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Ladies- Let’s Discuss Skin!

July 9, 2019 By: Staciecomment

This one is just for the ladies… Does anyone else have red blotchy skin??? Let’s discuss!

I’ve had really bad rosacea most of my life, but as I get older it seems to have amplified! Especially when I am in the sun. Now that I have a pool I’m out a lot more, so… Ugly, red splotchy weird skin!

I have found three favorite new products that are CHEAP and easy and have made a difference for my skin. I thought I would share them with you.

One: A daily moisturizer by Aveeno. Absolutely Ageless- It’s cheap and really creamy and goes on really easily. It even has SPF 30 in it so it doubles as a sunscreen! I have put it on my face, neck, chest, and hands! I swear it works.

Aveeno Absolutely Ageless Moisturizer
with SPF 30

Two: Veil Complexion Fix (RAVIVEAR DE TEINT ECLEIR Correcteur, Cache, Illuminator). I bought it online… I saw a YouTube video by a makeup artist who uses it and ordered it a couple of months back. It has not disappointed! It’s all I wear now instead of foundation.
You just twist the bottom and the makeup comes up the tube onto the brush. I target the areas of my face where I need it most (cheeks, chin, forehead, and neck). Blend with your hand and wallah! Takes only a little bit to do the trick

Three: Daniel Sandler Watercolour liquid blush. I have it in pink, peach and this GLOW shade. Literally one tiny drop on your finger then dot the apples of your cheeks and rub it in. Gives color and a bit of glow/sheen to your face.

Hope this helps some of you! And no, I don’t make anything from this post, these are just products I’ve tested and love!

Change is really hard!

July 8, 2019 By: Staciecomment

Sometimes you just need a break…

Change is never easy. In the past four years, all I have had is change in my life. I have changed jobs twice, finally incorporated my business (after years of contracting), sold my home of 18 years, moved twice, bought a home in the country, and have watched my CMT progress, daily. Nothing prepares you for so much change. It has been HARD. Hard on my mind and hard on my body. I have hidden my emotions and stress by pushing them way down. I have also spent the last four years making excuses for not taking care of myself. I have had thoughts like “If I can just get this week, I will be good.” And it just has not. Almost every month of the last four years has tried to break me in some way.

Our Timeline of the past 4 1/2 years:

October 2014: My Dad died

May 2015: I left my job of five years & my son graduated from High School

June 2015: I started a new, but very demanding job as a Director of Branding and Communications with a large National Insurance Brokerage.

August 2016: We became empty nesters as my son went off to College

September 2016: I began experiencing tremendous balance issues & falls

February 2017: I traveled to Vanderbilt CMT Clinic to see a leading specialist for my Charcot Marie Tooth Disease

May 2017: I began wearing AFO’s to try to regain stability

June 2017: My husband had a heart attack

September 2017: Our house goes on the market

March 2018: Sold our home and moved to a small rental home, with most of our stuff in storage

April 2018: I incorporate my consulting business and got a new contract as acting Chief Marketing Officer at an Insurance Agency with thirty-five companies under the organization, for which I would oversee all Marketing

June 2018: One of our best friends died very unexpectedly

July 2018-September 2018: Searched for land and a new home almost every weekend.

September 2018: Put a contract on a house and it fell through after three weeks

October 2018: Bought a new home in the country

November 2018: Moved again, the day after Thanksgiving!

December 2018: Hosted three family holiday gatherings at our new home, three weeks after moving in!

January, February & March of 2019: I fell several times, directly on my knee

May 2019: My son graduates from College and begins moving home

June 2019: Began Rehab for my knee injury and am dealing with ongoing Osteoarthritis and joint issues stemming from my CMT. My contract also ended, & I began looking for my next contract. During all of this, I hosted a Graduation party for my son & his girlfriend, here at our home (with 60+ guests)

July 2019: Began a new contract and continue building my client base with my company (Stacie King & Company, LLC).

Of course, there have been a lot of good times with family and friends along the way, but it has been a really challenging couple of years. It has taken a toll on me both emotionally and physically. My health has not been great. It’s been a roller coaster… and I could really use a break from the stress and emotional challenges it brings.

However, we are still here and we are finally getting some normalcy around here. To say I am tired is an understatement. Stress has taken a toll on me, and frankly on all of us! I have gained back all the weight I had previously lost and you can see the impact of it all just by looking at me.

I have found that for me, writing has become my personal therapy for #thiswobblylife of mine. Being open and honest and writing down things that impact my life, has really helped give me a greater perspective. Although life has been a bit chaotic, I feel that I am very blessed. I am so very thankful for my current place in life, despite any challenges we may have had over the past few years. I have a beautiful new home, my husband has been continually by my side, supporting me through it all. I also have my son home again! I am so excited about his future and I am so happy that I get to spend this time with him and his beautiful girlfriend, Danielle.

How do you eat out and stay on plan?

August 9, 2016 By: Staciecomment

We all have them- those friends that you love to see but you know it always tests your willpower to be with them. When we give in to their suggestions of “just have one or two drinks with us, what’s it gonna hurt?” we end up feeling like failures and sometimes you just feel like giving up!

Well, I can tell you that I’ve been doing this a long time people. I began my healthy eating journey back in the fall of 2013. As I look back over the past almost 3 years I remember many times that I had to make that critical decision to either give in to peer pressure or to stick with my goal. I can tell you that there were times I was better than others and each time I gave in, even just a little, it set me back not only physically but also mentally. Why do you say? Because it broke my focus and my control.

Today, I know I’m equipped to deal with those times of temptation and pressure. In fact, I welcome them and I plan ahead for them! The past few weekends, our friends have invited us to go out to various restaurants and bars. Whenever I knew we would be eating out, I’ve looked online ahead of time at the restaurant’s menu- picking out exactly what I can eat and I think ahead for how to adjust their items for my special needs.

Here are some pretty usual conversations with waiters during those trips:

-Can you please use olive oil when cooking my food? I need it prepared with no seasonings or marinades, just salt and pepper please.

-I’d like only olive oil and balsamic vinegar as my dressing please, no dressing or crunchy tortillas on my salad- it’s very important (you can even say you have an allergy and they will be SURE not to put them on there).

-I’ve got special dietary requirements so I can’t eat the tortilla chips with guacamole. I’ve brought some plantain chips iwith me to eat though, so I’d love to order a bowl of fresh pico and some guacamole please.

A couple of weeks ago, we met friends for sushi so I planned to order sashimi. I had also packed a container of coconut amino acids in my purse (we use them in place of soy sauce- which we cannot eat). We do this a lot… I usually always carry ghee, natural dressing and all natural seasonings in my purse. I may look weird, but you do what you’ve got to do!

The bottom line: I have to focus on controlling whatever I can, whenever I can. If your plan is to eat clean and to live that way then you cannot leave things to chance and just hope. Over the past three years, this has been a complete lifestyle change for me- for us. I am so very proud of my husband who also now knows just what to order and how to order it when we go out. We actually enjoy the challenge of how to be the people we want to be while spending time with those we love. We may not be the cool folks at the table, but we can stay on track and still enjoy social gatherings and time with friends.

Hope it helps some of you too!

Stacie

He waited 15 years for this day.

November 24, 2015 By: Stacie6 Comments

My son Sammy (Who goes by Sam now to everyone but his me) has waited over 15 years for this day to come. Since Sammy was just four years old, he has known about an envelope that was addressed to him by his grandfather, Thomas Maughon. It has been the topic of many conversations in our household over the past 15+ years.

You see, his grandfather wrote him the letter back in 2000, just before we moved into our new home. He did not tell my husband nor me about what the letter said, or why he even wrote it. He just did. He said it was important and that Sammy should not open it until Oct 7th, 2015. He also told us that the date had no significance, but that Sammy should adhere to his rule. The envelope had been sealed and given to us to keep for Sammy ever since.

We had actually forgotten on several occasions that we even had the letter. Because it was important to Sammy, we had placed the envelope in our safety deposit box for safe keeping. We had only been reminded of it when we would ever have the need to go to the box for things like our passports or social security cards or other documents we kept in there. Back in 2013, we had made a special trip to the box because Sammy just swore that the date had finally come (the year he graduated from high school) only to be disappointed to realize that he actually had to wait another year or two.

Over the years, my father had laughed whenever we would ask what was in the letter. He even admitted to us a couple of years ago that he had all but forgotten what he had written! He had said that he hoped that Sammy would not be terribly disappointed once he was able to read it. Of course none of that mattered to Sammy because the anticipation was as much fun and important as the words would ever be.

The irony in it all, came last year. After checking on the letter near Sammy’s graduation, I had remembered that I had taken a picture of it back then so that we could remember the date without having to return to the safety deposit box. Last year, upon my father’s death, I had searched for the picture because I knew that the letter was dated sometime in October and I have to admit that I was a bit freaked out that it could possibly have been the same day of my Father’s death. To our surprise, the date Sammy was to open the letter was to be almost exactly one year past the date of his death. Papa died on October 9th, 2014. The letter was dated October 7th, 2015. Although it was a mere coincidence, it was a truly impactful one to me.

This school year has been quite busy for Sammy. Between his school work and his new fraternity responsibilities, he has not been able to come home much at all this semester. Because of that, he had told us that even though he knew the date on the letter had past, he wanted to wait until he was able to go to the box himself to retrieve the letter (instead of us driving it to him). So today was a very special day for my boy because after 15 years of waiting, he was finally able to go to the box in person and he would be able to open his special mystery message.

Although the words my father talked about in the letter were not profound or extremely important, the letter caused me to cry. You see, my father describes in great detail a “typical” weekend at our home, full of activities that our then four-year-old enjoyed. He wrote of our attending two birthday parties with us, going to Sammy’s baseball game (He was on The Snappers) and how wonderful it made him feel to get to be a part of it all. You would have thought the man was describing climbing The Great Wall or travelling to a country he had never seen. He described the events of that weekend in such wonderful detail and with such excitement. We could hear his voice and just picture his grin while we were reading it. Papa delighted at being with his grandchildren and cherished each and every visit with them, as if it were the most important thing he had ever done.

My father described Sammy’s visitors that weekend, among them his best friend Wesley Duncan. He said that he hoped that he would have great friendships that lasted a lifetime and that he would be happy. He spoke of how tender-hearted Sammy was and how he loved that about him. What a wonderful thing to know that all the things my Father wished for my son have come true. Wesley is still his very Best Friend, and Sammy truly is still the same sweet child he always has been. He is soft spoken and kind, just as my Father knew he would be. I know my Dad’s influence over the years had a great deal to do with that.

Once he read the first letter, Sammy opened another envelope inside marked “Open this envelope last”. It simply read, “You must be about 20 years old now and you have waited a long time for this”. He said he was very proud of him and for him to go to “Nana & Papa” for a special surprise. That part was hard to read, for us both. Sammy will never get to have that special surprise from his Papa, but we are very thankful that he loved my boy enough to want to do something very special for him.

We had a great time living out this little mystery. It is neat to see how such a simple little thing as a plain white envelope and a handwritten note, made such a lasting impact on our family. This memory is one we will all treasure for the rest of our lives, especially my son, Sammy.

Thank you, Papa.

I get by with a little help…

November 17, 2015 By: Staciecomment

Progress is good! As most of you know, I had hit another wall early in November and had begun to feel really poorly about how I looked and how I felt from day to day. Sam has been extremely challenged as well. Since running his Ironman, he has gained about 50 pounds. What is most important, he is not feeling well and has injured his back, so is not sleeping well and it is severely impacting his quality of life.

Well, since deciding we would “Get back on it” as of November 6th, it has been a hectic couple of weeks! In the past ten days, we attended a UGA Football game, I have travelled on business and have worked late most every night for over a week. In times like these, sometimes you can just use a little help! Luckily for me, in this case, my help came from family. My sweet Sister-in-law Laura was willing to help me out.

Since our schedules have been so crazy and we needed to stay on plan, Laura has been helping us out by doing my grocery shopping and cooking for us over the past two weeks. Although she was a little apprehensive at first, and I think overwhelmed her with all of my “plan rules”, I think she has finally found her groove. I am seeing her progress so quickly, that I told her she has seriously found her calling. I can see a future business blooming for her. Let me add too, that Laura is an excellent cook. LauraShe had a great foundation as a former school cafeteria worker and has good knowledge of healthy cooking because of cooking for my niece, who is Diabetic.

Laura has learned how to limit carbs and schedule the number of days in between heavy starches and red meat, and believe me, that can take some getting used to! She also said that she is learning to adjust recipes she found so that they are salt-free and low sugar, but it has been challenging. She has even made sure that buys enough of everything we will need for the entire week while also helping us to conserve our costs by checking our stock and planning around what we already have. She filled in the gaps with fresh fruits and veggies and weekly dairy.

It has been awesome to have Laura do the grocery shopping while I focused on work. It’s been terrific to have enough food cooked for the entire week, with easy grab and go options that I can create lunches and dinners from. It has been such a relief during these stressful weeks!

Let’s be honest Sam still needs a good amount of to keep him on schedule and I usually help him pack up his food for the day or tell him what he needs to do at each meal. He is in the beginning phase where your cravings and “wants” can easily sway your judgement and ability to stay on track. I have been able to just give Laura an outline of what our week should look like with some menu suggestions, and then wallah- it is there! She even cut up extra veggies for adding to salads and she labeled everything so we can easily see what we have to choose from.

While I am not sure how long Laura will be up to the task, or how long we can afford to have her help out, we sure have gotten spoiled with it all. With all she has learned these past two weeks, she is also now following the plan (along with my niece, Amanda). The big benefit for it all is that it is working like it always has. I am down six pounds so far and Sam has lost twelve pounds! If we can keep it up, I know we will be feeling much better and I will be back to a more comfortable place in no time. It really is just science!

A BIG THANKS GOES OUT TO LAURA! I love you and appreciate you very much.

Stacie

ALL IN

January 3, 2015 By: Staciecomment

In doing some of my end of the year house cleaning, I recently came across a simple poker chip that I had forgotten about. This chip was a symbolic item given out by our church quite a long time ago that was to remind us about a message we had heard. It was a simple item we could keep with us at all times. Of course, it had a lot of meaning to me then, but time and the challenges of life allow us to put items like these away and far from our minds. To be honest, I had long since thrown it in a bowl on my dresser and had totally forgotten about it. That is, until today.

I just love it when God (or my sweet Daddy) sends me messages that are so appropriate and seemingly at exactly the right time and exactly what I need to hear at that very moment. This is one of those days! You see, I recently shared my 2015 goals with my friends. For those of you who have not read my goals, here they are… Stacie’s 2015 challenge: It is with much anticipation and just plain fear that I share with ya’ll my next big goal! My husband has suggested this goal and I have decided to accept it. In 2015, I will walk and eventually run a mile per month. In January I will give it everything I have got to work up to a mile, in February two miles, March three miles and so on.

My plan is to participate in my first 5K race by March or April and then to work up to a 10k and eventually to attempt a half marathon by the end of 2015. Believe me, this is a HUGE goal for me! For those without physical challenges these goals could be pretty scary, but when it is someone who cannot feel their feet or move their toes and who has extreme muscle weakness in their limbs which makes wearing leg braces required in order to walk long distances or run- it is downright terrifying!

This poker chip had a great message when I originally received it, but these years later, it has an even more personal meaning for me. It is kind of like the culmination of an entire year’s work and dedication and will be my anthem for the new year. No Reserve, No Retreat, No Regret!

2014 was the year I reclaimed my life. 2015 will be the year that I push my limits, the year that I see just what I am capable of! I am no longer trying to get back something I had once before. This year I am going to go do something that I have never done before and never ever thought I could. I will push my mind, my spirit and my body to new limits. With my 44th birthday fast approaching, I truly feel that life is too short to live a life allowing those little voices in your head to say “I CAN’T”! I have lived the first 44 years that way and I refuse to do it any longer. So what that I am a 44 year old with a disability! Why can’t I complete a half marathon??? After what I have done over the past year, I finally believe that I can do anything that I set my mind to. From this day forward, I am going to live ALL IN!

After posting my goals on my Facebook profile a week or so ago, I have been very excited to hear from a couple of my longtime friends that they are planning to walk/run with me! My dream would be for a whole team of us to be wearing Standing with Stacie t-shirts and to cross the finish line together! So, for all of you out there that have been going through the motions and living a life that you know is not your best, I challenge you. What are you going to do in 2015 to change your life for the better? What is keeping you from being your best self? Just do it… Go All In!

Should you need help or want to join in on the fitness fun, please let me know! I am here for each and every one of you, just as you all have been here with me and for me, each and every day of this past year.

Happy 2015 everyone!

My Loss Is My Gain

November 9, 2014 By: Stacie2 Comments

This picture was taken exactly one month ago today, the night my Father passed away. At the time, I was dancing the night away with some friends and clients in a little club in Macon, Georgia. An hour after this picture was taken, I received the call that would forever change my life. I have looked at the photo many times since then. I have felt ashamed because it showed me smiling and being silly while my poor Father was possibly taking his very last breath. It simply hurt too badly to share with anyone else.

I have spent the last four weeks wondering when my Dad was leaving this earth, did he truly know how much I loved him? I would do anything to be able to go back to that day and to have one more conversation with him. I wish so very badly that I had not been so busy with all of my work activities during that trip and over those three previous days, that I did not take a moment to call him. Don’t get me wrong- my work is very important to me, but I could have spared ten minutes! That haunts me every day.

The last time I spoke to my Father was the afternoon of October 7th. It was just a normal conversation, nothing really important and nothing very memorable. Every day I have replayed in my mind all of the things that I should have said that day, and all the things I wish I would have done differently. If I had only known what was to happen in those next few days!

I know that I cannot go back and change time and I know that my Dad would not want me to have all of these regrets, but it is really hard not to. To say the least, this has been one of the hardest months, and absolutely the hardest year of my entire life. I worry every day about my Mother and I wonder how I can possibly make sure that she continues to feel loved and taken care of, just as she did those sixty plus years that she spent with my Father. Their dedication to one another was truly something special. They somehow gave one another just what the other needed. I only now truly see the extent of their love and devotion.

In the past year, I have experienced a great deal of loss. It began last Christmas when I lost my sweet Aunt Ina Maughon. You see Ina was the person I would speak with most about the challenges of living with CMT. She lived most of her adult life confined to a wheelchair from the effects of CMT. She taught me that just because you have a disability, it doesn’t mean that you can’t still have a wonderful life. She also showed me how to work hard and to never allow your disability to define you.

She would always say that I should find something that I am passionate about (she always loved to write poetry and to paint) and to do it as much as I can. Ina worked many years at her job and she never took the easy way out or allowed her disability and physical challenges to stop her. She worked until her retirement, devoting her entire career with one company. The people there loved her very much, and her boss has said to me that he could never have made it as far as he did without Ina. With all of her physical challenges during all those years, she never complained. She was such an inspiration for me and for everyone she came in contact with.

Having never married or having had any children of her own, Ina sort of adopted all of her nieces, nephews, great nieces and nephews. She was like a second Mother to many of us and she was very devoted to us all. She’d call us with a singing telegram on our birthdays and she was always concerned with our well being. She loved her friends just as dearly.

Ina also really loved my boy. They had a very special bond and even into his teens, Sammy would go and spend days with Ina. He would also come home telling all the wonderful people he met and the fun things they did. I was so very honored that my sweet Sammy was asked to eulogize Ina at her funeral. It meant the world to him. That week of her death (the week of his 18th birthday) in my eyes, my son became a man. Watching him the day of her funeral as he stood in front of a crowded church full of her friends and family speaking words so beautifully written straight from his heart. He was strong for her, and for all of us that day. I will always cherish that memory and he continues to make me proud every single day.

In May of this year we would lose our family dog Maggie. She was a constant companion to our family. Over the years, Maggie was always there to greet us and to keep us company on our journey through life. She would often lie next to me as I worked from home and she was always right beside me when I cooked a meal, hoping for a dropped crumb. Maggie was in our family for seventeen wonderful years and we all miss her every day.

Later that same month my son would graduate high school. Although those days were exciting for him, my heart was aching for I knew the days I would have him here with me were numbered. I knew that he would soon be leaving home. On August 16th my boy left for college, forever changing our household dynamic. My days that had previously been filled with activities and focus for him and his needs were suddenly empty. That day we left Sammy at school, I cried the entire way home.

In the weeks to follow, my husband and I would sit and stare at one another wondering “What do we do now?” Although I know it is a good thing for him and a right of passage for all children to go through, I couldn’t help but be very sad. I know it is just a transitional time for our family, but I feel a loss every day that he is not here with us.

As with every college kid, even when he is home there is a difference. The time I spend with him now feel like stolen moments. I now only get my moments when he does not have anything else planned and we can just sit on the couch together. I lay my head on his shoulder and I hold on to his arm and just breathe him in. I cherish every minute I have with him now. I see my friends that have younger children and I hear them speak about their chaotic lives shuffling kids about and all I can think is that I would trade places with them in an instant! I never really appreciated what I had all those years.

All I can think about today, one month to the day that my Father died, is how very much this past year has changed me. I will no longer take for granted the time I have here on this earth. I will try to make those around me understand how much they mean to me every time I am with them. I am working every day to live in the moment, to take in everything I experience and to really live it- right then, right there. Although I hope for great things for us in the future, I no longer wish my life away. I now know first hand that life and every moment of it, is most precious. You can never get back this very moment. You will never know when it may be your last time with that special person in your life.

With all the loss this year, I feel that I have also gained something great. I now have a focus on my family and friends, moreso than ever before. I also have a focus on my health, for I’ve learned that if I don’t take the time to take care of myself it will shorten the time I have with my loved ones and lesson my ability to create those wonderful new memories. I want to be with those that I love as long as I possibly can. I hope to be their biggest cheerleader, as they have always been for me.

Although this is a very difficult time for me, I do feel a sense of hope. I woke up this morning with the sun shining and with my love of over 24 years beside me. My son is happy, healthy and independent and that is a good thing! In the next few months, there are new opportunities and challenges coming my way that will allow me to grow. I also have a wonderful list of friends, too many to name, of which I could pick up the phone and call on any day and at any time and they would be there for me. The events of this past year have been evidence of that.

I had friends pick me up the minute we drove in the driveway from leaving Sammy at college to take me out because they knew I would be upset and need the company, I had over 250 people reach out to me after my Father’s death. I have been so very touched to know how many people truly care for me. I am simply in awe of the love I feel from all of the wonderful people in my life.

So, on this day of this Thanksgiving month, I say to all of you that I am so very thankful for my many blessings. I am thankful for my family, my friends, my job, my husband and for my life. I am thankful for my hard times and even for my CMT, for without my most challenging days I would never have learned to appreciate the good days. Without the bitter pain and sorrow, my joy would not be as sweet. Today I also want to thank Ina, sweet Maggie and my dear Dad. I thank you all for the impact you have had on my life and for making me a better person today than I have ever been. I promise that I will work very hard to make you all proud.

To all of you out there that continue to follow me on my journey, I thank you for your continued support. I make this promise to you all: I won’t waste a minute of the days that I have left. To my Mom: I will do my best to make you feel loved and cared for all the remaining days of your life. I love and admire you more than you will ever know.

Blessings to you all,

Stacie

My www.ColdLife.com review

November 7, 2014 By: Staciecomment

All of you know that I am a girl that LOVES to try out new things. As well, I am all for convenience and making my weekends less hectic. There is nothing I hate worse than spending my entire weekend running from store to store to get everything I need to prepare my healthy meals for the next week. As well, I have learned along the way that I can power cook with the best of them and I am willing to spend half my Sundays making all the yummy food I need for the week (even sometimes doubling my batches for friends). What I CANNOT do is go to three stores on Sunday morning trying to save a few bucks or get everything I want for a recipe & to restock my inventory and THEN have to go back to the house and work for hours in the kitchen preparing it all. IT IS JUST TOO MUCH!

So, in an effort to cut my trips to the store in more than half, most of you know that I have a commercial freezer that stores six month’s worth of organic meats and frozen veggies- any of those items I am pretty much set with at all times. What I still have to shop for are things like dressings, fresh eggs & dairy, fresh veggies and fresh produce. I usually spend about $100 a week on those items alone. Let’s face it- eating healthy can get expensive. However, in the scheme of things I would rather invest money into my health over anything else at this point. Of course I still have to do the monthly Costco run for paper towels, toilet paper, organic tomato paste and things like that. It also gives me an excuse to browse the endless isles of home decor, kitchen appliances & cookware and all the other wonderful things I LOVE at Costco (I will save that rant for another post). What I don’t like about traditional grocery store shopping (at least here in the Buford area) is the selection of organic produce.

Sam and I made the decision to shop organic about eight months or so ago. We read up on the effects of chemicals and GMOs on your health and we felt that if we were going to be spending money to eat healthy and to try to do what is best for our bodies- we may as well spend the extra effort and money to do it right. That meant no chemicals on our food and to only eat hormone free, organic and clean meats and dairy as well. While it is more expensive to eat this way, I will say that on occasion we do have to give in and buy things that don’t meet all the requirements. We do try to practice these rules as much as possible and eat this way a good 80% of the time. I will admit that our selection in stores has made it quite a challenge doing so up until now. You may be able to find a few organic items at our traditional grocery stores, we often find that we cannot ever get everything on our list at one store AND stick to the organic and non GMO rule! For this reason, I branched out to look for alternative grocery options.

I have been using the www.naturesgardenexpress.com delivery service for the past few months. I usually had a standing order of a large mixed box (veggies and fruits) and it ran me about $80 each week. The main challenge with this is that the food is only delivered on Tuesdays and I have to remember to make my exchanges online before Monday at 10am. As well, there are some weeks that I just don’t need delivery (like when I am travelling or we are going out of town). It is kind of a pain to have to remember to go in to the system and put your account on hold so that you won’t have a new order created. It takes quite a bit of planning on my part and these days my life has been so chaotic I just need EASY. So, I decided to give a new service a try in hopes that I could literally at a spur of a moment (when I have 20 minutes of free time in the week) go online and order what I need and have it show up in a day or so. This is how I operate best. Since I cook on Sundays, it helps me to have my food in my fridge by Friday or Saturday at the latest so that I can plan out my menu and have it all done by Sunday night. Life is too crazy for me otherwise! I NEED EASY…

I had heard the commercials for www.coldlife.com for several months now (on my lovely hour and 30 minute drive each way to my office). I had also seen some trucks with the logo on it. I decided to check it out and see if they deliver to my area. I was happy to see that they did! Their website was really easy to navigate and it was pretty clean and easy to figure out how to create an account. Unlike the www.naturesgardenexpress.com site- there was no confusion on how to set up your order and what you need to do to get service. It was just like ordering a book on amazon. I will say that I wished that some of the dairy and other products would show the nutritional labels of the food so that I can see if it is something I would want to try. I don’t eat yogurt or anything with more than 5 grams of sugar as a rule of thumb and because of this I was not willing to risk ordering any of that on the site since I could not see the label. NOTE TO THE FOLKS AT COLD LIFE- Make a picture of the labels and put them on the site so we can read them! I am busy and won’t take the time to go to the company’s website to review them for sure. 🙂

Once I ordered everything I received a confirmation email letting me know what the approximate total would be. The shipping was a flat $4 which would be worth it if I did not have to drive to several stores. As well I was able to find MOST of the produce and veggies that I wanted for the week.

So, here are the results from my first experience:

Ordered everything at 3:30pm on Thursday Nov 6th, order arrived at my door at 9:30am Friday November 7th.

The Good:

Turnaround time is awesome
The prices were competitive
The delivery man was well dressed and very nice
The quality of the food looks great
The packaging was well done and the food was cold.

The Bad:

Fuji apples, Butternut squash and Romaine lettuce were marked “out of inventory” on my packing slip and were not in my boxes
When I go to the website to check on status of these items, their systems are behind telling me it has not been delivered yet???

Overall Experience:

Good experience I guess- I would rate it a 3 out of 5. However, in saying that- I’d rather know at the time order is being placed what they are missing! As well, they should get a better system that is real time if they want customers to know the status of their orders.

Unfortunately for me I had already ran by Kroger last night (I needed to pick up a prescription anyway) so I was able to get a few things I couldn’t get at Cold Life. Now I guess I will have to make an additional trip to the store to get the additional romaine lettuce, butternut squash & the fuji apples. Kind of bummed about that!!! Last thing- SPINACH was not anywhere to be found on the site! How can you not sell organic spinach? Weird. Hope this helps ya’ll!

Have a Happy, Healthy Friday everyone!

It Doesn’t Come Easy!

October 28, 2014 By: Stacie1 Comment

Let’s be honest, exercise is HARD… Especially when you stop for a while and then have to get back at it. I have to be honest and tell you all that I really do NOT enjoy exercise at all. I don’t understand those people who talk about endorphins and hyperactivity after exercise. I have yet to experience any of those phenomenons. After exercise, all I want to do is to take a nap! While I know that it is extremely important and I can tell a big difference in my abilities to do those simple tasks like standing, bending and lifting things every day, after exercising for any length of time I am completely spent! My arms and hands shake quite a bit and my legs are well… WOBBLY! 🙂

I have not yet posted about my recent personal loss. I am not ready to do so yet either. I will only say that these last three weeks have been the hardest of my entire life. We all think we have challenges and we also have a tendency to whine about a lot. I often have to stop myself from going to dark places and doom and gloom when I struggle with things in my own life. I am not immune to difficult days and I am not especially good at being an overall positive person at all times.

What I am learning though is that when I tend to focus on the negative- all the things in my life that are going wrong and all the things I am frustrated with, that is all I can think about and it tends to have a snowball effect on my day. I find more and more and more things going wrong throughout the day. On those days, I find nothing positive happens. However, when I try to find the good in every situation- the fact that I was blessed with a wonderful person in my life for over 42 years while I had him. I’m blessed that I have a wonderful husband who loves and supports me in everything I do and that I have a son who is smart and loving and thoughtful- one that any girl out there would be so very lucky to have by their side. That is the good stuff! That is what is right in my world. At the beginning of today I was feeling a bit lost with all the changes I am going through in my life this year. My mind still wanders throughout the day thinking of everything that has happened these past few weeks and it is a bit hard to focus.

Then at lunchtime my doorbell rings and it is this wonderful person- my trainer & good friend, Ruth Ungerer. She is such a wonderful person that really believes in me and she takes her own personal time each and every week to invest in my well being! She is here to listen when I need to talk, she is here to encourage me when I need some desperately as well. For people like me, exercise is so very hard. I stumble and I fall. I can’t imagine that it is something she loves doing- coming here week after week, but she does it and for that I am very thankful! Without her, I don’t think I would keep at it. She keeps me accountable and she keeps me focused. Although my body is screaming at me to stop, she reminds me that the investment is worth it. She tells me how strong I am and she reminds me why I am doing this- ALL of this, even this site and blog and the endless hours I put into it. It is because I want to make a difference!

At the end of the day, although I have to admit that although I like getting some attention for the weight loss and I like the number I see on the scale- that is not my WHY anymore.

Here it is- My WHY: It is to keep on dancing with friends, to
keep travelling to all those places that I have never been, to be able to stand next to my son at his wedding one day and to be able to play with my grandchildren that I hope to have in the (far) future. 🙂 The exercises I am doing are not going to win me any bikini contest or medal- but they just may keep me out of that wheelchair a little longer, and THAT is a good thing. So, from this bruised and sore WobblyGirl to all of you out there- Do what you need to do, whatever you can do to keep investing in your health every day.

Think of your WHY and then do what you can to keep those goals in your mind as you sweat a little more and nap a little less. And for you CMTers out there, it does not matter if you are already in that chair or not- you still need to work at keeping your body moving. I hope that with my good friend Ruth’s help, we can inspire you to do some basic exercises to keep what muscle you still have firing. Life is what we make of it- good or bad. Let’s make it great!

Blessings to all of you ,

Stacie

My Eating Plan

October 25, 2014 By: Stacie1 Comment

I am so excited to be able to share my tips with all of you! It is nice to know folks are interested in my crazy life! 🙂 Let’s just get this number out there… I have officially lost 67 pounds since Sept of 2013. I hit my original goal about two months ago, which is really cool! Since then, I have challenged myself to lose another 6 to 10 before Christmas and I am working hard to tone my body and to increase my activity level each and every week. For me, this is not as much about weight anymore and is much more about being able to keep walking as long as I can and to keep my symptoms of CMT in check with healthy habits and rehabilitation.

The following eating plan is what I followed beginning in February of 2014. It is not intended to be a catch all, as most of you ladies may be smaller than I was at the beginning of my journey and of course men need more calories than women. However, I will do my best to show you the overall structure of what your day should look like when it comes to your daily food counts. Keep in mind that I DO NOT count calories and I do not measure my food for the most part. Of course, at the beginning, it is best to measure or weigh out your servings so that you can begin to internalize the true serving sizes you should be eating (if you are like me, you may be shocked at how much less you may be eating than you should). When I began this program, it took me a month or two to realize that I was guilty of not eating enough of the things that fuel my body, nor was I eating on a regular schedule. Now I know that it was no wonder my metabolism had completely shut down. My body would hold on to everything I ate because it did not know when it would get those much needed nutrients again!

I was a typical busy working Mom- I often skipped breakfast so that I could head out the door on time. Let’s face it, when you are overweight and have leg and arm issues it is hard enough just to get showered, dressed, make yourself presentable and get out the door with all the crap you need for your day! Add that to my hour and a half each way commute to the office and you see it is a deadly combination. Once I began to focus on getting in the fuel I needed for the day at the times I needed it, my body responded quickly and began to release the extra calories and burn the fat! The reason I recommend keeping a journal is that I can literally look back at my logs and show you the impact of missing servings or skipping meals on my overall weight loss. Think of your body as a big science project… Once you learn the science, the results are very predictable and very easy to control!!!

This plan is simple for me and I now have it memorized. My brain automatically registers what I just ate and which category it fills in my days allowances. You won’t be that way at first, of course! It will take a few months for you to get there. What I will promise you is that if you are able to stick with this initial “Learning” phase, it WILL eventually click and you will become like me- a conscious controlled eater that can easily make adjustments whenever necessary in order to have an overall positive outcome each and every week. During your learning phase, it will make your life so much easier if you just stick with the plan exactly- no cheating and no substitutions. This way you will lay a good foundation from which you can build on and you will kick-start your loss and be better prepared to deal with life throwing you curve balls later. Again, I cannot stress enough that you need to not think of this as a “diet”! Think of this as your new lifestyle and become a conscious intentional player in your own life. Leave NOTHING to chance and you will succeed.

Here is the breakdown of what I ate each and every day:

Breakfast: 1/3 protein serving (1 egg or 2 oz light cheese), 1 fruit, 1 starch, 6 oz skim milk
AM snack: 1 fruit. 1 protein supplement (shake, bar, meat or cheese)
Lunch: 1 protein, 2 vegetables, 1 starch
Mid PM snack: 1 fruit (MUST eat fruit 5 hours before bed)
Dinner: 1 protein, 2 vegetables, 1 starch (MUST eat 4 hours before bed)
PM Snack (Can be eaten after dinner as dessert): 1 protein supplement (MUST eat 2 hours before bed)
Must also consume daily: 1 Fat serving daily and 1/4-1/2 tsp of Morton’s light salt
Drink at least 85 ounces of water each day (Think 4, 24 ounce water bottles)
Take a good multivitamin and additional essential fatty acid (EFA’s) supplement each day. (This helps with skin elasticity and will be important for you the smaller you get).

I lost the first 20 pounds on my own- just completely changing what and how I ate and cutting out soda, creamers/caffeine, sugar and bad carbs (IE: white bread and pasta, etc). I also limited fats to only those that proteins gave me- so meats were ok and black beans were ok at that time. I hit a plateau around January 2014 so I kicked it up a notch. The info in this plan is what I followed through the last forty pounds of weight loss. Some folks will need more or less calories based on their beginning weight (men will need to add in additional proteins & starches during the day). Also, I had 45+ pounds total to lose. Towards the end of my plan and as I got closer to my goal, I removed the a starch at breakfast and cut my dairy to 4 ounces in order to maintain a burn. However, it is very important to note that the smaller you get and the less overall you are supposed to eat- it becomes even more important to get in ALL of your food each day in order to maintain a burn. My husband eats a bit more than this because of his size (He get’s additional foods, but he’s basically doing the same thing but he started at a higher weight than me). I can still lose pretty consistently when I stick to this program. I remind you again that the key to this program is to eat everything each day and to eat at regular intervals in order to keep your body burning!!

Another thing that really helps is to have others doing this with you so that you can rely on one another for support and help to keep one another accountable! If your spouse or roommate does it, you can help to keep one another on track and can help motivate one another. You should also be warned though that sometimes your spouse can be an enabler (like my sweet husband, Sam) and it will not help you if they are the ones who get you to eat poorly! Be sure to friend me on Facebook at www.facebook.com/StacieAKing if you want to work on it together.

I have written this information up for those that have requested it. If you decide to try it out, you can follow the basic structure of the plan and then once you internalize it- you can then make any substitutions for items you get in stores as you see fit. The bottom line, once you learn these rules for eating- the weight will come off and you will make progress towards your goal. If you check off everything on the list each day you will lose! No matter what, get it all in… Even if you have to eat something every hour of every day. At first, I could not stomach 8 ounces of chicken- IT IS A LOT! I would eat 4 ounces on my salad and then another four ounces later in the day. Now I have trained my stomach to be able to eat it all. That sounds funny, I know. I had to force myself to eat! Go figure- the fat girl did not eat much. 🙂

Throughout my program, I lost on average 2.5 to 3 pounds per week consistently until about the first week in May when I took a break and let my hair down a bit during all the celebrations for my son’s graduation and several out of town business trips which included our family vacation. Needless to say, that was a busy month and a half or so! The greatest thing to know was that I had the knowledge to keep me from gaining much at all during that time, even when I cheated! I enjoyed myself on occasion but overall was able to keep on plan throughout it all. I only gained about four pounds total during those months and I got it right back off after it was over. Once I hit my final goal around August 2014, I have been able to maintain my weight within about four pounds and have been able to enjoy myself during the weekends and at parties/family events. This became critical for me over the past few weeks after my Father’s passing. It has been the hardest month of my life, yet I am thankful that I am still in control.

While my weight loss was a little slower than I had hoped at first, (I had wanted to hit my original goal by April or May of 2014) I have to admit that I cheated in the beginning (cocktails here and there with clients/skipping meals) while I was still learning the chemistry behind it all. It is hard to be as busy as I am and to make it a priority to prep, shop, and cook (I work at least 50 hours per week most weeks and have two contract jobs on the side to help make extra money). It will be hard for you too. Life is just like that. You have to remember the end goal at all times and to understand that the choices you make each and every day will have an impact on your future self. During the past year, I was planning a reunion, I had my son’s Senior year activities at school, all the college visits, college applications, and our normal personal family stuff too! While I post A LOT on Facebook, most people don’t realize that digital marketing and social media is what I do for a living so I am ALWAYS online and plugged in. Needless to say, I love what I do and find myself playing online even in my downtime. I have learned to make time to feed myself good, real food. It really is 90% what you put in your mouth!

IMPORTANT FIRST STEPS: The first bit of advice I can give you is to take your health seriously! We only get one life and this one body and at the end of the day, if we don’t take care of ourselves, we are NO GOOD for anyone else. The second important advice is to go get a physical and some basic blood work tests before beginning any weight loss program! Just call your primary care physician and schedule a physical if you haven’t had one in a while. It is really best for you to know any issues you may be dealing with and to have a baseline before you start. This is especially important with things like blood pressure, thyroid function levels, cholesterol levels, etc. These things can be impacted by certain foods so it is best to know how to adjust your eating accordingly. Also, I don’t take a lot of supplements because of interactions with my disease or my blood pressure/thyroid issues. I do take some things intentionally (like the Mortons salt) because it helps my blood pressure to do so (I explain more below). You will learn so much more if you know what you are dealing with up front before you get too far into any weight loss plan.

EXAMPLES OF WHAT TO EAT FOR EACH MEAL:

Breakfast: One egg or 2 oz light mozzarella or swiss cheese (30 calories) or Light Baby bell with one piece of toast (counts as a full starch). Toast must be under 40 calories also- Nature’s Own has a good one. Rotate cheese or egg every other day. You should eat no more than six eggs per week total (unlimited if you use egg beaters), You can also use light butter (check the attached list) but counts as your fat for the day. Also eat one serving of fruit at breakfast, and six ounces of skim milk. I gave up coffee for about four months because you cannot do cream or sugar and I was also avoiding fake sugars due to their chemicals. If necessary, you could do a sugar-free energy drink if you need to- crystal light or Advocare SPARK are good choices? You can also have coffee with your skim milk and sugar substitute if chemicals are not a concern for you (people with neuromuscular should avoid sugar substitutes if at all possible. Stevia or Splenda is your best choice if you plan to have a substitute).

AM Snack: In between breakfast and lunch, I eat a protein bar, or a protein shake and another fruit serving. They are low carb and give me more nutrients.

Lunch is one starch (check out the attached list for options). You should also eat two servings of vegetables (cooked with Pam only) and a protein serving (8 ounces of chicken is a TON of chicken). Red meat should be eaten only three times per week and never back to back days. You can also have Mrs. Dash or fresh herbs to season your meats. Garlic is my favorite of course. You can eat any no-sodium or zero sugar seasonings (cinnamon, onion powder, etc)- be sure to weigh meat before you cook it and no oil or butter. No canned meats or lunch meats because of the sodium content, but you can eat canned tuna fish once per week (6 ounces). No meat on the bone (too high in fat). Also, you should not eat canned veggies either if at all possible (they contain sodium). You should choose fresh or fresh-frozen veggies because you need the nutrients! Remember, food is for fuel.

Suggestion: 1% cottage cheese can be a serving of protein (7 oz) and it’s really good with pineapple! You can do that three times per week. I also keep meal replacement shakes on hand to use when I can’t find anything healthy to easy ( conventions I attend, etc). You really shouldn’t use them more than twice per week though. Keep them under 5 grams of sugar and they should have at least 15 or more grams of protein. The shakeology shakes made by BeachBody or the JuicePlus shakes are great choices. Also, regarding proteins- should never mix proteins… Ex: No chicken and cheese together. The simpler you eat, the better. This helps your body digest your food easily and quickly.

PM snack: This should be eaten at least 2 hours before bed. You can eat this after lunch or wait to eat it as a “dessert”- think chocolate protein bar or chocolate protein supplement made as a pudding (very little water added). It is another protein serving (if I drank a shake earlier then I eat a bar or QWLC chips in the evening). I will also eat another fruit serving (Eat 3 per day).

Dinner: This should be eaten at least four hours per bed. The breakdown is the same as at lunch (1 protein, 1 starch, 2 vegetables). You can eat half a large potato or brown rice (1/4 Cup Cooked) as your starch at dinner. Do this only every other day and no more than 3 per week of those. I also use Melba toast a lot (like as croutons on salad) and that is my starch. If you eat a salad- remember to ask for NO onions, NO croutons, NO cheese, and NO carrots. When you are out- these are usually standard on salads and hard to pick out. I usually order a Caesar (romaine) with no dressing or croutons or a spinach salad. That counts as a veggie serving and you can use 2 tablespoons of any dressing under 35 calories. The best ones I have found are Olive Garden light Italian and any of the Bolthouse farms. You can find them at Wal-Mart. Bolthouse Blue cheese is my favorite. Also, you can order to go packets from various organic manufacturers online that you can keep in your purse. You can only do one dressing each day though, so you can use them as a sauce on your grilled chicken or on a salad each day (See Recipes for ideas).

Depending on if you have high blood pressure or not- you need to get some additional potassium in each day because you are going to be limiting your sodium intake each day. I had a hard time with this! I have added 1/2 to one teaspoon of Morton’s light salt to my food every day, especially because I have/had high blood pressure. It gives me the sodium and potassium necessary to keep my body functioning. It is best to check with your own doctor on this of course. Remember, the more water you drink each day and less sodium you take in, the more you will need to supplement potassium so that your body does not get an electrolyte imbalance. Here is a great article on the importance of potassium. It will help to explain more on the subject.

In order to get the salt in each day, I measure it out each morning and keep a little snack-sized Ziploc bag or container in my purse with my salt for the day and I pour it on my food all throughout the day. Watermelon with my salt is my favorite way to get it in. YUM. Or- I cut up cucumbers and add apple cider vinegar to them with the salt. You then eat them like chips and they count as a veggie! 🙂 At first, I would always forget my salt and would end up having to add it to my water at night- YUCK. It is really strong and potent, so it is best to eat it all throughout the day.

As you can see this is A TON of food to eat all day, but it truly keeps your metabolism moving all day and I am never hungry for sure. It takes a lot to get it all down every day!!! I found too that I get busy and forget to eat and then end up with leftover stuff. I used to use alarms on my cell phone to remind me throughout the day, but that got annoying for other people because I would leave my phone on my desk or purse and everyone else had to listen to it.

I also purchased a Fitbit a couple of months ago and that is great because I can schedule my alarms to go off on it and since it is on my wrist and vibrates when I need to eat- I never miss a meal now and only I get scared when it goes off. The world is not involved in my eating regime! To order your own, you can get them at all major stores you will buy technology at, or click here to order from Wal-mart. It costs around $87 but helped me tremendously to keep me eating on a schedule and to track my steps each day.

Important Final Rules to Remember:

No fruit but 5 hours before bed at the latest (because of sugar)
4 hours before bed you need to eat dinner…NO LATER
Last protein serving should be two hours before bed at the latest. ( I eat my protein bar at this time because they taste like candy and make a great dessert)
Drink 65-80 ounces of water per day… THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING YOU WILL LEARN!

A couple of additional things to note- Do not drink anything with caramel coloring (No cokes, Pepsi etc- even diet ones) or anything with malt in it (soy sauce) because they will affect your chemical balances. If you cheat you will see it on the scale and it takes a week to get back on track- I AM NOT KIDDING. As they say, Been there, done that! During the last phase of my program, I tried to kick it up to a 3- 4 pounds per week during the last few weeks and it made a big difference sticking to this rule. If I can tell you anything at all if you cheat in the beginning, it throws your chemical balances completely off and it will take about five days to get back into burning. IT IS JUST NOT WORTH IT! I could have been at my goal weight much earlier had I not cheated… Darn those fireball shots and pina coladas!!! 🙂

Hydration is critical in weight loss and will make a big difference in your weekly totals. I have a big Contingo water bottle I use every day (they have them at Walmart if you need one). It holds 24 ounces and I fill it up four times or more per day. If you add the milk I drink (in addition to plain water amounts) and the protein drinks I drink as well- I am ALWAYS drinking SOMETHING! 😉 Your body is made up of water. EVERYTHING runs better if you consistently drink water. As well, it will aid with your skin tightening- a big factor for me. You will love your skin & complexion too.

You can find these awesome Contigo water bottles at Wal-Mart. Click here for the link to purchase them online. I have about four of these that we rotate day to day so we always have a clean one to use each and every day. They are dishwasher safe and BPA free so getting your water in is super easy using these! Just drink four or five of these per day and you are done!

I know this seems overwhelming, but I PROMISE- If you follow this to the t, you will lose!! It is science. I truly hope this all helps you! Let me know if you have any questions at all. You can reach me directly by registering on this site or email me at wobblygirl@wobblygirl.com.