Today is Day 5 of my DASH way of eating. I am finally getting consistent with BOTH food and exercise at the same time. I weighed 222 lbs the day I started this diet 2/24 (Monday) and Thursday morning I was down to 216!!!
I am doing my healthy happy dance because it is literally the first time in years that the scale has budged DOWN at all!!!!! It seemed that no matter what I tried (ever since losing weight on Jenny Craig in 2009 and then gaining that and more back), the scale only continued to slowly (and sometimes not so slowly) creep back up..... all the way to new highs each time I would weigh myself. I still feel as though I never know what the scale is going to show at any given time, but it is finally going DOWN and I know it is true weight loss (and not just fluctuation) because I have been doing really well with food and exercise all week!!! I just hope and pray that I can keep this up and continue to lose weight, because I have about 75 pounds to lose ~ ONE pound at a time, of course!
And that's just to get to a normal BMI for my height. If I ever get back down to 145 lbs, I will be one very happy camper!!!
Sorry to dominate this conversation. I don't have time now for personals, but I am reading along. I am sad to hear
ohiofreespirit and
Holly talk about how they feel badly for their kids due to their depressions and other struggles, but I must say I can really relate. I was a total wreck after my handicapped daughter's birth, since one of our twins had just died 3 years prior to her birth and then not knowing if I had the (mental and emotional) strength it would take or what it would require to take care of a baby with Spina Bifida, and our marriage suffered big blows with each event. I really worry about my son because he remembers my one manic episode and always knew that Mommy didn't have much energy most days. I was in a very deep depression during his very formative years. When I was able, though, I was a very attentive and devoted mother. I had my degree in child development, thank God, and had worked with children birth through preschool, so I felt somewhat capable to be a parent (though my son was extremely premature and came home on oxygen and monitors and my daughter was also very premature and came home on monitors and with a handicap which I didn't yet understand). My husband and I were extremely close during my/our difficult pregnancies, and then we handled things very differently (so grew apart) after each of our children were born (and after the one twin died). It was a part of my life that I really regret my state of mind and many of my choices at the time (and feel like I lost some years to depression and grief), but now I do consider myself a survivor after having come through all of those difficult events at least somewhat intact. After many years of therapy and finally getting the correct combo of meds that worked FOR ME and working very hard privately on all of my issues and past traumas, I feel mentally and emotionally stronger than ever! BUT man, did I have a lot of years of grief and depression, so I can still relate like it was yesterday. I hope and pray for healing and acceptance of YOURSELVES just where you are at this moment. You are doing the best you can with what you have been dealt up to this point in your lives. YOU ARE SURVIVORS!!! You are courageous and strong to keep on putting one foot in front of the other each day!!! I have to run now, but please hang in there and know that this difficult time WILL pass and that there IS light at the end of the dark tunnel you feel yourself in right now. I am sending you BIG hugs
and keeping you all in my prayers! This is a special little group we have here and I am thankful for the contribution of each and every one of you!
shr1nk1ngme: So sorry about your social security cards!!! What a nightmare! Hope all is resolved for you soon!
Trish: Take some deep breaths and talk yourself through this. You are OKAY and this too shall pass! Hope you get some sleep tonight!
Chelsea: Glad to hear that you are feeling at least a bit better. Hang in there, too!
Fi: I admit that I have some mixed feelings about your Belgian friend's reappearance, but ~ if you are happy about it ~ then I am happy for you! Just be careful not to get your heart broken again! Sorry, but I am just looking out for you!
I
really gotta run now!!! Have to be somewhere! Hope I didn't leave anyone out! Take care and BE STRONG everyone!!!
LilDazed: Hope I didn't scare you off with my "boundaries" comment; again, just trying to help!