I Can Do Anything for Two Weeks

"I can do anything for two weeks" is what I told myself when I started the South Beach Diet last year. The diet starts with phase one which is a two week period of low-carb/no-carb living. In previous low-carb diets I'd tried, it was a commitment to low carbs for life and for a pasta loving girl that was too hard to commit to and as I later found out from reading something dangerous to commit to for your body's well-being. So the South Beach way seemed more doable for me. I have just now completed my second time through on phase one. Those trying two weeks are now history. I could tell I didn't lose as rapidly this time since my weight wasn't as high and I didn't need to lose as much. So this two weeks seemed a little harder because I wasn't seeing those daily changes on the scales that motivated me. I still stuck with it and am starting on phase two today. Phase Two introduces good carbs and good fats back into the diet. I lost the most weight last time with this phase because the good carbs are more fiber carbs so I felt like my system really regulated itself with that. I've never been super heavy and to many people they question why I want to lose weight. I know I feel better about myself at 140 lbs and my body shape is meant to be this size so I try to maintain it as much as possible. I also have a husband who likes to have a fit wife so I try to keep him happy by maintaining a good weight for him. I know that when I fall off the bandwagon that it's mostly due to emotional eating and I need to be conscious of that as I work myself back into my phase two lifestyle. Keeping myself busy is the main key to success in this venture for me. That's why summer is usually a more successful time for me to revamp my weight loss. I'm always more busy in the summer months and I love eating salads and fresh fruits and veggies when they are in season. Russ and I love to go hiking and on long walks in the summer and that also helps to ease the worry about what I eat. I've learned through each of the times I've done the weight loss cycles that I can do anything if I put my mind to it but I have to be committed to the process before it will ever work. I was committed last summer to get my cholesterol down and the weight was a side-note to that. I avoid medicines at all cost and the threat of a cholesterol medicine ruling my life was enough to make me determined that I would find another way. If I am going to be a healthy golden ager, I have to make it happen myself. It all starts with now and I can do anything if I'm determined enough.

Today is a New Day!

I receive daily quotes through my email and I've been thinking about today's quote. It says:
Today is yesterday's effect and tomorrow's cause. (by Phillip Gribble). I've always stressed to my kids that every decision they make has a consequence. This quote just puts all that into perspective for me. Those that know me, know that about a year ago, I lost about 30 lbs that I'd been carrying around for years. I'm a person that avoids medicine at all cost and my doctor was telling me my cholesterol was high so she wanted to put me on cholesterol meds. I asked what other alternative I had and she said some had had good results from the "South Beach Diet". I told her. "I'll try that." I went and got the book and decided to make the lifestyle change into good carbs, good fats and the lbs. just fell off. It wasn't hard to do and it amazed me at how fast the lbs left when I took certain food items out of my diet like potatoes. I haven't gone back to get my cholesterol checked but I'm sure it's better because once I made up my mind to make the change, I've felt soooo much better. I was a little more lax over the winter and I've gained a few lbs back but not too much. As I looked at today's quote, I thought about this diet thing. Today is the effect of the Christmas goodies I ate but since today I've gotten myself back on the eating plan, soon I hope to see the effect of the changes I made today in the weeks to come. Nothing is ever hopeless. We're always going to have days when we don't do things exactly right but the trick is to not let the bad days of today influence the future to cause more bad days tomorrow because we are holding onto mistakes of yesterday. Today I am starting back into my South Beach Diet way of life. With the sunshine here and the flowers showing their faces, I'm refreshed once again to continue on my journey of good health and good eating habits.

More Scraproom Pictures

Here are a few more scraproom pictures. I'm still rearranging as I see what I use the most. My dresser is filled with stamps. I've really become quite a stamp collector. So far I'm really liking my peg board. It is so nice to have all my tools at my fingertips. I spend a lot of time in this room so the TV and stereo are a must have. No real room for expansion so I guess I need to start using some of my stuff so I can buy more. I've been collecting all the "word signs" for inspiration around the room. My envelope/pocket/coluzzle templates are in the file organizers above my scanner. I plan to decorate the "memories" word and the RU letters with patterned papers. I'm will get that done eventually. My computer is at the window since I spend a lot of time there. I can look outside and enjoy my mountain view while I chat on the computer.

My Scrapping Space

I took a few minutes this afternoon to clean up my scraproom so I thought I'd take a few pictures and share them with you all. For the past 1 1/2 years I've had a 21 year old friend of my son's living with us and I gave up my scraproom when he decided to come to Colorado. He just moved out into an apt. in March so I was able to put my scraproom back together in the spare bedroom. It feels so good to have my "space" back. I painted the room a light yellow before moving all my stuff back in. I wanted it to be cheery and inspirational while I work. I think I like it better now than the way I had it set up before Brian came. It's much more functional.

Back Again

I guess I'm not very good at all this blogging stuff yet. Seems like life gets in the way sometimes. Here we are in May of 2007 already. Time sure has flown. My daughter, Amber comes home from college this week. She's completed her first year now. Seems like just yesterday that we were dropping her off at the campus and buying all the stuff she needed for her dorm room. Hard to believe, my baby girl, Hannah will be a Junior next year. She'll be driving soon and then it will be like I'm not needed as much anymore. It's great to see all three of them growing up but sad at the same time. I blinked and they grew up. Cory is in his third year of college and has been working for two years at Best Buy. I still remember leaving him at kindergarten the first day of school. Moments like that become etched in a Mom's mind and it's just like it was yesterday. I'm so thankful for my kids. They are wonderful and I feel like we've all got a good relationship. Russ is my rock and I'm VERY thankful I've been blessed with such a wonderful soulmate. My love for that guy gets stronger everyday.
Will try to be more active on this blog. I'll have to challenge myself to write at least 15 entries in the month of May. CAN SHE DO IT?