Battling Weight Loss

<div>Tonight is my mid-week weigh in at WW.  I do not anticipate this going well and will be happy if I have a loss from 2 weeks ago - even if it's only 0.1 lbs! <br /><br />I made it to the gym on both Monday and Tuesday.  Yesterday was a challenge to go - Joel is still recovering from sickness and he wasn't going, and when I got home I just didn't want to go - I wanted to sit around and hang out with him!  But I quickly remembered what I read often on all the blogs I follow - that you never regret a trip to the gym.  And so I went for 40 minutes on the elliptical, that started off with very heavy legs.</div><div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.everydaypeoplecartoons.com/cartoons/501-work-out-cartoon.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.everydaypeoplecartoons.com/cartoons/501-work-out-cartoon.gif" width="222" /></a></div><div></div><div><br /></div><div>Joel asked me when I left if I'd bring home McDonald's.  I wasn't craving it by any means, but I was considering it because I just didn't feel like making dinner.  Though after that sweaty workout, I couldn't justify going to McDonald's for dinner.  Those types of justifications are probably why I'm still gaining/losing the same 5+ lbs when I should be well on my way to my goal after 9 months of attending the gym regularly.  It's sad and defeating thinking that I'm still virtually at the same place I was when I started attending the gym back in November 2010.  A friend mentioned getting checked out by a doctor to make sure my hormone levels were okay.  I actually had my thyroid tested about a year ago and that checked out just fine, so I'm hoping that hormones are NOT to blame.  </div><div><br /></div><div>I know that today I rarely follow the plan to a "T", and most times I haven't been even coming CLOSE to following it to a "T" and so I know a lot of that is to blame.  But even in the past when I've done WW, the weight still came off very easily in the beginning, and I've never been able to achieve perfection following The Plan (meaning, I never went a full week without going over Points values at least one day out of the week - and this was before the Weekly Points Plus allowance).  I know I'm capable of losing a lot of weight - I lost 50 lbs when I was a junior in college and kept it off for a little over a year, and that was with plenty of heavy drinking nights and late night runs to Sheetz!</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://30dayweightlosschallenge.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/scale-saying-help.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="211" src="http://30dayweightlosschallenge.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/scale-saying-help.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>I want this weight off once and for all, and I want to be able to live life to it's fullest.  I know that when I do achieve this biggest life goal I have for myself, I'll have the confidence to do anything I want to do... because this has truly been the hardest thing I've ever had to do for myself in the 27 years I've spent on this earth.  It wasn't the first day of college, or finding a job, or even the first day of going to work in Washington, DC, or any other situation that has scared the absolute crap out of me.   </div><div><br /></div><div>Still, this is my journey, and however long it takes and whatever obstacles I have to battle, I'll do it.  </div>

Random Weight Loss Thoughts Weight Loss Challenges Battling Weight Loss

Tonight is my mid-week weigh in at WW.  I do not anticipate this going well and will be happy if I have a loss from 2 weeks ago - even if it...

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Empower a teacher, and you empower tomorrow’s leaders

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><i>A news report from IT Web </i><br />Johannesburg, 6 July 2011 – In today’s challenging classroom contexts, effective education hinges on the vigour and dedication of educators – not their qualifications or number of years spent teaching. <br /><br />A sense of community – in their education streams and subject areas – is what spurs today’s educators to rise beyond the substantial hurdles presented in their workplace, and technology is providing a bridge to unlocking their potential, and that of their learners, levelling the playing field. <br /><br />“Given the great need to empower South Africa’s 18 million children – nearly 40 percent of our population – today with the skills they need to enter a workforce characterised by fast-changing technology and skills advances,” says Reza Bardien, Education Lead at Microsoft South Africa, “corporations are increasingly involved in assisting governments achieve this survival task.”<br /><br />To this end, Microsoft South Africa in partnership with the Department of Basic Education annually hosts a series of Innovative Teacher Forum (ITF) workshops for primary and secondary schools across the country. This culminates in an awards initiative that highlights the unique ways in which teachers and learners collaborate to bring classroom learning to life and into context with their immediate environments.<br /><br />“By learning to employ modern-day technologies such as mobile phones, laptops, digital cameras and desktop computers in their classroom projects, teachers rising to the ITF challenge not only enrich their own pedagogical skills, but they bring subjects to life and practical focus for their learners,” says Phil Mnisi, Director Curriculum Innovation and e-Learning at the National Department of Basic Education and forerunner of technology evangelism.<br /><br />“The ITF awards each year challenge teachers to enter projects, which employ technology to explore real-world problems, which at the same time bearing relevance to their curriculum requirements.”<br /><br />By participating in the types of projects these teachers run, learners are given the opportunity to develop critical thinking, collaboration, communication, research and problem solving skills. <br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvBICf2eBl3aV2eWUyL3gOZR-a7k9K4wCyeptTJI6n0_DxPsNfDznm6KUJfPhjQA8cf6tkvSHR3x20KLUtT74rbhaGBwYizFNYVT_axzQ1-1Oqgi55Mea6Nv52d9F1p2VWIENAvyZGUog/s1600/itf" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvBICf2eBl3aV2eWUyL3gOZR-a7k9K4wCyeptTJI6n0_DxPsNfDznm6KUJfPhjQA8cf6tkvSHR3x20KLUtT74rbhaGBwYizFNYVT_axzQ1-1Oqgi55Mea6Nv52d9F1p2VWIENAvyZGUog/s200/itf" width="200" /></a></div><br />The winners, announced last night during an awards ceremony at St Johns College in Johannesburg, are:<br /><br />§ Louise Clarke and Kim Jackson of St Cyprians College in Cape Town for their class project “Tollbooth Movie Maker”; <br /><br />§ Natalie Meerholz of Holy Rosary School in Edenvale for her class project “E-Waste Away”; <br /><br />§ Lyneth Crighton of Brescia House in Bryanston for her class project “DigiGirlz puzzle IT out”; <br /><br />§ Wessel Theron of Bishops Diocesan College in Cape Town for his class project “School of Rock”; <br /><br />§ Ryan Galvin of St Nicholas Diocesan School in Pietermaritzburg for his class project “R and J in R and B”. <br /><br />The five winners will go on to participate in the Middle East Africa Innovative Education Forum in September, with winners of this event afforded the unforgettable opportunity to travel to Washington D.C. in November for the Worldwide awards and a rare networking opportunity with teachers from around the globe. They each also receive a Netbook from Dell. <br /><br />Dalene Thuynsma, a teacher at Carpe Diem School in George, wins a Sangari portable interactive whiteboard and response system in recognition of the innovative work she is doing in the challenging context of working with special needs learners in an under-resourced school.<br /><br />“This year is the 6th annual Microsoft Innovative Teacher Forum being held in South Africa,” says Bardien. “In the past, South African and Lesotho teachers have been enormously successful in their participation at the regional and worldwide events and we have had a global award winner each year since the inception of the awards.”<br /><br />The teachers that have participated regionally and globally have returned to South Africa and each year they run Innovation Workshops in order to share their skills and experiences with other teachers to encourage participation in this Forum.<br /><br />“The judges were really impressed by the depth of the projects this year, and with the creative and exciting ideas that our teachers have come up with,” adds Bardien.<br /><br />This year’s local finalists mirrored a renewed focus worldwide on providing learners with a well-rounded education, and entries ranged from computer-aided cover design, creative cinematography, podcasting and Wikipedia entries, to environmental activism and fundraising, responsible e-waste disposal, online learning resource creation and importantly, social entrepreneurship. All finalists receive an Encyclopedia Britannica and digital curriculum content from Learnthings. <br /><br />“The Department, partnering with Microsoft and SchoolNet SA, annually trains thousands of teachers in the basic integration of ICT in teaching. In fact, since the beginning of the year, 14,000 teachers have been trained,” says Mnisi. <br /><br />“This does not mean that all trained teachers go on to use this technology in their daily teaching to become what we call innovative teachers. Less than a thousand of these educators enter into the ITF awards following their training. We have to ask ourselves the question: are we providing them with enough support after training?”<br /><br />ITF information and background can be accessed on www.microsoft.com/presspass/events/wwteachersforum.<br /><br />http://www.itweb.co.za/office/microsoft/PressRelease.php?StoryID=150880</div>

conferences Empower a teacher, and you empower tomorrow’s leaders

A news report from IT Web  Johannesburg, 6 July 2011 – In today’s challenging classroom contexts, effective education hinges on the vigour a...

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