JOURNEY BACK 2 HEALTH & A Journey Back to Me....

Two years ago I weighed 333 pounds...and finally found myself at the breaking point. There were many factors that led up to my "breaking point" ... but one was when I was going for my annual physical and my doctor confronted me about my weight. He said if something didn’t change about my weight that my future would be grim...and he’d give me five years to start getting some major co-morbidities. This was shocking.

Being nearly 200 lbs overweight & classified "Super Morbidly Obese" - as well as being the mother of a 2 year old (at the time) - got me to looking at not only what my weight was doing to ME...but to my husband and daughter as well.
Because of the severity of my obesity, my health needs, & my past diet failures - I decided that weight loss surgery was the best choice for my life - and my future. In making this decision I felt "free" - but also a deeper sense of responsiblity than I ever have before.
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The next months were filled with preparations for my surgery...but I also spent a significant amount of time looking deeper into health and wellness. I figure if I was going to be putting a smaller amounts of food in my body - I would need to understand more about food than ‘fat free" or "diet"...and make sure I understood what and why certain food were better choices than others. Thru this research I found that a regimen of whole foods, nutritional supplements, fasting and functional exercise would be the best choice for my new lifestyle.


I was introduced to USANA by my sister Kathy... and I’m sooo thankful. Not only for my cellular health...but also the business opportunity. My husband and I live in NYC...and he is a student, while I am freelance designer...when I heard about the simple structure & the tax advantages - we knew that we had to get into the business. USANA is a company that cares about people, and the structure of our business has brought our entire family together - working our businesses together- what FUN!
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I still have about 40 pounds left to lose until I reach my goal. And because I am 16mos. post op from my surgery... the weight loss is 80% my behavior & 20% the surgery. I have to eat right and exercise to get these last 40 lbs off.

The weight loss success formula I am using- starts with RESET Pack (inside there are instructions that will explain the whole plan).... and then maintains with an order of one bottle of Essential Vitamins (a must!), two boxes of bars and six cans of Nutrimeals. This is about a months supply and everything has a thirty day money back guarantee.... so, try it risk free! This is not like any other "shake diet" I have ever tried. This program has kept me full, energized, and will help you accomplish your weight loss goals too!


I’m excited to share with you USANA Health Sciences they formulate an exceptional, science-based nutritional and personal-care products. However, inferior manufacturing can destroy even the greatest product formulations. For this reason, USANA manufactures its own nutritional supplements, and voluntarily meets Pharmaceutical Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP). Pharmaceutical GMP standards are far more stringent than the food GMP requirements set by the U.S. government for supplements. Because of this high quality standard- I have found USANA the best choice in nutritional supplements. Especially, for me, being a weight-loss surgery patient who needs the highest quality of nutritional supplements in my everyday maintainence plan.

JOURNAL: June 23rd - "14 mos. PostOp"

The Same "Little Black Dress....."

Well....this little number certainly didn't go to waist - and it was a great accomplishment to wear the same "Little Black Dress" that I wore 10 yrs. ago at our Ten Year Class Reunion.

I was glad to be VERY near my goal...but also to be within a pound and a half of where I was 10yrs. ago!!

Miracle upon Miracle!! What a blessing!

I'm thankful.....and we had a wonderful evening...actually the entire weekend was nice. You can read more on our "COATES FAMILY: Summer Adventures!"

Weight Loss: How Many Pounds? How Many Calories?

I found a blog about what it would take to lose a pound of fat. It seems that is a popular way to gauge the enormity of what all of us are doing here.

This site calculates more information than you'd probably wanted to know about just what you have accomplished.

1 pounds is the average weight of 0.53 quarts of water.

To lose that amount of fat would mean to burn 3,500 calories! That is the equivalent of 0.13 gallons of gasoline.

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Below is 1 pound converted to other forms of fuel.

3,500 calories is equivalent to:

• 0.13 gallons of gasoline, or
• 1.33 pounds of coal, or
• 1.73 pounds of oven-dried wood, or
• 0.23 gallons of propane

This amount of energy would ...

• Brew about 10 pots of coffee, or
• Light a 60-watt light bulb for 68 hours ( 3 days = 0.03 years)

Cutting 3,500 calories is the same as saying "no" to:

• 44 apples, or
• 35 bananas, or
• 206 cups of cabbage (whew!), or
• 24 baked potatoes, or
• 44 large eggs, or
• 29 cups of 2% milk, or
• 3 pounds of ground beef, or
• 40 glasses of wine, or
• 11 Snickers bars, or
• 15 Clif Bars ( 19 Luna Bars), or
• 25 cans of Coke, or
• 21 pints of Guinness beer, or
• 7 Big Macs, or
• 7 Quarter Pounders with Cheese, or
• 5 Whoppers, or
• 11 Subway 6" Oven Roasted Chicken Breast sandwiches, or
• 21 Taco Bell crunchy tacos, or
• 15 slices of pepperoni pizza from Pizza Hut
• What it Takes to Burn 3,500 Calories

To burn 3,500 calories, a 190 pound male would have to:

• Backpack for 6 hours (0 days) nonstop, or
• Walk for 13 hours (1 days) at 3 mph straight, or
• Walk 40 miles (25 kilometers), or
• Bike for 10 hours (0 days) at 10 mph, or
• Bike 101 miles (63 kilometers), or
• Play basketball nonstop for 6 hours 0 days), or
• Play billiards for 16 hours (1 days), or
• Go bowling for 14 hours (1 days), or
• Stay on the golf course for 10 hours (0 days), or
• Spend 5 hours (0 days) playing competitive football, or
• Jump rope for 4 hours (0 days) straight!

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To date I've lost 150 pounds -

the average weight of a 20-year old male.

How Much Fuel Is That?
To lose that amount of fat would mean to burn 525,000 calories! That is the equivalent of 16.94 gallons of gasoline. Humans, however, are far more efficient than cars, getting about 912 "miles to the gallon". If you could dump this many calories into the tank of a Honda Civic, you would be able to drive it about 576 miles before running out of gas!

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150 lbs. converts to other forms of fuel or 525,000 calories is equivalent to:

• 16.94 gallons of gasoline, or
• 187.55 pounds of coal, or
• 260.45 pounds of oven-dried wood, or
• 22.94 gallons of propane

This amount of energy would ...

• Brew about 1,464 pots of coffee, or
• Light a 60-watt light bulb for 10,169 hours ( 424 days = 1.23 years)

Cutting 525,000 calories is the same as saying "no" to:

• 6,563 apples, or
• 5,250 bananas, or
• 30,882 cups of cabbage (whew!), or
• 3,621 baked potatoes, or
• 6,563 large eggs, or
• 4,375 cups of 2% milk, or
• 378 pounds of ground beef, or
• 6,034 glasses of wine, or
• 1,625 Snickers bars, or
• 2,188 Clif Bars ( 2,917 Luna Bars), or
• 3,777 cans of Coke, or
• 3,088 pints of Guinness beer, or
• 1,067 Big Macs, or
• 1,019 Quarter Pounders with Cheese, or
• 750 Whoppers, or
• 1,591 Subway 6" Oven Roasted Chicken Breast sandwiches, or
• 3,088 Taco Bell crunchy tacos, or
• 2,234 slices of pepperoni pizza from Pizza Hut

What it Takes to Burn 525,000 Calories

To burn 525,000 calories, a 190 pound male would have to:

• Backpack for 869 hours (36 days) nonstop, or
• Walk for 2,011 hours (84 days) at 3 mph straight, or
• Walk 6,034 miles (3,772 kilometers), or
• Bike for 1,522 hours (63 days) at 10 mph, or
• Bike 15,217 miles (9,511 kilometers), or
• Play basketball nonstop for 837 hours 35 days), or
• Play billiards for 2,431 hours (101 days), or
• Go bowling for 2,027 hours (84 days), or
• Stay on the golf course for 1,522 hours (63 days), or
• Spend 677 hours (28 days) playing competitive football, or
• Jump rope for 639 hours (27 days) straight!

You would have to walk the length of England about 10.14 times to burn 525,000 calories.

How Long it Will Take?

The range for safe weight loss is about 1 to 3 pounds of fat per week. It could take anywhere between 50 to 150 weeks (12 to 35 months) to safely and reasonably lose that amount of weight.

A great place to start your journey would be with our series called "10 Fat Mistakes" It shares the ten most common mistakes people make and how to overcome them.

Tis the Season...

BATHING SUIT Season - that is.....

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Honestly, this was the first of many years that I didn't stress out about it TOO bad!! I didn't enjoy it - by any means (meaning it wasn't 'painless') - but, it wasn't HOURS AND HOURS in trying on suits and feeling utterly disgusted!!

I started at BRA TENDERS - this amazing bra place that my friend Cheryl (the Rockette) took me to! Funny enough, the customer before me was BETTE MIDDLER!!!! That's NYC for ya! LOL.

Anyway...I did get fitted for my new bra...and I am still a DD but now am a 34. So, after getting 2 new bras that hike these babies up....I tried on "TANK-INIS"....with bras on the inside. I Love the one I bought - b/c it's one of my favorite shades of Turquoise....

Then, I went off to Macy's to look for a bottom....thankfully these days they are selling things as separates...and it wasn't a huge deal to buy a bottom. I did figure out why they are selling suits as separates....b/c your suit is pretty much double what they used to be!!!

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ANYHOW....one of my sweet friends (Becka Marie) from my online support - Renewed Reflections - lives in Hawaii...and is gonna pick me up a gorgeous Hawaiian Sarong to go with the whole ensemble!!!

Pièce de Résistance: "The Inner Work"

If I could say anything to you about losing weight - I'd say, concentrate on the "inner work" that needs to be done. Asking yourself..."why do I struggle with ____________?" (fill in the blank with motivation...food....self-control) And start there.

If you don't do the INNER WORK first or at least - during...you will constantly be revisiting your 'diet'....or always trying to lose the "same 20#'s"...or MORE.

Honestly, for me, there are soooo many days when I don't feel 'motivated'....or I'm have a 'carb attack'...'sweet attack'....or think I feel constantly hungry. (none of which is healthy for me...emotionally or physically)

That is when I have to get 'REAL' with myself....and put some tools into action-

• What's my consistent complaint? (like my eating or my weight)
• What's my assessment?? (what's going on??)
• What choices am I making? (acknowledging that I am in control - it is my choice or decision -good or bad- I'm not in a trance being 'pulled in' - it's not something that is just mysteriously 'happening TO ME')
• What am I "getting out of it?" (It's easy to believe that the problem is my eating or my weight - but it's not....it's all about what I 'get out of it'....my pay off!)~ TO CONTROL...OR AVOID BEING CONTROLED
  ~ BEING RIGHT...
  ~ JUSTIFY MYSELF OR MY FEELINGS
  ~ AVOID LOOKING AT A DEEPER HURT OR PAIN
• What is the cost? (When I am consciously or subconsciously getting something out of my complaint there is a cost....often several....here are some I experience.)~ LOSS OF SELF or SELF-EXPRESION
  ~ LOSS OF HEALTH or VITALITY
  ~ LOSS OF LOVE or CONNECTEDNESS
  ~ LOSS OF FULLFILMENT or SATISFACTION

Once I have been authentic with myself and can see the choice I'm making what I'm getting out of it...and then to determine what it's costing me...then an only then am I able to take it to God - otherwise - all I do is complain to Him...and feel sorry for myself...and like a victim! Using this process has been the main thing that has gotten me thru this journey. I often have to do these steps DAILY!

• pièce de ré·sis·tance (pyĕs də rā-zē-stäNs') n., pl. -a French term, translated into English literally as "piece of resistance", referring to the best part or feature of something , a showpiece, or highlight. Literal translation of the phrase, however, fails to define it. The phrase gives the sense that the referred-to element is the defining essence of the whole, that part that makes it memorable or gives it its unique character. An outstanding accomplishment or the principal dish of a meal.

This process is imparative...You must walk this road - "Rue Pièce de Résistance"

Doing the INNER WORK is "the defining essence of the whole journey." Doing the INNER WORK is the "part that makes it memorable & gives your journey it's Unique Character!"