Runs for Cookies Virtual 5k

The hubby and I participated in the RunsforCookies.com virtual 5k this afternoon.  We walked it and luckily the weather cooperated.  We walked around a local state park and the wind coming off the lake was a little chilly but overall it wasn't bad at all.  I even wore my new Clarke's Wave Walkers and they are awesome!!  We finished the 5k in 1:03 hours and our pace was pretty consistent the whole way.  And as you can see from the pic we were still smiling at the end of it all!

Everything on the diet front is going well.  I'm down 6.5# and the hubby has lost 12.5#.  We are adding in some phase 2 foods now and really enjoying the fruit for sure!!  I've also noticed that my joints don't hurt so much and I'm wondering if it has something to do with getting rid of sugar and simple carbs.

First Two Weeks Back

So I'm ending my first two weeks back on South Beach and I'm still alive!  Woohoo!!  I also had my annual doctor's exam and a complete blood work done up.  It will be great to see the internal changes as well as the external.  In a nutshell here are my beginning blood numbers:

Cholesterol - 203 (3 ticks above the high end)

Triglycerides - 99 (ok...those aren't so bad)

Calcium - 8.5 (that is just barely in the normal range - let's get that up girl)

Glucose Level - 87 (its within normal but I'd like to get it down a little lower)

I'm not brave enough to post my weight and measurements quite yet but maybe later.  However, I have set my first goal to lose 10 pounds the month of January and be 12.5 pounds lighter by Valentine's Day.  In the first week I lost 2 pounds so I'm going in the right direction.  I do have to admit that I was hoping for more.  I remember in the past that when I went from the eating free for all I was on to SB phase 1 I did great the first week.  In the neighborhood of 4-6 pounds lost.  My weigh in days are Thursday so we shall see what tomorrow brings.  I do have to admit that I cheated and weighed myself today and it doesn't look like I will be down much more than 1 additional pound.  I just have to remind myself that slow and steady wins the race.

The last two weeks I've done a great job of staying on program and planning out meals.  My husband is eating the SB way with me which is making this much easier.  I am sort of surprised that I haven't been tempted to cheat.  Normally by this time I've dipped my toe in the pool of naughtiness but this time around I haven't cheated at all.  

I'm thinking I should probably move to phase 2 per the guidelines in the book but I'm scared that if I do, I won't reach my 10# goal.  Well...I guess I'll sleep on it and see what tomorrow brings.  Now...it's time to go make some dinner.  Pesto Chicken Bake and Indian Lentils are on the menu tonight.  Then I have dance class.  I've really got to get back to Curves!!!  Someone needs to drag me out of my warm house!

First Post

Well...it's time for the first post on this new blog I'm starting.  Wow, no pressure at all to make this an awesome post that I will look back on and be proud to say that I wrote.  I'm pretty sure that this post will never be as good as I want it to be so I'm just going to get on with it and not worry about it.

So...with horrible grammer and an even more horrible sense of humor I'll get started.  I wanted to start this blog to capture my thoughts on my journey to better health.  I figured this would be a good way to get out what I'm feeling and a way to look back and see how where I've been.  I've lost 100's of pounds over the last 30 years and sometimes I've been wildly successful.  I'd love to be able to go back and see how I did it which is the main impetus of this blog.

Quick history:  I reached my heaviest weight in 2009 while my first husband was undergoing a battle with Leukemia.  It was a very stressful time and add on top of that the fact that folks who are undergoing chemo lose a lot of their sense of taste.  The one part they do keep is the sense of sweet tastes.  This resulted in making him lots of desserts and I dove headfirst into that sweet world as well.  Before I knew it I was heavier than I was when I gave birth to my son 18 years before.  After his bone marrow transplant I decided I really need to do something about this and I started on the South Beach Diet.  I decided to use this diet because of the way it works with the glycemic index.  I have PCOS (google it if you don't know what it is) and blood sugar control is a big part of weight control to someone with this condition.  The diet was great and I did extremely well!  However, within a few months my first husband passed away and I was now a widow in an empty nest.  It's really easy to revert to old bad habits and eat the things that are bad for you when that happens!!  Some of the weight (although thankfully not all of it) started to come back on.

Luckily, I had some awesome friends who came alongside me and supported me during that time.  One in particular was very special and became even more special as the years went along and then in June of 2012 he asked me to marry him!  We set our wedding date for June of 2013 and I got back into South Beach really strong.  I succeeded in losing a total of 56 pounds just before our wedding!  I was still a good 45 pounds from my ultimate goal but I was so much closer than I had been in many, many years!  The day was beautiful, the pictures were beautiful, and the honeymoon was heavenly!

However, (you saw that coming, didn't you?) I've turned a bit lazy since that wonderful day in 2013 and have gained 37 of those 56 pounds back.  Ugh!  When will I learn?!?  So...that brings us to January 1, 2015.  On that day I entered back into the South Beach world and the seed of this blog began in the back of my mind.

And so begins a new journey...I can't promise I will be the picture of the perfect Beacher all the time but I will certainly be much more cognizant of what I am doing and endeavor to make better choices. I refuse to enter my 50's with my health compromised.  As I said in my Details page I want to retire and live a very active life for decades to come!