Out with the old...in with the new!

Happy New Year2008!!
My past year had its fair shares of ups and downs.
Lots of lessons learned..and everything came full circle!!
Here's hoping 2008 is even better!
And for all those resolutions....losing weight is pretty much on the top!!
God Bless!!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas is not about Santa and red,green and gold everywhere.
Christmas to me symbolizes new life. The birth of Jesus Christ is a sign of hope, of new beginnings.
Merry Christmas to each and everyone of you.
God Bless..
xoxo...

The Legend of the Mistletoe

Mistletoe also known throughout history as the golden bough has several different legends associated with its beginning and its meaning.

Starting back as far as the Celtic Druids you can find more than one story concerning the mystical mistletoe. One such story is their belief that the plant held the soul of the host tree, which was the “holy oak”. During a ceremony, the Druid priests would harvest the mistletoe with a golden sickle to ensure the mistletoe never touched the ground, as it would lose its magical powers. The powers would quickly be absorbed back into the earth. Once the mistletoe was harvested, the priests would have the branches out to the people for them to use against all kinds of evils.

In England, mistletoe at one time was placed over the doorways for good luck. They believed that only happiness could pass underneath the mistletoe, therefore, enemies would hug and seal their peaceful intentions with a kiss of friendship.

The ancient Norse people have a wonderful legend centered on the mistletoe. In their legend, the god Odin and his wife Frigga had a son by the name of Balder. Frigga loved her son very dearly. She took steps to ensure that nothing would ever harm him by way of earth, fire, water, or air.

The mistletoe did not fit into any of these categories, so an evil spirit by the name of Loki created an arrow out of mistletoe and gave it to Balder’s brother, Holder. Holder was blind and Loki held onto his hand and shot Balder in the heart with the mistletoe arrow. Balder died.

From this moment on, the legend is told differently in various stories. One is that Balder is brought to life. In another one, he had a Viking’s funeral and was sent to the Otherworld on a burning ship. He was to remain there until it was time for him to come back to earth to start a new era.

From that day, forward, Frigga stated the mistletoe would never harm anyone again and made it a symbol of love and made the promise to bestow a kiss upon everyone who passed beneath it.

Source: Mistletoe

For the love of food...

The other day, i was leaving the gym in a lot of pain...and i walked by the pastry shop on the way back...and i sighed...i LOVE food...its not about binging and all of that...i really do enjoy good food!..And not being blessed with the best genes on this planet translates into my weight issues.

At work, I'm surrounded by women who are pretty close to the ideal weight...some are at a weight i have not got down to in years! I have had spells in which i hit the gym and hit it hard, and dropped a substantial amount of weight. But no matter how much i lost, it was never enough. I was always the big chick!

I decided that it was time to start dropping the weight because physically i do nott feel too good about myself. This time, i want to make it balanced. Whats hard for me is eating at work. Im normally limited to sandwiches or salads. And i would rather have a proper meal instead of that. There are loads of diet options. But I dont think something that is frozen and has 600 calories is necessarily healthy!and it tastes like crap!! Then there are those places where the portion size is miserable!..How is an individual supposed to operate without enough energy?
The only great option for me right now is Subways...coz i get to eliminate most of the dough in the bread.

I have been going to the gym for the past month...put in an hour of cardio....alternating between the thread mill and elliptical for exactly an hour...i prefer the elliptical...increase the incline everytime it feels too easy!

Im going home on my 3 week vacation soon, so its going to be hard to exercise. I really want to get rid of the weight, so im going to have to cut down on my portion size.

I intend on pushing myself for the rest of the month...and then getting back into the grind once i return from my break!

My regime is going to be eat right...make breakfast my main meal, limit myself to subways for lunch and dinner cutoff time is 7pm. Add to that at least 2 hours of cardio 6 times a week.

Its time to get healthy....This is really what i want...