This Is What It's Come To... ?!

It's 3:10 on Saturday afternoon and I am at the OFFICE to avoid going home. Yeah, you read that right. I can't even believe it myself.

We (me, Robert and of course Ashley) were planning on driving down to Gainesville this morning to go to the Hoggetowne Medieval Festival. That's right up my alley and I was looking forward to it. But, when I got up this morning, I started feeling rather ambivalent about it. Especially (and I know this sounds horrible) when I realized that it would be an entire day with Ashley. Eight hours of giggling, complaining, phones calls to and from Mr. Wonderful (the boyfriend), and never-ending stories chronicling the most miniscusule details and events of her day to day life. Can you tell I'm not mother material? Well, I never claimed to be. And never wanted to be. Kids were never in the picture. Just not what I wanted to do with my life. And while, technically, Ashley is not a "kid" (she's 21)... I beg to differ. It's like living with a giggly teenager 24/7. And today I just couldn't do it. I truly felt that the urge to put my hands over my ears and scream "shut the **** up!" might overcome me. So I nixed the Medieval Festival and very casually said that I thought I would have a little afternoon to myself. To Robert, I explained somewhat and said that I really needed some "me time." Which, of course, he was fine with.

So I left the house around 11:00 and went to a local scrap store. I wandered through there for ages - taking my time and enjoying myself. (Used the gift certificates I got for Christmas which made it even better.) From there I took myself to lunch (Arby's where I had my newly-discovered turkey-bacon-ranch wrap which is to-die-for. My 4th one this week - ha!). Then it was on to Jo-Ann's where I endulged in the house brand (Scrap Essentials) embellishments that were all 50% off and used my 40% coupon to get a CK 8x8 album. A little shopping therapy never hurt, right? Around the time I was thinking things were cool again and that I might mosey on home... it happened. Three calls in quick succession - two from Robert and one from Ashley. Can I disappear for just one afternoon? Just one? I'm not some working mom juggling 3 screaming kids who needs Calgon to take her away, dammit. I'm a 37 year old professional woman who should have no issue stepping away from time to time for a little mental health break. I'd been gone for less than 4 hours, for God's sake.

Well, that did it. I was no longer in the mood to "mosey on home" but couldn't figure out where to go. I didn't want to shop any more... so no stores. I'd only eaten lunch an hour before... so no restaurants. The office! It's less than 3 miles from home so it's convenient and I could have some peace and quiet and be alone. But as I sit here I think, "Is this what's it's come to?" Is my own home no longer my refuge? The place where I can close the door behind me and get away from it all? I'm sure these feelings are temporary. I imagine by tomorrow I'll be fine again. But all I can say is that right now, today... I want my life back.

Back to the Beach

I've known for quite a while that I needed to get on the ball and get serious with my health goals/weight loss efforts again. I've let it go for too long. Robert and I both had real success with the South Beach diet last year - before we got lazy and lost focus. And before we knew it old habits were creeping back in and the pounds were creeping back on.

I will admit that I was skeptical of South Beach when it first came out. The name alone sounds very fad-ish and made me wary of it. I don't get fired up about a whole lot, but I really despise all the "lose weight quick" gimmicks. So many people seem all to willing to take a pill or drink a shake and wait for the pounds to magically disappear. Come on! Get a grip. The weight didn't appear overnight... and it's not going to disappear overnight either. Whatever happened to sensible eating habits? Healthy changes in diet and exercise? No, it's not easy, but it works and it's what's going to work for the long haul. Okay, off my soapbox now. :-)

Back to South beach... as I said, i was skeptical at first, but when I read up on it I was impressed with the 'science' behind it. It made sense to me. It's not about cutting out all carbs and eating all the fat you want. It's about learning to eat the right carbs.

Anyway, after my doctor's appointment last November and the results of my blodd work were discussed, I made a deal with my doctor. Let's take no action now. No meds, no tests. Instead, give me 3-4 months to lose some weight and then we'll do more blood work. If the numbers come down, I'll continue on with my healthy eating/weight loss efforts. If not, we go from there. I know Dr. C was skeptical but she went with it. She even suggested that I drop in periodically to weigh on their scales so they can track/cheer on my progress. I think she imagines I did not take her seriously and that I will blow this off. And, boy, is going to feel great to prove her wrong. I even plan on sending her notes periodically to update her on my progress. :-)

I'm not even doing this alone, which is a bonus. Robert said he was getting back on track, too, and Ashley said she wanted to lose some weight as well so we all three started together last Monday (January 9). That weekend we went over the plan basics again, I made up menus and we all went grocery shopping together. I really wanted to get everyone involved and get both of them to take an active part in this. Not just sit back and count on me to know the plan, decide what was okay to eat, etc. They have a stake in this, too. Then on Sunday (the day before we started) Robert and Ashley went out and bought us a treadmill. We were all ready to go!

Since last Monday I followed the eating plan almost to the letter, have been drinking a lot more water (goodbye to my beloved sweet tea – sob sob!), switched to Diet Coke (but drink a lot more water than Coke), and got on the treadmill 4 times. And I actually did 30 minutes on the treadmill each time! Now, thsi may not sound like much to most, but I am sooo out of shape and I honestly thought that I would be lucky to make it 5 minutes my first time on the treadmill. I told myself ahead of time that I would just do what I could and not feel bad about it. And I would slowly work my way up as I increased my stamina. But I jumped right on the very first time and did 30 minutes. It's amazing what you can do. Even when you think you can't.

This past Sunday night (January 15) was our first weigh-in. Ashley lost 6 lbs. Robert lost 7.5 lbs. And me? Well, I was the “biggest loser” for Week 1 with a loss of 9.5 lbs!!!!! Wow! I was sooo thrilled and was happy dancing all over the place. LOL I really think it’s the exercise that is putting me over the top this time. I am so pumped and so ready to take on whatever comes. Something has just “clicked” this time and I’m rarin’ to go. I have a long way to go but I’m off to one heck of a start!