Hi, Ellen! Glad to have you join us! I started on a Tuesday, too, and for the same reason you did - Monday as a start day is awful!
And good morning to all of you, girls!
Gina -
I read your LJ.
Also, I just want to reassure you that on Day 8 (which is where I am now), you will get some ideas and strategies to help you be able to make time for fulfilling your needs during this process of learning to live healthier. Over the past year or so that I've been married (second marriage), my husband and I have worked out a system of who does what around the house. I have had several meltdowns as a direct result of having to do
everything and not having enough "me time" while he sat around on his butt watching me clean up after him, etc. After sitting him down and explaining to him that I was resentful for being the workhorse, we talked it out and came up with some good solutions so that the workload of the house is distributed fairly and more efficiently.
One of the most valuable lessons I took with me after a Cinderella-like childhood, a horrible first marriage and the years of independent singledom thereafter is that I am nobody's slave - and I am much better at recognizing when people
do take me for granted. I'm sure you are appreciated in your household, very much so - but for your own sanity, it may be worth it to delegate some responsibilities so you can make the time you're going to need. You'll see what I'm talking about when you get to Day 8.
Woo, boy, that was rambly, wasn't it?
Sorry about that.
Anyway - today's a good day. I feel terrific, like for the first time in my life I'm really and truly finding control when it comes to my attitudes toward food. Food's no longer the enemy now.
How's everyone else doing? What days are you on? Bean, did you have any luck finding the book?
Walkthelab - as to the diet plans I've chosen, my first choice is old-fashioned calorie-counting, and although my second choice WAS South Beach, I'm giving consideration to Weight Watchers, mostly because Weight Watchers also focuses much more on calories and much less on good foods/bad foods. I don't think there's such a thing as a "bad food," but rather we need to learn the skill of making smart choices.
OK, girls, lots to do today, so I'd better get to it - have a terrific day, everyone! I will try to check back in later.
- sometimes it is so hard to strike a balance, and I know what you mean about feeling that resentment lurking in your mind. I wonder, have you talked to your DH about it? Would he be understanding of how you feel? Might he be willing to share some of the non-secretarial responsibilities of the job with you and pick up some of the mundanities so that you can feel more challenged, less bored and, more importantly, less resentful for sort of having the "workhorse" role dropped in your lap? It's not healthy to keep your hurt feelings repressed, and that kind of hurt can really build up over years and years and come to a head. Keep in mind that this advice is free (and worth exactly what you pay for it! 
) but we all know now how important a role self-esteem plays in our journey towards a healthy weight. Just remember to love your husband - of course! - but don't let your love for your husband overshadow your own needs.
It's wonderful to know I'm in good company.
