The worst part about going on vacation is coming back and trying to get back into an exercise routine that you’ve thus far avoided. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m the queen of excuses. I can find the most interesting and unusual ways to avoid exercising that are possible. I’ve literally made the excuse not to exercise because I’m typing a lot. Yes, it’s true. When it comes to burning calories though, typing doesn’t seem to do very much for the size of my inordinately large ass cheeks. Go figure right? So anyway, yesterday was my first attempt at real exercise in nearly 8 weeks (2 slovenly weeks on vacation and 6 at home making excuses ranging from typing to non-existent big toe pain). It felt good, and I really forget sometimes just how good one feels after exercise. I think it’s a good idea for everyone to really think about how good exercising feels afterward, to motivate before.

So there is your update on my journey of losing weight for free. If there is anyone out there reading up about my journey to have a baby and work, that update is below this (in case you want to click out of here haha).

So if you haven’t caught up with me on what I’m doing to earn money, since I can’t find a job in this teeny tiny city, I’ll catch you up a little bit. I started making money online with hubpages and now I earn about $200 a month from those. I also have a bunch of websites that bring me in about another $100-200 and the money just keeps growing. It’s not making me rich, but I expect to have a full time work income by the end of this year. =) Yay me. It’s all very exciting stuff because I’m doing it on my own. Half of what I write is about making money planning a wedding and you can visit that site to learn how to do it yourself. BTW you can do it without wedding planning, that’s just my particular area of expertise. If you read my hubpages you’ll see that I have a wide variety of subjects I write on. I want to thank the keyword academy for being such a blessing in my life and teaching me how to really make money online. If you’re at all interested in doing that, be prepared for some hard work and do NOT believe all that hype about getting rich quickly. I work very hard and I’ll see a payoff, but the only difference between this and a full time job right now is that I get to set my own hours. If you’re interested in making money online, then prepare for some really hard work and long hours. The best part is I can make passive income in a year, which means in a year from now I’ll have to work maybe 4 hours a day to make a full time income of $36,000 year.

That wraps up two of the main things in my life, the third main thing, which a lot of people are wondering about is the baby making. That, is not going well. Unfortunately we’re not pregnant yet, but I would appreciate all of the prayers and good thoughts sent our way to make it so. I don’t care if you’re Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu or whatever.. since I’m of the mind it’s all about God, I’m good with all your prayers and thank you in advance.

Remember that if you’re looking to lose weight for free check out Sparkpeople.com where everything is free and everyone is awesome! That last link isn’t an affiliate link. I will never use or ask for an affiliate to Sparkpeople. I give them a link because I’m so grateful for all they do for me and others like me.

Now, two years later, my husband and I find ourselves living on a very limited budget, and I find myself fat, depressed, unemployable and poor. This puts me in the unique category of semi-computer literate and semi-poor. Its in this situation I decided to do two things. Lose weight and write about losing weight .. on budget. I began this blog with that precise intention. During the umpteenth debate with my husband regarding politics or religion or fashion, TV shows, etc etc , I realized I had too much to say to limit myself to just weight. But I will start with that particular discussion

I’m a fat girl. Not chubby or big, just plain fat. Being fat has made me depressed. Depressed and fat made me want to stay indoors. Staying indoors made me get fatter and thereby more depressed. Round and round we go until it came to the point that I left my house maybe three – four times in 9 months.

So here I was fat, depressed and basically home-bound, when my husband and I decide to have a baby. I quit smoking, so I wouldn’t be crazy when I was pregnant, and I proceeded to gain 40 pounds and we proceeded to try.. and try.. and try to get pregnant. Failure caused more depression and another 20 pounds. Now, at 38 years old, I figured my age was a factor and wanted to see how my fertility was doing. I contacted the fertility doctors. The first thing they tell me is that they will not even consider me for invitro or any other kind of reproductive assistance because, while my age is a small factor, the fact that I out-weighed Orca was probably the reason we weren’t getting pregnant.

So now I’m fat, depressed, not-smoking, unemployed, freezing (its Sweden after all), poor, sterile and to top it all off I’m diagnosed with a spinal problem which makes any exercise almost impossible.

While most weight loss sites will tell you that losing weight will not magically make everything else fall into place, I, fortunately (or unfortunately depending on your view), am not subscribing to that theory. Apparently, according to doctors, when I lose weight I will be fertile, backproblem-less (I reserve the right to make up words in my blog) and happier. More importantly, I believe I will be able buy cheaper clothes, fit into that size 4 Anne Klein blazer in my closet, and thus be less poor. It is simple deduction really. If I am able to buy cheaper clothes and fit into my smaller clothes, hanging useless in my closet, that equals more money in budget! Please note, men, this is how a woman’s mind works.

Stick around and I promise you a happy ending! Not that kind, you dirty boys!

Losing weight is metaphorically like starting a long marathon race when you have never ran a day in your life. Getting to the race is the 1st part of the battle. Moving past the start line is the 2nd and staying in the race to the finish is the last.

For me getting to the race was essentially, pun intended, like getting a beached whale back into the ocean. Now I’m in the ocean and I am fighting to stay off the shore, screw getting to the marathon.

Now everyone is asking themselves “What the hell does this have to do with being poor?”. Well lets stick with my beached whale metaphor. So I’m the whale and here is who is trying to unbeach me (remember the made up words clause earlier) : husband, family, friends etc etc.. Now while all of them are quite helpful, you ain’t gonna move a whale back into the ocean without some significant cost and major help.

Here is the happy ending I promised.

My major organizational help was http://www.sparkpeople.com. “Here we go”, you’re thinking this is a sales pitch. Yeah, I am making a sales pitch. For a completely free site! Yup its free. This was the major help pushing me in the water. Supplying the crane, metaphorically speaking, for free. Like the Greenpeace of Fat people!

This is my first recommendation to starting weight loss for the budget challenged (geez can I just say poor, like me?). Go to your local library if you don’t have internet or a computer. But once a day log in and stay there until you’re motivated to DO something about your weight. They have all kinds of motivational stories and articles.

On that site you’ll find tips on every single weight loss issue. You won’t need to buy drugs, equipment, advice, personal trainers. Everything you need is there. You can, of course, find information on equipment and personal trainers. They even have free fitness videos you can use at your computer area. For free you get:

* Personalized diet & fitness plan – check
* Calorie counter & exercise tracker – check
* Fitness demonstrations & videos – check
* Over 100,000 articles, recipes, & tips -check
* Blogs – check
* personal pages – check
* teams – check
* free- check

So if you want to lose weight and have a fitness plan just click on the link and get to the starting line. Believe me once you’re on the site, the starting pistol will go off and you’ll be on your way to the finish line, with a cheering squad besides you every step of the way.

Http://www.sparkpeople.com

I’ve lost 10 pounds so far in 3 weeks . And before my back injury I had lost 34 pounds in 4 months.. No magic pills, no gym membership, no costly foods. Free! Free! Free! Cool!