I'm No Influencer, I'm Just Me

I'm not an influencer.  I'm not a famous blogger.  I don't have endorsements.

I'm a normal everyday person that wants to lose weight; that needs to lose weight.

But I'm always starting over.  I'm always failing and starting over.

No one is going to be influenced by me; look me up everyday to read; nor want me to endorse their product.

I'm just me and I bet there are more of you like me, then not.

Remember when WW would have celebrities endorse their program?  The celebrities would be the spokesperson after they lost the weight.  I could never understand why we didn't see the whole celebrity journey rather than just the aftermath.

I was never encouraged by a celebrity's weight loss.  Why? Because they have options the rest of us don't: nutritionists, cooks, personal trainers, etc..  You know what I'm talking about!

I always thought WW should choose normal everyday people of various ages and sizes and then do the commercials about them, from start to finish.  The people who have to cook their own meals; the people who can not afford a gym membership; the people like me and you.  Oh, I know there were commercials with regular WW members - but it was after the fact - you had to have lost the weight to be in a commercial.

I use to read the blog of one person who had been in a WW commercial.  When she started to put weight back on; she stopped her blog.  I was sad because that's the part of the journey I really needed the help with.  I guess she thought she had failed and didn't deserve to lead anymore.  I couldn't disagree more.

Last post, I challenged whomever may read here to start a walking challenge.  We're a week in already, and I haven't done one walk.  I've failed; but I haven't stopped.

To those who actually are doing the challenge - Congratulations!

To those like me - keep moving forward, never look back!

 

Heading Into The End of the Year

Tomorrow is December 1st.  It is so hard to believe that another year is almost over.

December commitments:   Lunch with sisters and nieces, great niece's birthday party, haircut, book club and making Christmas cookies with my one sister and nieces and great niece.  All that before Christmas and there is the party at work, which I'm in charge of.  Busy month!

I was off work this past week; I always take the week of Thanksgiving.  This year I'm also getting the week after Christmas - that's never been available before.

My previous post, I mentioned I got a Witherings scale.  We got hubby hooked up to it today.  No great success yet this early, but it is very interesting and it does sync to the Lose-It app.  I do still use my Shapa and it's been bouncing me between Green and Teal.  I'll get on the Withering each day; but will only look once a week!

For December it's time to do a challenge.  December seems to be a bad time for challenges; but that's what makes it a good time for challenges.  Don't wait to the beginning of the new year - start now!  The challenge for December is 1 mile a day.  Can't do a mile?  Just take a walk a day, don't worry about the length.  Your everyday steps and such don't count.....it has to be extra walking, more than normal.  Hashtag:  #Dec25walkeachday  The idea is to get some movement in!  Join Me!

An Update!

I haven't been missing; just accessing and trying to keep moving forward.

I have decided to finally cut ties with Weight Watchers and move forward with Lose-It.  Though I could continue using my WW scale, it doesn't automatically link to Lose-It and without the WW app, I can't use another app to make them work together.  I decided to get a Withings Scale which is compatible with Lose-It:

It's app will work with Lose-It.  Obviously you don't need a scale that automatically connects to the app to use Lose-It, you can input your weight manually...but I just like the gadgets!  I'm a gadget girl! 😊  

Anyway, KICKSTART will be starting again in January and you can register at this link:  KICKSTART REGISTRATION   It's totally FREE, so what do you have to lose??  Get support and advice and help through your journey.  There are guides & journals available to purchase if you feel that you need that; but it is not necessary.  You can just use any journal you'd like or a plain notebook or nothing at all.  I've tried several different types which you can see here and here.  This time around I'm just going to use my Lose-It app; it has a place for notes; and like I said above, I do better with gadgets!  You Do You!

Fiber

 One of the things I hear a lot about is getting your fiber in.  When WW started allowing other nutritional values, I begin to hear people complaining about not being able to get their fiber in.

First....just because WW allows you to the ability to see nutritional values other than just points....doesn't mean you have to use that tool.  You can set the ones you want to follow or just turn on the ones you want.  If you try to hit the levels on all of them, you'll become a little overwhelmed.  Just food for thought.

Anyway, my doctor advised at least 25g of fiber a day.  I've discovered that that seems to be pretty much the minimum for women and I see a lot complain how hard it is.  When my doctor advised this amount, she also said not to get the fiber from supplements as supplements are very low in grams as far as fiber.

I'm here to say that fiber isn't that hard.  If you're on WW you may have heard of 647 bread.  2 slices of the Italian 647 bread will give you 14g of fiber; have it as a sandwich, have it with breakfast and you'll have 14 of the 25g you need!

A few posts back, I posted about a wrap I bought at Aldi's; one wrap is 14g of fiber.  Wrap eggs in that for breakfast or make a sandwich wrap.

It's really not that hard, read labels!

Lose-It

Lose-It is one of the weight loss apps I have tinkered with.  My WW membership ends December 1st and I do not plan on keeping it any longer.  I do like that they added the options to track other nutritional values, however, I think it's best for me to move on from WW.

I was happily surprised when I opened the Lose-It app today and discovered a new lay-out; not only am I able to track calories; I also have the option to choose other nutritional values and they will appear on the front screen (you use to have to scroll to other screens to see those).  It keeps the totals at the top and also give you the totals for each meal/snack!

Below are the values available:

I also find the note area useful and figure now I don't need a paper journal/datebook/etc.. because I can do everything pretty much in the app!

I think that this will be the app I'll be using.  I already have the lifetime membership for it, so that only makes sense.

Quickie Update!

 I can't believe it's been so long since I updated!!

I haven't been doing well but my Shapa is back in the Green zone - which is a win for me!

I finished my Horror movie watch with:

Talk To Me

The People Under The Stairs

The Ward

Fallen

Weapons

The Cabin In The Woods

R.L. Stine's Pumpkinhead

Until Dawn

Child's Play (original)

Smile 2

Trick 'r Treat

Halloween (original)

I also helped proof read Jean-Luc & Nick's journals for Winter 2026 Kickstart!  As always... Kickstart is FREE and you can sign up for the Winter session that begins in January now!  Journals and cookbooks are available to purchase now, but as I always say - they are not necessary.

Sign Up Here:    Kickstart Sign Up

An Overdue Update

This month has been so busy.........

Kickstart Update:

Well.....Shapa this morning threw me back to light gray 😒.  Not happy about that but I'm not surprised.  I have kept up with my Kickstart tracking (honestly); but I've started a restart for myself today.. need to get the eating under control.

Speaking of eating....... I'm going to give you a product review.  I bought these at Aldi's:

What attracted me was the 14 g of fiber.  My goal is 25 grams/day (doctor's request) and this gets me pretty close in one meal!  I heated one in the microwave and cooked 2 eggs and made an egg sandwich with it.  I also had coffee and a banana.  This actually was very filling and gave me good total specs:  321 calories, 17.1 g fiber, and 20.2 g of protein.  I'm trying to move away from points, but in case you're counting the wrap comes in at 2 pts, whole breakfast would be 2 pts.  I also ran it through the Healthi app (Carb Conscious program) and the wrap is still 2 bites, whole breakfast 6 bites.

Horror Movie Update:

I'm still doing my horror movies and I've continued with the following:

Black Phone - Wanted to rewatch this before seeing the new one.  This is a good movie.

The Substance - This one got rave reviews but had a limited release and took forever to come on a streaming service.  It is a good movie with a lot of potential but the ending just ruined it for me.

The Thing (1982) - I really love this movie and it has an ending that'll keep you guessing!

Thirteen Ghosts (2001) - This never had good reviews but I saw it in the theatre when it came out and really enjoyed it.  Hard to find for free on streaming; so I dug out the dvd player and the dvd and watched it that way.  Still a good watch!

Carrie (1976) - Only the original will do, there has been remakes but only the original holds the test of time.

Black Phone 2 - Went to the theatre for this one!  Part twos are often hit or miss and this one was a hit for me.  It does help to see the original first!

Heart Eyes - This one is a fun slasher.

Dead Silence - There is nothing creepier that ventriloquist doll and this movie has many!

The Crazies (1973) - George Romero did more than just the Dead movies and this is one of them.  I'm going to follow it with the remake which is a little more horror then the original.

Movies, Kickstart and Products.....

First allow me to update my horror movie watching:

Phantasm: an oldie and after this watch I realized, despite being a cult classic, isn't really that good.

Sinister: whenever someone asks me to recommend a horror movie - this tops my list.  It's dark, it's creepy and it's got a lawn mower scene that'll jump you out of your skin (even at rewatches and you're expecting it).

The Dark and the Wicked:  this one is creepy and has some great scenes that will keep you guessing; but.....the ending ruins it.  So sad for a movie that had so much potential.

Vicious: this is a new one out on Paramount+ and it's pretty good.  There is a scene that is very hard to watch and you kind of know how it will end; but you don't care that it ends that way.

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Shapa has had me back and forth between teal and green; and I'm okay with that.  I haven't been perfect with all my commitments; but Kickstart isn't about perfection; it's about working to set healthy habits.  So I do feel good with my Kickstart progress so far.

A while back I did a product review on Protein Pastry by Legendary that resembles a pop-tart.  I wasn't fond of them and expressing that view gave me comments on posts such as:

Well you need to heat them up before eating them.  I did.

It says it's a pastry not a pop-tart; you shouldn't be expecting that.  Well then it shouldn't look like a pop-tart; and pop-tarts are pastries as well, it says so on the box.

I just didn't like them and felt the cost doesn't make them worth it.  This week I was in a local grocery store and they had the following marked down on clearance for $4.99 which is half the normal cost:

Only this particular flavor was on clearance but at that price I thought I'd give them a try.  If I had had a choice, I definitely would of chosen a different flavor; but this gave me an opportunity to give them a try.  I've been pleasantly surprised.  This one comes in at 5 pts. but definitely hits that sweet craving spot.  I want to try the other flavors.  (I see from their website that the chocolate above is being replaced with another chocoate, that explains the clearance price).

So the pop-tart like ones were a fail for me, but the sweet rolls are a winner!

Horror Movie

Today's horror movie is a classic the original Scream!  From the opening scene with Drew Barrymore until the twisty ending, this one keeps moving!

Horror Movie Update

Yesterday I watched Bring Her Back.  That was one of the best movies I saw this year.  It's creepy, you'll have a lot of WTF?, you'll wonder what is going on and there will be parts that are extremely hard to watch (even during a rewatch); this is one that will stay with you long after it's over.

Today I lightened up a little with Hell of a Summer.  This one is light hearted and fun!  A comedy slasher at it's best!

Weekend Update

I had meant to start posting my 31 Days of Horror Movies on the blog along with FaceBook and Instragram....but I forgot about the blog part!

So I'll do an update here, and try to remember to that one daily.

Every October I do a 31 Days of Horror Movies, basically I try to watch one a day but sometimes I do have to double up.  This year I started George Romero style with the movie that gave me the love for the zombie genre:  Night of the Living Dead (1968) .  There's been a lot of zombie type movies since then, but this movie is what started it all!  The opening scene at the cemetery still terrifies me to this day.  CC and I visited Evans City Cemetery where this scene was filmed and you really couldn't help looking around hoping not to see something stumbling towards you 😟!  This movie over the years has been colorized and even had a remake; but only the original black & white version is the best...the black & white just adds some more creepiness to it!

The next evening I did the second Romero film Dawn of the Dead (1978).  This one is a fan favorite and considered Romero's best (though I think Night is much better).  Another one of his movies that has been remade; but the original still holds the test of time.  The mall seems like a pretty good set up for the zombie apocolypse and having also visited Monroeville Mall, where this was filmed, it was fun to rewatch.

Last night I moved onto Day of the Dead (1985).  There's been a few remakes of this one most having nothing to do with the original other than the name.  This one is a little more fun than the previous two and by the ending you're kind of rooting for the zombies, especially zombie Bub!  No, I've never been anywhere near where anything was filmed (to my knowledge) BUT, I did have the opportunity to watch the film at a breakfast with some of the cast members!!  That was a lot of fun!  Also - look for a very young Greg Nicotero in this one.

My plan was to continue on with Land of the Dead followed by  Diary of the Dead then Survival of the Dead but I can only find Land if I pay for it!  I pay way too much for streaming as it is, not paying anymore.  So I ended the Dead series with Day.

So now that we're caught up so far on the Horror Movies.....

I'm still moving along with Kickstart.  I did, against my better judgement, get on a regular scale and realized I had lost nothing - only maintained....what a downer.  I am moving forward, however, and not backwards!