Monday, Monday, so good to me....

I barely lost 8 pounds in January!   That puts me at almost 68 pounds total.    People are noticing now, and it’s very encouraging to hear the nice comments from family, friends and co-workers.   I’ve made it a goal of mine…if I even think someone looks like they are losing weight, I’m going to mention it!  

Clothes that were once too tight are now getting too loose.   I refuse to buy anything new right now…so I am going through stored clothes to find some interim apparel.    Hopefully, I can come up with some decent items to tide me over.   I am also planning to donate the ones that are just too big to get by with any more.   Believe it or not, that thought gives me a little angst. 

I still have a lot of weight to lose, so it surprises me a little when people are genuinely interested in what I’m doing.   When I tell them I cut out sugar, their eyes usually glaze over…much like mine did in times past.   If ever I thought of giving up sugar, it would be in terms of a temporary exclusion.   Without going into a lot of detail on this post (because I don’t want your eyes to glaze over) let me tell you just a little about what’s going on.

Since I started low carb on August 13, 2012, I have not had candy (except sugar free), cake, cookies or pasta.  As long as I limit carby items such as bread, this is the easiest weight loss I’ve ever experienced.  January's weight loss was slowed way down because I ate more bread, I even had french fries and pizza.  I did find myself slipping back into that old way of thinking, "I've already "messed up" today, I might as well eat, eat, eat!"   And I found myself having guilt pangs, as well...all because I ate french fries, or some other "bad" food (pseudo-guilt, because I had nothing to be guilty about).  I had to stomp on that feeling in a hurry, because I am FREE, and freedom doesn't include mentally beating myself up because I eat pizza (or any other less carby item) for dinner.  

Some time ago, in another blog (if I could remember which blog it was, I would go and share my thoughts) we had a discussion about how staying on plan was so easy some days, and "easy" could last for weeks, then suddenly we couldn’t manage to have a successful day, much less two days in a row.  There seemed to be no rhyme or reason as to why one day things were good, the next day all we wanted to do was eat.   I can’t speak for everyone, obviously, but for me, those out of control days do not rear their ugly heads as long as I am low carb.  

That explains why back in my (numerous) Weight Watchers attempts, I had the best success with the Core Plan.  Grains, rice and pasta were limited and whole grain; lean meats, fruits and vegetables were the mainstay of the plan.   My problem was that we were allowed 35 “points” per week, and I used those points for sugar on the weekends, which usually put me right back at square one. 

 
The only time my ex-best friend "Hopelessness" creeps in is when I’ve had too many carbs, these days usually in the form of bread.   I remember to shut her up in a hurry because hopelessness is not in control here.   I make the decisions!   Above all…my strength is in Him…Jesus is my mainstay.   He keeps me on track, gives me hope, and reminds me to rely on Him, not my own strength. 

There is uh lot more I could talk about when it comes to this… like booth anxiety…but I do not want to overload you nice folks reading these words.  This is a subject about which I am very passionate, so I can’t tell if I’m going overboard to a normal person…however, I do believe I will post more about this area of my life this week.   Perhaps even tomorrow, who knows?