Well it’s a new day here in Carol’s Corner. Here in my neck of the wood’s it’s a stormy one . It’s gonna be a bundle up kind of day. Really like how my picture turned out for this edition , and LOVE my outfit. These are my skinny skinny jeans as I like to call them. I’m still amazed when I look in the mirror. I don’t ever want to lose this feeling . I wasn’t happy with myself for quite sometime, but now today , I feel better about myself, than I have my whole life. Seems strange, because there were times in my life that I was thin. But this time everything seems different. I look at myself and am thoroughly happy with what I see. I have a confidence inside that I can’t even explain. I think for the first time in my life , I like everything about myself , inside and out. I don’t know why it’s different, but it just is. I want each and everyone of you who read my posts, to be able to feel that way about yourself. I want you to experience all the joy and wonder that comes when you arrive at the place you want to be. I want you to feel good in every way; body, mind, and spirit. I wish you all good health. All of these things can happen for you, but you need to want it bad enough and work hard enough, even when the going gets toughs, and it will. This is a lifelong journey. I’ve gone through phase one , losing all the extra weight I had put on. Now I ‘m in phase 2, keeping it off for the rest of my life, and striving to stay fit and healthy. I need to work just as hard at the stage I’m at in my journey, as the rest of you do in whatever stage you find yourself. So what does it take to lose weight? Let’s explore that. The very first thing you need is the desire to do just that. No diet in the world will be successful if that desire is not there. It has to start in your mind, or your head if you will. You have talk to your mind until it moves to your heart. That is when the real miracle can begin to sprout wings. So now you’ve made the decision to take charge of your destiny, to begin the journey to health & wellness. What comes next? Before you embark on any diet or food plan, you need to have committment. You need to commit yourself to doing the hard work that needs to be done. No one gets overweight overnight, and it comes off a lot slower than it goes on. So make a real commitment to do everything you can, every day, to reach the goals you set for yourself. That brings us to the next step. Before you decide on your food plan, sit down with pen & paper. One side will be your short term goals, the other sides will be your long term goals. Start first with what your long term goals are. This will help you decide how to make the short term goals you need, to arrive at the long term goals you set for yourself. Writing them down so you can see them , is important. Every time you reach one, cross it off , so you can visibly see the victories you achieve along your way to success. You could decide to make goals for both weight loss & fitness. So now it’s time to get started. What do you do? Well before you can choose a food plan, you need to understand what it takes to shed pounds. No matter what your diet strategy is, weight management comes down to the calories you take in , versus those you burn off. Calories are the energy in food. Your body has a constant demand for energy, and uses the calories from food to keep functioning. The energy from these calories fuels every action. Carbohydrates, fats, and proteins , are the type of nutrients that contain calories and are the main energy sources for your body. The amount of energy in each varies. Proteins & carbohydrates have about 4 calories a gram,and fats have about 9 calories a gram. Alchohol. which is another source of calories provides about 7 calories per gram. Regardless of where the calories come from, the calories you eat, are either converted to physical energy or stored in your body as fat. These stored calories will remain in your body as fat, unless you use them up, by either reducing your calorie intake so that your body must draw on reserves for energy, or by increasing your physical activity, so you burn more calories. Your weight is a balancing act, but the equation is simple: if you eat more calories than you burn , than you’ll gain weight. It’s that simple. Roughly 3,500 calories equals one pound of fat, so you need to burn 3,500 calories more than you take in to lose one pound. So as an example, if you cut 500 calories per day from your diet , or 3,500 per week, that would equal roughly one pound of weight loss that week. Other factors are involved and most people would like to lose more per week , but this is a good place to start your calculations. As time goes by , you might need to decrease your calorie count at times, to jumpstart your metabolism again. So now you understand a little more about how weight loss occurs. Thanks to the Mayo Clinic for all the facts used in today’s post. Tomorrow we will explore this a little further . Make sure you all come back.

Now for a few more pictures of my holiday decorating.

As you can tell, I have to have fun with my bathroom decorations too.

Finally got the garland wrapped around the banister going to upstairs. Love what I always place on the stairs. They just look so cute. Well that’s it for this edition of Carol’s Corner. Hope you found some valuable information you can use. Come back tomorrow, as we explore this further. Till next time, God Bless. Remember there is no failure, unless you give up and stop trying. Success is just around the corner. Reach out and grab it. You know you want it.