Diet

I have started a diet. I have been overweight for the past 18 years or so, and ache in all my joints. I have tried losing weight in the past and never really have been too motivated, however this time I am. My brother and his lady have been doing the Atkins diet for a couple months, have lost weight, and love it but never really told me much about it. I just saw them not getting to eat some of my favorite foods (pasta, rice, bread, beans, tortillas) and thought that I would be miserable if I was to try that diet. And yuck to all the meat....

My supervisor Kelly then enthused about the Atkins diet and explained to my with gusto the things that help her keep to the diet and why it is ok to eat the way the diet suggests. She made it so positive and explained how I can still eat out and keep to the diet, because she knows that I eat out A LOT.

I started my diet the Thursday before Mother's Day 12 days ago and have been doing really good. My scale at home says that I have even lost 10 lbs!! I am so encouraged by the weight loss that I am going to try to stick to this because I have a lot more lbs that need to come off. When I weighed myself that Thursday evening my scale at home said 252. This morning it showed 243. I just can't believe that I have lost 10 lbs in such a short time, with very little exercise.

Now, I was sick all last week but I still ate a lot of food. I just didn't eat the foods I normally would have like quesadillas and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I ate a lot of tuna salad. I mean -- a lot of tuna salad. I had sometimes two cans of tuna a day. The other food I ate was meatballs. I get the already made, precooked kind from the store and just have to microwave them.

My son even took me out for Mother's Day lunch. We went to the Waffle Barn where I usually get an omelet that comes with country potatoes and a massive biscuit/gravy dish. I usually eat the whole thing! This time I ordered my eggs and asked them to hold the potatoes and biscuit/gravy and bring me cottage cheese instead. I was as full or at least satisfied when I ended my meal. I was most proud of the fact that I did not steal even one of Charlie's french fries. I usually eat 1/4 of them, sneaking them off his plate.

This past Saturday I went with Pastor Danny to a meeting in Oakland. I was a little worried about the lunch that was going to be provided. Eating out is hard but eating out when someone else is providing the fare and no other options looked daunting. I was very happy when they brought out the food and it was sandwich fixings. I ate ham and cheese, no bread, no chips .. some salad with a little Italian dressing.. and there was this wonderful tuna salad. It was made with tuna, cream cheese and chopped olives... Hecka Yummy in my Tummy!!

I also got a lot of exercise on Saturday. Danny and I took the train to Richmond, then BART to Oakland 19th street. The meeting was a few blocks east (?) of 29th street. So, we walked to the church the meeting was at. I figure it was a bit more than a mile. Danny asked before we left if I would like to hitch a ride with someone to the BART station, because he knew that the walk there was a little tough for me (I was sweating profusely and huffing/puffing)... I let him know that I was up to the walk back. Knowing that I have to get the exercise in and that we had a couple hours of train ride ahead of us, it felt good to walk in the sunshine for a while.

Last night was Monday. Dad and I usually go to a restaurant that has $4 Spaghetti Dinner.. comes with salad and a huge roll. I missed going, it is just a nice "tradition" .. but I had a bowl of egg salad and some fajita spiced chicken and was satisfied.

I am determined to do this... Oh, did I mention my work is having a Biggest Loser contest? We have one month before the weigh-in. I want to be the Winner. We all put in $10 and the winner will get the jackpot. There are over 25 people trying for the purse... So, please keep your fingers crossed and pray for me.

In Jesus' Loving Arms