Crunchy Munchies

My challenge this week is getting the munchies - especially after 9 p.m. I've been trying, based on the advice of my trainer, not to eat after 9 p.m. I usually consume most of my 300 calories at dinner, which leaves little for a snack. But between 8 and 10 I get REAL hungry. I need to make the lo-cal jello dessert one friend gave me the recipe for, but I'm usually hungry for crunchy things - pretzels, crackers, popcorn, or dry cereal. Fortunately I'm not craving sweets, although I may get a cookie or something slightly sweetened like yogurt, especially if I've had spicy food. But it's the crunchy munchies that threaten to do me in.

Because....even if in and of themselves, small portions of any the crunchy items aren't too bad - I'm firmly in the "you can't eat just one" camp - and so I'll find myself saying "I'll have just one, or a few" and before you know it I've finished off the bag! Gotta get a plan to keep that from happening.

Last night it happened again but I rationalized it with the fact that I had "run" (actually slow jogged in place) for 15 minutes with the WiiFit. And in Weight Watchers when you exercise you earn extra points - so I figure I can justify having a snack because of the exercise I did - Sorry Jenn!

Any ideas or tips for making myself full enough on 300 calories to not get the munchies will be appreciated!

And what does anyone think about the over the counter diet aids that are supposed to suppress appetites? Years ago I used dexatrim for a while - but the caffeine in it made me REALLY hyper! Now they have caffeine-free dexatrim, but I wonder about the other ingredients and how safe they might be. Any thoughts?

An Interesting Effect to Being Calorie Conscious

I suppose this will elicit a big "duh" from most of you, but it finally occured to me why there's value in counting calories. I typically have shied away from diets that required keeping track of calories, preferring either "prepackaged" foods, counting points, looking at fat content, etc. So these last two weeks have been an education for me as I've had to be conscious about how many calories I'm ingesting. First of all, as I mentioned before, there's virtually nothing on any restaurant menu that is less than 300 calories. So I've learned that I'm just going to have to go prepared to work to have lunches and even breakfast in the office and keeping low calorie snacks on hand.

But the one thing I discovered after reading some blog materials that shared the number of calories in various food items and also researching restaurant websites on my own - the thought of ingesting more than 300 calories at a time is no longer appealing to me. When watching commericals on television related to food, and seeing all the tantalizing dishes being waved in front of your face, now instead of doing the "ooh and aah -I want that!" mantra, I find myself saying "Jeez, can you imagine how many calories are in that?" I actually am finding that I'm turned off by the food products I see in front of me that are likely laden with both fat and calories. I find that instead, I enjoy rising to the challenge of finding something for 300 calories that I can eat and feel somewhat satisfied.

So now, I've got some kind of "trigger" that helps prevent me from eating a lot of calories, just because of that new level of awareness I have. I suppose this is something I should've "gotten" years ago, and likely I wouldn't be in the state I'm in now if I had understood this fairly simple principle sooner, but - it's better late than never! I think this will make my current goals a little easier to attain. We'll see.

This week was a good week in that I was in some challenging situations that I managed to handle quite nicely. We ordered pizza one night and I was able to eat only one slice and be happy with that. Had some salad along with it. Had an unexpected lunch invitation with friends on Wednesday, and they wanted to go to a Thai restaurant. Yeesh - I love me some chicken or tofu pad thai, but know how much oil they cook it in and know I can't go anywhere near it. Fortunately they had a nice tossed salad with curried chicken strips and a typical Thai peanut sauce. I kept the sauce on the side and just occasionally dipped the chicken strips in it, just enough for a taste. I felt very virtuous that day.

Challenges

My only real challenge right now I think is the exercise part. I did take my grandson for a walk in the park the other day, and at least once this week I've done the Wii Fit and Wii Boxing. But I'm having a lot of aches and pains and it's getting very hard to do the exercise. It was all I could do to walk a 1/2 mile, maybe a mile loop with the grandson, and yesterday I tried lifting 5 lb. weights and could barely get my arms up - couldn't even get my extended arm up to shoulder level with the weights. My right hip and leg have been aching like crazy as well. I don't know if these aches and pains and difficulty lifting are symptoms of being so out of shape, symptoms of age, if there's something "wrong" with me health wise, or if it's because I have been doing a little more activity than I've been used to. But it's a little concerning and I'll be keeping track of all of that to see if I need to see my doctor.

Speaking of Wii Fit, though, I forgot to mention in my first blog about Wii Fit about the "fitness age" feature. After the system takes your weight, determines your BMI and puts you through a few balance exercises, it gives you your "fit" age - as in how old your body really is. I shouldn't admit it here, but honest to God it told me that I have the body of a 75 year old! Twenty years older than I really am! Maybe that's why I have all the aches and pains! The Veema better be kicking in soon!

-3 and Counting!

My first week with the new fitness plan and I lost 3 pounds. That's a good start. That's including the fact that while I did exercise more than I have been, I still didn't exercise a lot, and it's also including the fact that I "lost" it a little bit on Friday and ate more than my 300 calories every 3 hours. However, my "binge" was still on healthy food - I didn't go out and get a Sonic Snickers Blizzard like I wanted to, so that's the good news! I'm happy.

I neglected to mention before that I'm not going to necessarily post my weight loss every week like I did when I first started this blog. You'll notice that feature is gone from the blog. With the Wii Fit, you can only put a goal for weight loss at 22 pounds at a time. So I figure that when I reach that first goal of 22 pounds lost - I'll post that, and then reset the goal on Wii Fit. That's also roughly in keeping with Weight Watchers which recommends you only set a goal of 10% of your current weight.

I've been having fun checking out the fast food websites to see what, if anything, is on their menus that is 300 calories or less. Obviously there's precious little! Even the little Jr. Deluxe Burger from Sonic that I love so much is more than 300 calories. But there are a few items. Some of the breakfast items - egg burritos for example - are around 300 calories, and you can usually find a salad with grilled chicken for 300 calories. However, that is dependent on which restaurant and how much additional "stuff" they add to the salad. For example, I love the McDonald's Southwest Grilled Chicken Salad, but because of all the extra ingredients (beans and corn and the delicious Southwest Dressing) it's way more than 300 calories. However, the Tendergrill Chicken Garden Salad at Burger King, with their packet of fat-free Ranch dressing, is exactly 300 calories - and that's typically pretty filling. I've noticed, though, with BK that they've started skimping on the salad part - it's a much smaller bowl and fewer tomatoes and carrots. But of all the fast food restaurants, I like their grilled chicken the best. Jack in the Box gets the worst scores from me for skimping on the chicken part.

I also happily discovered that a slice of pizza is anywhere from 140-196 calories, which means when we have pizza day at work this week I can at least have that one slice and added with a salad should have a very satisfying meal. As long as I can eat foods like this, even the smaller portions, at least I won't feel deprived.

I am going to start a new feature in the column to the left, sort of my own version of Hungry Girl. When I discover these little jewels of information about foods and calories, I'll post them here for everyone to access.

So who's up for a 1-slice per person pizza party?!

Vitameatavegamin!

The third approach I'm taking to this new fitness/weightloss regime is to add a vitamin supplement. This came about unexpectedly and by happenstance, and according to my son, the skeptic, is totally unnecessary and possibly dangerous.

I'm sure that vitamin and mineral supplements are necessary for me because I'm likely not getting enough through my food. But I'm notoriously bad about staying consisent on taking vitamins. I'll take prescribed medication, but staying consistent with taking a vitamin is just asking a lot of me. Not sure why, it just is.

A couple of years back a friend had me taking numerous natural supplements through a company she was working with and swore by. I was taking all sorts of things, and they each had a specific body part or health concern they targeted. But I usually had to take two to three doses of some of these supplements a day and I wound up taking 10 to 20 pills at every meal! Granted, after I had been on them a while, I really did feel better, but taking that many pills at once was just not doing it for me. And...they were expensive. I hung in there as long as I could with them, but I just couldn't sustain that level of vitamin/mineral intake!

Since then I've tried taking B12 in the morning, because my doctor determined that I'm B12 deficient, and I've tried to be consistent with taking Fish Oil in the evenings. But even just that level of intake, in addition to my prescribed medications, was more than I could do.

When I was at my hair stylist last week, she started telling me about a liquid vitamin/mineral supplement she's taking called Veema (see www.veema.com for more information). It's a two ounce shot of juice you drink each morning and it supposedly is a miracle worker. It naturally inhibits hunger (though not the sole reason to take it) - Susan said she had lost 10 lbs. in a month without trying. As well there is a long list of things it wards off , like arthritis pain, plus it enhances sleep, improves skin, eyesight, etc. She and her skeptic husband were swearing by it. She had heard of it from friends who had been on it a while and were talking about it as though it was the Fountain of Youth. It's made of the Mangosteen fruit, Aloe Vera, and Green tea and includes beaucoup vitamins and minerals, even some trace elements of minerals that you don't typically see.

This is where my son, the skeptic, went ballistic - when he read the number of "rare earth" elements that were in the drink. Frankly I thought "Rare Earth" was a 70s rock band, but at any rate, I figured there are only trace amounts of those elements in there, and I'm not too concerned. The proof, they say, is in the pudding. So I'll have to report back in a couple of weeks to see if I feel like it's having any positive affects on me.

I figure that surely I can handle a two ounce shot of juice in the morning. It tastes pretty good, so I don't have to "choke" it down like I often did pills, and it will be easy to remember to take. And they even provide a little "shot" glass to measure out the juice. It is a little pricey - $70 a month. But that's a lot less than what I was paying for the other vitamin regimen I was on, and most "serious" multiple vitamins are nearly that much.

I have to admit though, to say I'm taking a liquid vitamin supplement called Veema reminds me of the "I Love Lucy" episode where she was filming a commercial for a similar substance called "Vitameatavegamin." Apparently this "vitamin supplement" was 95% proof, and the more takes of the commercial she had to take, the more she had to drink the stuff, and the drunker she got. It's quite a hysterical episode, as she tries to say the name "Vitameatavegamin" and the drunker she gets the harder it is for her to say it. I'm pretty sure there's no alcohol in the Veema, but my son snidely remarked when he started reading the list of ingredients, "Oh, right here at the top it says it contains 'snake oil'!"

Update to my blog post from yesterday - I have intended to insert my "Mii" self into my profile photo, which is mentioned in the blog. Obviously I haven't done that yet. Stay tuned....

And Now the Exercise!

It's an unfortunate fact that the best way to lose weight is to decrease caloric intake and increase exercise. I'm working on the reduction of caloric intake, and doing okay so far, but now I've got to gird myself up for working out more often. It's always a dilemma in terms of time and place. Ideally joining a gym or the Y would be best, but I don't have the money in my budget to do that right now. There is a small exercise room in the apartment complex where we live, but I've had difficulty making myself go there. In pretty weather (i.e. - not too hot, not too cold, not raining, sleeting or snowing!) I've been known to bring my walking shoes to work and go walking in the nice little park near my office, or even just huff and puff up and down the very steep road by the office. Some evenings in the spring and summer if I come straight home from work I can go down to the little greenway that's within walking distance of my home (except that you have to cross over the interstate on a bridge - which freaks me out a bit!) And on weekends I sometimes drive to a state park that's about 30 minutes away to walk the two-mile loop there.

But the exercise needs to be sustained and that's where I tend to "flake" out. I get so annoyed with myself because I always feel so much better when I work out, even if I'm initally sore and tired because I'm so out of shape. Just one workout causes me to feel like I'm breathing easier, have more energy and believe that all things are possible. But my biggest problem is eventually getting bored, or busy, or whatever lame excuse I need to stop doing the exercise.

Wii Fit
We also faced the dilemma of how Jenn the trainer could monitor my progress. Being pregnant and the mother of an active almost two year old, we weren't sure it would always be practical for her to go with me on my walks or other workouts. And she wanted to make sure I wasn't cheating when I exercised, or going out to ostensibly exercise but skipping out (not that I would, you know!) Chase and Jenn have the Wii Game system and had been enjoying the Wii Sports that are on there - and some of those can cause you to work up a sweat. But the Wii Fit system would also help us keep track of my weight loss progress and BMI index. So we all chipped in and bought the Wii Fit system.

Wii is a pretty cool system but a little intimidating. You hold a remote that is what interacts with the system, recording your scores in the games you play, etc. With the Wii Fit, it almost becomes like "Hal" the computer in 2001: A Space Odyssey - you feel like it's human and knows your every movement! There is a pad you stand on that is both a scale and part of the recording mechanism in addition to the remote control. The first time you get on it puts you through your paces to weigh you, determine your Body Mass Index, measure your balance, and even determine your fitness "age."

The features are fun, funny, and sometimes annoying. To start you create a virtual version of yourself called a "Mii." You design the body, hair color, etc. to try to get it to look as much like you as possible. That's the "you" who will be doing the exercises on the TV, based on the movement you make yourself while holding the remote. After you've created your "Mii" the system starts assessing your weight and BMI. Then, whatever your weight is, the "Mii" morphs into that size! (See profile photo) So now I have this fat little virtual me on the screen reminding me of what I need to do.

To add insult to injury though, and to make sure you stay motivated, after that, every time you step on the scale when you first turn the system on, the scale makes this audible "oompf" sound - smart-alecky thing! And it tells you when the last time was you accessed the system and chides you for not being on it more often!

So this is my plan now: every couple of days I'll work out on the Wii Fit, where they have yoga exercises, aerobics, strength training, and balance games. I'll try to get in 30 minutes at a time, and as out of shape as I've been that feels like more than enough. I'll rest on alternate days, although on those days at lunch I'll probably at least get out and walk. On other days, instead of doing Wii Fit, I'll do Wii Sports. They have a boxing game on there that really gets you going - so that's a nice aerobic exercise that's fun too. And on weekends I'll still try to get out and walk the two mile loop at Long Hunter Park on Saturday or Sunday. The goal is to stay active, but not to get into a routine that eventually gets boring.

When I do get on the Wii Fit, it offers to weigh me every time and recalculate the BMI, which you can opt out of, but I'll probably do it at least once a week. It records your weight and shows your progress on a chart - so you're getting the visual aid of seeing how you're doing.

I can only hope that as I lose weight, my Mii person will gradually reduce in size.

She damn well better!

Addendum - A Small (or maybe large) Gripe

I 've noticed over the last few weeks that there are all these pop up ads on the Internet about earning thousands of dollars by simply going into websites and creating links, supposedly for Google. It sounds appealing and easy, but I knew there had to be a catch. In the meanwhile, I started noticing that on any website I visit, and even here on this blog, there are links that lead to nothing but more ads or comeons for various products or institutions.

Most website owners will have links to more information on their various pages. Those are underlined once and is set up to give the reader and opportunity to find more relevant information on the subject. The key word here is "relevant." See the double green underlines on some of the key words in my blog? Those are the links that have be created by these folks supposedly earning the big bucks for doing it. But if you click on those links they will go to pop-up ads or totally non-relevant websites or search engines.

To me, this is the equivalent of spam or phishing and it annoys the heck out of me. I resent going into a website that has legitimate links and also finding this non-legitimate ones. And I really hate that they're popping up on my blog! I don't want the friends (or strangers) who may read this blog to think I'm pushing something I'm not. I'm not sure if there's a way I can get rid of them - but I will if I can. There's probably no way to legislate having this stop, but I find it personally offensive.

Now that I've aired my gripe, continue reading below for the continuing saga of weight loss and fitness!

300 Calories Every 3 Hours

Since I've just finished having my afternoon snack, and it wasn't what I had planned for, I thought this would be a good time to share the first of the three-step approach to my getting fit and healthy - my food intake.

Lord knows I've been on every diet there is with the exception of the South Beach Diet or Sugar-Busters. I've paid lots of bucks to people like Nutri-Systems, L.A. Weight Loss, Weight Watchers, and I briefly participated in the much ballyhooed "Cookie Diet." I took the phen-fen pills and counted calories back before they found out these drugs were potentially fatal (a trip to the doctor and one echocardiogram later - I found out I was fine), I've tried the Dr. Atkins high protein/low carb diet which is the only diet that truly appealed to me in terms of taste because I could have all things loaded with fat! However, I also discovered with this diet that by reducing the carbs so drastically I was also losing brain function - my memory during that time was shot all to hell and I often couldn't put a coherent sentence together. And I've done the low fat diets, but didn't always pay attention to calories or sugar content.

So there you are, I've done it all! My trainer (Jenn) has had the most success with eating 300 calories every 3 hours, which in a normal work day would be around 1200, maybe 1500 calories. I'm trying to stick with the 1200 calories because that's a good number of calories for me to begin losing the pounds. There are no rules about what kinds of foods to eat - just only eat 300 calories at a time. Obviously, the smart person would focus on low fat and low sugar snacks, but it's not required - it's just limiting calories.

There is some logic to this, for me anyway. Yes, I will try to eat healthfully and lowfat for most meals and snacks - the more low fat and healthy the food, the more I can eat and be fuller with that 300 calories. But for those times when I'm just REALLY craving something sweet, I can have it - as long as I don't eat more than 300 calories worth. This should go a long way in satisfying cravings and not feeling deprived. I can still participate in work luncheons, parties, or other functions where I have no control over what is being served, and still eat just enough to cover the calories. That means I'll have to start learning the caloric value of a lot of different foods, or figure out how much of something I can eat that stays within that range - but that's doable. For example, my boss just came back from a reception that her mother catered, and true to form, she brought back all the left over canapes that had been served there. And there are a lot! I had been planning my snack all day, and fully intended to snub the smorgasboord of food in the kitchen. But being assured that there were "healthy" things in there I checked it out anyway. "Healthy" is a relative term, but I did find small ham and cheese rollups that I felt comfortable eating two of, feeling confident that I stayed below the 300 calories. So I added a few pretzels to round that out. I indulged my need to have the food, but kept it "legal." Next week we're having our monthly staff lunch - and pizza is on the menu. I'll have to figure out how much pizza (likely a small sliver!) I can eat that is only 300 calories. That'll be a heavy salad day.

Figuring out how many calories are in various foods and planning meals and snacks now could potentially be fun. For example, I discovered that I can have 2 boiled eggs and an English muffin with jam and be within 300 calories! That's more breakfast then I usually eat, but it's heavy on protein. So I can be filled up legally and not be starving before lunch and being tempted to snack. Oh, and I should explain that not being an early riser, I can't get up in time to eat my breakfast at home, necessitating having a mid-morning snack. After I get to work, between 8 and 9 a.m. I have my first meal of the day. Fortunately we're a pretty informal office, so that's not a problem for anyone. In fact, most of the staff does it!

Over this past weekend, not knowing that I was going to start on this particular food plan, my best friend Jan gave me the Hungry Girl Recipes and Survival Strategies for Guilt-Free Eating in the Real World. Check out www.hungrygirl.com - it's a great resource. Most of the recipes in the book are less than 300 calories and include meals and snacks - so I know with that I can find some stress-free, easy ways to eat healthfully and tastefully, while being satisfied. She also has a new book out called 200 Under 200: 200 Snacks Under 200 Calories which should also be great.

This makes me optimistic that I'll be successful. Everyone's support is also helpful. As I noticed on the finale of The Biggest Loser last night, friends and family of the contestants were in full abundance. The fact that after these folks left the ranch they were still able to lose more weight while at home means that they didn't have anyone giving them negative feedback or trying to sabotage their plans. I have every confidence that the same will hold true with my friends and family.

So there we are with the meal plan. I'll be writing about the successes with this plan, especially in terms of weight loss.

Tomorrow: the second step in this plan - exercise!

And So It Begins

As soon as I posted my new blog and let it be known it was out there, I've had a wonderful supportive response from friends and families. There are few people I know who don't struggle with weight issues, especially us middle-aged women! So it's encouraging to know that everyone's rooting for me, and hopefully, if I can succeed this time, it'll serve as inspiration to others.

On the one hand I can be frustrated at the years of yo-yo dieting I've done; the times I've managed to get significant weight off only to pile it back on, the eating binges I go on, all of it. But I had one of those "Aha" moments this morning. There are many times when we get false starts in life - career goals, relationships, finances, you name it - all of us at some point have had to pick up and start over. It's really a question of perseverance. It took me 10 years to write and publish my book, but I did get that done. There were times I came close to shelving the manuscript completely, but I kept at it - I had this little nagging thought in my mind that this was necessary to my life to complete this book. And once I did accomplish that, I was rewarded. Not financially, as in book sales, but through the support I received from others, from the letters and emails I got from people who were inspired or moved by the book. Just those few emails were enough to make me feel that those 10 years of effort were entirely worth it. I had achieved the goal I had set out for with that book. So why shouldn't it be any different with my efforts at weight loss? Yes, I have tried and failed before. But who's to say that I won't succeed this time? If I keep that same thought in mind, that getting to a healthy weight is necessary to my life, then I'll be more likely to persevere and eventually succeed.

That's the plan, anyway!

Personal Trainer

Besides just being uncomfortably overweight, part of the inspiration for getting back on track has been watching "The Biggest Loser." Jenn, my daughter-in-law, and I have been watching together this season as the most obese contestants they've ever had on the program have vied with each other to lose the most weight. And all of them have succeeded beyond all of their own expectations - most of them losing well over 100 lbs. in 17 weeks. Granted, the program is not fixed in reality in that these folks get taken to a ranch where they check out of their normal lives for over four months and do nothing but focus on exercise and diet. They work out every day far more than any normal human can possibly do. But yet, it is inspirational to see them get slimmer and slimmer week after week and to see their self-confidence increase.

But I was grousing to Jenn about the fact that these folks have personal trainers helping them everyday, and who can afford a personal trainer anyway? Then I "woke up" to the fact that my daughter-in-law, with whom I am living, (along with my son and grandson) has a degree in sports physiology and was a trainer with the sports teams while at David Lipscomb University. As she would sit there week after week adding her own knowledge about the body, diet and exercise while watching the program, I had yet another "Aha" moment, or maybe this one is a "Duh" moment - Jenn can be my personal trainer! She's there with me 24/7 - there would be no escaping!

After mulling it over for a few days, I broached the subject with her. I offered to pay her $1 for every pound I lose if she'll help me with a meal plan I can live and lose with and get me on an exercise program. She willingly agreed, realizing the potential for getting Chase, my son, on an exercise routine as he's developing a bit of a paunch as well!

And well she should be willing to do it - she's partially to blame for mine and Chase's weight gains. She's about 5 months pregnant and her eating habits are all over the place. She often doesn't know what she wants until a particular craving hits her, and then that craving has to be fulfilled. The cravings tend toward the carbohydrates and fat loaded foods like pizza, pasta, various fast foods, weekly barbecue from Whitt's etc. And sometimes she'll crave some kind of dessert so I'll often come home from work to find a pan full of freshly made lemon squares, chocolate chip cookies, banana bread, all kinds of yummy stuff.

The problem is that Chase and I would just eat what she wanted to eat. But....Jenn's weight gain only goes to the baby, and she in fact is losing weight in other areas and slimming down nicely! Chase and I, however, are eating like she is, and of course, gaining like crazy! It's like there's three pregnant people in the house!

So - she owes me!

Back Again, Tail Tucked Between Legs

Six months! SIX MONTHS! That's how long it's been since I last posted to this blog. You can only guess what happened - I fell so far off the diet "wagon" that I couldn't face blogging about it. Of course, the point of the blog was to journal about my struggles and probably get lots of love and support from all of you out there. Over the months, most of you have mentioned the fact that I haven't been blogging and that you've missed the posts. Thank you for that! But as I've said, I was too ashamed to come on here and admit to how poorly I've done.

The holidays were a complete bust and it was continuously downhill from there. I don't know if it's medication I'm taking or what, but I just have seem to have an endless appetite - and have spent the last six months indulging myself with all of the comfort foods, desserts, candies I've wanted. I regained most of the 18 pounds I had lost and bragged about and my energy level is sapped. I ache all over, find it hard to climb the stairs to our apartment (oh yeah, since the last post we moved into a bigger apartment, but it's on the upper level - yeesh!), and huff and puffiso much when I move that I went to my doctor to have blood work and a heart stress test just to make sure I wasn't on the verge of keeling over with a heart attack. Apparently I'm "fine" in those areas - normal blood work (oh - except for the high cholesterol and tricyclerides), no blockages, etc. But feeling as "poorly" as I have, and now having additional incentive - another grandchild on the way - I'm determined to climb ever so painfully back on that wagon and get going again.

This past weekend three dear friends and I got together for a long overdue "girls" weekend away. We spent the weekend at a house in Fairfield Glade up on the Cumberland Plateau - a beautiful part of Tennessee. It rained most of the weekend, but we were there primarily to just catch up with one another, and laugh. Boy did we laugh. And we ate. BOY did we eat! All of these women are typically quite health concious and in much better shape than me, but we just had a "lost" weekend of indulging ourselves with good food, including an absolutely sinful dessert at a Mexican restaurant. I won't go into details, just suffice it to say, we really shouldn't have!

So that was my last food blowout before getting back on track. This week I'm starting a new regimen with a 3-pronged approach. In the next post I'll share what that approach will be and we'll take it from there.

Wish me luck!