Here is where I let it all hang out. I just bought a pair of Spanx last week (they are amazing and worth every penny) and realized I need to do something, fast. No worries, I will not subject you (yet) to the before pictures, but they are comin’. Today is the first day of my fatblogging. No Wikipedia entry for it surprisingly, only Google references to Joseph Jaffe (someone I worked for early last year at crayon) and blogging support groups. If I had more energy (or time) I’d start the damn entry myself.
Anyhow, since my mom is with us during the week, and for dinners during the week, she and I have decided we need to slim down. Well, honestly she’s always talking about dieting, or always on a diet, but hasn’t hit success yet. Me? Well, the baby is 10 months old now and it’s time. Ten months in / ten months out I said then time to slim down. Besides, Kidlette started second grade today and without her around during the day to tempt me with Pop-Tarts, I have a better chance.
Why South Beach you ask? Why not Jenny Craig or Weight Watchers or Slim-Fast? Jenny Craig is great (I tried it once before having any kids) but the fact is, I don’t enjoy eating meals at home that come from a microwave box and that are different than what my family is eating. The cost for one week of food JUST FOR ME is equal to what I spend for a week to feed three adults and two kids. Weight Watchers was okay for me, but even with their plans, and points, and books, and support, I hate thinking too hard about what I can eat (or how much). Slim-Fast, well, I can’t live on chocolate shakes and snack bars – besides their website sucks and I have not forgiven them for it yet.
About five years ago I gave South Beach a shot – and *IT WORKED*. Maybe it is my body type / eating habits / genetics in combination with the diet change – but wow! I went from a size 16 (Hear that sound? That was me hitting the floor!) to a size 8 in about two months. Nothing crazy about how it works – read the book – except I cut out coffee cold-turkey. Even years later my husband’s flight response kicks in when he thinks back to the first week of caffeine withdrawal. Now I realize I could have had the coffee and not gotten the migraines. The cravings were unbearable last time around, but only for the first five days or so. Granted, my diet was MUCH worse back then, I had a toddler and the stress of running my own retail scrapbook store to deal with – and M&M’s, coffee, and Coke was about all I consumed.
When I realized that I dropped half my jean sizes, I was amazed. I honestly hadn’t noticed. Living in yoga pants around the clock lets you gain (or lose) weight without noticing it much. This time around I’m not quite as big, and I’ve got my mom to do the diet change with. She and I cook dinner together during the week, so we can both learn new cooking and eating habits.
I guess to be on board with this whole fatblogging deal, I should maybe post pictures, weights, and measurements. I will, but not right now! My excuse – the baby has been taking a 2 hour nap and I don’t want to disturb him! Seriously, I’ll see about doing all that and adding it to this post tonight, and get my mom to keep her own statistics (not on the blog though).
[tags]South Beach Diet, fatblogging[/tags]
Good Luck, Lynette! It’s great that you and your mom can do this together. I’m back on the wagon myself as I always gain my “football 15” each tailgating season. Problem is.. I haven’t lost last year’s yet! So, I’m really trying to be good during the week and can hopefully hold my own (or even lose!) I bought a bike and will be using it to commute back and forth to work on most days until the weather gets bad. Fall is usually tough for me as I go back to school and lose my summer morning walk time with my pups. Maybe the biking will take it’s place.
Hopefully you can bundle the little guy up and head out for a walk while Kidlette is at school. 🙂
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