Feeling really good

The diet is going beautifully. I have to tell you, the key to being successful is being in the right mental place when you start. For me, at least, if I'm not mentally ready to lose weight - it's not going to happen. Then again, if I don't jump on the diet bandwagon when I *am* ready, I miss the boat completely. It's as if the planets and stars have to align -- and, yippy skippy, they are aligned! I started the low carb diet on Tuesday, weighed myself Tuesday night and again this morning (Friday). I have lost 5 lbs already. I told Jeff yesterday that I knew I was losing weight - I can actually "feel" it! I am not hungry at all. That's the great thing about Atkins that not only are you rarely hungry, but it gets to the point where you have to make yourself eat, even though you're not all that interested. My meals and food for yesterday were: Breakfast - 1 ounce sharp cheese with 2 slices bacon Lunch - 2 slices of thin cut roast beef with 1 thin slice of swiss cheese, made into roll-ups, with about 1 tsp of mayo between the two roll-ups. Dinner - 5 Buffalo chicken wings, 3 cups of green salad Snack - 1 more chicken wing (yum!) I am so fortunate that this diet exists. It's as if it were truly made for me. When I'm on a low fat or low calorie diet, I don't have sweet cravings -- I have mayonnaise and protein cravings. Even when I'm not doing low carb, my snack foot preference goes to meats and proteins. I just find this diet so easy to do! There's always one exception and that is bread. But honestly, bread is what put the 42 pounds back on. I don't know if there's such a thing, but I strongly believe I'm a bread-aholic. I don't eat one sandwich, I eat three. I don't have one piece of toast for breakfast, I have four. I love love love bread. I could eat it for every meal and every snack. And I'm thinking that I may have to give up bread. If I have it in the house, I'm going to eat it. And if I eat one piece, I'm going to eat many pieces. Much like an alcoholic who can't take just one sip, I think I'm a breadaholic who can't eat just one slice. Sad, but very true! When we first started incorporated bread back into our diet after the last round of low-carb, I bought only high fiber, multi-grain, dense bread. It made no difference. I could still eat an entire loaf of bread. I'd be stuffed full and eat another sandwich. I don't do this with any other food that I can think of! I could have potatoes in the house and eat only 1/4 of a potato with my dinner, and not be out in the kitchen 1 hour later eating the other 3/4. But bread -- it's just not going to happen. I do have to consider that if I want to lose this weight again and maintain my weight loss, I may well have to stay completely away from bread. Jeff and I took Brayden to his doctor's appointment this morning, then went to a few yard sales. We stumbled on the Grandparent's Heaven yard sale. Ohmygoodness! I talked with the lady having the yard sale, and she told me she was an only child, and her daughter was an only child, so the grandparents went crazy. It was evident in the number of toys in the yard sale -- many many which seemed to be never played with or brand new! And every toy was name brand and great quality. I picked up several items, some of which I'm going to put away for Christmas presents. Brayden picked out an O'Cedar broom/ dustpan/ mop set and a Winnie the Pooh wagon full of blocks. I bought two books for him, and then spotted a Leap Frog Phonics Railroad for $10. It comes with alphabet blocks and the train sings songs according to the letter block you put in the car! It's enormous -- takes up half my kitchen -- but comes apart easily. It plays the ABC song, which Brayden loves. I also picked up a block sorter that opens with keys, a wooden puzzle of fish, a Fischer-Price garage (just like the one my kids had!), and Brayden picked out a kick ball. I spent $18 on it all, so that was great -- especially if I can get two Christmas presents out of it.