Dealing the Weight Loss Hand (Week 10)

Well, I have only heard from two people that they wanted to continue the cards. So, I guess for now, we will put our cards on hold. It has been so fun each week but it is a lot of work. Hopefully we can get it started again in the New Year. Thank you to all of you that have played along! Your cards have been awesome and so inspiring! Blessings to all of you!

Dealing the Weight Loss Hand {Week 9}

Part of losing weight is to change our lifestyle. Maybe before your weight loss program you just ate what you wanted. Now we must plan our meals and snacks and use labels to help us make healthier choices. I personally love using labels. I even make notes on the side of boxes. You should see my poor pantry! The U.S. FDA has some great information regarding nutrition facts on labels. You can find the information here: http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/foodlab.html

The 15th Card Prompt: Labels—do you look at them? Do you use them? How do they help you? If you aren’t reading labels, how can doing that help you in your weight loss journey?
I hope you will enjoy this week’s challenge and really look at using those labels. I use them constantly, and I know they have truly helped me in my journey! Have a happy, healthy week!

{RAK} Winners!

Sorry that I haven't announced our RAK winners earlier; however, we have several medical issues going on here with two of my daughters, and I have been super busy this week! And to add to the fun, we are getting a new puppy today. So, we will have two puppies (10 months and 8 months) plus our 7 year old dog. Hey, I've got to have three girls and three dogs (boys). It just makes sense. Ha! I will post pictures of the cutie later! But now onto the big RAK news for the Dealing the Weight Loss challenge! I have decided to send both Roxann and Stephanie chipboard RAKs!!! You two ladies were the only two that participated last week, and I just couldn't pick one of you. So, heck, I will send you both some goodies. Please e-mail me your addresses, and I will get some goodies off to you! Thank you for playing everyone, and I hope to see a lot of fun cards this week with our water challenge! Have a joyous day!

Dealing the Weight Loss Hand {Week 8}

Wow, Stephanie and Roxann did some great cards for last week! And Roxann had a great tip! Before she goes out to eat, she looks online at the dinner menu. She picks out her meal before she ever leaves the house. That way she can make a healthier choice. Wonderful tip! Thank you girls for sharing your wonderful cards. I will pick a RAK winner tomorrow since everyone still has several hours to complete their cards. Good luck everyone!

Now onto this week! Several of you suggested that we do a card on the benefits of water. Well, since I LOVE water, I think that this is a great topic for this week. The Institute of Medicine recommends that women consume 9 cups (2.2 liters) of water a day. Here are some benefits of drinking water as stated on http://www.health-benefit-of-water.com/:

• Maintains the body’s Ph balance in order to prevent and cure disease.
• Lubricates joints and can help with arthritis.


• Helps with low back pain by helping the spinal column and discs support the weight of the body.


• Helps keeps skin beautiful and healthy looking.


• Helps maintain good eye health.


• Plays a key role in the metabolic breakdown of proteins and carbohydrates making burning fat and assisting in weight loss another important benefit.


• To lose excess fluids, you may need to drink MORE water. Dehydration can cause the body to retain fluid that will be released as you drink more water.


• Maintains muscle tone.


• Regulates of body temperature.

And in case you are not convinced yet that water is good for you, here is an awesome article written by the Mayo Clinic about water. http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/water/NU00283. So, can you guess what our 14th card prompt is? You guessed it! WATER!

The 14th Card Prompt: Water—do you drink it? Why or why not? What could you do to drink more water each day? What is it you like about water?
Have fun, and I would love to see the unique ways you find to enjoy drinking more water each day!

Dealing the Weight Loss Hand {Week 7}

Okay, so I received the ultimate compliment this week—from my DAD! He said I am really looking good. I was so excited! It feels good when your family notices and says something. I also finally bought some smaller pants. I was really tired of the baggy look! It feels great to have some successes. I pray you have had some successes this week also!

For this week, I want us to look at eating out. With busy schedules and lack of time to cook, it becomes all too easy to run through a drive through or to stop and pick something up for dinner. Sometimes we can make good choices but I know for me, it is much easier to make a bad choice when I am eating out. I found some great tips on eating out on the American Heart Association’s website. Here is the link: http://www.heart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=531. You really should take a moment and look. There is some very helpful information there for you. So for your challenge this week, I want you to look at eating out.

The 13th Card Prompt: Eating out—do you avoid eating out? Do you pick something healthy on the menu? Or do you indulge and enjoy? Where is your favorite healthy place to go? How often do you eat out?

Maybe look at the good and the bad when it comes to eating out. That is what I did on my cards.

And for anyone that completes this week’s challenge and posts a link in the comment section here, I will enter your name into a drawing for a chipboard RAK! It will be a goodie envelope filled with various chipboard! Let’s see those cards, and have a great and healthy week!

Dealing the Weight Loss Hand {Week 6}

Wow, y’all were busy this week! I have seen some spectacular cards. You all created so many this week, that I can’t show them all. So, I am going to post the links here so everyone can see all of the hard work you have done, and so they can be encouraged also! And of course I know you would love some great comments too!

Here are Stephanie’s cards:
http://stephsscraphappenings.blogspot.com/search/label/Weight-Loss%20Cards

Here are Roxann’s cards:
http://therealroxann.blogspot.com/2007/09/scrapbooking-show-n-tell.html

And here are Barb’s:
http://barbshrinks.blogspot.com/2007/09/dealing-myself-weight-loss-hand.html

Okay, so a lot of us have a love/hate relationship with exercise. I have found that doing something you love makes all of the difference in the world when it comes to exercise. I used to be a certified aerobics instructor. I even taught while I was pregnant before finding out there were three babies in there. Oh goodness! Anyway, when I taught, I had a class depending me. I got a workout, and I had fun. But doing it on my own can be another story. Have you found what exercise you love to do? Are you exercising? Do you have a friend that can join you? A really fun type of exercise I learned about this week on Faith Sisters is Photo Walking! You can learn about this cool exercise here in this thread: http://faithsisters.com/forum/index.php?topic=53.0 So this week, let’s look at exercising. If you aren’t already exercising, what can you find that might be fun? And thank you Mel for the prompt this week!

The 12th Card Prompt: Describe your favorite exercise or activity! If you don't have one, what would you like to start doing? Mix it up! Have fun!

Here is what I did with the challenge this week:
I hope that you are able to find something you enjoy! Exercise, have fun, and see you next week!

Dealing the Weight Loss Hand {Week 5}

Wow, I can't believe we have been at this for five weeks now! Time sure does go by fast especially when you are "happily scrapping" and creating a new you! I know many of you told me you have your cards done but haven't posted them yet. We are all anxiously waiting to see them. The cards I have seen inspire me, and I know they inspire you too. Keep up the great work everyone! Jane did get several of hers posted on 2Peas this week. They are wonderful. Here is a sampling of what she posted:

And now for this week's prompt I thought we would talk about avoiding failure. I know too many times I have started this journey only to fail. I have finally figured out that I try to do too much. I want to exercise five days a week, I avoid anything sweet, I try to be perfect. Well, it ends up being too much of a change then I fail and give up. This time, I have decided not to go "whole hog." I do eat ice cream every night. And believe me, it is NOT the low-fat stuff! It is my reward for eating great each day. I look forward to it. It keeps me from over-indulging each day. I also gave up trying to exercise 5 days a week. I only did that when I was a certified aerobics instructor! Now I only make myself workout 3 days a week. If I do more, great. If I don't, I don't stress about it or feel like a failure. It has been a great change in my successful journey. I hope you will take a moment to look at your journey this week. So, here is your challenge:

The 11th card prompt: How are you going to avoid failure doing your journey? What fun things can you keep doing that will help you avoid failure? Here are the cards I did for this fun prompt:

Have a fun and successful week, and let's see those cards girls!

Dealing the Weight Loss Hand {Week 4}

I don't know about you but it took about 3 1/2 months of eating healthy before I received my first comment about my weight loss. It was very discouraging. My clothes were fitting better, I was wearing things I hadn't worn in a long time but not one person said anything to me. In fact, I found myself telling people. But finally one day, I got my first comment. And a couple of weeks later, I got another comment. I remember them vividly. They meant SO much to me. What an encouragement {finally}!! And Stephanie's card challenge this week fits perfectly with this very topic.

The 10th card prompt: What's your favorite comment that you've received about your weight loss? Here are my cards:

It is so important to write these down. When we become discouraged, we can always go back and look at these for encouragement. And as you get more comments, create more cards. These could be just the boost you need when you might be feeling a little down. I would love to see your cards this week. Be sure to post them here! We all want to cheer you on also! Have a happy, healthy week!

Dealing the Weight Loss Hand {Week 3}

I subscribe to the Discovery Healthy newsletter. They have some great tips and recipes in each issue. The tip I loved this week dealt with making better snack choices. Here is what they said:

“Retrain your taste buds and retrain your brain and attitude toward good food choices. The natural sweetness of an orange or apple can't compete with the sugary taste of a candy bar, but you must retrain, and relearn, the goodness of what's good for you. Start choosing to eat more fruits and vegetables as snacks or as replacements for some of the fats that you would tend to add onto your lunch tray or dinner plate — you and your taste buds will get used to it.”

I have found that this is so true. I have been eating healthy since May 1st of this year. I don’t crave the sugar anymore, and when I do eat something sweet, it doesn’t taste near as good as it used to. However, I do know that if I indulge in those sugary snacks again, my body will crave them all over again, and I will return to that vicious cycle. So, I have to remember that and STAY AWAY.

On another note, I wanted to highlight Norma’s cards this week. She did Challenges 1, 3, and 7. They are wonderful! And I love how she photographed them together to display them so beautifully. And since our Discovery Healthy tip deals with “snacking healthy,” Roxann’s challenge was perfect for this week.

The 9th card prompt: Your favorite healthy snack! Some of you are doing Weight Watchers, some are watching calories, and some are following other plans. On this card, you want to highlight a favorite snack or two that you can turn to when you are hungry, low on points, or want to avoid making a bad choice. Here are the cards I did: Thanks for the fun challenge Roxann. Now let’s see those cards! Remember to post links to your cards. I will be highlighting more each week! Have a “snack healthy” week everyone!

Dealing the Weight Loss Hand {Week 2}

Wow, we had six people submit 39 challenge ideas! Thanks to Lisa, Colleen, Mel, Stephanie, Darci, and Roxann! Those ideas will definitely keep us going for a while not to include the challenges I already had planned. Thanks for the awesome ideas girls! Now for the RAK winner! Are you wondering? Do you really want to know the name my dear daughter pulled out of the carton? Hmmm, okay. Let’s see the winner is:

Colleen please e-mail your address to me so I can mail a little something to you! Congratulations! And sorry for the Chick-Fil-A carton. I use it with yellow foam french fries for my preschoolers in Bible Study Fellowship. It worked great for our little drawing today too. Now don't be tempted anyone!

And wow, you girls have done an awesome job on your cards this week! I know some of you are having trouble posting them. You will want to post them in an online gallery first whether that be on 2Peas, Create My Keepsake, AC Bailey Designs, etc. Then copy the gallery link into the comment thread here on my blog for each challenge week. E-mail me with further questions.

I must highlight a few of the great cards you all posted from this past week. Here are some awesome cards from Susan. Look at that envelope on her keys to success card! Adorable!
And Roxann used a flower for the first time on one of her cards. Girl, you must use flowers more often. This is wonderful! And I love her goals.
Now for this week’s challenge. You probably thought I would never get to it did you? Anyway, your big challenge for this week is:

The 8th card prompt: Create a card about the scale! Do you use it? Is it your friend or do you hate it? How do you feel about weighing yourself? I personally deny I am gaining weight if I don’t weigh myself. So, to keep myself on track, I weigh myself every Tuesday morning. It is what works best for me and my continued success. Here are the cards I did:
I can’t wait to see what you do with this challenge! Remember to post links to your cards. I will be highlighting more each week! And I pray that each of you has a wonderful week and continued success in your goals!

Weight Loss Hand {Let’s Get Started or Catch Up}

Welcome everyone! I am so excited to begin these challenges with you. Some of you started with Shanna when she was the host, and some of you are new to this challenge group. Since some of you are behind and some of you haven’t even begun, I thought we would take this week to either start our cards or play “catch up.” So, these are the challenges Shanna had already posted. Feel free to do as many of them as you wish this week. Post a link to your cards in the comment section here. Each week I will highlight some of your cards right here! So be sure to post your link!

The 1st card prompt: The Goal….let’s see it! What do you want to accomplish?
The 2nd card prompt: “Key to Success” theme. Note the things on your card that will be key to your success!
The 3rd card prompt: Scrap a motivating quote on your card.
The 4th card prompt: Scrap about your food or drink weakness. Journal about how you’re going to overcome it.
The 5th card prompt: Create your card and show or tell what gift you will give yourself when you’ve reached your goal. And…..don’t just give yourself new clothes. You SHOULD get that regardless. Give yourself something REALLY special that will motivate you that much more!
The 6th card prompt: Scrap one word to describe your journey and use a Monogram for it somewhere on your card. It doesn’t have to be a positive word….it can be HARD. Be honest….this is YOUR album. What you are doing isn’t easy but it’s worth it.
The 7th card prompt: Use the theme of TIME somehow on your card. Anyway you want. For instance, Shanna used TIME to get Healthy. TIME to get into old clothes again. TIME to get my body back. TIME to improve my self-esteem. TIME for change.

I am also having a little drawing this week! For each weight loss challenge idea you send to me, I will enter your name into a drawing for a RAK. I will be using YOUR ideas for some of our challenges during the weeks to come. You never know when your idea might be used. Should be fun! E-mail those challenge ideas to me at tripletmom94@austin.rr.com. I will hold the drawing next Sunday (Aug. 26). All challenge ideas must be sent to me by Saturday, Aug. 25. So, get those ideas in girls. The more ideas you send, the more time your name gets put into the drawing. One of my girls will draw a winner! Now, get scrapping those cards, and have fun!

Are You Dealing the Weight Loss Hand?

I am so excited to see several of you join us in our "Dealing the Weight Loss Hand" card challenge! Welcome! We are so glad to have you! This is a great way to stay motivated with your weight loss or healthy living goals. I have really enjoyed it thus far, and I truly thank Shanna for hosting this in the past! She did a spectacular job! I only pray I can continue this as she did! :) She has a great reason for stepping down though--she is expecting a precious bundle of joy! How exciting is that? Congrats Shanna!

A few things I want to mention before we get started on Monday, Aug. 20. To prepare, you may want to get some jumbo playing cards. I picked mine up at Walgreen's for $1.99. They were on the toy isle with the other playing cards. You can also use anything else you choose but I personally enjoy using these jumbo cards. And you sure can't beat the price! :) Second, don't worry about being behind. I have plans for that. Stay tuned for Monday for those details. And if you have questions, feel free to let me know. I am hoping we will have lots of fun, we will help each other stay motivated, and give each other a little support and cheering on! Feel free to have others join us too! And hey, we may even have some RAKs along the way! Have a great rest of the week everyone!

Weight Loss Card Deal #5, #6, and #7

Well, after going on a 17 day vacation to Hilton Head Island, SC, I fell behind on my card challenges. But the good news was that I still lost weight on vacation. I was SO shocked! Granted it was only 1.5 lbs. but that sure was better than gaining which I totally expected to happen. Anyway, I tried to catch up quickly on the challenges. My cards aren't as fancy but they still are motivating to me. For the fifth challenge, I was to create a card telling about what Gift I will give myself once I have reached my goal. And the catch was, it couldn't be clothes. Here is what I want my gift to be:

The sixth card challenge was to create a card with one word that describes my journey. I also needed to use a monogram on my card somewhere. I will tell you, this time I am definitely DETERMINED. Here are my cards:

And for challenge #7, I was to use the theme of Time somewhere on my card. Now, I didn't have any fun Heidi Swapp clocks in my stash or anything else so I made due with what I had on hand. And I hope you will "Take Time to be Healthy" too!

Weight Loss Card Deal #1, #2, and #3

Shanna Lamb is hosting a Weight Loss Card Deal Challenge. I have been doing Weight Watchers since May 1st, and this challenge was just the scrappy fun I needed to add to my weight loss journey. The first week's challenge was to create a card showing my Goals. What do I want to accomplish? Here is what I did with that challenge:

The second week's challenge was to create a card with my Key's to Success. I find I really need to use these three things or I am just not as successful.

The third week's card challenge was to scrap a Motivating Quote on my card. I loved both of these quotes, and I find myself referring to them quite often.





If you are interested in joining Shanna's challenge, her blog is listed in my Favorite Blog links. And be sure to sign up for e-mail updates to my blog to see my cards as I continue my journey. TFL!