The First Day of Preschool!

The Village Preschool II is up and running!



Yesterday was the first day at the new preschool and it was wonderful. It was so fun to meet new friends and watch them interact with a new environment. The children loved pretending like they were animals while they learned several yoga poses including: Downward Dog, Upward Dog, Cat and Cow, Tree Pose, Triangle Pose, and more. Yoga was followed by art play with glitter and glue, resulting in sparkly names that were hung on the wall. A little running and sand play… I would say that makes almost a perfect day. Can’t wait to see what the rest of the week brings!


Lovin the Art!!








Really Lovin the Snack!!

The Village Preschool II Is Up and Running!

Click On Me For a Better Read!

Checking for Dilation and the Scale

First and foremost….If you haven’t voted…what are you waiting for? Get out there!


Here’s my latest thought: Constantly using the scale to measure weight loss is much like using dilation to measure the progress of your pregnancy. Let’s face it, dilation as a means of measurement is a crock. You can be at 4 centimeters one minute and then shoot up to 7 in a matter of minutes. This is why, with my last pregnancy, I didn’t let the nurses check my cervix until I was sure I was about to push (grunting noises were a dead giveaway). Instead I listened to my body.

I mean, how deflating is it to labor for hours and hours and find out you are only dilated to 3 cm? Not that it actually means anything, but even if we know that, it can break our confidence. Or in many cases, give us false hope. Every pregnant woman I know goes to the doctor and has her cervix checked a month before her due date and 80% of them find out they are dilated to 2 or 3 cm. Of course this convinces them that the baby is coming early! And of course makes those 3 or 4 days past the due date extra painful!

The scale is very similar. I don’t know how many times I have woken up looking and feeling thinner only to be disappointed when I step on the scale. Even if my pants are looser, or my husband oohs and ahs. I find my motivation slipping away and that grilled cheese sandwich starts sounding mighty enticing.

So I have decided to try something new. Instead of stepping on the scale every day, I am only getting on once or twice a week. The last time I weighed in (last Friday) I was down 5.5 lbs. Wednesday or Thursday I will hit the scales again. FYI, I have been feeling great and it shows as well. I just don’t want my confidence to slip.

One final note: I am in the bad breath fat loss stage. I had forgotten how bad fat burn can make your breath smell. Yikes. My poor husband, he is so excited about how I look but when he comes in for the kiss he can hardly hide the flinch…Lot’s of Listerine helps. Oh well, it will be well worth it in the end. My breath also works nicely as a tool to get him to scoot over and give me more room on the bed..or couch..

Banana Pudding

So basically I don’t like anything banana. That’s why I have been avoiding the banana pudding medifast snack/meal. I save my pudding for my last meal of the day. A tasty last note to end my day on. I have been enjoying the chocolate pudding (while my girls and husband snork down the Halloween candy) except for one night when I added too much water. FYI: soupy pudding is disgusting.

So last night I eagerly tore open my evening pudding packet and to my dismay realized I had grabbed the banana pudding. Well, I’d much rather gag the banana pudding down than waste a meal…I have become a penny pincher in these tight times. Man! Was I impressed? That was the best banana pudding I ever tasted. In fact I have noticed that all of the medifast meals are tasting increasingly better.

A friend of mine was teasing me and saying that starving will make even the crappiest food taste good but the truth is, yesterday and today I have barely felt hungry at all. In fact I have to really keep track of the time to make sure I get my meals in. The only time I have found myself craving my old comfort foods is right before lunch, especially if I wait the full three hours to eat. Other than that, I’m pretty satiated.

Ok, so here is the one drawback I have found to the diet; at least once a day I seem to get a little…well… flatulent. Fortunately my husband is always down for a good fart joke and I am also typically by myself in the office editing or writing. And the girls, well “tooting” is also always good for a laugh at their age as well, unfortunately tooting always leads to potty talk…grrr.

So anyways, I am eagerly waiting for pudding hour to roll around. I plan on breaking the banana pudding open early so I can mix it and chill it before oh so slowly enjoying every last spoonful…and licking the bowl clean. I’m a changed woman.

Mmmmm banana!

Trick and No Treat

Halloween was a blast! The kids had a great time as we met up with a group of cool families and did the rounds. I was pretty stressed about sticking to my diet as there were a couple of parties and I really was mourning having to miss out on the hot toddies. As it turned out, we were too tired to hit the parties after winding our way through the neighborhood so we all just hung out at the house to visit and and let the children play. It was great! I am not a fan of beer so it wasn’t hard to go without a drink. The pizza that one of our friends brought did look good but I held strong!

Woke up today feeling slimmer and for the first time I have experienced the bursts of energy promised by the program. In fact I have been a little hyper at times. Day 7 is looking good. So far I give Take Shape for Life 2 thumbs up!

By the way, I have signed up for a yoga retreat next Friday night. I think yoga and this diet will go hand and hand beautifully. If you are interested in starting up yoga, I have the perfect teacher for you. Nadine Sims is the owner of Yoga of Bend. Check out her website at www.yogaofbend.com. Her style of teaching can benefit almost any level of practitioner with most any condition. Her experience and knowledge is vast and worth way more than what you pay for. If you would like a firsthand testimonial drop me a line. I’d be happy to share my personal experience with you.

On to day seven.

Fed Up!

That's it! I'm fed up with the fat!

It's true, I'm officially chubby. Between working on two businesses and having a family, I have found myself unfortunately frumpy. Last Saturday I could take no more so I decided to try Take Shape For Life with Jenny Berg as my coach. Lucky for me, merely a week earlier, Jenny and her husband Steve decided to take an ad out in True North and thus I was introduced to the program.

Jenny is so positive and genuine that my interest was snagged right away. As someone who has had to learn a bit about sales, it takes more than ever these days to be convinced that a product or service is worth investing in. But talking to Jenny gave me just a little hope that the extra 30 pounds, that I have slowly gained ever since I had my first daughter, could potentially be shed in a doable amount of time.

It's not that I haven't already tried. I have. And I have lost weight. But it always comes back on when I miss an hour long workout and then fall into a bitter state of hopelessness because I realize I can't keep up the pace. Anyways, I'm sure you've heard this sad old story over and over so I will spare you the details. Let's just say that Take Shape for Life looked like a great option when I heard that all of the meals are provided (except 1) and that it didn't require hours in the gym. Even better, the weight comes off relatively fast.

So here is the low-down on Take Shape for Life. When you sign up you receive 5 weeks’ worth of food (approx $280). The food includes 5 medifast meals per day. You have to addone lean and green meal of your own (the rules for this meal are clearly outlined). You eat/drink every 2 to 3 hours and if you follow the rules you should lose 2 to 6 lbs a week.

This diet essentially depletes your body of simple carbs and forces it into a constant fat burning state. The first 3 to 4 days are supposed to be the hardest causing symptoms such as: fatigue, hunger, flatulence, irritability... I was definitely a bit nasty for those first few. And I have to admit, I had several moments when I wondered if I could handle it. But.....

I have lost 5.5 lbs in 5 days...so needless to say, I am happy.

Yesterday (day 4) I started to feel better and stabilize on the program. Today I am feeling great! My mornings seem to be the toughest times with moments of feeling "low blood sugary" and hungry. But in the afternoon I have found that I actually have a hard time remembering that it's time to eat...which is so very cool.
So now you are probably wondering "How does the food taste?" right? Well, I love the peanut butter bars but you can only have one a day. I also like the eggs...I think they taste pretty much like the real thing. The shakes are ok but a little grainy, and the pudding is pretty good too but it definitely tastes "healthy". So I guess what I'm trying to say is don't expect fine dining.

Look getting chubby took a long time and a lot of poor choices so to think that you can get thin by eating fabulous food every 2 hours is absurd. But so far this is doable.

I am a busy woman so I like "meals" that only require adding water and shaking or adding water and heating...very cool. I like that I know exactly what I need to eat for my lean and green...quick and easy. And I love seeing the difference every day! Every Flipping Day!
So I guess tomorrow will be a new day, and maybe I'll feel different but as for now I am just stoked that I only have to lose 24.5 pounds to be back to my pre-baby/pre-marriage weight! Now I can do that.

The Village Preschool Expands

The Village Preschool is opening a second site in mid-November. The program will serve 2-6 year olds an offer the same great program including yoga for children. If you or someone you know is interested in finding out more about our program or reserving their child(ren) a spot, you can contact us by calling 541.306.3042 or dropping us a line at thevillagepreschool2@gmail.com.

Visit us online at www.thevillagepreschool.org!

Sincerely,

Annette Benedetti
Director
The Village Preschool