Good morning 2/7 check in

[Outback Jess]

Hey STACers, I hope you are all well. I am doing very well. I wrote my story this morning, so it's been a reflective time for me. I also reviewed my daily routines. I am pretty held together by them. My big word is SUSTAIN. I want to sustain the daily efforts and focus. I want to SUSTAIN the control I have, the choices I am making and the goals I have met, and are reaching for.

I get up every day and come here and get my "game face on" my "war paint" on. I plot and plan and revisit my dream to be here in a year. To sustain weight loss and to sustain a healthy active lifestyle.

Lifestyle is my buzz word. If I have the lifestyle I HAVE IT ALL.

I want it all, and I can have it all...all the energy, all the good vibes, all the happiness. All the challenges, all the water, all the choices. I WANT IT ALL...and I AM DOING ALLLLLL I CAN TO MAKE THAT HAPPEN FOR MYSELF

Have a great day!

[attek]

Re: Good morning 2/7 check in

Jess you look fantastic! What a big change in your two pictures!

What a great post! It's my choice how I eat and what exercise I do and everything else it takes to make me feel good and to be healthy. It's all up to me to sustain my health.

[lisadallasr]

Re: Good morning 2/7 check in

Good Morning everyone, Jess you are looking good girl i can see such a huge difference in your pics. As for me im doing good i made it through yesterday with all my cravings and all, actually as of last night my cravings were gone and so far none today, its still early but i have faith. I am going to do walk away the pounds today, instead of going to the gym and see if it helps with that pain i was feeling yesterday in my legs. So i will check in with you all later.

[PigsInSpace]

Re: Good morning 2/7 check in

Wednesday morning. Finally we are seeing somewhat normal temperatures here in Denver. We are all here soooo sick of the cold cause we are a bunch of babies used to 300 sunny days a year! I guess we're getting our 56 non-sunny days all in a row.

So I was feeling a little bit bored with my menu yesterday because I haven't really done a nice grocery shopping trip in a couple of weeks. Just kind of buying as I go. We had "smorgasbord" dinner the other night where I just took out all the food that was in the fridge--chicken wings, spaghetti squash, meatloaf, chicken salad, mashed cauliflower, and we ate it all up for dinner (sounds like we're pigs, but actually there was only small portions of each item left in the tupperware). I decided that smorgasbord night was a good and fun thing to do to mix it up. But now there's nothing to munch on in the fridge! So I whipped up some home made cinnamon ice cream last night and a batch of cheddar and cream cheese stuffed jalapenos (I'm already addicted to these) to boost our snack factor around here. Also was reallyhappy to find some pesto spread last night that only had 1 carb per 1/4 cup. I loooove pesto and was finding most of it was too high to afford eating much. I think it will be a good snack with parmesean cheese chips.

Other than that, here's where I'm at this weeK
-Figure out my next course of action with salon work (where, when, how, etc.) what my goals are and all that.
-I'm feeling restless, needing a change.
-I want to go shopping for new clothes.
-I want to strip the black out of my hair and do a funky light brown hair with blond highlights.
-I want a tan.
-I'm thinking of getting a tattoo but everytime I get to actually making an appointment, all I can think about is 35 years from now when I am 65 years old and on vacation having a big, sloppy, purple glob on my back. Tattoos don't hold up so well after 35 years. I wonder if those Suicide Girls ever think about that, as if they are going to be young forever. I work with the elderly. I see too easily how it all turns out in time. Men who got tattoos int he navy who are now 85, you can't even tell what it is on them, just looks like a big bruise.
- I FINALLY went 2 miles on the treadmill in under 30 minutes. I haven't been pushing myself hard enough on the treadmill, but I did yesterday and I put it on the incline so I really had to push to keep up my normal pace. I'm feeling sore today. That's a good thing!
-I get to dress up this weekend and go to a concert to see one of my favorite musicians ever, Martin Sexton. I think I'll wear my black satiny strapless dress and my leopard print peeptoe heels and my long, thick black snap in hair extensions. Yes, i think a Diva Elvira look is what I'm all about this weekend.
-I have spring fever something fierce.
-I've been smoking a lot lately and don't know why. I'm not a big smoker usually.

I'm ready for change, for summer. The only thing I can do is take one day at a time to make it all happen. I want my career to get going, and I wanna know if I'm getting married soon. Sooo much happening this year. It's exciting but I find myself growing impatient!

I'm going to post some pictures soon. I want them to be as current as possible and I know we're taking pictures this weekend and on V-Day dinner. I'll post them with some pictures from Christmas and you guys can tell me if you see progress! Thanks for letting me ramble!

[julirama723]

Re: Good morning 2/7 check in

JESS, you look FABULOUS! WOW! You look like a totally different woman!

Well, today is another day! Same old same old...going for the 40g again today. For the past 3 days, I've been at 40g or above, and I'm hoping this is an acceptable level for me, one that I still can lose weight. I'm hoping with all the exercise I do, that it will be higher than 40! Tonight is kickboxing! YAY!

[PigsInSpace]

Re: Good morning 2/7 check in

BTW, Jess, you look cool as heck in your new body! You have lost about as much weight as I need to lose and I'm telling you--those pictures inspired me so much when I saw them this morning.

Everyone's pictures are inspiring!

[ValidRouge]

Re: Good morning 2/7 check in

Pigs

-I've been smoking a lot lately and don't know why. I'm not a big smoker usually.

Did you know that when you smoke, there is a chemical reaction that causes your liver to release glucose into your blood stream? So, your body has figured out that you are not giving in to the sugar monster, so it's getting its fix elsewhere...the cigarettes!!!

[PigsInSpace]

Re: Good morning 2/7 check in

Where is my liver getting the glucose from?

[ValidRouge]

Re: Good morning 2/7 check in

From what I understand, the body turns all carbohydrate we do take in into glucose. It can also turn protein into glucose. I would imagine that's where it would get it from. It's probably not getting a *lot* of glucose since we're low carb, but it's getting a trickle (so to speak) and so it keeps sending signals to the brain for more and more and more (cigarettes).

I found that I was smoking more early last year, but never paid much attention to it. I know when I quit smoking, my sugar cravings were HORRIFFIC...not a nicotine craving,but for sugar. So, I did some reading and found out about this reaction...it sure explained a lot.

[Fozzy]

Re: Good morning 2/7 check in

Nothing much to report.. day 3.. just plugging along.

[Outback Jess]

Re: Good morning 2/7 check in

Go FOzzy GOOOO, Go FOozy GooOOOOOOOO
You can do it, ketosis is right around the corner, if you aren't there yet...then the appetite will diminish, the cravings will calm down and the energy should kick in...
it too me til day 5 to come out of my detox fatigue and headaches...but I had been there before and I knew there was an end in sight...
Soon you will feel on top of the world...and you will melt off the fat...
How is exercise and the water in take going....?

[Fozzy]

Re: Good morning 2/7 check in

I've always drank plenty of water. I have kind of "cheated" and had some diet rite soda. I also have to admit that I'm just really caught in a exhaustion / stress / time change thing and have not been to the gym since this weekend.

[PigsInSpace]

Re: Good morning 2/7 check in

Thanks for the info, Joy...I'll read up on it

[knicknack]

Re: Good morning 2/7 check in

Well, I fell off the wagon hard. Thing is, I was up in the rocky mountains and they say that you're supposed to drink a lot of water when you're in high elevation (9000 ft for me). let me tell you something, when you already drink 3 liters of water a day because you're low carbing, and then go up a mountain, you think you're going to die. I was dry as a bone. And when I say dry, I mean scaly, red patches, itchy, nails breaking dry, even though I was drinking a 20 oz bottle of water every hour. It was INSANE. So, that combined with the lack of good food at the conference made me just jump right off the wagon. My dryness went away, thank goodness. I wasn't *too* bad, but neither was I atkinsing properly.

so, anyway, today is day one of induction again for me. I'm not really doing induction as I just had some peanuts, but I'll cut them out in the next day or two i'm sure.

Wish me luck!

[Outback Jess]

Re: Good morning 2/7 check in

I know you will get a handle on this Knicky! Girl you are the comeback queen...Just stay focused on getting things under control, and you why you will be there!!! Glad you are back down out of those mountains...