. 

Then my world caved in; I was let go…

It was the lowest point of my career.  I felt like a total failure. 

Yes, I got unemployment but while it did allow my husband and me to continue to meet our monthly obligations there wasn’t a dime left for anything else. 

Worse still I had based my self esteem on my career for so long I didn’t know how to see myself in any other way…

Things were not good…

I knew I had to do something NOW…

I again began looking for a job and discovered Michigan was a train wreck and while I sent out hundreds upon hundreds of resumes NO ONE was calling me.

Then someone gave me the best advice I have ever received…

If you keep doing things the same you keep getting the same results…

Is that what I wanted? 

The same results…

60+ hours a week, low pay and no time for my family?

NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO…

So I knew I had to do something different.  So I started my career in Network Marketing.

I started out very slowly and often wanted to quit but I kept going and slowly but very surely things picked up and I am creating the life of my dreams.

I now concentrate on getting enough sleep; at least 6-8 hours a night.

I eat regularly and have a very laid out pattern for my day that has time built in for my business, myself and my family.

Folks if you have experienced anything remotely like what I have please take this advice:

“Change what you are doing!”

It is only by changing that we are able to move forward.

It doesn’t take much; start with turning the T.V. off one hour earlier and getting that one extra hour of sleep.  You WILL be shocked at just how much that lifts your spirit giving you the strength to try to move towards making even more real changes in your life. 

I would love to hear your story, share it here with me and let’s change our lives together…

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