How Many TimesCan You Start Anew?

The answer to that question for me is as many times as it takes. After getting through all the stressors in my recent past that were the excuses I used for not eating healthy, I found myself ready to go, willing to get back on my low-carb diet and begin exercising again but there was a problem. During the preceding couple of months, I had loaded up the house with carb-rich foods like pastas and rice. We were between paychecks as hubby only gets paid twice a month so I couldn’t go shopping for the healthier food choices I needed. So while I tried to limit my intake, anyone who knows how low-carb works knows that if you're eating carbs like pasta and rice, tit throws everything off.

Well hubby got paid yesterday and I spent over 2 hours running from store to store with a very specific list. I got all my shopping done and spent another hour putting it away. I have a 5 week low-carb menu plan all written out on, of all things, a Betty Crocker recipe wall calendar. So today I begin anew...again.

I am not terribly bothered by this reboot. I wish I done better but I know that beating myself up won't get anything accomplished except to make myself feel bad. There's no point. So with menu in hand and pantry well-stocked, I am ready to start again. I launch this latest effort from a dismal starting point of 256.6. Not the highest I've ever been but considerably higher than where I had struggled down to earlier this year.

Still with the better part of six weeks planned out and on hand, I should be able to see some considerable progress before the holidays get here. And that will give me a solid start of good eating habits going into the dreaded food-tempting holidays. I will be looking into low-carb options for some of our holiday favorites and will share them here as I find them.

Good luck with your fitness goals. It's never too late to start anew!


PS: Adde at 7:30 tonight. My first day back on the low carb wagon and I consumed just 13 net carbs and don't feel humngry in the least.

M Is for Marching On

In a group I belong to on Facebook, I remarked a couple of weeks ago that I was putting my diet and wellness plan on hold until after Labor Day. That may not have been the smartest thing to do and I’ll admit, at the time, I was letting the future upheaval my life was about to face be the excuse I needed to ignore taking care of myself.

My oldest son, Kyle, turned 18 this summer and graduated from high school, momentous occasions in a young man’s life and that of his parents. He had announced his plans early in the summer to move out but not just out – all the way to Oregon from southern Illinois. I had plenty of time to prepare. I had already packed my daughter off to boot camp and six-year stint in the military a few years before. I was ready for this. But as the weeks slipped by and the departure drew near, I started to feel panicky. Who would look after him? How would I know he was safe? I had never gone more than a day not hearing from him and that was when he was at a sleepover. How would I survive days or weeks at a time, not knowing anything about what was happening in his life? It is his time to march on.

The traditional rite of passage in our house has been that as one child moves out, the next oldest gets to move into the “big bedroom”. So as Kyle was cleaning out his room, packing up his life and making ready to leave, Sean, the youngest, was cleaning out his room in anticipation of the big move. The house was in utter chaos.

Enter Vicky, my firstborn and the only girl, into the maelstrom. She is a single mom and struggling financially. In order to get on her feet, she approached us about moving herself and her almost2 year-old back into the house in exchange for reduced rent and help around the house. So I lose one child to the world and one comes back with a bonus. She is now ensconced in our home and the adjustment has been challenging.

I spent this past weekend, Labor Day weekend, working on the rental house she vacated so we can re-rent it. I also worked on my lesson plans for Sean as I homeschool him and we are to begin today. You see, life marches on. It does not wait for you. There is no perfect time to take care of yourself. I have realized the trick is finding out how to do it amidst all the chaos that is my life.

I weighed in at 255.9 today, a good five or six lbs. heavier than month. It could have been far worse but today, I begin to march on, again. My 50^th birthday approaches and I am a long way from where I’d hoped to be but I will persevere. I will march on.