Pencil Thin

Last week I took my ten year old son for an eye examination. We have noticed that for some time he has been reading under the bottoms of his eyeglasses. This is the first time the eye doctor actually paid attention to this and did further testing. It turns out that my son needs bifocals. I am so thankful that we have great insurance and didn’t have to worry about getting an insurance quote to find out what we would have to pay for his new glasses. Because he has two kind of insurance we won’t have to pay anything and the insurance will also cover a second pair of glasses if the first ones should break. This is a huge relief for us given the cost of glasses and the likelihood that at some point he will indeed break them during the year. I just hope he is able to adapt to them easily and that they help him to read and do his school work easier.

The diet that I am on does not allow for any sugar or starches. This is because the diet is supposed to reset your hypothalamus to need less sugar and starch. I knew that if I were to eat sugar or starch there was the likelihood that I would gain weight while on the diet. I have not cheated at all up until Christmas Eve. On Christmas Eve I broke down and at a cookie or two. Then on Christmas Day I went off the diet and ate dinner with my family. The next day I stepped on the scale to find I had gained 2 pounds. I knew this would happen but somehow it didn’t seem real until I stepped on the scale. It really drove home the point that cheating on the diet does not pay at all! As mad as I am at myself I think I needed to see this happen in order to refocus my perspective. It is easy to get complacent after loosing weight easily and to think that it is alright to cheat. I am now determined to stick to the diet and meet my goals for this round.

So far my son has received 4 new videos games for his birthday and Christmas. Since today is his birthday I have been letting him just sit an play his new games. It is funny how much of a trance people go into when their are playing video games. It is almost as if he completely blocks out the outside world. Just a few minutes ago I asked him if he wanted to have pizza for dinner tonight and he completely ignored me. I might as well have been asking him to help me shop for online term insurance or something. This is a kid who normally gets very excited when he hears the word pizza because it is his favorite food. I would probably be more concerned if playing video games was something he did a great deal of. The truth is that we limit his playing and use the games as a reward to getting his school works and household chores done. Today is an exception because it is his birthday and the first day of Christmas vacation. I have to admit I rather enjoying a day of uninterrupted quiet for a change.

You may have read that I am on this new diet. I am pleased to report that it is a smashing success thus far. Today I find myself down a total of 16.5 pounds and feeling great. My hunger is minimal and my cravings are fading. The only downside to this diet is that it is not so great for my digestion. It thought that eating more fruit and veggies was supposed to keep things moving but I don’t find that to be true. I have read about people drinking “Smooth move tea” but I am not quite on board with that just yet. I am figuring that once I add some fat back into my diet that everything will balance out. I have been tempted to cheat along the way but have started to determine the difference between emotional eating and eating to live which is a huge step forward for me. I now realize just how much mindless eating I had been doing. I admit there is nothing I would like more that a big old slice of pizza but I realize this is not something that is good for me and choose not to have it. I just keep repeating the mantra “nothing tastes as good as being thin feels” and reach for a big glass of water instead.

In an effort to further support my weight loss efforts I ordered some low carb cookbooks. They are used copies but I could care less. They just arrived this morning and I am psyched to sit down and read through them. Right now I can’t have any sugars or starches which makes most of the recipes something I can’t cook right now. There is only about a month left before I can start adding some sugar and starch back into my diet. My family is still trying to wrap their heads around the diet I am following. My older son keeps asking what foods I can have. He comes up with these endless questions about whether I can have sugarless candy, potatoes, sushi, or calamari. It get a little old after a while. It wouldn’t surprise me if he starts asking goofy stuff like whether I can have “Ladybug steam” or some other nonsense. The list of foods is so limited that even things you would think would be allowed are not. It doesn’t bother me in the slightest because I am not hungry and I am getting thinner!

I stepped on the scale this morning to find yet another wonderful surpise! I am now down an even 14 pounds since starting this diet 16 days ago. I love being able to see results from this diet! I am in the process of starting a new blog completely dedicated to the diet protocol that I am following. Still hashing out the perfect name for it. When I do figure it all out I will definitely post about it here so you can join in the fun. I am also thrilled to report that I am 1 POUND from being in the overweight range in terms of BMI. How funny is it that I am dying to be categorized I just “overweight” and not obese! I am also dying to fit into this pair of pants that I wore just 2 years ago when I was feeling so much healthier. I am 5 pounds from those jeans!!!! Now I need to grab another big old glass of water and get to work.

It is funny how certain things happen that really make you think about life. I have two brothers who have never had long serious relationships that I can remember. A while back my older brother started talking about this female friend of his. I never thought anything of it until he brought her to Thanksgiving dinner. I realize now that she is more than a friend and that it made me feel kind of weird. It isn’t like I expect to receive wedding invitations anytime soon but I still felt weird. For as long as I can remember I have been the only person in the “daughter” role in our family. It was odd to think that my family might now include another female aside from myself. I am happy that he has someone in his life and hope nothing but the best for him. I am just not sure how to go about having a sister after all this time if that should happen.

Part of my new diet plan is cutting out sugar for a period of time. It has been REALLY hard but I am seeing a huge difference in how I feel. At first I’d been feeling very tired and irritable and not able to focus and little things were getting the better of me. And I was constantly hungry. A starving hunger. I started cutting out yeast, starch, and sugar. It has made a HUGE difference! I cannot believe. I have NO sugar cravings and eat considerably less and am satisfied for hours, even now that I am back in my exercise routine. I realized that a lot of the sugar I was taking in was coming from the beverages I was consuming all day long, while I’m working or just hanging around the house. Therefore I’m trying to drink alot more water than I used to, but to jazz up the water I put lemon, orange or lime slices (which adds some natural good-for-you sugar. It seems to be more exciting and enjoyable to drink water when a little flavor is added. Also, I used to be huge into putting a lot of sugar in black tea and am now drinking flavored teas instead. Tea always helps to curb in between meal appetites while still giving you a little extra energy boost I feel.

For the last couple of weeks I have been on a very strict diet and exercise plan. I am trying very hard to ring in the New Year as a trimmer version of myself. I am already seeing wonderful results and continue to feel motivated. The funny thing is when I go to way myself I am torn as to what weight I should believe. I have digital scale that weighs me differently depending on where I place it on the tiles on the bathroom floor. It I put it in one spot I weigh a pound or so more that I do if I place it in another spot. My gut wants to believe the lower weight but I don’t want to trick myself into believing something that isn’t real. The diet is very reliant on my weight now going up more than 2 pounds in any given day which makes a one pound difference important. I am just going to go with the higher weight and hope for the best.

I decided to do the Wii Fit this afternoon for the first time in ages and when I logged in.. that little voice says.. Well its about time MOM!! I swore DS was in the room. Good news is I am lighter than my last workout way back when. I need to start using it more often.. DD uses it all the time. Its prefect for us.. no gym membership.. we dont have to leave the house.. we can all use it together or alone and at anytime of the day that works and its already paid for!! Yeah.. those were all the reason I wanted to get it.. Now no more excuses for me! I am looking forward to getting the new Wii Fit Plus game. It is the only thing I have asked for this Christmas and I am hoping that someone remembers it is what I REALLY want. Of course I would be happy with anything but this is something that would be helpful to my diet and exercise.