Welcome to 2008!
As usual, I’m behind in things. I thought I blogged just like a week ago, and it’s already 2-3 weeks ago. This shows how incredibly lame I am. Painfully lame. But with good taste in footwear.
I stepped on the scale on New Year’s Eve. I laughed. I weighed again. I was still laughing. I weighed in one more time on January 1, 2008. I stopped laughing and started shaking my fist at the scale while speaking in pirate talk.
It’s usually at this point that I start throwing clothes on the floor. I take off the snow boots. I inhale air in. I exhale air out. I make my loved ones test the scale. I check the batteries. I weigh again.
It’s at this point that it becomes obvious that aliens must have abducted my scale and replaced it with gravitational pull akin to what is seen on Jupiter. I don’t really weigh that much?
Or do I?
Do I?
Weight aside, I’d been feeling not so hunky dory. A constant, stuffy nose, feeling very tired, out of sorts, forgetful to the point of missing appointments, emotionally volatile, acne, depression, dry skin, brittle nails, swollen feet, open sores which just never seemed to heal, palpitations, anxiety, IBS, acid reflux, constant attention to food, skin thinning to the point of rupturing, yeast problems, excess hair growth, tingling in extremities due to size, extreme discomfort in arms due to weight during sleep, waking up a lot, needing a nap most days, unable to walk up a flight of stairs without being fully winded, etc.
I realized how sequestered I’d become in my house, running necessary tasks, but realizing that I always had someone with me to help me, whether it was carrying laundry, or carrying groceries. When there were times I had to leave the house for a function or and event, my anxiety skyrocketed. I knew I wasn’t going to be able to fit in a theater seat, or climb to the top of the bleachers to cheer my daughter on during events. It was becoming more apparent that life was becoming smaller and smaller, and the sphere of experience I was living was growing larger and looming.
So, while I am not a fan of New Year’s Resolutions, I was still resolved, on the first of January, to start all over again, one last time. This isn’t for reasons of vanity, or to wear a size 6. Right now, I just want to be alive.
I originally lost 115 pounds when, on August 20, 2004, I decided that if I wasn’t going to lose the weight on my own, I would probably have to risk my life with weight loss surgery. I lost this weight in little over 6 months. Unfortunately, with the extremely quick weight loss, I made a lot of wrong choices: I didn’t exercise regularly. I didn’t eat practically or in such a way as to follow this plan for life. I stayed on induction for entirely too long. I made weight loss the end-all, be-all, rather than just something which needs to take place.
Now, although I’ve suffered very real set-backs in weight loss, I know this is where I needed to be in order to make the right choices for the right reasons. Now, with kids who have their own dietary issues and food intolerances, this isn’t simply a lone venture by a bored housewife. This is a training: for my kids for the rest of their lives. For me, for the rest of mine. Heck, even my husband likes a lot of the foods I am making these days!
No longer simply omelets for 3 meals a day, vegetables have become a daily staple, and we, as a family unit, have really found a great amount of enjoyment in the changes taking place. My kids are choosing high-protein-high-fat snacks and eschewing sugary treats and crackers. Mashed cauliflower has taken the place of mashed potatoes. Spaghetti squash is slowly replacing spaghetti as a staple meal in my house. Ice cream now takes a back seat to sugar-free jell-o fluff/mousse. Bottled water in my home is now more important than either milk, kool-aid or sodas.
Changes take time, and the right choices take experience.
I look very much forward to sharing with you the journey I’m undertaking this year. The pictures, the progress, the recipes I’m using, and the positive changes.
Are you ready to lose the weight with me?
Forgetting the New Year as a trite cliche in making promises we never intend to keep, can you look to making each and every day a learning experience?
I look forward to our successes together as we move forward into 2008.
My goal: I will lose 150 pounds this year.
And, by the way, after only 2 days on induction, I’ve already lost 14 pounds.
Thanks, Dr Atkins.
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