george from seinfeld is on a diet

I laughed my head off, when I saw that Jason Alexander was going to be the new Jenny Craig spokesman. I saw the commercial for the very first time last night, he asks Valerie Bertinelli to help him lose 30 lbs.

Imagine George Costanza on Jenny Craig! It would have made for a few very funny Seinfeld episodes. He should have called Tommy Lasorda and got some advice, after all he was the slim fast man for awhile. It’s fun to think of who will make the next spokesperson after George, I don't think Lou Grant would be interested! lol

Tough Decisions

Decisions... Decisions... Decisions. I have been given a wonderful opportunity, a very reputable weight loss camp has asked me if I would come this summer and help motivate the kids and at the same time help me meet my weight loss goals.

Of course, I won't go into the weight part portion, as I promised you to stay off that topic for one month and this is week number two. The owner of the camp saw me speaking at one of my engagements and came up to me and said "Did you go to weight watchers camp in Pennsylvania when you were a kid?" I said "Yes when I was 13." He said "I was your waiter!" My mouth hung open. "Are you kidding me?" I said. How did you recognize me after all these years? For some reason he did and now he wants me to be part of his camp experience.

The first thing I asked was can my dog come and he said yes. What a thrill to be given a chance to be part of a child's life that is in this weight war. It would be for six weeks in North Carolina. I thought, wow this could be a chance to get off those extra pounds that bother me so much and to have a real effect on a child's life. I wish when I went to camp, I had a woman like me to talk to. Trust me I have a lot I could share with them. For some reason I have not said a full yes as of yet. I am a bit hesitant and I cannot figure out why. I am going to take the rest of the weekend to think about it and I'll let you know.

By the way if you want to hear a fabulous story about a women who beat the odds with her weight go to bariatrics4diabetes.com , you will be amazed at this story and they will continue updates following her amazing life through this battle. Well I have some decisions to make and will keep you updated. Let me know what you think of Dana's story.

With love,
Stacey

THE MOST COMPLICATED YET GREATEST RELATIONSHIP- MOMS

Well, my mom finished her radiation treatments in New York and went back to Florida this week. I know she was happy about going home, but we were both sad also, because we got to spend six weeks together. It’s funny how when you get older your mom becomes more of a friend than she is a mother figure. We shared a lot of things we would have not normally shared years ago. Yes, we fight like cats and dogs, but the beauty of a good mother/daughter relationship is no matter how bad we fight, or the not so nice words we said, the next day we are back to normal and the slate is clean, I find this much harder to do that with friends.

For the first time in my life I can really see my growth, as a person, through my relationship with my mom. I was able to be there for her 100% for the very first time in my life. When she got on that plane, I felt no guilt, no remorse or no wishing I had said or did something different. That was one of the best feelings in my life. I could tell that my mom trusted that I would be there for her and she could count on me which is so much growth for me. It’s a new role my life to have people in general look to me for answers and strength. My role was to always be the needy one. I like my new role in life, and I look forward to being there for other people. I get to do that a lot through the [Our Resolution] campaign. I look forward to the spring and to traveling again to meet people and to get a chance to make a difference in their lives.

My dog Tushy turned one this month and the poor guy just had his manly parts cut off. I really did not want to do it, but just in case the doctors are right and his chances for bad health are greater I thought it was best. He is such a friendly dog to children, adults and other PETS that I decided this year; we will get certified so Tushy can be a comfort dog. Eventually, we will visit people in hospitals, especially children to cheer them up. Tushy is a Maltese and is a non allergic dog and does not shed so he will be perfect.

Have a good week my friends, with great love and respect STACEY

No Weight Talk Challenge

If someone tells me I need to change something about myself, I do not listen, as I pride myself on my uniqueness. If two people tell me that I might want to think about changing something about myself, I do not listen. If three to five people tell me, I still do not listen, but after five I know it's time to look at this behavior that people are calling to my attention. I call this blog the "NO WEIGHT TALK CHALLENGE”.

In April of 2010, it will be eight years since I had my gastric bypass surgery. I have maintained a three hundred pound weight loss for about five years now. When I meet people for the first time as I am doing today I feel compelled to somehow see, to bring the conversation to the fact that I once weighed 550 pounds. It's almost an obsession. I feel as if I do not have a lot to offer if I do not bring my accomplishments to the table, again hence the obsession.

My own boyfriend of almost two years tells me that I talk about the old me way to much. He tells me that he does not know that me, that it was before his time. Recently someone I work with asked me why all my blogs somehow always go back to the topic of weight. This women told me I have so much more going on in my life and I live in a very exciting city and she tells me I have great stories to tell that have nothing to do with my weight. My answer to her is that I am now a proud spokesperson of one of the greatest companies called Covidien part of the [Our Resolution] campaign which you can visit at www.OurResolution.com. I am also a motivator, so in my mind I assume that is all people wish to talk about. The woman also told me, yes all those things are true, but you are also a fabulous women with lots to share and I should try to share other stuff too.

Ok, so I've heard this over and over even from Oprah Winfrey, who told me live on her show that when I was dating I was giving out too much info about my past too soon. So here is where I am finally acknowledging it's time to be the new me. Does that mean I won't talk about weight issues, no way, of course I will. I feel A RESPONSIBILITY to share with people about my success and how just a few short months after having weight loss surgery my diabetes, my high blood pressure and my high cholesterol have all resolved themselves to normal numbers. I also see now that I have to embrace the new me, the me that is not just about her weight issues. I am giving myself a one month challenge ,for one month from today after this blog is posted I will not mention weight issues AT all unless to announce somewhere I will be speaking or if someone writes in a weight related question. There's more, I also will not discuss my weight with anyone I meet for the first time or old friends unless of course they bring it up. So, for the next month’s blog they will be non weight related and at the end of the month I will report to you how I did and if I learned anything. I will be sure to share it with you. So here goes, wish me luck...

With love and respect,
STACEY

"We are as sick as our secrets"'

Every year, since I can remember, my New Year’s resolution had to do with weight and never anything else. This year it is going to be different, for the first time, because I now believe if I can work on this particular issue, everything that has to do with weight will just keep getting better.

When people lose a lot of weight, unfortunately they usually exchange it with another bad addiction, which usually takes the place of the old one. I talk about this more in my book “Winning after Losing’. For some it becomes like alcohol as Carne Wilson admitted she struggled with for awhile, for others it can become a sex addiction (my body is not in good enough shape for that one lol!} For me it turned out to be a shopping addiction. It all started out very innocently. .

My whole life I had to order all my clothes from a dress maker, because even the larger size stores did not carry my size. It would normally take about a month from the time I purchased the material till I got the finished clothes back; so when I got to the point where I lost enough weight to buy clothes in the stores I was literally (no pun intended) like a kid in a candy store. When I realized I could actually take the clothes home with me the same day well I went nuts!!!!!(More food talk lol) I started buying everything in sight just because it fit. It got to the point that if I had a guest stay at my apartment, I had to borrow a clothing rack to put in the living room. I have a small one bedroom apartment in Manhattan, so I was getting a bit closed in. It graduated to beyond clothes I had became a home shopping network addict. I almost bought a garden hose even though I don’t even have a backyard just because they described it on TV so well ha ha but I swear.

It had gotten so out of hand that I no longer allowed my boyfriend to come over to the apartment for several months, because I was embarrassed at what my apartment had become. I finally along with the help of my shrink, my mom and the cable show “Clean house” put two and two together. I had replaced half gallons of ice-cream and whole pizzas with “stuff”, and it did not matter if I went into debt to get it. It started to affect my healthy food choices and that’s when I realized how big this problem was. I vowed that this will be the year I de- clutter my life and my mind and even lose some more weight.

I once heard, ‘We are as sick as our secrets”. So this year, I am coming out of the closet, along with a lot of other junk, and I am going to fix my mess. I started already, in the last two weeks I have removed over twenty big garbage bags of trash out of my house. This is going to be just as hard for me as it was losing 300 lbs, but at least I know I am capable of that kind of change. So how about you? Do you have a junk draw or two that needs tending too? Join me on my de-clutter campaign in 2010. Have a great week…. with love Stacey

2010

OMG, it cannot possibly be a few days away from 2010! It seems like just yesterday, we were all waiting till midnight, the year of Y2K to see if our computer world would fall apart. Where did the time go? I know where it went; mostly it got divided into good and bad choices that we made with our lives.

To say the least, New Years Eve was never my favorite time of year, I always felt forced to have fun and for the most part that never worked. Two years ago, I had my very first New Year’s date, which was very memorable to me, to have someone actually ask me out for New Years was such a new experience for me. I use to be the girl who stayed home and ate a half gallon of ice cream and told everyone I had plans so they would not feel bad for me, It amazes me how quickly my life changed for the better once I turned my bad choices into good choices.

One day, I was saying how will I ever lose 300 lbs and then I had lost 200. One day I had type two diabetes and then very shortly after I started losing weight my diabetes numbers were normal. We might feel totally overwhelmed today with our lives, but I am here to tell you every choice you make counts and your life can turn around for the better so fast that you would not believe it. There are so many things I still want to get right in this life and sometimes it truly overwhelms me. I need to slow down and remember what works for me and then repeat those behaviors. I learned from the Oprah show to write 5 things every day that I am grateful for and I started this at 550 lbs . . . . in the notebook I wrote even the littlest things, like I’m grateful I got out of bed today, I’m grateful I have friends, etc. It is not important whether they are big or small, what is important is that we learn to appreciate things.

So here is my new year’s 2010 grateful list for today:

!. I am grateful that my mom is alive

2 I am grateful that I can go outside everyday and enjoy life

3 I am grateful for my wonderful new dog

4 I am grateful that this year’s mammogram was clean

5 I am grateful that people feel I motivate them



Now start your grateful list and have a great New Years with love … Stacey

New York, New York

If you happen to be in New York City at holiday time, you are very lucky, because there is nothing like it in the whole wide world. The sights… the smells…the friendliness of the people are all not to be missed. The store windows will have you in a jaw dropping awe. They are filled with colors and sounds like no other place. You can barely walk two feet in front of yourself, but it is all worth it to experience the mayhem of New York City.

I was in Macys, on 34th Street Sunday, thinking Sunday, would be a perfect day to shop, because it is a work week area, but boy was I wrong. I took my mom to lunch and we had to wait 45 minutes to be served. There was a long line to get in the restaurant, but no one was doing their usual complaining, instead, people from out of town were asking suggestions of what New York places would be fun to go to. There is a window, in New York City that is so worth talking about, that it was news worthy. I call it the naughty window, near the store Lord and Taylors. This window is set up to look like an apartment and in the apartment there were six girlfriends, hanging out in very scantily clad lingerie. They are just hanging out and pretending that the whole city could not see from the outside. They would go to their dresser drawers and try on different night gowns and lingerie behind a screen then come out and talk with their girlfriends on the couch. This went on for two weeks with changes in shift of course. People crowded around the window all day and not just men. Only in New York!

I do have some sadness at holiday time, although, my mom is fine, she still has to go through radiation during this time and that makes me feel bad. The other thing and something I don’t share too often, but I have a gaping hole in my heart for my precious dog Gertie, who died nine months ago. I will never get over her. I never run out of tears for her, because she was my first dog after I was well enough that I could walk a dog, and nothing and no one ever made me as happy as her. I remember all the things we did last Christmas and I miss her terribly. I LOVE YOU GERTIE-not a day goes by! I hope you all have a joyful holiday season with much love Stacey

P.S. Above photo of Gertie and I last Christmas