Still On Plan and Still Feeling Good...

I've lost 23 pounds as of this a.m., two days short of a month on plan.  This has been quite the adventure for me.  When I first weighed in this morning I was a tiny bit disappointed, I thought great 2 more pounds but that's only 23 pounds that I've lost, then I realized I had not been on this plan for one month yet and that I had accomplished quite a bit!

I've also started doing things a bit different this time, yes the way I did it before worked but I realize that my mental and spiritual health are as important as my physical health.  So I've tried to incorporate different aspects of this to my new South Beach lifestyle.

Exercise
I've been doing Leslie Sansone's Walk Away the Pounds for Abs 1 Mile for the last 10+ days.  I'm trying to do it 6 days a week and i'm thinking of starting the 2 mile probably on Sunday.   I try my best to do it before 10am so that it's out of my way, yes that's how I feel about it because if I wait too long I'll have figured out some great excuses on why I can't do it.  As I'm typing this it's 9:40am, my usual routine is to start my omelet, cook it on low and start walking away the pounds, so this will go into draft until I'm done...

Meetings

I started attending 12 step meetings, helps me a lot, I work the steps or at the very least try to and do my best to try and do the next right thing.  Which believe me isn't as easy as it sounds.

Prayer & Mediation

I try to connect with my higher power on a daily basis thru prayer and meditation.  I don't always "pray" in the traditional sense but I reach out more now than ever, but I still feel as though there is much room for improving my conscious contact with my Higher Power who I call God but some may refer to him/her as  Goddess, Source, the Creator etc...

Sleep
This is a big one for me.  I've never been much of a sleeper from childhood into adulthood.  There's too much to do in order to sleep.  I don't suffer from insomnia (touch wood) I'm one of those lucky ones that once I hit the pillow its night night for me.  But I used to live off of 6 or less hours a night for years and years.  When I was an active alcoholic I even had less sleep than that (or shall I say pass out time).

About 2 months ago I woke up feeling hungover, I haven't had a drink in over 11 years so I couldn't understand what happened (did I tell you this story before) anyway that's when I decided sleep was going to be an integral part of my life.  I now sleep 7 to 9 hours a night and if I don't get that for whatever reasons, I will nap.  Sleep is part of me taking care of me, to think it took me 30 plus years to figure that out.

I have big news coming soon, I'll be writing about it in the next few days, it's big news to me anyway.

Thanks for stopping by!

Being Kind... to myself.

It's been a week since my last post and a great week at that.

On Monday I started Alanon, which is a fellowship of relatives and friends of alcoholics who share their experience, strength, and hope in order to solve their common problems. I got that from their site. My husband is a recovering alcoholic with over 10 years sobriety and I am happily married, however, a fellowship like Alanon can only help me be a better wife, be a better human being.
So Monday I went to Alanon and heard something, you know that little voice that speaks to us, well mine says stuff like "you're fat, you're ugly, they're talking about you, they don't like you, you're stupid, you won't succeed, you're scared and the list goes on... that little voice known as my ego does not like me in the least, so a gentleman from the group was saying that he has learned that he should just shut that voice off no matter what it says. So the minute my little voice says to me "you're fat" I just take that information and ignore it, it's a liar, it hates me. Now at first I thought, this is too easy, how can I just shut a voice off, but I've been doing it and it's working. Sort of like "uh oh, you go bye bye voice" and poof it's gone. Yes it tries to sneak back in but I'm trying to be persistent in being kind to myself...

That's another thing, being kind, being good, being loving to myself... I owe myself that, like I said, I'm the meanest person I've ever known when it comes to how I'm treated (did that make sense?). So with the wise words from my cousin, Alanon and other hints and clues here and there I keep hearing, Be good and kind to yourself. So that's my mission for 2011.

Thanks for stopping by...

Weighed in this morning with t-shirt and panties on and I lost what appears to be 4 more pounds for a total of 16lbs since 1/11/11.  Not bad for 11 days on Phase 1 of the SBD.  You'd think I'd be more excited but maybe I'm just tired, though I think it's because I don't "feel" 16lbs less.   I think there lies a huge problem with my whole being, I need to change that thinking, "feeling" is very important when one wants to succeed in anything in life.  I won't be too hard on myself though, I think I'll listen to my Abraham Hicks mediation CD Physical Well Being Mediation.  I'll be back...

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I'm finding it too hard to concentrate, so maybe meditation isn't the solution right now, I have the tools though so I'll get back to it later today.  I also think it's time to incorporate exercise into my life, more than walking the dogs around a path my hubby built us with the snow blower.  It's a good size path, I walk it up to 10 times a day on most days unless it gets cold like it has been lately -24F yesterday.

I need to tone my arms and legs and squish my gut and butt.  I also need to bring my cardio levels up, this whole thing is about my poor heart.  The older men in my family have all had heart disease and I know nothing about my fathers side of the family so I need to take care of myself because heart disease is the number one killer amongst women.  So I have lots going against me, my weight, the diet I ate, the fact that I can't afford medical care so no doctor visits etc...  So I must take care of myself and make it a priority.  I guess I'm doing that while following the SBD and I have to say, I love it.  Yes it takes planning and work i.e. having to make salads etc. but I'm ok with that.  I am not craving anything, habits are just that, yes at midnight I'd love to munch on some chips but that's not a craving that's just a habit that I am learning to change.

I just thought of something, maybe I'm not "feeling" 16 lbs lighter because I know in the past I lost more weight and I'm measuring my success with that.  I should stop that right now, appreciate how well I'm doing on this and move forward.

Are there any strength training exercises for the morbidly obese?  It's time for a Google search, I figure if I incorporate some strength training and Lesley Sansone plus walking with my dogs I should feel real good when I head to Canada this May.  Yes I'm moving back to Canada (that's a whole other blog post) and I already have a nice home waiting for me and my family to move into (thank you God).

Well I've been all over the place with this post so I'll say goodbye for now and update my stats.

Thanks for coming by!

South Beach! I knew you would NOT let me down...

Let's see where to start...

NSV

Yesterday hubby and I went to buy more food since we were running out of our staple South Beach foods and I wanted to try some new things too.  I bought some turkey burger, turkey sausages, chicken breasts and natural peanut butter and more...

We had breakfast and a snack but had yet to eat lunch, so we went grocery shopping on an empty stomach, but since I'm determined to lose weight, eat healthy and follow the South Beach Diet Plan I was not too worried, I knew I wouldn't cheat (sometimes you just know).  By the time we got home we were famished, I had laundry to finish, work to do and cooking, for some reason I did not ask hubby to make dinner even though I was over extending myself.  I'm sure had I asked he would have but I had clear ideas as to what I wanted to eat for dinner.

I made all 5 turkey sausages figuring that we'd each have 2 and one would be enough to break off tomorrow in our omelets for breaky.  I made a cauliflower/mashed potatoes dish but I added some low fat cheese to flavor it up even more (it was delicious).  So I sat down with 2 sausages and lots of cauliflower/mashed potatoes.  I couldn't eat the second sausage, I was full.  I had to stop and listen to my body and thought yes I could eat this but I won't.  For a split second the food hoarder in me panicked, it was like I had to eat it, this was my last chance.  But I tossed that voice aside and went about my business of feeling proud of myself for recognizing that I feel full.


Weight Loss Victory

I decided the other day to weigh myself (yeah I know) but I did so with all my clothes, socks and shoes on and the scale showed a loss of 5 pounds.  I was happy with that, I knew I was losing some weight.  Then today I went back on the scale, I've been following the program since last Tuesday, this is technically 7 days on plan so I went about weighing myself again fully clothed.  It showed 5 pounds loss.  I thought well that's ok I guess, then I figured screw it, I undressed myself down to my skivies and weighed in at an 11lb loss.

So yay for me...

That's all for now!

Thanks for visiting!

Feeling Good...

I've been reading the SBD book with as much interest as a historical romance novel.  It is very fascinating and what is weird is that I did NOT read it the last time I followed the plan.  What I am enjoying about it this time is that I'm learning how food and the body work together.

I've kept my promise to myself and have yet to weigh myself since day 1 of the plan.  I'm thinking I'll weigh myself either next Tuesday when it makes it a full week or maybe after week 2 is completed.  I just don't want to focus too much on what the scale says.  Yet, I'm hearing a lot of people do better weighing in every day.  I'm really doing this for my mental health.  I beat myself up ALOT and feel that it's in my best interest for the moment.

I've been searching out recipes to make the SBD more tasty and fun.  There are so many great sites out there with some delicious recipes I'm really impressed.  You see that's what makes this fun for me, it's a healthy way of living and tastes good too.

I'm on another deadline so this will be short, I just wanted to keep up with my blogging and let everyone know that day 2 of Phase 1 was wonderful and tasty.  I'm still on track, feeling good and happy to be on this new journey.  It just feels right.

Thanks for stopping by!

Day 1 of the South Beach Diet... A Success!

Did I mention yesterday that I loved that we started this new way of living on 1/11/11... First of all the number one (1) has always been my favorite number, it's my numerology number and all those ones resemble very much my sobriety date which is 11/11/99.  Now enough with the nerd talk, let's get down to business...

I was up till 3:30am working on a deadline, so yesterday hubby was in charge of preparing our food.  He's so excited that we are doing this, I swear he must have told me that 5 times yesterday alone.

I didn't keep a journal but I stayed on plan yesterday and I figured since I have a 3 months subscription with WW I will journal my food there.

You know my neighbor just sent me a message thru facebook about wanting to change how she'll pay me some of the money for utilities that she owes us.  She upset me and my first reaction was to get me some food.  I actually felt the need for the food, it was a physical reaction.  I had to remind myself that I am following the SBD and am not to let her or anyone else make me feel bad to the point that I have to eat.  I can't control her but I can control my attitude.

I have an oral fixation, I must throw something in my mouth.  I'm also confrontational which is not one of my most flattering qualities.  I answered her a big fat no and was a bit direct but felt that her sneak attack was just that sneaky... I know I'm getting off topic, but my feelings affect how I eat.  I am an emotional eater and this is the first obstacle I have to face since I started this diet (yesterday).  Gee suddenly I'm a bit scared.

That's it for today...

Thanks for stopping by!

South Beach Diet! Here I come...

A week or so ago I read a comment my cousin Faye left me on one of my posts and it was exactly what I needed to hear.  I know SB works, I know when I follow the program, I lose weight, I feel good and sleep well.  Why do anything else.  Why? Because I like to complicate my life is why, but her comment stuck in my head, sort of like a little voice that I kept hearing:

::YOU KNOW South Beach works, you have the info, do it. It won't cost you anymore than buying your regular groceries, and maybe it will cost you less because you won't be buying processed food.::

Be good to yourself.

Hmm.. wise words... Yet! I still went back and forth trying to decide if I wanted to go the SBD way or the Weight Watchers way... I finally decided to go with SBD because it stops my sugar cravings, brought me to a weight that I was thrilled with, made me feel good and make my body work the way it was supposed to and so much more.

Yesterday hubby & I went and bought our groceries, I joined two online SBD groups and found some great recipes, I got out my trusty SBD book and started reading it from the beginning and so far so good.

Today was rough, I weighed myself and hit an all time high, haven't weighed this much since '07 so needless to say I was not pleased, but I need to move on and not kick myself in the butt over it.

I've been suffering from chest pain for the last 3 days, I really think it has more to do with the fact that I went bowling with family and friends to celebrate hubby's 50th birthday on Saturday than my heart.  I had a good time but lets face it, at my weight it's hard work to have fun, hard on the body that is.  The pain is on the left side but it seems to hurt more during certain moves.  Plus I don't have any of the other heart attack symptoms attributed for women.

Had breakfast way late today, I have a deadline for work and was not able to prepare as I would like to, but that didn't stop me, we had an omelet (hubby is following the program with me) vegetable juice and a bottle of water.  I'm finding all kinds of Phase 1 recipes online so once this work deadline is complete (I already have another one in the works) I will at least get somewhat organized the SBD way.

I'm trying to keep up with the blogging, it's been my salvation in the past when I followed the SBD, reading comments from readers, your support has meant so much to me.

So that's it for now... I'll be back soon, I swear, either later or tomorrow...

Thanks for visiting!