Finding time to blog...

Here I am, my first posting for the new year. It sure did take me long enough! Actually, with everything that's going on lately, I'm lucky to have the time to sit and blog at all!

My youngest daughter is currently hitting a major milestone.... WALKING! So, I've been running around after her, trying to prevent any bumps and bruises. Unfortunately, those can't always be avoided and she's gotten her share of them! On top of that, she's also teething something fierce. At only 11 months old, she's got 11 teeth with 3 more coming in! She's also having a bit of separation anxiety, which keeps me at her side a lot before she drifts off into a deep sleep. I'm too much of a softy to let her cry it out. So, she's pretty overwhelmed at the moment, as well as myself.

To top that all off, seeing that we are in the middle of cold and flu season, both my girls have gotten sick. Now, 2 weeks later, both my husband and I are sick while the girls are just now getting better. Go figure! But seeing as we never get time off as parents, we have to suck it up and stick it out. I'm definitely grateful that I'm feeling pretty good after only 2 days of really bad sick days!

On the good side, I've managed to get out of my 3rd week stall on week 5, I reached my first mini goal and I lost my first 20 pounds! I've also lost over 34 inches so far and I am feeling healthier, more energetic and my mood has been in a better place lately too!

Life definitely throws some unexpected curve balls. The best way to get through some of my situations is to tell myself that "it's only a phase". I know that things can only get better and I will definitely be reaping the rewards of my efforts in the end.

Progress Report...

Today is the first day of extended induction. After a 14 day clean induction, I am down 9 pounds and I'm grateful for that amount! Even though I would have been happier with a double digit weight-loss for the first 2 weeks, I'm still happy at what I accomplished. After all, this isn't a race to the finish. It's more like a journey. I know I will have to find patience along the way. Especially to help me out during the hard times. I will be expecting to experience stalls in weight loss as well as fluctuations. I know that weight loss isn't linear, so I am not going to expect to lose the same amount of weight each week or each month. One thing that I will be hoping for is a visit from the Whooshie Fairy.... hopefully on several occassions! ;o)

I was able to work out today after a 2 week break (my youngest daughter was sick with a stomach virus). It felt good to finally be able to work out and burn some calories! I do 50 minutes of cardio and 30 minutes of weight training. Since I'm limited to a certain amount of time during my workouts, I will just stick with these times for now and just increase my difficulty level whenever I need an extra boost to overcome stalls.

I am proud of myself for sticking to the plan, so far. I don't have any intentions of going off-plan any time soon. I'm enjoying the endorphin-stimulated euphoria way too much at this moment to even think about sabotaging myself! I'm also blessed to have the support of my family and friends and they are willing to do anything they can to help me stay on track!

I'm ready to make a change for the new year!

It's time to take things seriously

I know it's a bit cliche, but I'm new to this and have no idea what to write! I guess I will just wing it and see what developes.

I may be a newbie to blogging/journaling, but I'm no newbie to Atkins. My first go around at it was in July 2004. I lost 50.6 pounds and was extremely proud of myself! I couldn't believe that I had went from 236 pounds to 185 pounds in less than half a year! Unfortunately, I ended up sabotaging myself by quitting before I hit my goal and going back to my nasty habits of bad carbs and bad decisions. Which I, to this day, can't figure out why I did such an absurd thing considering how good I felt about my health and my appearance!

So, here I am again. It's literally about my umpteenth time of restarting this WOL! But unlike the other times I've tried to get back on that wagon, and stay on, I'm determined to finally go through with this. After marriage, 2 kids and a load of hardships, it's time for me to finally start focusing on ME. I will have to leave behind any guilt of not being there for others, which I always am and I know it, and be there for myself for a change. I will have to realize that I am not being selfish if I organize my time to include some "Me Time" rather than spending it all on family and friends. And I will do my best to make sure that I do not allow the fear of feeling like a failure if I do not acheive my goals to consume me and allow me to go back to my bad habits.

I've put myself on the backburner long enough and it's time to take control of my life and do what I have to in order to become the healthy and happy me that I deserve to be.

With that said, it's definitely my time to shine!