A New Beginning

Hello All!

How are you guys? I'm doing well. I had a really, really nice weekend. We stayed with Josh's sister and her family and it went amazingly well. We're already planning a repeat performance for later in June. :-D

I'm on the maintenance phase of my HCG diet now, and Dr. Simean suggests doing an Atkins type diet. I've never done Atkins, but I understand it basically cuts out almost all carbs. So I've been attempting to do that.

Over the weekend I did indulge in a few non-Atkins things... creamer with sugar/carbs in my coffee, dark chocolate M&Ms, trail mix, celery with peanut butter, etc... But no weight gain!!! One day I did gain a pound, but I can't remember which day it was and then I lost it the next day without fasting or trying anything different.

Yesterday on the drive home I ate a LOT of trail mix (peanuts, M&Ms and raisins) and chex mix; two kinds of chex mix. Josh's grandma has a tradition of making original chex mix and sweet chex mix; it's made with brown sugar and butter. Both batches were delicious. I ate a LOT. I thought FOR SURE I'd see a two pound gain today and have to fast.

But, this is what the scale showed me this morning:

I took it with my phone camera so it's not the best quality, but it shows 155.4 which is not even a full pound gain.

Now, obviously I'd like not to gain and lose a pound the whole time I'm on maintenance. Apparently, if you do Atkins correctly you can continue to lose weight even during the 3 week maintenance phase. I don't know how hard core I'll be, though. I am definitely steering clear of major carbs/wheat like bread and crackers.

I don't know enough about Atkins to be able to do it with my eyes closed; you're supposed to limit your total carbs to 20g a day. But I can be conscious of how many carbs I'm taking in while I'm at home and can read the labels.

I need to get to the store today to get some staples, because our cupboards and fridge are pretty bare at this point. I didn't buy anything last week because I knew we'd be gone over the weekend.

Anyway, so far so good! I'm really excited it hasn't been a tremendous struggle with constant fasting to stay at the weight I ended with. I'm also looking forward to my next round of HCG to get down even more. I've contemplated doing a THIRD round, but I think I'll be good with 2. We'll see how much I lose the next time around. I start my drops and 500 calorie regime on the 29th. So I have 15 days of maintenance left.

All in all I feel very good, I feel like the HCG diet was a success and I'm happy to do it again. Especially now that I know about diet root beer and Crystal Light type products that can help keep my tummy feeling full. ;-)

The reason I titled my post "A New Beginning" is because over the weekend we heard news that a young man in our church was killed in a car accident. He was only 21 and fell asleep at the wheel, they think. It has really hit me hard and made me realize that life is a precious gift.

I don't want to waste this precious gift of life by being all consumed with diet, food, body image, etc... I want to use the time I have on earth to enjoy my family, my friends, my children, and be conscious of the blessings God has given me.

So although I'm in a time of life where I *am* focusing on losing weight and getting to a healthy weight and mindset, I won't allow myself to become all consumed by it. This is hard to do, because it does take a lot of effort and concentration when you're trying to lose weight. It's not easy. But it's also not the most important thing in life.

So that's what my aim is... to live a conscious life, to be aware of my blessings, to live each day as if it were my last. Because it just may be my last one, and no one is going to care if the scale says 155.6 or 130.0. I want to live a life that blesses and encourages others, I want to be a mother that has fun with her children and I want to be a wife that causes the heart of my husband to rejoice.