Hi, my name is Leslie and I'm a LISTAHOLIC

Last night I was bored and so started to outline HOW I was going to lose weight for the rest of the year and then until June when we return to Israel for my brother-in-law's wedding.

Does anyone else do this?? Outline their plan and weight loss goals... like "I'll lose 8 pounds each month, which will put me at X weight by June, and I wont do this, this or this and I'll exercise in THIS exact fashion"... lists and graphs, and charts etc etc etc.... I do this ALL THE TIME. I think because it makes me feel like it's doable when I see it all neatly laid out.... and I get all excited because I'm sure it will work... and it will work IF it is actually followed. This is where things always falls apart: plan EXECUTION. I'm a procrastinator at heart... LOVE to make lists of what I'm GOING to do - have lists of lists that cross-reference other lists. LOVE to make lists (did I already say this?!). However it's the follow through that I suck at. I know that if I just DID something instead of spending an hour making a list, that I'd get much more done. I'm really working on that. I have to stop the 'I'll do it later' mentality, as I've realized in the last few months that not only does it affect my daily life in terms of getting things done, but it also affect my weight loss goals... as I allow myself to indulge saying 'well, I'll get back on plan tomorrow'.

Anyway, not sure why I'm blabbing on about this, I guess because these thoughts struck me once again as I was laying out yet ONE more perfect plan for weight loss. The foundation of this plan of course is that I will start this wonderful strategy the MINUTE :) I get home (ha - and as I wrote this, I said to myself, 'well maybe I'll give myself a day to get back into the swing of things'.....AHHHHHHHHH I really am my worst enemy).

I know that it IS helpful to write down your goals and strategies, but I know it's also detrimental to just write these things down and NOT follow through. I run the risk that the not-so-quiet voice in my head that says I CAN'T do this will be proved right once again and therefore make this journey just that much more harder.

It is exciting to see the plan on paper though :-P

Waterslides anyone??!!

Today I disregarded my weight (would love to say 'forgot my weight', but that's pushing it!!) and went on all the water slides at the waterpark we went to today and had a blast. In doing so, I managed to overcome my fear of being told the following:

"Sorry, but you look like you exceed the weight limit on this slide" (dont know if slides HAVE weight limits, but I guess not since I'm sure I would have exceeded them. Regardless, as I stood in line to get on the slide, I had the thought that perhaps I would have to step on some giant scale before I sat (oh so gracefully of course) down on the top of the slide!! Thankfully there was no scale, and i just whooshed away :)

OR

"Sorry, but pregnant women cant go on the slides" (acckkkk I would have just died!!)

I also managed to get over the fear that I would generate a tsunami at the bottom of the slide and send the lifeguards splashing wildly out of their seats :) This of course is silly, but it entered my mind along with all the other fat-related thoughts, like: do fat people go faster on the slides? Felt like it :)

Today I didn't care that I was fat and just had fun with my family, and it was damn worth it!!! However, as usual, I long wait for the day when my weight has no bearing on what I do or how I feel about doing it.

Now I just have to make sure the video of me screaming like a crazy woman as I whipped down one of the slides doesn't make it onto Utube like my husband threatened... he's watched it at least 8 times, laughing hysterically :)

* UPDATED: video has now been watched countless times by all my inlaws and my husband's extended family. Since they only speak hebrew, I have no idea what they're saying after they finish laughing...I'm sure it's complimentary though, right?! ;)

back from the 4-day buffet :)

So we're back from our all-inclusive vacation in the south of Israel... 4 days of playing in the pool, lazying by the beach and eating ALL YOU CAN EAT.....AHHHHHHHHHH, can you say feeding frenzy?? I've come to hate buffet meals... there's something about the perception of it being "free" and never-ending that has always sent me into almost a panic.... like I HAVE to eat everything. I find it really hard to control myself and not try everything in sight. Anyway, I gave myself a day to go to town on breakfast, lunch and dinner, and then I felt I'd tried everything, and could make healthy choices for the next 3 days. And I did pretty good! The good thing is that although Israelis LOVE their food and eat a lot, their diet is actually quite healthy. They eat TONS of veggies... in fact they eat salad for breakfast! There was hardly any fruit, but tons of veggies at the breakfast buffet. Also, because they dont eat meat and dairy at the same meal, there was no meat at breakfast, so no temptation in bacon and sausages and such....which would have been a HUGE stumbling block for me. They eat very little processed foods, they are meat and veggie people, and so it was easy to find healthy choices. Also, because no dairy at lunch or dinner, the desserts weren't great... and there was no butter/marg for bread etc..... perfect!

Anyway, we had a fantastic time. Kids were completely over their stomach flu by the time we got there, I spent copious amounts of time in my bathing suit (yay me) and just relaxed and had fun. Israels also arent that conservative, and there were lots of heavy people in bathing suits - bikinis even! - and so I didn't feel that self conscious.

Have no idea what my weight is, but will be making sure I make good choices for the next 10 days so that I dont see a gain when I get home. Unfortunately, exercise for the sake of exercise is nil because I just cant stand the heat, but we do get out for walks and sightseeing almost daily, so I'm not just sitting on my butt :)

I've been reading everyone's blogs daily and I must say you're all extremely inspiring (AND entertaining) :)

A few pictures....

Thought I'd post a few pics of our trip so far (we're 1 week in - 2 1/2 to go!)..... let it be known that everywhere else I will be posting pictures, I doubt I will be in any of them, so this is actually quite freeing ......to just put myself out there. And surprise surprise, I actually don't think I look THAT bad :)

This is a view of beautiful Tel Aviv from the old city

The family

Exploring the winding streets of the 'old city'

(this one's for you, Becks) - just a glimpse of the yummy baked goods found on every street corner - AKA what I'm up against :) And yes, I ate one - well I ate half of one of the ones on the bottom - it was filled with ooey gooey warm cheese and meat.... heaven....

Don't have too many exciting pictures to post as both kids are still sick and so we haven't been getting out and doing anything too fun. We leave tomorrow for our all-inclusive trip down south, so hopefully the barfing will subside soon!!

The curse of the tummy bug

I know I haven't been a good blogger (tsk tsk on me), but I truly don't have much to blog about... weight and eating-wise anyway. Both of my kids have come down with tummy bugs or something and have been barfing since Saturday. Nothing more fun than being on vacation and cleaning up puke 3-4 times a day!! Especially when the inlaws have the tiniest washing machine ever made and no dryer. Thank god I brought tons of pjs with me, although last night I had to resort to dressing my 11 month old (son) in my 2 1/2 year old's pink shortie pjs. Was quite cute... except for the barf that led up to it.

My husband just took Matthew to the emergency room, because although he's still drinking and is active and in good spirits, he really hasn't eaten solids in 4 days and 5 days really is a long time to be barfing. I'm sure he's fine, but we want to make sure.

I seem to have a mild form of what they have, and feel a tad queazy, and without getting into the gory details, am not keeping anything *in*.... if you know what I mean :) Not a nice experience, but hey my waistbands feel looser! Isn't it sad that I feel a bit of gratitude for whatever's made a home in my tummy?? I think it is, but what can you do.

Hope everyone's healthy and barf-free.... will post later with hopefully something more uplifting!!

Things to be thankful for!

If you live in Israel:

1) When your kids go on field trips, they are accompanied by someone wearing a semi-automatic rifle slung over their shoulder.....

2) Your car is checked for bombs at the entrance to underground mall parking lots by security. This includes looking in your trunk and under your car using a mirror

3) Your bags are checked as you enter a mall from any entrance for firearms/bombs

4) There is a military presence everywhere you go - and they all carry the semi-automatic rifles

5) Don't look for politeness from anyone. Now Canada overdoes this sometimes, but here it's hard to come by.... it's every man for himself and in the 4 days I've been here, I've seen arguments between drivers, people in lineups at the supermarket and at the airport..... men and women alike. It would seem that Israelis do not have a lot of patience!

6) If you live in a building built in the last 20 years, then your apartment/house has a 'saferoom' built in - basically a bomb shelter. My inlaws place is old, so the 'safe' place is the bathroom!

7) This is noted above, but deserves it's own mention - driving here is crazy... no one lets you in, people cut in front of you all the time, traffic jams everywhere because people wont give an inch, and horns honking all the time.... I'm white knuckling it most of the time!!!

The GOOD:

8) If you have fertility issues, the government will pay for any fertility treatments, how ever many times you need it, until you (hopefully) conceive. There seem to be babies EVERYWHERE!! and lots of twins :) But how great is that??!!

So life is very different here, and yes, it's a bit scary to think that the places you're going could be targeted by a suicide bomber, however I don't really find that this affects me that much... maybe because it just seems too surreal? And Israelis certainly don't go around fearing it. If it wasn't for the security and military presence everywhere, you wouldn't even know that bombings are even a threat (they don't let it affect living their lives).

On an eating note, things have been quite good. The inlaws eat their biggest meal for lunch and then hardly eat supper. I've been following the trend and I'm actually not really hungry in the evening. There is no scale here, so who knows what's going on with the weight, but my pants don't feel tight or anything, and that's WITH the bloating from both TOM (groan.... I didn't even mention the primitive plumbing here!) and the heat :)

PHEW....we made it!!

Shalom my good friends :)

Oh my god... I do NOT recommend travelling for 18 hours with 2 kids under 3. I just would NOT do it if there was any other choice :) It was hell, but it's over, we made it, and I just woke up from a 12 hour sleep and feel half human again :)

A few things I observed along the way:

1) When taking off and landing, I looked/felt like a bowl of jello... meaning that EVERYTHING was jiggling. It would be comical if not so sad and pathetic :) I snuck a look at my husband, and yes he was vibrating from the movement, but I didn't see any jiggling. Will not be taking a movie of me during takeoff or landing anytime soon :)

2) The best way to stay awake for 18 hours of flying and hanging out in airports?? EAT!! Mix it with a few diet cokes and you're laughing.... sometimes hysterical (as in out of your mind), but it DOES do the trick.... just keep stuffing your body with food and it won't realize that you haven't slept in 2 days. Bottom line: my choices were not always healthy, and I gave myself license to eat whatever was around because of the sometimes stressful circumstances. It's done, and I'm not apologizing for it - I deserved (with a capital D) that bag of chips!

3) Taking 10 hours to watch ONE movie in 5 minute increments is not my idea of a good time.

4) 12 hour flights suck.

5) Getting off a plane wearing a hoodie because your white T-shirt (why oh why did I wear a white t-shirt?!!) is covered in baby food, baby barf and drool, and having 35 degrees of humidity punch you in the face is also not fun. Instant sweat-o-rama.... thankfully I had thought to bring an extra shirt to change into - I hope the inlaws appreciated it! (On a side note here, I would have changed into the extra shirt ON the plane, but even going to the bathroom in one of those coffins is a frustrating experience when you're fat; using it as a changing room may have sent me over the edge.)

So there you have it. Jiggling, eating, praying that my 11 month old would JUST STOP SCREAMING AND FALL ASLEEP ALREADY!!!!!, chugging diet cokes like they were the last drink on earth, not sleeping and capping it all off with buckets of sweat. That was my last 2 days. Hoping the next 30 will be better and will be trying NOT to think about trip home :)

Shalom out.

Last post from Canada....

Well, for the month of September anyway!

We leave tomorrow morning.... have to be out of the house by 5am... am in the midst of the chaos that ensues when you're trying to pack for 2 adults, a toddler and a baby and all the paraphernalia that is required for each age group :) I'm getting in my activity points for sure today just with all the running around I'm doing!!

I did take a quick break at 5 to get a pedicure... gotta have nice nails when you leave on vacation :) ... the best thing about this trip is that we get to have an extended summer.. it's in the high 20's PLUS humidity there this time of year, so while we've been switching to fall clothes here in Vancouver, we get another month's wear out of our summer stuff!

I will be online most days as my inlaws have highspeed, so I'll still be posting, although I dont think I'll be weighing in as I dont believe they have a scale. I will be trying my very best to make the healthiest choices and to get out exercising (although not sure I'll be able to in the heat?)..... and will definitely be checking in on all of you guys for inspiration, so BE GOOD!!!!

By the way, the picture is a roadsign with a camel on it... taken on our trip to Israel in 2005 - you dont see many of these in North America!!

HO HUM....

blah, I feel so boring.. feel like I should be posting here more often to a) keep myself accountable and to b) use this as an outlet for the hunger-inducing feelings that sneak up and try to bite my butt everyday :)

Anyway, I weighed in today - my Monday *reality check* and am the same as last Thursday. This is ok, in fact sort of unbelievable as I have already used up my flex points. Just hope I can successfully do what I did last week - adjust my points down to compensate and still lose by my real weigh-in on Thursday.

Unfortunately I'm not going to be able to weigh myself at my normal time on Thursday as we'll be on a plane to Toronto on our way to Israel!! I usually weigh myself at 9:30am because that's my *thinnest* time of the day. Yes, that's right folks - 9:30am!! I'm usually at least 1 pound lighter than at 7am when I wake up.... I know, I'm crazy, but hey - it's a WHOLE pound lighter!!

We had a wee bit of drama as we originally booked our flights on Friday, but when we called the airline to ask about our seat assignments, they kindly informed us that our flight to Isreal had been changed to Thursday, however our flight to Toronto was still on Friday!! We booked these flights back in January on points, and they made the change in March and no one ever called us to let us know! We couldn't believe it. Anyway, we are a tad irate! We would have arrived on Friday for our flights and would have been told there was no way we'd make it to Isreal. Grrrr

Anyway, we were lucky enough to get on a Thursday morning flight, and so now we're leaving a day earlier, which makes it seem SO much more sooner! Thankfully I already have my list made of what we're taking... the next few days will be packing packing packing!!

Hope everyone's doing well and have a good week!