My Dear Readers, 

as many of you know I have been very frustrated with the menopausal weight gain , 

and how hard of a struggle it’s been with not losing it.  I let my headaches get in the way from

exercising and that has to stop…. I have super duper fabulous motivation to do just that!  

Source

A dear friend and I are heading to Bermuda via Royal Caribbean’s ship

Grandeur Of the Seas , pictured above.   

Neither of us have ever been on a cruise and

we both have husband’s who are fully supportive and are sharing in our enthusiasm…

I have ten weeks to see how much I can lose and I have never felt so motivated in my life. 

I have given up sugar, diet soda and carbs and could really care less…yep, not missing it at all.

I am getting use of my Pilates machine daily (yesterday twice) and

have increased my reps to 40 with hopes of going up to 100 by the time cruise day comes around…

My  Pilates machine is sold out , but very similar to this one…

found HERE on QVC , which offers easy pay plans with no finance charges for 6 months. 

Dear Readers, I would like to shout from the mountain top about the key to my being able to keep up daily workouts and that is TURMERIC, yep this actually takes all the muscle strain pain away… When I first began this I was into day 3 and feeling so achy, not just normal exercise pain, I mean my entire body ached.  I was walking around saying for the first time I feel 50!  DH went to get me Turmeric as we were out and then he left with the two kids to go to see our son who is in summer classes at VCU.  He took my wonderful massager with him and I willingly let him, wondering how I was going to manage without it.  All of a sudden I was sitting here and I realized that pain was completely gone. I did my workout and when I woke the next morning mild pain, took Turmeric, gone… I have completely gone of Ibuprofen and Tylenol since beginning Turmeric and I will never let myself run out again…

Here’s an article on Tumeric and Muscle strain…

And my one purchase for the Cruise for Formal Night ….

Gratitude

I am so grateful to my friend for suggesting this cruise and searching out and finding this one  which leaves out of Baltimore MD , so no flight necessary. 

I am grateful to my husband for sharing in my joy and being so happy for me as this is the first vacation I’ve ever taken without him…

I am grateful that both our husbands are supportive in this and seem as happy as we are !

I am grateful for the confidence I now found to finally kick this weight gain to the curb. 

I am grateful for finally fulfilling my desire for a girl trip.

I am grateful that this has sparked the desire to do something annually and we are hoping to plan next year’s as soon as we get back, a train ride in the fall up the northern east coast to view the fall foilage.  

I am grateful for the solitary time I had Saturday night when my crew all went to VCU and Richmond for Pokemon hunting, yes my adult kids are loving playing this with my teen and the bond it creates for a 16, 20 and 25 yr old is priceless , which is another gratitude in itself….

I must say that Pokemon has gotten my kids going out and about more and riding their bikes again, something they haven’t done in years!