SKINNYSONGS PROMO

My friends over at Skinnysongs have got their new website up, including my endorsement of their great CD. You'll see my pictures as part of the flash presentation on the homepage and you can click underneath it to read a bit of my story.

www.skinnysongs.com

By the way, I have let them know that the weight loss figure they credit me with in the flash presentation is incorrect. I worked for every pound and want the accurate record!!!

BACK TO BALTIMORE?

Last summer I was invited to emcee a Health Expo in Baltimore and had a good time down there. Looks like I may be headed that way again later this year as I've been approached about giving an occasional lecture at Johns Hopkins University's Weight Loss Center.

Could be fun!

WHY I'M NOT A FAN

With the crazy lifestyle most of us have, I am regularly asked whether it's okay to make Smart Ones a regular part of your diet and I must confess that I am definitely not a fan.

Don't get me wrong, I've eaten a few of them myself in my time and they're a handy item to have in the freezer in case of emergency, but let's be honest, there's nothing much to them, they're high in preservatives, ultra-high in sodium content and apart from convenience and low points there's not a lot good you can say about them.

My major issue is something altogether different and it's this -

Diets don't work - changing your lifestyle does, but there's no way anyone is going to be eating frozen meals for the rest of their lives. It's better to learn to eat healthily, to plan meals, make good use of your limited time and enjoy real food. That's a lifestyle change.

Smart Ones are shortcuts that won't last - they're best kept for a backup and nothing else. I have yet to meet anyone at WW who has got to goal on a diet of frozen entrees. There may be some, but I haven't encountered them.

HOW TO PLOT YOUR WALK/RUN

Here's an interesting website that was recommended by one of our WW members yesterday. You can use it to plot and measure your walk or run now that the weather is getting marginally warmer - some days!

www.mapmyrun.com

BACK TO IT

After last weekend's break, it was good to be back with my Weight Watchers groups today. We really do have a load of outstanding people coming along to the center on Saturday mornings and it's a treat to get to spend time with them.

Today was a day of celebrations, with one lady having achieved lifetime status after losing 120lb and maintaining that loss for six weeks.

Another lady reached her goal today and begins maintenance.

Others passed milestones and for everyone who was there, their presence was a victory - you have to be in the game to win it!

PORTION SIZES

A couple of nights ago in Clearwater, my wife and I decided to eat at Bennigans, together with our seven year old grandson who was with us on our trip south. I hadn't been in a Bennigans for years, so we thought it would be a change.

The menu offered a great deal - three courses for $10.99 - with some good stuff on offer.

Here's a sample - it's what our grandson had ...

Mozzarella sticks - six huge ones.

Fish and chips - Five pieces of beer battered fish with a load of fries

Brownie Delight - Huge brownie, large scoop of ice cream, hot fudge sauce and whipped cream

My grandson is a big kid and he loves his food, but half way through dessert he rushed to the bathroom and threw up!

I took the grilled chicken entree with rice and broccoli, but will admit to splurging on an appetizer of french onion soup and a dessert I'm not willing to fess up to.

But in all honesty, there can't be that many people on this planet who need more than the appetizer and dessert. There was just way too much food!

My soultion, should I ever find myself in that situation again, would be to ask for the entree in a doggie bag from get go. But then hindsight is always 20/20 - meanwhile I'm spending extra time in the gym now that I'm home!

IT'S ALL IN YOUR MIND

Sitting beside the pool yesterdat afternoon and quietly minding my own business, my wife suddenly shoved a copy of Oprah's magazine in my face, informing me,"You should read this article".

It was about a writer who was horrified to realize that in twenty four years she had gained 19lb and now weighed somewhere in the 120's. There followed several pages of narrative about how she had conquered such serious weight issues.

I felt I wanted to introduce Oprah to some of my friends who are fighting real battles with one hundred or more pounds to shed, but then I reminded myself - as I often have to - that this lady's relatively small amount of weight was as important to her as my 133lb was to me.

So how did she do it? Diet and exercise of course - there is no other lasting way to reach your goals.

Here's a quote from her personal trainer I liked -

"Your body is my responsibility - your mind is yours!"

It's the mind that matters - stay focused!

INDOORS / OUTDOORS

In the normal course of events, I work out in a gym less than five minutes from my house, but when I'm away from home I tend to run outside even if the hotel has an exercise room.

I don't like unfamiliar treadmills and reckon those found in hotels are vastly inferior to the quality machines in my gym. Most of this thinking comes from stumbling while on a crap treadmill in Houston last summer and skinning both of my knees on the belt when the emergency stop button didn't work.

So here in Clearwater Beach I ran along the boardwalk - or whatever they call it - this morning and I'll stick to that plan tomorrow too. Today it was dry, comfortable and there was a light breeze, so that worked for me - together with great views of the Gulf of course.

AT LAST!

Okay, here's a question - how do people live without internet???

We came down to Florida on Wednesday evening as I was officiating at the marriage of a Long Island couple in St. Petersburgh yesterday. They wanted a quiet affair, so headed down here to the sun and tied the knot on a pretty amazing floating chapel.

We stayed with some good friends and had a great time with them, but the only probleam was they got rid of their computer - he's almost 76! So there was I in limbo, able on a couple of brief occasions to tap into an unknowing neighbor's wi-fi, but apart from that, cut off from the worldwide web ... not a good feeling!

Today we moved to a hotel on Clearwater Beach for three nights and the luxury of wireless internet.

And now I feel fully alive again!!!

QUIET SPELL

Haven't been able to get on here for a few days due to limited internet access - explanation to follow ASAP!!!

PINK TAKES IT ALL

So Ali won it all!

I was happy with either her or Kelly, but figured Kelly didn't really have a chance of coming up with the percentage she would need.

Glad to see I was in line with the majority of other viewers when I voted to kick Mark off last week. Didn't want Roger to win as the Blue Team had dominated all the way through and were a little too full of themselves.

Ali did amazingly well. Great end to a great series.

And if you have no idea what I'm talking about, you surely don't watch The Biggest Loser!

AT LEAST I NEVER DID THIS ... YET!

DEALING WITH TEMPTATION

Twenty years ago this month, I visited the USA for the very first time, although it would be almost two years before I got to New York. Visiting the country several times a year over the next few years, it was always exciting, traveling to new places, enjoying different experiences and experiencing all the foods I had never tasted before.

When I first came to Long Island in 1986, I also visited Brooklyn and was introduced to the delights at Junior's in Flatbush. I had never tasted cheesecake like that before - the British stuff was way different and absolutely inferior. I was spoiled for anything other than New York style cheesecake and over the next several years I ate there whenever I was in Brooklyn.

Last night Gill and I went to a concert in Manhattan. Arriving early, we were not totally sure where we would eat, until we spied Junior's between 44th & 45th Streets and Broadway.

I had not tasted their cheesecake in almost twenty years. So now, what would I do? (Cheesecake is my favorite dessert)

Well, the plus side is that there were eight of us eating dinner together, four of whom are Weightwatchers and three of whom are in my Saturday groups. So their presence helped keep me honest!

I ordered grilled chicken salad, which was totally core and then ordered raspberry cheesecake - and four forks. I'll admit that I ate more than the others, but we took what we wanted and still sent a good one third of the slice back.

Junior's cheesecake was every bit as good as I remembered. But I also recalled that it's the taste of the first couple of mouthfuls that makes the maximum impact. So after them, I stopped.

I left there happy!

Am I bragging? Sure I am, it was a victory!!!

ESCAPING FROM THE PAIN OF OBESITY

This is a bit long, but well worth reading ...

Five years ago I never turned on the television before my feet touched the ground in the morning to see if it would be a good day to take a walk. I never walked over to windows at mid-day and looked outside hoping to take a walk after work. Five years ago, I never believed I could change the wretched life I was living weighing over 400 pounds. Walking changed my life.

I began to walk for two reasons. I read an article where a group of women had lost weight when they walked every day, even though they ate the same way, so I started to walk in case my diet failed. Secondly, I had an Alfred Hitchcock stomach, and I also read that walking was the only way you could reduce that hump. With both of those reasons pushing me out the door, I began to walk.

Walking was not something I embraced; I hated it. My anger over the mess I was in being morbidly obese escalated every time I tried to bend over and tie my sneakers, or put on “men’s” clothes to have something cover me while I walked. I headed to the park every day with an anger directed at everything, and everybody. I blamed the whole world for my weight problem; I believed I was the victim of their abuse.

I weighed around 325 when I started. Think of putting 50 pounds of potatoes on your back, 50 pounds around your waist, add another 50 pounds to your chest, and you can understand what a person 150 pounds overweight feels like, walking. I used to dedicate my walk every single day to someone who had hurt me. I was in so much pain trying to walk, I was not about to think of anything pleasant. Obesity is not a malady that just hurts physically; mentally you suffer twice as much.

It was late in winter when I began and I walked through rain, snow and freezing cold. Spring began to burst all around me. Mother Nature took a hold of me, and wouldn’t let go. She forced beautiful sunsets on my weary bones, gave me a soft breeze to cool me on hot days, and greeted me with a calmness every morning I had never experienced before. I was still alive, I was thinner, and the world around me was beautiful. My head began to calm down.

Step by step, I quit being so angry at everything and everybody, and I started to enjoy my new freedom. I loved how it made me feel. Foods, and all the problems I had with it, were miles away from me. I began to covet the time I could walk each day. I was beginning to heal.

A pattern began to emerge without even looking for it. I would get to the park frustrated with the day, start walking, and forget what was bothering me. Long walks made me wonder why I was so angry. Somewhere in that park I lost my anger at life. If I went to the park and had thoughts of eating myself to death with all of the food I had said “no” to that day, I was now basking in my victorious walk.

It was as if every day I won my own Olympic race. I was the only contestant, and I pushed myself to walk further and faster. Where I used to count park benches before I turned back, I was now calculating how many miles I had walked. My Ipod became my new best friend, and we set out every day to experience what a wonderful life I had missed for so many years.

It took me miles and miles of walking to ask myself, “Why did I ever let the power I gave food destroy so much of my life?” Today, I openly admit to being a compulsive overeater; a food addict. Walking enabled me to forgive people for the way I was treated weighing over 400 pounds, but even more important than that, I forgave myself for letting it happen.

Get some sneakers, find some flat land, and change your life, one step at a time. Give yourself time to heal from all of your past attempts at this never-ending war on obesity. Reach inside yourself and find out how strong you really are. It is not about the food, it is about the way you respond to life around you.

DON'T GET CAUGHT OUT!

Having mentioned to the two groups I taught last night that it's good to have some back-up snacks in case your day doesn 't go as planned, I got caught out myself today.

After a healthy breakfast, my morning went far longer than expected, lasting well into the afternoon. I bought an apple and a bottle of water from a coffee truck at around 1.30 and ate lunch back home just after 3.00. But that wasn't really my main problem.

Having had a late lunch, I figured I would be okay until dinner time which would be latere than usual as I had to go to a short meeting of the Town Board. The board meeting went on and on and by 9.15 I was hungry with no secret stash of healthy goodies. So I slipped out, rushed to the nearest 7-11 and fell back on an old, old favorite - coffee and a buttered roll - but let the record show that I chose what was described as a "delicately buttered" roll.

The Board meeting went on for a while longer and I ended up eating dinner at 10.15, determined to make sure that I take supplies with me next time.

I guess it's not just the boy scouts who need to Be Prepared!

SKINNY SONGS VIDEO

Here's some video from this great motivational CD that is using my name and my story as an endorsement in their upcoming advertising campaign.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkmkI5doGa8&eurl=http://skinnysongs.com/press_musicvideo.html

And here's a video of the woman behind this venture - Heidi Roizen - talking to Martha Stewart -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvTj5i6imN4&NR=1

SLOW COOKER LASAGNA

Slow Cooker Lasagna

Serves 6; 8 Points per serving

1 lb lean ground beef

1 small onion, chopped

1 medium garlic clove, minced

28 oz. canned crushed tomatoes

15 oz. canned tomato sauce

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. oregano

1/2 tsp. basil

1/4 tsp, crushed red pepper flakes

1 c. part skim ricotta cheese

1 1/2 c. part skim mozzarella cheese, shredded, divided

6 no cook lasagna noodles

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Add beef, onion and garlic, and cook, stirring frequently and breaking up meat with a wooden spoon as it cooks. Stir in crushed tomatoes (I pureed them in the blender first), tomato sauce, salt, oregano, basil and crushed red pepper flakes; simmer 5 minutes to allow flavors to blend.

Meanwhile in a medium bowl, stir together ricotta cheese and 1 cup of mozzarella cheese.Spoon 1/3 of beef mixture into a 5 quart slow cooker. Break 3 lasagna sheets in half and arrange over beef mixture; top with half of the ricotta mixture. Repeat with another layer and finish with remaining 1/3 of beef mixture.

Cover slow cooker and cook on low setting at least 6 hours. Sprinkle remaining 1/2 c. mozzarella cheese over top of mixture. Cover and let cheese melts and lasagna firms up, about 10 minutes.

ANOTHER INTERESTING WEBSITE

My daughter cam across this website the other day, so I thought you might care to check it out - loads of interesting stuff here -

http://www.hungry-girl.com/

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, ROG

Time to roll out the before and after shots again as today is the first anniversary of me reaching my weight loss goal. It has been a good year!

INTERESTING WEBSITE

I haven't had chance to check this out in detail yet, but it looks like an interesting website -

http://weightwatchers-recipes.blogspot.com