New but not new
 

Hello everyone! I thought I'd say hello and try and post a bit - although I've lurked for a long time. I'm not the most social butterfly, but new year, new goals, right? I've struggled with my weight my entire life. In 2009/2010 I lost about 60lbs and ended up gaining it all back after going through some very traumatic events. I am now at my heaviest and I'm miserable. My doctor suggested that I try the south beach diet because I'm a carb fanatic. Today is my first week down for the first phase. It hasn't been easy because it involves a lot of prep and preparing - which I'm not used to.

I'm trying to make time to work out, although that's a struggle. I work about 6 hours a week at work (and more at home) as a teacher, I'm working on my masters, and I also create and sell supplemental teaching materials. I wake up at 5am and don't even climb in bed until 10pm or later. I'm on the go all the time. I'm a little ocd about having a clean house. I'm the heaviest high strung person I know:p

I want to try and stick with this the best I can - hopefully being social about it will really help!!

Proud of you chicka. It can be hard starting out but you're doing a phenomenal job. I'd love to chat with you about this journey and how to stay motivated and really begin to create healthy habits.

Thank you! I am really pushing myself to stick with this and stay out of bad habits. My biggest hurdles are dinners on nights I have class. I don't get home until 9:30 and go right from work to class. So it's an on the go thing and usually in the car. Not my favorite, but it is what it is and I'm trying to beat it with a small and goal rewards along the way haha!

You're welcome. I understand the struggle. I have some busy days where I don't have a break for a good 8 hours. Not good. But I learned to love meal prepping and preparing my meals ahead of time to be prepared for moments when I'm super busy and don't have time to make an entire meal. Are you on Facebook? I'd love to chat with you some more about things.

I've found good on-the-go meals in, of all places, gas station convenience stores! I'd bring something like a banana with me (because gas station bananas are super expensive and a banana at least I can manage to 'prep') and get one of the packaged sandwiches. There's a brand of stores here, QuikTrip, which has decent enough sandwiches, a bit pricey and skimpy on meat but they're good on nutritional info, and some aren't that bad. Otherwise it's a grilled chicken sandwich or a Subway sub, the former makes me want fries and the latter makes me want chips.

I can eat subway all day everyday! However, carbs are a BIG part of my problem. I don't eat a lot of meat (never have) and am a former vegan, so carbs are a big part of what I love. I'm doing south beach and focusing on low fat/low carb living keep myself in check. I'm in my second week of the first phase (which is very strict) and it's going much better than the first. I'm getting used to it in a sense! I do go to 7-11 on rare occasions for salads when I have to. QuikTrip is awesome, but we don't have those here. A lot of the big stocked gas stations aren't anywhere in my area. I'm doing lots of meal prep though!

I added you! :D