Step Out Against Diabetes

On the 27th of September I will be participating in the Step Out Against Diabetes Walk-A-Thon. I will be joining more than 100,000 fellow walkers from across the country in this year's Step Out: Walk to Fight Diabetes to raise money for the American Diabetes Association.

I will be gathering donations and walking to help stop diabetes. I am walking as a part of the weight watchers team.

I am asking for your help. By making a donation on my behalf, you will be helping the American Diabetes Association provide community-based education programs, protect the rights of people with diabetes and fund critical research for a cure.

Diabetes is a disease in which the body does not produce or properly use insulin. Insulin is a hormone that is needed to convert sugar, starches and other food into energy needed for daily life. The cause of diabetes continues to be a mystery, although both genetics and environmental factors appear to play roles. There are 23.6 million Americans living with diabetes, a disease that is outpacing heart disease, cancer and AIDS. If we don't act now, one in three children born in the year 2000 will develop diabetes in their lifetime.

I believe that my participation in this year's Step Out: Walk to Fight Diabetes can and will make a difference. Step Out: Walk to Fight Diabetes is one of the American Diabetes Association's biggest fundraisers. With the help of people like you, the American Diabetes Association can raise over $20 million to help stop diabetes.

Please help me reach my goal by supporting me for this year's Step Out: Walk to Fight Diabetes. Please click on the picture below to go to my personal Web page to make a secure, 100% tax deductible donation. You can also go to diabetes.org/stepout and search for me by name, Antoinette Roberts, or by team, weight watchers, and then find me. (If you do not want to donate online, please make your check payable to the American Diabetes Association and mail your contribution to me at 1701 Harbor Bay Parkway Suite 100, Alameda, Ca 94502.)

Together we can stop diabetes. One step at a time.

The County Fair and Pants

This Friday I had the first major test of my weight loss progress. The San Mateo County Fair!! At those types of event I normally can't leave without buying a big bag of kettle corn. I thought about not going at all, but I can't live my life hiding from everything tasty so I prepared for it, plus Boys II Men was also playing. It just so happened that weight watchers has a telepathic connection with me because there was an article about summer weight loss danger zones which included fairs. It had a listing of common fair foods and their point values. Some of them were shocking, like the turkey leg it is 27 points and the funnel cake, one of my amusement park weaknesses, is 12 points and I don't think that includes the strawberries and syrup that is normally on it. I printed out the list to keep on me at the fair. So as I was wandering around the fair smelling all the yummy smells I just pulled out my points list and repeated to myself, "it is not worth going over my daily points." I also brought some low calorie snacks with me, like the weight watchers cheddar twists. Sadly when we got there the auditorium was already full so the fire marshal wouldn't let anyone else in. We didn't see Boys II Men. We did get to see the pig races though.



I weighed in on Sunday and I lost another 2.8 pounds! Mike, my fiance, was so proud he bought me a present. It is a fancy water bottle and holder it also has places for my iPod, cell, and keys. It is awesome. I was tired of putting all that stuff in my bra. Have you ever noticed that women's workout pants rarely have any pockets, or at least the ones I have don't. You could always wear those swishy pants but then you make that swishing noise everywhere you go and there is the risk of starting a fire. Plus whenever I try to put my cell, iPod, and keys in the pocket, it's all so heavy that they start to sag. So basically I prefer the curve hugging stretchy pants or sweats and thats why all my paraphernalia ends up in my bra. Thanks to Mike I don't have that problem anymore.

The beginning

I began my most recent weight loss journey four weeks ago, since then I have lost 10.8 pounds. I started the weight watchers program on July 19th after hearing about the success one of my co-workers had had on the program before her wedding. I'm getting married in almost exactly one year and I hope to be healthier and in better physical shape than I am now by then. The co-worker I mentioned before has also started Weight Watchers back up and another co-worker has also joined. One of their key mottos is to track things. You track your food intake, you track your weight. They even suggest tracking your measurements and clothes sizes. I'm am tracking using their e-tools website and going to weekly meetings. I also want to track the differences in my physical appearance. I searched my computer and phone to find a good "Before" photo, but I realized that I don't have a single picture that is more than the shoulders up. So below there is the most recent picture of me I had on my computer. It is from the fourth of July this year so I figure that's close enough.



I had already started to make some changes. I knew I was overweight and I had started to be more conscious of it so I unconsciously had already started paying attention to what I was eating and maybe even losing some weight. Take a look at the difference between one month ago and in February of this year (See Picture Below).



Tell me what you think, had there already been some weight loss? If not oh well there are two picture to compare as before photos. Keep coming back and you can see my progress.

I'm not ready to post my weight here yet, for the whole world to see, but probably once I lose more I'll spill the beans. I will tell you that I am very close to my first goal which is to lose 5% of my original weight from when I joined Weight Watchers. I have also been using the Nintendo Wii to weigh myself in between weekly weigh ins, From Sunday to Wednesday morning I lost 0.7 pounds. I have to celebrate the little victories! I'd like to loose at least 2 pounds a week. That means I should reach my goal weight in about 41 weeks, that is just enough time to buy a wedding dress. If you are smart and good at math you can probably figure out how much I weigh with all the information I gave you, and you thought you'd never use algebra in real life! LOL! Well I hope you see less of me next time!

Craft Hiatus

I have been on a temporary crafting hiatus because of the recent move. We moved from Oakland to Fremont and I have been so busy with the move and decorating that I haven't had a chance to finish any projects. I just restarted finishing my first knuckle glove. So far I think it will just be one hand.





I will post more pictures when they are finished.

Another one

Here are the pictures of the terrarium I made for my not-so-baby baby sister's 21st Birthday. I used fresh moss that I originally picked up a tiny bit of on a hike in Point Reyes stuck it in my parents yard and watered it. I don't think they even knew about it until I snatched some up for the terrarium.



Oh yea and I hand made the like Toadstool Super Mario looking Mushrooms. I think next time I will step outside of the mushroom box and try to make a butterfly or fairy or something cute that goes with plants.

Terrariums

Here are some pictures of two other terrariums that I made. The one in the cookie jar was my first one ever. It was very experimental. I am sad to say that some of the original plants didn't make it.



The one below is the one I made for my boss. She likes purples so I added purple tinted succulents.



I will upload the pictures of the one I made for my little sister's 21st birthday soon. Plus I will put up pictures of a purse I made my second purse ever. I gave my first one away and forgot to take a picture of it.

Ads

Hello! I just noticed that you can add ads to your blog and supposedly you can make money from it. I am all for making money. So go ahead click on an ad. We'll see how much i can start earning. Speaking of making money I am posting some pictures of some terrariums that I have made. I sold one to my boss and it is doing really well. I just hope it doesn't out grow it's tiny container too quickly. I am also planning on making some for presents. If you want one send me an email and we can work out design and prices. The one pictured is not the one I sold to my boss this is actually sitting on my desk at work. I will try to take pictures of the one I made for her and put them on my flickr account. For more pictures look on my flickr, WestCoastCrafty.