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.

Tuesday - life gets back to normal - with a twist!

Well, I expected life to get back to normal today, after Jeff's been on a business trip for a week and then had the long Labor Day weekend. But, as always, never count your chickens around here! He announced last night that he was going to call his boss this morning and see if he could take the week off -- which he is! So this week is an unplanned vacation week. He has some things around the house he wants to do, and on Wed. and Fri. we'll have Brayden all day and we'll get out and do something fun. The week will go quickly, I know. For today, though, I needed to get some housework done. Here's my To Do List: -- Vac downstairs - done -- Vac air return registers - done -- Clean kitchen counters, appliances, sinks - done -- Clean slider rails of patio door - done -- Empty dishwasher - done -- Make bed - done -- Clean my bathroom - done -- Cook breakfast (bacon, cheese omelette) - done -- Wash family room curtains* -- Take car to car wash - done -- Fill fountain with water - done -- Straighten up in quilt room* -- Empty kitchen and downstairs trash - done * Posted at 4:30 pm: Jeff's on vacation, so we ended up going to the Best Buy store to look at Hi-Def TV's (we're getting one - just want to do some research and look around at prices), then looked at wireless internet hook-ups, then looked at the PS3 (he's getting one but the guy told us they have a sale coming up to buy a HDTV and get a PS3 free, so I think we'll wait for that sale.), and he ended up buying NASCAR 2008 for his PS2. We also went to Home Depot and Michael's (all stuff Jeff wanted to get), then we came home and I dropped him off and I headed to the car wash and library. So the curtains and straightening will be on tomorrow's To Do list! An end is in sight for this horrendous hot weather we've been having. Today will again be 95 degrees (which usually turns out to be 98-100) and tomorrow will also be in the mid-90's. But they are forecasting low 80's later this week. Who ever thought low 80's would sound so good! It has been cooler at night - low to mid 60's - so the central air does get a break now and then. This morning I actually have the screen door open in the family room to air the place out a bit, but it's already starting to get warm and I'll have to close it soon before the A/C comes on. This has been a record-breaking hot hot hot summer here in southwestern Ohio. NO rain and everything is brown and dead. I believe I heard we've had 29 days out of 32 with temps over 90 degrees. That's enough for me! I'm ready for Fall! I've got our meals planned for today (Planning means bringing future dreams into the present): Breakfast - Jeff had 3 slices of bacon, cheese omelette -- I had 2 slices of bacon wrapped hot around a 1 oz cheese stick Lunch - Tuna salad on lettuce, hard boiled egg for Jeff Dinner - Lemon Pepper chicken on mixed green salad with tomatoes Sounds great to me!

It's a new day, a new beginning

One of my all time favorite quotes is from The Road Less Travelled by M. Scott Peck, M.D. The quote, paraphrased, is "Every day is a new day, a new beginning. You can't change what happened yesterday, you can only learn from it and move forward." Today I am excited about moving forward.

Jeff and I went on a low carb diet back in January of 2004. I lost 130 lbs., and he lost 70. That's a misplaced overweight person between the two of us. I went from a size 4X (yes, 4x!) to a size 14. I'm only 5'2" and even a 14 is at least 2 dress sizes larger than I should be, but I hadn't been in that size since elementary school! So I was very very happy to be in a 14 for my son's wedding in September 2005. Jeff went from a size 44 pants to a size 34! He's 5'11" and was on the verge of being a bit TOO skinny, in my opinion... I do like a little "heft" on men :) No skin and bones for me to hug, thank you very much! We both worked out a lot -- a minimum of 3 times a week at the fitness center at Jeff's work, and I usually worked out at least 6 days a week.

Since the wedding we both spiralled downward. I don't know the exact amount I've gained back, but it feels like every pound and then some. Fortunately, it's not, according to my last trip to the doctor's about a month ago. But I have gained 50 of my 130 lbs back. UGH! Jeff has probably gained back 30 of his. You can see by the photo on the right -- WAY way too heavy!

So tomorrow we re-start low carb. Back to the very beginning and the basics for two weeks. Yes, we do Atkins. You can rant and rave anti-Atkins all you want and I won't believe any of it. My doctor recommended it back in 2004 and it was definitely a huge health benefit for me. My blood pressure dropped from 170/90 to 112/60. My cholesterol dropped 61 points. Jeff had very similar results. And my energy level, which currently seems to be absolutely non-existent, was sky-high. I miss how great I felt while on that diet!

I am excited about going back on this way of eating. We both love the food, we both feel better and more energetic, and the weight loss and medical results are all good. We start right back at Step One - Induction. For two weeks we eat only meat, eggs, up to 3 oz cheese a day, 2 cups of salad veggies and 1 cup of other legal (green high fiber) veggies per day. Even after Induction, we will stay away from all things white -- white flour, white sugar, potatoes, rice, and trans fats. We will eat lots of vegetables and proteins. Our diet will be high in protein, good fats and fiber. We will take an array of vitamins to ensure good health, and add fiber substitutes occassionally. And most important, we will return to our exercise regime.

I know how out of shape I am right now. It's pathetic, to be honest. But I do understand I can't jump back on the exercise wagon thinking I'm going to pick up where I left off. Starting tomorrow I am going to exercise for 5 minutes a day, 6 days a week. Yes, I said just 5 minutes. Why? Because I don't want to hurt and I certainly don't want to damage my back. If I do either of those, I won't exercise at all, and that will be the worst thing. So just 5 minutes a day either walking on my treadmill or outside 3 x week, and doing hand weights 2 x week and stability ball 1 x week. Once I get through that (both mentally and physically) I will start building my minutes up, slowly but surely, by 5 minute increments, or more if it feels comfortable. Once I can comfortably do 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week, I'm going to go back to the fitness center for 3 x week x 45 minutes, then work out at home 2 x week x 30 minutes.

I can feel the same resolve I had back in January of 2004. I am going to do this and I am going to be successful at it. I am going to feel that high level of energy again! I am going to be able to admire myself in the mirror again! I am going to feel healthy and in control of what I eat again! It's going to work! There will be one difference -- as I get towards my goal weight (which I haven't determined yet), I am going to my doctor's nutritionist and learn how to make permanent changes in our way of eating so we don't regain this weight again.

So... it's a new day, a new beginning. I can't change what I did yesterday (regained weight) but I can learn from it and move forward... And that's exactly what I'm going to do!

Our Day at the Zoo

Not necessarily the best day to go to the Cincinnati Zoo -- the place was p-a-c-k-e-d! But Jeff, Brayden and I still managed to have a great time. For the first time, Brayden actually saw and acknowledged the animals -- up until now he's always been so busy watching the people around him, he never saw the animals. But today he saw them, waved to them, talked to them, pointed at them.. it was great. It was much hotter than we anticipated -- low 90's I believe -- so we only stayed about an hour or so. Since we have a membership, I'll take Brayden back once the cooler weather arrives.