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HAPPY NEW YEAR'S EVE!! IT'S BEEN A GREAT YEAR. PARTY HARD. CELEBRATE! BE SAFE. I'LL SEE YOU ON THE OTHER SIDE! 2011 LOOK OUT, HERE WE COME.

I'm starting a new series on my blog for the new year. I call it: Hype or Help? This is not simply another product review. Instead, I'll be taking the latest, 'greatest' diet, workout, or gadget and putting it through the paces, following their instructions and putting it to the test. I'll be testing out their claims and finding out myself if they live up to them, are they hype or help? The blogs, Twitter, and You Tube are all a-buzz about Tim Ferriss's new book: The 4 Hour Body. Aha! My first victim, er test.  This book makes some pretty amazing claims. Like the diet can help you lose up to 20 lbs of fat in 30 days. I'm excited to put these claims to the test. I was going to start January 1, but that seems so...not me. I'm just not the I'll start Monday, I'll start January 1st, blah, blah, blah type. So, starting today, I will be following this book to the letter for 30 days. The diet, the supplement suggestions, everything. Well, probab...

I'm starting something new here on my blog and I hope many of you will join in. Starting some time in the first week of 2011 you will start seeing **2011 Journal Exercise as individual posts, or included with posts. Basically they are journal prompts for all of us to do. I think journaling is a hugely beneficial practice and I want to share that with you all. You can blog your response (leave a comment on the specific post with the link if you do that), leave it in the comments, or simply do what I'll be doing and start a spiral notebook dedicated to this.  We're all on similar journeys, whether it be to lose weight, get fit, reach a goal, or just become the best us we can be. I think participating, joining in, and benefiting from the community support will be awesome.  Whenever you see in red: **2011 Journal Exercise that's our latest journal prompt. I will be adding a tab which will include all the journal exercises up to date...so join in at anytime and lets ...

I'm not exactly sure why I am so excited for the coming new year...but I am. I think it has a lot to do with what I believe 2011 holds; the goals and plans I have for this sparkling, shiny new year. Oh yes, I am going to CRUSH it in 2011. I generally laugh at the whole 'new year, new you' hooplah, but this year I go into this new year feeling like I truly AM a new me.  2011 will be my year to: Set clear written goals with the action steps I will take towards reaching them. Build healthy habits, for good, habits, one at a time. Continue on my course of trying new things and honing in on what works for me. Pay attention to and taking care of my body/mind/spirit. Reach my goal weight, I'm setting that at 140-145...but not in stone, as I fall further in love with muscle and weights we'll see where I wind up. Make a career not just a hobby of my writing. Get to the best me I can be one habit, one positive thought, one affirmation, one good choice at a time....

What a year it's been. I've had huge successes and I've failed some. I've kicked some butt and I've fallen off the wagon. I've faced a lot of fears and let a few win. I've lost some weight and I've gained some weight. But this year overall I have  learned more about myself and made bigger strides in being a healthier (mind and body) me than the previous 33! So here it is, as concisely as I can manage, what I learned in 2010: I'm a food addict, an emotional eater, a compulsive eater, and a binge eater. Quite the combination. I've learned oodles about how to deal with these issues, but I've also learned not to give SHAME about these things power over my life. To like myself, to love myself, and how important taking care of myself is. I'll never be perfect and that's OK. There are tons of good, supportive, positive people out there and it's vitally important that I surround myself with them. To reach out, to ask for help, a...

Humph. Yes, that is the technical term. OK, I weighed this morning and it said 181. That is .5 more lost. But it's for two weeks. I won't lie, this frustrates me. BUT it doesn't define me or the hard work I've put in this month. I've lost 3 pounds so far. Onward I say! I'm not even going to mull over the reasons for this number or what this means for reaching my goal this month. I AM going to continue to kick butt the rest of this year. Period.

Hooray for Popchips!    Also, f or the month of December they are offering all of their facebook fans (both old and new) a coupon for $1 off your next bag of   popchips :   http://popchi.ps/hnPjlH  You know me and coupons! Definitely take advantage of that. OK, down to business, lots of ways to enter today's awesome giveaway: Leave a comment below on why YOU want to win a month supply of popchips. Leave a comment on this video on my You Tube Channel telling me you want to win this poptastic giveaway. Pop on over and Like Popchips on Facebook , then leave a comment on their wall saying katdoesdiets sent you!  Giveaway open to US residents 18 and over. Open until December 16, 2010 at 7 pm mountain time. Winner will be drawn via random.org and announced on this blog and twitter . FTC disclaimer: Yes I begged   Popchips   to send these to one lucky winner...yes, they agreed, no I receive no cash for any of this...blah, blah, blah.

Vitalicious , the makers of those yummy VitaTops I've been gushing about , is announcing a new flavor of VitaTops through their  Facebook  page! Every day until the launch, Vitalicious Facebook fans will get an exclusive clue! Clues so far: New VitaTop Flavor Clue #1  – The new VitaTop flavor’s main ingredient should have been a star in the movie “Terms of Endearment.” New VitaTop Flavor Clue #2  – The main ingredient of the new flavor is grown on every continent except Antarctica. New VitaTop Flavor Clue #3  – Have a hole in your clothes? Use our new flavor’s birth place to fix it! Can you guess it? I have my suspicions ;) Go join in the fun!

I haven't met a Jackie Warner workout DVD that I didn't love, and this is no exception. I have been looking for a good core workout for almost a year now. Although I am in pretty good shape, if I do say so myself, my core is weak. I notice it most in my running and know it would improve that and more if I corrected it. In my search to remedy my weak core I've tried many, many core workouts, and this is by far my new favorite.  Crunch-Free Xtreme Abs is an awesome workout, I give it 5 stars, hands down. It is exactly what I've been looking for in a core workout. The moves are not what I've found in typical core workouts (she means it when she says crunch-free) and I love that. As I've been doing some pretty tough workouts lately I was surprised that I could not complete all the moves. There were several in the floor work routine that I could only do half-way through and I was toast and had to go to the beginner modifications. I find this a good thing! I...

This post will be short and sweet as I have a regular review post scheduled to go up in a bit... My goal is 14.5 lbs this month ... Last week on the 1st I weighed 184... This morning I weighed.... 181.5 Not quite the 3 pound goal, but I'll take it and run...literally, lol.

Healthy living bloggers, foodie bloggers, fitness bloggers, runner bloggers, weight loss bloggers...are just some of the labels I hear.  And I wonder: where do I fit? What am I, exactly? I've tossed around the label healthy living blogger in some of my bios..but that doesn't seem quite right. I run, but am I a running blogger? I eat, but my blog isn't just about food, so I guess scratch foodie blogger off the list (somehow I don't think I'm cool enough for that niche anyway). I'm big into fitness, but am I a fit blogger? I don't quite feel qualified. Weight loss blogger I can identify with most I guess...but that doesn't really tell the whole picture. My blog is a lot about product reviews...is there such a niche?  I struggle with these labels. To which niche do I belong? Which blogger label do I affix proudly to my bios? Which tribe do I call home? No clue. But what I do know is that I love my little blog here and plan to keep doing what I...

A safer option for runners and cyclists out on the roads. Forget the candy, your long distance runner or triathlete will love these. When I trained for my marathon I was in love with the blue raspberry and watermelon kinds for my long runs. These and some water and I was set. They have flavors with caffeine and without. Water bottles. We all know how important it is to stay well hydrated. Look for stainless steel or nalgene bottles, or bottles marked BPA free. Resistance bands. These are great options for strength training, small and portable! A magazine subscription makes a great stocking stuffer. You can buy a copy of the current magazine or just stick in a little note. Then they get the gift of motivation and encouragement all year long. A pedometer make an awesome stocking stuffer. It can be so much fun to track your steps everyday, try to beat yesterday's steps, etc.  Running socks. I have gone through many, many brands of running socks and t...

That is what December 2010 will be remembered as. Before you start lecturing me about 1 to 2 pounds a week, yada yada. Please hear my heart on this. I set a goal of ringing in the New Year in the 160's. Then proceeded to mess around and go from 184 to 187 and now back to 184 since then. I have a habit of doing this in my life and I have had enough . I didn't run my half marathon. I didn't enter to win a Fitbloggin ticket. I haven't finished my book. I sit right now at about the same weight I was last year this time. I get right up to the line where I can see success and good things and I fold. I've always prided myself in life as being someone who DOES what she says she is going to do. But is that true? Sure I've got excuses, and reasons (excuses in disguise), but the fact is: I'm afraid.  Fear is STILL holding me back. ENOUGH! I made that goal and come hell or high water I am going to see it through. Period. This is not about starvation or...