Progress

I didn't mean to let a week go by between postings, but sometimes life gets busy. I've been sticking well to my 'no sweets' lent challenge, although I did cheat on it once. I went to a birthday party at which it would have been rude for me to refuse the offered cake. So, I took a small piece of cake and no ice cream and savored it. I was surprised when the sugar didn't set off a sugar craving. YEA! Usually once I eat something sugary I immediately want more of the same, but that didn't happen this time. I found that after the first three days or so of no sugar, I stopped craving it. Of course, when 'that time of the month' rolls around, I may be singing a different song.

Otherwise, I haven't weighed myself, but I don't think I've lost any weight. sigh. Even though I'm not eating sugary stuff, I am still overeating other foods. But, hey, at least they are healthier foods. LOL. One step at a time, right?

The worst time of the day for me is right when I get home from work and I'm cooking supper. I'm usually hungry then and tend to pick at whatever I can in the kitchen. If I would just stick to my planned meals (and one snack) every day, I know I'd lose weight. So, that's the next thing I have to work on. Maybe I need to find some healthy, low cal, food to chew on while I'm cooking dinner. Maybe some celery or a rice cake would do the trick. I'll have to give it a try.

Oh, and I bought some Russel Stover sugar free breakfast bars completely forgetting that I've eaten sugar free candy before and it wreaks havoc on my digestive system. Of course it took me over a week to finally realize why I was so gassy. I bet I won't forget that again! LOL

I promise that I'll get on the scale sometime by the end of next week and report my progress or failure.

Dee

Lent 2

Today's the day. No more sweet snacks until Easter. Yea! LOL. Actually I am excited about it. I think that by giving myself a specific goal with a forseeable end, I can stick to it, eat healthier, and hopefully shed a few pounds. So, no more sugary snacks for forty days. Fruit is okay and sugar free treats are fine (within reason).

So, stay tuned. And, yes, I will let you know if I cheat on my goal.

Dee

Lent

I just realized that Lent starts tomorrow, and while I'm not Catholic, I think I will give up something this year. In my quest to live healthier and lose weight, I am going to give up all sweet, sugary snacks until Easter. No more cookies, cakes, candy bars, or Little Debbie treats for me. There. I've decided it, I've published it, now I have to live it. Anyone with me?
Dee

Winter Wonderland

We're lucky we didn't get hit as hard here in Lowville by the snowstorm as people in other areas did! At least the storm gave me a good excuse to get a little extra exercise by sweeping off our porch and cars and doing a little shoveling. Now today, I have some sore muscles, but I'm sure the fresh air did me good.

Several years ago, I lost quite a lot of weight by following a strict low carb diet. I was able to keep the weight off for a few years, but after a while, I slowly started losing my will power to avoid carbs. Now that I'm a little older and (hopefully) a little wiser, I understand that by telling ourselves that something is off limits, we often set ourselves up for failure. Plus, carbs, like fruits and whole grains, are good for our bodies and shouldnt' be seen as the great enemy! I shudder to think of the years I forbade myself from eating an apple or a piece of wheat toast.

On an even darker note, even though I tried to eat mainly lean proteins, my cholesterol level skyrocketed. I know now that my body produced high amounts of cholesterol regardless of what I eat or what weight I'm at, but the low carb, high protein diet didn't help. I'm almost ashamed to admit that my cholesterol was over 400.

Now, I'm on lipitor and I eat whole grains and fruits and starchy vegetables. But, of course, too much of anything can be a bad thing. Once I realized the damage I might be doing to my body by not eating carbs, I began eating a variety of complex carbohydrates. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to stop at the 'good' carbs and soon found myself often binging on sweets. To this day, it's hard for me to not crave sweets often. I believe these cravings are partly caused by my abstinance from them for so long.

So, if you ask me about low carb diets, you won't hear a positive point of view. I'm pushing ahead with my diet by trying to eat nutritionally balanced meals and allowing myself a small sweet now and then. I just have to keep watch over myself on the binging thing. That's my downfall. And it's a big one!

Dee

A little history

I've been heavier than I am right now and I've been thinner. Right now, I'm 30 to 35 pounds more than I was a few years ago. I felt good at that weight, not so much at this weight. When you've lost a bunch of pounds, you think you will NEVER go back to being heavy again and then years go by and you've put on 5 pounds. But, that's not so bad. Suddenly, it's ten then fifteen and then the spiralling out of control thing happens and you find youself 30 pounds heavier. sigh.

Weight is so much more enjoyable to put on than to take off.

But feeling good and being healthier are two things you can enjoy for the rest of your life. I have to focus on that.

Not on the cookies on the counter. LOL

I work at a very sedentary job, sitting at a desk in front of a computer all day. I used to have a job where I was lifting and moving and going up and down stairs all day. It was much easier to stay in shape. Now I find it's much easier to stay sitting on my duff than to get up and move around. I can't change jobs, but I can change the amount of time I stand on my feet and move when I'm not on the job.

Maybe a few brisk laps around the office wouldn't hurt either. LOL

So, I guess it doesn't matter so much where you've been before as where you're going. Forget the failures and false starts and focus on feeling better and being healthier. Yeah...that's it.

DEE

The Weight of the World

I'm starting a diet today. Again. I've done this at least a hundred times, but this time maybe it will work. Maybe. Maybe creating this blog and (hopefully) finding some other Northern New Yorkers to share the journey will help inspire me to reach those goals.

It's hard to lose weight during the long North country winters unless you enjoy freezing your tail off in the snow. I'm not a skiier or a snowsledder, so my choices for winter activities are limited to the fitness equipment I have at home. sigh.

I've been here before. I've done this before. Time to start again. Maybe this time it'll stick. Yeah, I'm sure of it. This time I'll get those pesky pounds off safely and keep them off.

I hope there are some people who would like to join me in shedding the pounds. This blog can be a message board/meeting place for cheering each others victories and commiserating about our mess-ups.

So, join me and let's see what we can accomplish.

DEE