Works For me Wednesday - Starting Over with Weight Loss pt1

Starting Over - with weight loss that is.

It is time....again :P

It is time to get serious about weight loss. I have no more excuses, the holidays are long over, (even though we did have tons of stuff left over that took us into January), Valentine's Day is over (even though we really don't celebrate it), and it is finally getting nice enough outside to take walks again (ah here comes that massive snowstorm!).

Although I am very overweight, it is not because of yo-yo dieting. I actually haven't done that much dieting in my life. I plan to diet ALL the time, actually doing it...not so much.

I did Weight Watchers a year or so ago and was successful for the 1st week then yo-yoed for the remaining couple months I was a member. Down a couple pounds one week, up a couple the next. I think when I quit, I was up 2 pounds from where I started. This is not WW's fault, but I didn't like paying the $17 a week for half hour meeting that was half WW product pushing.
If I had stuck with the program it would have worked.

Back in 2004 I did The South Beach Diet and I think that is what I am going to do this time too.
I was decently successful with it - I lost about 17 lbs. After the initial 2 wk phase that is quite challenging, I felt SO much better it is hard to describe. I felt lighter mentally! Dh also kind of did the program and lost about 12 lbs.

But then my Mom passed away and I slid right back into my bad eating patterns and have been there ever since - habits are so much easier. No thought required.

I have been thinking about vegetables a lot lately, I think my body is craving them since it hasn't had them in so long :)

In phase 1 of the SBD you cannot eat ANY fruit or fruit juice. This really shouldn't be an issue for me as I am not currently eating many fruits anyhow (I know I should be). I also have to cut out ALL starches:

• Bread
• Potatoes
• Cereal
• Pasta
• Rice

This will be the challenging part! I love pretty much all of these with the exception of cereal.

In Phase 2 you can reintroduce some of these but in healthy whole grain format.

I am at a point right now where I crave an unhealthy food, go eat it (sometimes in copious amounts) and afterward still not feel satisfied or even enjoy it while eating.

I sometime eat something salty, which needs to be followed with something sweet, which in turn needs something salty again...and so on... I don't think I know what I am looking for.

For anyone out there reading thinking I am trying to fill an emotional void...stop right now.

I probably should have lead with this - I have NO self esteem issues. Sure I'm fat, but I am still a great person.

Half the time, I forget that I am fat until I see a mirror, then it is like "Wow when the hell did THAT happen?!"

I don't put myself down. I state the facts. I AM fat. Mostly because I AM lazy. Just the facts. I KNOW I can do anything if I set my mind to it - it's just the Setting part that I am not so good with :)

So I don't necessarily eat because I am sad, mad, lonely, depressed etc... I eat because I like to eat and because it is a habit. Watching TV? Must have munchies. Even if I just finished dinner. Reading a good book, must have snacks.

These are all habits - habits that MUST be broken.

Wow this became much longer than I planned - I'll continue this post next week...but for now...Starting Over with Weight Loss Works for me!

For more great ideas, pop over to Shannon's place (this wk & next only then back to Kristen's place)

P.S. If anyone has any great dieting tips or inspiration, I would LOVE to hear them!