UP & DOWN WITH LIFE - What a ride!: goals

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Tuesday, September 22, 2015

TRANSFORMATION

Imagine the most beautiful butterfly you have ever seen. Think about where that butterfly started and what it went through to emerge as a free soaring beautiful butterfly!

It was a caterpillar (ok, I know that's not the proper name but stay with me here). She ended up in a small dark cocoon. As time passed that butterfly must have thought, "I was an ugly worm and now I've been hidden away in this tomb! What a life!"

It made her so mad that she decided she could and would escape this prison! No matter how bad her life as a worm was, it was better than this!

She started to move. Slowly at first and then more vigorously. She wasn't quite sure what she was moving but it didn't feel like she was making a bit of progress. Minute by minute. Hour by hour. She struggled to free herself. It seemed like forever. She would get tired. She thought about quitting. Many times she asked herself, “Is it worth it?”

And then...all of a sudden, she saw light break through! Just that little bit of movement encouraged her and spurred her on to keep reaching and working towards her goal. She knew she could break free of this prison!

She noticed that the harder she worked at getting to her goal, the stronger she became. Soon her tiny world was filling up with light! And then it happened!

She was free! She emerged! Once she had felt like a slug on the ground. But now! Now she was beautiful! Her body was drenched in spectacular colors! And she had wings! WINGS! She started to flap her wings and began to soar!

She was free to be who she was meant to be! Not a slug. Not a worm. Not a caterpillar. Not a prisoner. She was a butterfly! Beautiful and free!

As she flew she realized that it was her determination, her will power, and her dedication that had brought her goal about. She never lost sight of her goal, We are no different than this butterfly.

Which do you choose? To be a slug, a prisoner or a butterfly?

The choice is yours!

copyrighted 2015

caryn cannatella

Skinny Fiber Sales: www.caryncann2.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Caryncann

Weight Loss Support Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/CarynsChamps

Friday, July 31, 2015

AM I MY BROTHER'S KEEPER?

Every Friday I pick up two cheeseburgers, fries and a large coke from Macdonalds. It costs me $4.36.

I take it a mile down the road to a busy intersection. He is always there. It's his corner. I figure he is in his 40's but he looks like a 60 year old man who has had a hard life. His right foot looks like it was broken at the ankle and never set It's difficult for him to even walk.

I know he is homeless. He always has that backpack with everything he cherishes stuffed inside.

Both streets are very busy. I always honk and pulled to the side. He hobbles over as I roll the window down. Today I hand him the bag and drink. "God bless you ma'am. I can't tell you how hungry I am. Thank you so much." I always watch him take it back to where he was standing. He takes his time opening the bag and laying everything out.

I'm always amazed by his gratitude. $4.36. I probably misplace more than that in change every week.It reminds me to be grateful for every thing, large and small, that is in my life.

It is up to us to help the less fortunate. And there are oh so many in our country who do. Not the government. Not programs. US. Americans. It's part of our DNA.

Love your neighbor as yourself. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

Are we our brothers' keeper? I think we are.

And there is just no better feeling than the joy of giving to someone you know can never do anything for you. Giving helps others but it helps the giver more.

You can never out give God. He will always return it. Shaken. Pressed down. And overflowing.

It takes so little to individually help someone who is less fortunate than we are. The blessings are overwhelming.

I challenge everyone to be a blessing to someone this week who just needs a little help.

copyrighted 2015

caryn cannatella

Skinny Fiber Sales: www.caryncann2.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Caryncann

Weight Loss Support Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/CarynsChamps

Wednesday, July 8, 2015

THE THREE C’S OF LIFE

It's your CHOICE to take a CHANCE and make a CHANGE!

Are you wanting to get healthy and lose weight?

I'm not talking about 5 pounds or 10 pounds. There comes a time when you just can't say "I'm thick", "I'm fluffy", "I'm a chunk monkey', etc. We can spin it to others like it doesn't matter but WE know the truth.

We don't want to be fat, obese, morbidly obese, etc. I know! I've been them all and I'm still fat!

BUT....

I did make a choice to lose weight and get healthy.

I did take a chance by ordering Skinny Fiber and trying just one more time after I had promised myself that I would never ever try to lose weight again.

And I have made changes to become healthier.

Am I successful every day? No! Sometimes I do great for a week and then I stumble.

The difference is I just don't beat myself up over it any more and I don't quit! That is the most important part of a weight loss program.

This is a journey you have to make because it is what you want. You have to set small goals for yourself. Down a size; buying a swimsuit. Going dancing. Riding a zipline. Taking a cruise. Going to a concert. Taking a trip. Learning to paint. These are all things I have set for myself. Reward yourself often with tangible things you want to try or do. It does make a difference!!!

Where are you today? Deciding to make a choice? Considering taking a chance? Or are you finally ready to make that change?

It's up to you. It's your life. Exist in it or live it. What's your choice?

copyrighted 2015

caryn cannatella

Skinny Fiber Sales: www.caryncann2.com

Weight Loss Support Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/CarynsChamps

Sunday, July 5, 2015

PLANNING & PREPARATON IS THE KEY

I'm going to tell you a secret about weight loss. No, I haven't perfected it but I know it will help determine your success or lack of success. At least it does for me.

You have to plan your food. That's right! You can't just wait till you are hungry to decide what to eat. If you do, the chances are you will grab an unhealthy snack, go to a fast food place or eat more than you should.

Plan your meals for a week.

Make a grocery list around those meals.

Choose a day or an evening and prepare your breakfasts and your lunches for the week, especially if you work.

Keep a drawer in your fridge that is just for your foods. Let the kids and family have the rest of the fridge but that one drawer is YOURS!

Keep your fruits and cut up veggies there. Have some extra protein servings there. When you are hungry, go to your drawer.

When I don't plan that is when I fall off my food plan.

Now, I know a lot of people losing weight want everyone to think that everything is hunky dorey every day. IT ISN'T!! Yes there are times we eat unhealthy. Yes, there are times we overeat. Yes, we even gain a few pounds. But we keep getting back on track instead of giving up.

I don't know anyone who doesn't mess up while losing weight. No one. If they don't admit it, well, they are in denial. lol

That is why you need to plan. Planning is the key to staying on your food plan!

As long as I have food for making my meals, prepare some of my meals for the entire work week and have my drawer stocked, I will stay on plan. If I don't, I'm likely to be eating something that is unhealthy for me. And for me that is carbs. Lots and lots of carbs.

My weight loss stops. My blood sugar rises. I get fatigued. I have no energy.

That 2 hours a week planning and preparing makes it so much easier. I don't think about what I'm going to eat. It's already determined.

So, now you know. Planning and preparation is the key. Give up a couple of hours of TV or internet or playing games. Your body will thank you. You'll feel better and you'll lose weight.

It works for me!

copyrighted 2015

caryn cannatella

Skinny Fiber Sales: www.caryncann2.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Caryncann

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Thursday, June 18, 2015

MY STORY

Most of us have a story to tell about our weight, our struggles and our hopes.

Between the second and third grade my abdomen grew exponentially to my body. I can remember sitting at my desk with my belly lying on my thighs. I knew something wasn’t right.

Third grade was the first time I was put on a diet. It became an ongoing thing as long as I lived at home. I was called fatty, fatso, etc. Yeah, those words hurt but no more so than hearing people say, “You have such a pretty face, but…..” Oh I knew what was came after that but….BUT YOU’RE FAT!

School was not a happy place. Home was not a happy place. I tried my best to blend into the walls and just not be noticed! Because when you are fat and you get into an argument or confrontation as a kid, you know the ultimate blow will be, “WELL YOU’RE FAT!” Knock out! There is nothing to say after that!

I was a sad girl who tried to get people to love me by giving gifts and making gifts. I remember one Christmas I had been up until early morning finishing all the beautiful gifts I had made. Ponchos, shawls, foot stools, trinket boxes, clothes, etc. I went to bed after opening gifts and didn’t wake up until the meal was already being served. As I walked into the dining room, I heard my brother say loudly, HURRY AND EAT, HERE COMES CARYN! I don’t think I even ate that day, but I never forgot the words and they still sting 45 years later.

I began a journey to find that thin person that was locked away somewhere inside my body. The things I have done to my body in the quest to overcome being fat. Starvation (fasting 6 days a week and eating one day). Diet pills, every kind that was on the market. Fad diets. Weight Watchers. Nutrisystem. Counting calories. Hynosis. Experimental drugs that nearly killed me. Even having my stomach stapled. None of it worked long term. Back in 1999 and 2000, I decided to eat clean and exercise. I lost about 100 pounds but I was exercising 6+ hours a day. I wasn’t working then unless you count exercising! Lol

When I hit 60 I decided, I’M DONE! No more trying to lose weight. No more depriving myself. No more diets. No more anything! I’d just take my chances.

And then Skinny Fiber came along. I thought. Ok, I’ll try it and if it doesn’t work, I’ll return it and get my money back. Even though I’m a diabetic and have an almost non-existent thyroid, I have lost about 60 pounds in the past 18 months. I’m thrilled to be off my blood pressure medicine, arthritis medicine, and acid reflux medicine. My thyroid dose has been decreased. My fibromyalgia is about gone. I’m on my way to losing more weight and getting to the size I want to be. Even my dr. is amazed with my progress!

And I move my body! Walking or jogging. Dancing like a fool. I’m moving my body like nobody is watching. And if they are, in my mind they are all yelling, “YOU GO, GIRL!”

So what is your story with your weight? What struggles have you faced in the battle to lose weight? It doesn’t matter whether it is 10 pounds or 100 pounds, our struggles are the same.

And know this: there is hope. No matter how old or young you are. No matter how fat you are. No matter how little you are now moving. There is hope. I'm proof of it.

Help someone while you help yourself and share your own story. Or just put it into words for yourself. You will be glad you did. I am.

copyrighted 2015

caryn cannatella

Skinny Fiber Sales: www.caryncann2.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Caryncann

Weight Loss Support Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/CarynsChamps

Wednesday, June 3, 2015

ARE YOU REALLY HUNGRY?

You know, sometimes I just don't know when I'm hungry or if I'm hungry. To be honest, I don't think I've ever been hungry in my life but that is another story.

An hour or so ago, I started THINKING, "I'm hungry. What could I eat low carb?" Well, I have some sausage that I eat sometimes for breakfast. I would have loved a bag of Cheetos. And I could almost taste Tater Tots from Sonic.

Fortunately, I am not able to leave my office once I get here at 4 or 5 in the morning.

I have my lunch I could eat but it was only 1030 and I had already had my protein shake at 4am and my breakfast around 8. Was I really hungry?

I looked in the cabinets and saw 4 boxes of oatmeal, some crystal light, and that was about it. But then I saw two boxes of tea: Pomegranate and Vanilla Chai.

One of my favorite drinks from Whole Foods is their Vanilla Chai. It's not tea. It tastes like my mother's egg custard. I know...I'm wandering away from that hunger I thought I was feeling. I must say a 16 ounce bottle of it will last me a week. Just one swallow every day or two. Yummmm

So I decided, let me try drinking some Vanilla Chai tea. I made me a cup, added a little Sweet Leaf and returned to my desk. It took me about an hour to finish it and you know what?

When I finished I wasn't hungry. I wasn't feeling deprived. I wasn't even thinking about food.

Am I the only one this happens to? Sometimes I realize I am eating and I feel so full I'm miserable.

Day by day. Step by step. Always learning.

copyrighted 2015

caryn cannatella

Skinny Fiber Sales: www.caryncann2.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Caryncann

Weight Loss Support Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/CarynsChamps

Thursday, May 21, 2015

DO YOU GET OVERWHELMED?

Do you get overwhelmed? I do. Especially when it comes to my house.

Now I do fine running two companies. Every day I go in and know exactly what I have to do. I run down my list and get it all down by quitting time.

At home it is a different story. I always start with good intentions and end up not getting much accomplished. And then I feel like a failure.

Now, my house isn't dirty. It's cluttered. Not like a hoarder although I had one living in my house for awhile. lol I think the problem is I get overwhelmed. And when I get overwhelmed, I just don't know where to start. And that's where I get stuck.

Maybe it's that I just hate housework. My daughter is a great house cleaner. She can clean my entire house in a couple of hours. I wish I was like that. I have a friend and she is like a tornado cleaning her room and bathroom. When we go out of town, before we leave she is saying "let me clean my room and bath before I leave." And she does. I'm satisfied with making my bed and leaving. And I make my bed every morning and after taking a nap.

Once I reach that stage of being overwhelmed, I am just stuck like Chuck. I feel like a spinning top rolling around on the floor and getting nowhere. I know I'll never be one of those neat freaks. That is not even a goal or wish. What I would like is to just have a neat house where the clutter is minimum and I can find everything.

I've had this once in my life for 5 years. That's when I had a cleaning lady come in once a week. She did everything. My laundry, my ironing, cleaned the entire house, vacuumed, mopped, cleaned the fridge and stove, cleaned the ceiling fans and blinds, dusted, etc. I loved those 5 years. And she did it all in 4 hours.

I was able to maintain that week to week. Maybe I just need a cleaning lady or to find my Ana and bring her back.

Am I the only one with this problem?

copyrighted 2015

caryn cannatella

Skinny Fiber Sales: www.caryncann2.com

Weight Loss Support Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/CarynsChamps

Sunday, April 26, 2015

SO, YOU ATE TOO MUCH!

Let's talk about weight loss here. You have a plan. You are working it. You are doing good. Then the weekend comes. Or you go out of town. Or someone brings some goodies by. You eat too much. You eat something not on your plan. What happens?

You feel like a failure! YOU ARE NOT A FAILURE! YOU ARE HUMAN! None of us are perfect. We aren't going to be perfect on our weight loss journey. There are going to be times we overeat. Times we go off our plan, times we just want something we are trying to avoid.

So do we just give up? Should we throw our hands up in the air and say, "I QUIT! I'M A FAILURE! I ALWAYS FAIL AT LOSING WEIGHT!"

No! Just enjoy what you ate and when you go to sleep, LET IT GO! Tomorrow is a new day. You will wake up refreshed and re-focused. Don’t wallow in a pool of self-pity. Just pick yourself up and dust yourself off. You hit a pot hole; not a 5 car pick-up. At this point it is easy to get back on track.

Don't give up and don't beat yourself up. It's not a sprint. It's a marathon. One meal will not sabotage your weight loss unless you let it.

copyrighted 2015

caryn cannatella

Skinny Fiber Sales: www.caryncann2.com

Fan Page: https://www.facebook.com/mylighterside?fref=photo

Weight Loss Support Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/CarynsChamps/?ref=bookmarks

Saturday, April 25, 2015

FAILURE IS NOT PART OF MY VOCABULARY!!

We can learn a lot from babies!

We don't remember learning to walk. Can you imagine just how hard that is for a baby? First they have to actually pull themselves up to a standing position.

Remember seeing a baby wobble back and forth while they hold on to the edge of the coffee table? We watch as they fall. We want to catch them but we don't unless they are going to be hurt. Over and over they fall and get back up.

Once they master just standing up right, they start moving around that table. They realize that they can move! It's amazing to watch this happen. Before you know it, they are ready for the next step.

Soon they are letting go and trying to take that first step without holding on. I know we have all held our arms out for a baby to walk to us. I don't know whose eyes are lit up more: the baby's or our own!

In a few short months, our baby has gone from rocking on their knees to standing, holding on to walk, letting go, walking and finally running!

Can you imagine if our babies decided after the first fall or two that they had failed and would never get up again? Can you imagine your baby feeling like a failure who would never walk because they fell down a time or two?

Babies don't know failure. We teach our children and ourselves failure.

Whatever your goal is at this particular time, view it like a baby. Fun, exciting, keep trying. Babies know they can learn to walk. They see everyone around them walking. Failure? It isn't in their vocabulary or experience.

Look around you at the people doing or living the way you want to live. Do you think their path has been any easier than the one you will have to travel? Who cares how many times you fall? Yes, sometimes, you will even get hurt. Just like babies do.

All it takes is getting back up and trying again. You may need a rest. You may need to think about a better way to try. The most important thing to remember is: YOU CAN NEVER FAIL IF YOU GET BACK UP!

At the end of the day, if you have gotten off track for your goals, put it to bed. Remind yourself of all the things you did right for the day.

Tomorrow is a new day. A chance to start over. Embrace it. Every day is a new opportunity to focus and walk your path to your goal. You are strong. Be like that baby learning to walk. They know only success! Failure is not in their vocabulary. Don't let it be a part of yours!

copyrighted 2015

caryn cannatella

Skinny Fiber Sales: www.caryncann2.com

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Fan Page: https://www.facebook.com/mylighterside?fref=photo

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