She's Already Radiant!

 North Country Coffee Cafe - Glens Falls, New York

May 15, 2012

Does this picture rings any bells?  If you read Lori @ Finding Radiance, it should because she posts a picture from here just about every Wednesday, better known to her readers as "Bike for Bagels Day."  And Tuesday morning , it was my (our) privilege to meet her (and the delightful, John) IN PERSON at where else???  NORTH COUNTRY COFFEE CAFE, of course! 

This post is a healthy eating update and only indirectly related to our current travels so if here only for travel journal updates, you can skip this one!!

During the almost two years in which I've struggled mightily to lose the 30 pounds I had regained after losing 65 in 2006-2007, there are MANY bloggers whose feedback and encouragement have become invaluable to me.  I will be forever grateful!  But there are four who have truly become my role models simply because they are long term bloggers and make no bones about the fact that this journey to find and maintain a goal weight never becomes easy.  All four have lost more than 100 pounds and kept those pounds at bay for a long time.  All four are brutally honest in their writing about continuing struggles and all are willing to dish out tough love when needed!  It is my goal to meet and personally thank every one of them.  

Meeting Lori yesterday morning made that three out of four!  We didn't PLAN this trip around a meeting because we'd had New England on the agenda for several years, but once we decided on New England, one of the first things I did was email Lori and hope she'd be open to meeting me!  And she was!  Today's meeting has been planned since January and it finally happened.  I was so excited!  

And yes, this post's title is 100% genuine.  Lori doesn't need to "FIND" radiance.  She exudes it!  But now I can personally say to the rest of you who enjoy her blog (and there are many), that the radiance flows from inside just as easily as you are able to see it through her pictures and blog!  We "let" the guys join us and the conversation flowed freely.  No awkward moments here!!  Many of you may not realize that all four of us graduated from college with some form of a music degree, so that in itself, was quite a common bond!  

Lori looks terrific and even after we parted ways, Bill kept saying to me, "I can't believe she lost 100 pounds."  The four of us talked, laughed and enjoyed delicious coffee with a quite tasty breakfast.  It is possible that Lori and I may do some bike riding later this week - that is, if she'll consent to be patient with my current level of biking!!  

It was a great morning - thanks, Lori and John! 

And BTW, those four bloggers I mentioned...............here are links to their blogs!

Lori @ Finding Radiance

Cammy @ Tippy Toe Diet

Debby @ Debby Weighs In

Diane @ Fit To The Finish

I don't plan to report in every time I lose an ounce while on this trip, but I did beg you all to keep me accountable, so I'll talk about it every week or so.  If you want the details, just watch the ticker on the sidebar go down.  Optimistic, aren't I??   So far, everything is going extremely well.   Sticking with my "plan" is working.   I've stuck with this plan for 5 1/2 months now.  It's who I am and rarely do temptations present a problem.  Only on one occasion have I had difficulty and it was solely due to the amount I ate.  We'd had a wonderful seafood dinner (I had broiled shrimp that were the size of small steaks NO LIE!!) and then went directly for ice cream/frozen yogurt.  I should've passed on the froyo and knew it, but it was a locally owned place and we were leaving the next day so my last chance.  See, the old way of thinking came back easily.  I got a small serving, but overall, it was just more food than I've grown accustomed to eating in one day and it did not sit well resulting in a very poor night of sleep.  Good news is.......hate that feeling, not worth it, won't do it again!!  

We are eating well and yes, I'm still losing!