Positive thinking must really work!  I went to bed last night with a knee that actually had me in tears, numbed with an icy rub Morton had put on it and woke up this morning with it feeling so much better, I can actually walk without limping!  Woohoo!

There was a moment I was panicing thinking about the big filming schedule, all the "what ifs" that run through our minds and then I just thought that I needed to sleep on it and see what tomorrow brought.

Almost as if she knew I needed to hear this, one of the visitors to this website sent me a beautiful email this morning that I have to share with you.  It said this...

"We ran into you I think it was two years ago in Vero Beach Florida when
you were beginning your journey.  I know you have had lots of ups and
downs and you are still going at it!!!  Great for you, keep it up!!!
 
I want you to know that my husband was nearing 400 lbs when we met you and
he is now down 131 lbs and I have you to thank for that…our 4 year old
twins are appreciating the fact that their daddy can be active and involved
in their life.  Thank you so much…you can’t even imagine the lives
that you have touched!!!"

This email STILL has me smiling and guess what, my knee isn't hurting at all!  Wow, it was great hearing from this lovely lady and I remember her and her family very well.  We were taking a break on a bench beside the road (they were our sofas on the bicycle trip) and this family had seen us on the news the night before.  We had a great chat at their car window and then they were off.

It is BRILLIANT when this happens.  Please don't be shy to email me about any changes that you have made and are in the process of making.  I love to hear them, they are music to my soul and really do push me to go up every mountain in my life.

Give motivation and get motivation...it is a never ending daily process.  People will say they find it hard to stay motivated when it comes to their health and I can relate.  I have had some real set backs with injury, depression and an on-going battle with food abuse problems, but this thing called motivation is a bit easier when we think of it as something that continually needs stoked.  Like a fire that we build to toast marshmallows on, it would go out if we didn't add some wood to it.  Like the fact that we have to drink water every day, even though we had our eight glasses yesterday.  Motivation is something we need to RENEW each and every day of our life.  For me, I have found the best way to GET MOTIVATED is to try to motivate others.

We can do it lots of ways and I hope in some small way, I can play a part in your life with real motivation.  In return, when you write me emails like that, you motivate me beyond belief!

Bring on the world, I'm ready for it!

Priscilla - Amongst the living

Today started early and fantastic.  I was out for a ride on my bright orange bicycle before the sun had a chance to warm up the day.  The air was cool, the ride was fantastic and there was even a big hill I managed to pedal right over that I had to walk the last time I tried it.

Parking my bicycle on my daughter's front porch I spent the day with Alexander and my laptop, in that order.  He is learning to climb on and off the sofas, so important, and most of my day was spent sitting on the living room floor. 

This afternoon, even though I had been walking around the house, I discovered that my right knee was swollen, hot and feels like it is locked up.  I think I asked too much of it on my early morning ride and hill climb.

Tonight I'm going to keep it elevated, do some upper body stuff, my wall push ups and then put some ice on the knee.  Hopefully while I'm sleeping the good knee fairy will pay me a visit and it will be fine and dandy in the morning.

Oh how I long for the day that I'm a normal weight and I can see if my knee is a bit better behaved.  Surgery is going to be my very last resort, but walking around with 300 extra pounds on my joints for how many years did a world of damage to my poor joints.

In saying that, this morning I was down almost three pounds from last week.  Woohoo and keep on going!

Priscilla

Okay, we all know WHAT little changes are.  Things we can do that we don't even notice that we are doing and they become habit that leads us to HUGE changes in our lives.  Today I'm going to share with you a really big little change that I'm working on.

Negative things.  These can be the words I tell myself, things I say out loud or the worst I suppose are the negative words that I might type on here.  I have to lose them, starting with the decades-long mindset of "I hate exercise" because I don't.  It's a lie I have told myself for so long that I actually believed it.

The truth is, after my two-week or so sign up at the gym I'm not just looking forward to each visit, but it has really helped me kick my horrible habit of eating at night.  We all know what terrible things this does to your body, the eating late part...not the gym!

We need to replace the negative things we think and say with some positive phrases that will help us reinforce all the really good things that our happening in our lives.  It isn't as tough as it seems.

Focus on the positive, do good things and your life will change in ways that you won't even be able to get your head around!  I speak with a bit of experience here and if I can do it, so can YOU!

I'm going to also work really hard on not putting myself down all the time.  It is an old gut-reaction from ancient days of school.  If I would crack the fat joke first it didn't seem to hurt as bad.  It is all negative images of myself that I have built in my head that I have to work on erasing.  After all, I'm changing!

Now on with the change.  Today, I reached a wonderful place on the scale.  I can't tell you about it because it is TOP SECRET until Healthy Vacations happens, but lets just say that since I started filming at the Deerfield Spa in the first week of August, I exceeded my losing two pounds a week goal in a rather BIG way!   

Losing feels great, when it comes to weight. Gaining strength in our bodies can lead to being stronger in other areas as well.

Remember, it is never ever too late to change your health or habits.  I'm living proof that you CAN change bad habits.

Do something remarkable today and then EMAIL me about it!  Share the motivation with your friends and family and pledge to NOT be the person that eats themselves into a wheelchair.  More on that point tomorrow.

Priscilla

I love NY!  I really do.  The sights and sounds are just amazing, it really never does sleep and you expect to see the Sex in the City chics walking around every corner, or Mr. Big!

My filming there is going to be on a two-take split.  Three days there, then back to the bright lights of Middletown, Pennsylvania, then back to the big apple in a few more days for three more days.

Now I can say this ONLY because I'm going to be with another trainer the next time in NYC and because it is true...but my abs and muscles are not hurting like they were at Deerfield Spa.  Hurting in a good way, you know, where you feel like, "That was one heck of a work out and I SURVIVED it!"

Perhaps it was the lack of Joe's awesome ab classes that I was sure were going to set me on fire, or Janine saying, "JUST TWO MORE PRISCILLA...YOU CAN DO IT!"  I just didn't get that.

What I did get was stunning NYC scenes, people, smells and stung UNDER the little toe by a bee, three times!  There was lots of walking, lots of wild sort of situations and it was brilliant, don't get me wrong.  My body just doesn't feel as "glowing" as it did when I left Deerfield Spa.

Tonight I'm going to be sleeping in my own bed, just spent 90 mins at my own gym that I joined two weeks ago and am going to NEVER STOP with my fitness training, motivation, healthy eating (for the most part) and actually TAKING THE TIME to care about my body.

It is fun to go away, but it is always a blast to come back.  OK NYC, here is the challenge, REALLY bring it the next time!  I want to limp away with my abs on fire under my layers of ever-leaving fat and really feel the benefit of the BIG APPLE!

Priscilla

Good morning world and Happy Labor Day to all in the US of A!

Just wanted to get you all as FIRED UP as I am about getting FIT and staying there.

Here it is, the only recipe I need to make this lifestyle change work.

Enjoy and eat daily!

Recipe for a Perfectly FIT Day (Serves all sizes, shapes, ages and health levels!)

1 cup of WAKE UP A BIT EARLIER IN THE MORNING (use this time to really jump start your daily fitness level)  In our case, the early bird won't get the worm, it will get the FITNESS!

1 eight ounce glass of water (start your day off right and then follow up at least with seven more glasses like this...NO, your tea and coffee are NOT water!)

1 set of weights (I am currently using 5 pounders but will increase as my strength does - ie: if they are easily tossed about, they are too light!)  More sets of these would be better - I'm keeping mine by my computer, but I actually carry them into the bathroom with me whenever I have to go during the day.  This way, after I wash my hands, I can do a little set of arm exercises (my arms are diabolical at the moment, but getting BETTER!) and hey, sometimes when I'm working away at the computer, getting up for the bathroom is the only exercise I get!   NOW is also a great time to get your glass of water filled before heading back to the computer (or tv, or any other thing you are setting down for)

6 servings of...Lots of little meals (Try to split your eating up into six little meals, never allowing your body to get that hungry wolf feeling)  This will also force you to get up off your backside and think about what you are eating!  It is the best way to keep your sugar levels in your blood steady too, great if you are diabetic or not!

Two massive scoops of...Bringing back your youth!  (Put on your thinking cap and remember)  Long ago and far away I loved being outside.  I would spend perfect whole summer days with my little brother outside, stopping in the house only when our bellies forced us and there was nothing to raid in my father's garden.  I wasn't fat as a child, because I was burning off all my calories each day.  I also loved riding my bicycle, walking, running, jumping over things and swimming in forbidden water holes in the river (don't try this at home, we were VERY lucky and should have listened to our parents!)  If you make your daily exercise something you LOVE doing, you will stick with it.  We all know the way to get anything in this life that we really want is FOLLOW THROUGH!

***********  PERFECTION! ****************

There you have it people, Priscilla's recipe for not only becoming a fitter person, but adding some fun into your day in a really easy way.  Come on along and GET FIT with me.  You are not going to believe my next set of pictures on here...even my daughter (my biggest fan and critic all rolled up into one fabulous person) even commented that I was looking GREAT!!!

Exercise is the fountain of youth, the secret ingredient that the diet companies can't sell you and the best thing you will EVER do for yourself.  Quit making excuses (time being the biggest one) and GET WITH THE PROGRAM!!!  You have to MOVE IT to LOSE IT and then, once all the excess weight is gone, you need to MOVE IT to keep building your muscle that we naturally lose as we get older.

WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?  Switch this computer off, go do some great arm exercises, go dancing, skip a rope, try some wall push ups or just play the AIR DRUMS through the next three songs you listen to!

Great things are waiting for you, don't you want to stick around to see what they might be?

Priscilla - Working my BUTT off, literally!

This morning was as good as it gets.  After a full eight hours of sleep with only two night-time wake ups from loud neighbors, I was off to the gym for 90 minutes of bliss, sweat and targets.  I met and went over a lot of my exercise goals today and it's a good thing.

I'm heading off to NYC now for filming the second hour-long episode of Healthy Vacations.  With my morning work out in the can (I had contemplated skipping it) it feels like I could rollerblade the Brooklyn Bridge with no bother at all.  I have walked over it already, a sight that I recommend seeing.  Stunning views and then you have to do the Manhatten Bridge as well, just to be fair.

So on the way back from the gym, wait, first as I was coming OUT of the gym, it was raining.  I contemplated for two seconds about phoning someone for a ride so I wouldn't have to walk the ten-minute (or less) walk to my apartment.  WHAT WAS I THINKING?!  I mean, geesh, I was already soaking wet from sweat, this rain would feel great.

Plus last night before going to bed I was looking over my journal from the bicycle trip and reading about the day we pushed the bicycles for miles in the rain, then road in a downpour for almost all the day.  That was in Massachusetts and freezing cold.  Today it is mild with no 100 pound trailer to tow behind me.

Smiling at myself for my stupid thought I tucked my purse under my arm which contains my ever-present Samsung digital camera and my phone.  I didn't want it to get wet, even though the purse is leather and the rain really wasn't coming down hard enough to soak it through in ten minutes.

Now just about a month ago I did this same move and my left arm shielded the purse completely.  Today I'm pleased to say, the purse got wet.  I noticed this and my grin got bigger.  My FAT arm is getting smaller.  The weight training is really working.  Woohoo!

All smiles now and a most unusual spring in my step, I bound for the shelter of my porch then a shower.  I'm more aware of my posture now when I'm sitting, standing, walking and stalking around.  I looked at my toes peeking out of my MBT sandals as I dodged the forming puddles on sidewalks.  My feet are actually looking better too.

From my first 140 pounds I have lost I have shed countless dress sizes but also two shoe sizes.  This was getting my feet measure at the same shoe store by the same person in the space of just one year.  Seeing my polished toenails I suddenly have this vision dancing in my head.

Remember that my legs are not straight, I wore braces to my hips until I was three years old due to a birth defect, plus I have had knee surgery, have stretch marks on my legs by my knees where my flesh has bulged out to bursting point with fat and my legs are not now or ever been closely able to associate with the word "sexy" --- all I can say is it's a good thing that Morton isn't a leg man or he would hate me.

But today, walking in the rain after taking 90 minutes at the gym to try to erase all the decades of damage I have done to my body, wearing my now baggy shorts that Stella from Cape Cod gave me in Maine, in June 2007 (Old Navy, size XL), I feel far from sexy, but for the first time in my entire life, I can see shape taking in my legs.  Perhaps if I'm lucky, work very hard and don't give up, one day my fat foot will slip into a sexy sort of shoe and with my legs toned enough that they don't wiggle and jiggle, I will even put on a short skirt.  Age appropriate of course, I don't want to get accused of being "mutton dressed as lamb" by Morton.

Getting into the apartment I fight the urge to wake Morton up (he was working third shift last night) and ask him if he thought my legs were looking more toned.  But I resisted, opted for the shower and am grabbing my packed bags and heading for the bright lights and the big city that is New York.

Who knows, maybe while filming I'll have to go into a shoe store or two and see if there is anything that works for me, or at least get a few pictures to dream about!

Priscilla

Off for the next week of filming in NYC.  It all kicks off on Friday and hopefully I will be able to do all the WILD THINGS that are on the schedule.  If it doesn't kill me, it just might cure me.

Hopefully my body will be able to take it and I will keep you all posted on my progress.

DO GREAT THINGS, don't wait to start, get your health under control by taking the first step today!

Priscilla

Oh happy day, the scale is sailing down with every passing day now.  Going to my local gym between shooting Healthy Vacations is a really smart move.

Now I'm sure there are thousands of studies that have been done about the relationship to depression and obesity, but I can tell you first hand...there IS one!  It is a hard road to walk when you have as much weight to lose as I do (almost 300 pounds in total) and it is easy to get frustrated, down, feeling like it will never end and then the penny drops I realize that I'm already there.

What I have already been through, the miles I have under my belt, the hundreds of thousands of people out there that are moving because of our bicycle journey and website, it is just staggering.  I wouldn't just be letting myself down if I threw in the towel on fitness, I'd be letting loads of perfect strangers down too. 

With each little glich I get, I can learn from it.  With each binge that happens (which there have really been NONE since joining the gym) I can try to pinpoint the cause and change it and the best part about it all...I get to share it with all the people who care enough to visit this page!  BRILLIANT!

There are MAJOR-MEGA things happening, a whole new look for the website, whole new set of adventures planned for during and after the filming of Healthy Vacations and so many reasons to motivate the world to move I can't begin to name them all.

So here it is, I did about 90 mins in the gym, came back sweated and my weight down just under FOUR POUNDS from last week.  My goal is two pounds a week, so I'm over-the-moon.

Getting moving world...regardless of your shape and size EVERYONE of us need at least 30 minutes of exercise a day.  EMAIL ME and tell me what you are getting up to.

Priscilla

Good morning world,

Last night my eating, or lack thereof, was BRILLIANT!  Stayed under my calorie goal for the day, walked many miles and even managed to spend several hours working on the computer.

When Morton arrived home last night, I was still sitting at the computer working, with my five pound weights sitting on the floor to be used when things were uploading a bit slow (huge video files take ages) and we both were excited, talking and didn't find sleep until nearly 2 am.

It is easy to just take my husband for granted.  He really doesn't question my schedule, supports what I'm doing and in return, I find a lot of times he is the last to know.  It isn't the first time that he learns about something major happening in my life from reading this blog.

Last night we talked about what the upcoming months are holding for me as he stays here and holds down the fort.  He is great about me spreading my wings and flying, taking millions of people on the road to better health and pushing them in the right direction of getting their fitness levels raised as high as possible...he just would appreciate a bit more of heads up on what is happening and when.

After our big bicycle up the journey I'm afraid all our nights of searching for places to stay, living minute-by-minute, running out of money, food and water, have him feeling way to practical to ever live the travelling life again.  A steady job suits him, after all, in Scotland he worked for the same company for twenty years without ever taking a day off due to sickness.  He is steady and reliable, two things that I love about him.

When you are working on a project with the size and length that I'm currently on, filming Healthy Vacations, things can change quick.  One week he might think that the next week I will be away, something happens and here I am.  My schedule got pushed back by a few days for NYC and left him asking the question of, "What are you still doing here?"

Then there is my task of going through hours and I do mean hours, from the filming at http://www.DeerfieldSpa.com  I am doing DVD's for them of various classes, wonderful moments, their sights and sounds that aren't going to make it into the hour long television series.  It is my way of saying thank you for a wonderful week of my life.

As Morton looks over my shoulder in the late wee-hours of last night, he sees me huffing and puffing on the computer screen, red in the face, still breathing, working my butt off (or trying to) in one of the dozens of exercise classes that were on offer to me that week.  He watches with almost a painful look on his face.  The camera doesn't lie and the sweat pouring down my face isn't a special effect but really real.

At the end of the clip he gives me a little pat on the back and tells me to keep doing that, he wants me to be around as long as possible.  It is all the support I need from him now.  No more trailing me around the great outdoors living on bicycles with no indoor plumbing.  Let him stay in our apartment, work his job and feel the security that four walls can give you.  That really does suit him well and it is nice for me to have a place to come home to and wash my sweaty clothes.

As for me, I choose the world of travel, motivating, being motivated and staying on this journey of a lifetime that will lead to the ultimate prize a person could ask for, better health.  2009 will be the year that I finally reach being a normal-sized human, and I'm not going to just settle for that.  I want to be a normal-sized human with an incredibly high level of fitness.  After all, my health needs to match my zest for life, which is freakishly high!

Do something remarkable today that you have always been afraid of.  Join a gym, take a class, book a week in a spa, buy a healthier cookbook, go on a walk - alone or with a friend, throw out the garbage that lines your cupboards or do like I did, banish it to the basement, make some LITTLE changes in your life that will give you the big results you are looking for.  You know it's a great little change when it feels like you are doing the impossible with little to no effort!

You are worth it and you know this.  We can whip these bodies of ours into shape and ENJOY the journey to better health.

Email me and let me know what you are up to, post it on our tag board here or join our free group at The Daily Plate and speak out about your wonderful little changes...you might inspire that one person who really needs it!

Priscilla

Last night might have been my worst nights sleep in my life.  It was warm in the house, the bedroom window was open and the fan was running.

After working several hours at the computer I went to sleep with a headache from eye strain and was happy about my eating (of lack thereof) for the evening.  The last thing I said to Morton was, "Woohoo, we don't have to set the alarm" and I thought that I might actually manage to sleep in.  That would be about 7 am for me.

Now I'm just getting over a very bad throat and I want to say that I've never smoked in my life.  Second-hand from a lot of people, yes, but the only experience I had with cigarettes lefts me too scared to ever really try them.

It was when I was ten or eleven and a friend and I had snuck two cigarettes out of my mother's pack.  We decided the safest place to smoke them would be up at the pony barn where my shaggy black pony Suzy and her red baby Sunshine lived.

Once we were at the barn with a pack of matches and the two cancer sticks, we decided we need to be up on a pile of freshly stacked hay that my dad had sitting beside the barn.  It was going to be loaded into the hay loft later that day, so we were lucky it was sitting outside and we could keep an eye on the house as we lit up for the first time.

We both had a cigarette in our mouths and had both managed to get them lit and the match blown out.  I hadn't given a thought to the fact that we were sitting on a big pile of flammable hay that was going to be bedding and food for my ponies.  I was just thinking about how cool and grownup we looked holding these long white cigarettes in our little hands.

My friend told me I wasn't inhaling right.  She said that I need to suck on the end of the filter like a straw, then hold it and exhale.  She demonstrated and had the smoke come out her nose!  I think she must have done this before since both her parents smoked just like mine.

This time, on my second or third puff I did indeed suck it like a straw.  Something happened and I started choking, really choking, on this toxic puff.  The cigarette was dropped on the hay and there were flames all around us in an instant.

Just like out of a cartoon, the two of us stood in horror while the flames shot taller than my pony barn and even higher than the trees that sat on the fenceline of the pasture. 

In less than a minute there was just black smoking clusters of charred hay laying everywhere on the ground.  One of the trees that was closest had some leaves on fire and we both did a mad dash to use the bucket that I normally watered to ponies with to put out the fire.

Neither of us ever smoked when we grew up so I guess we learned a lesson.  We never confessed to our parents and my dad just assumed that the bad boys down the road set the hay on fire.

Last night I kept waking up with the smell of smoke in the apartment, cigarettes to be exact.  With my throat already sore I couldn't figure out where this was coming from or why.  The only window open faces our neighbors porch and they appeared to be in bed.

Laying back in the bed after searching for a ghost-smoker in the apartment, I almost jumped out of my skin when a man's voice spoke just like he was standing next to the bed...and it didn't have the Scotttish accent of Morton.

It turns out our neighbors must have been having a quiet inside party where everyone had to go out to smoke.  They would lean against our windowsill, which is what this guy was doing, and my little fan that had been pulling in the cool night air was now bringing horrible second hand smoke inside and blowing it on me.

This continued for several hours, happening about every fifteen minutes.  Finally, zombie-like at five a.m. I headed for the bathroom with thoughts of just going and sleeping on the couch.  I was going to pop back in the bedroom to tell Morton and when I stepped in our bedroom it really smelled like an ashtray and the smokiest bar on the planet, minus the bad jukebox music.

Heading to the window there was a flannel shirt filled with a smoker leaning against it.  He was chatting away to a female who was puffing away on her cigarette.  They were both less than two feet away from my bed with really just a screen seperating us. 

Reaching up to pull the window down I learned it was stuck.  Nothing in this house really works right, why should the windows close?  Leaning down on the bed I whispered to Morton and asked if he would close the window.

Morton pulled the curtains back, while in his underwear I might add, then says to the guy and girl, "Would you mind going around the side of the house to smoke, it's coming right in our window" and to my shock, the man apologizes, understands Morton and even calls him sir.  Wow!  Who would have thought that simple manners and communication can work!

From this point I dozed in and out, window shut and fan on, for the next few hours.  A very unrestful night but maybe an opening line to actually talk to one of our neighbors.  We have clusters of them living over us, around us on each side and behind us...not ideal but it might be nicer if we all at least said "hello" once in a while.

Today, this beautiful Sunday morning, I'm heading off to a local park on my bicycle to take part in a lovely photo shoot.  I can say it's going to be really beautiful because I'm going to be on the backside of the camera, taking pictures of my lovely Alexander in his kilt!  Just one year old and already following in his Scottish father's footsteps of wearing the kilt.

Have a wonderful day and make sure you get your exercise in, talk to a neighbor and make at least one fabulous little change in your life.

Priscilla