What a Year!!

I realized as I pulled up my blog it has been over a year since I wrote on it.  At first I thought "Bad Laura!" and stopped myself.  I stopped myself and begin to think back over the year.  It was indeed a growing year for me. I had alot of challenges last year.  In the beginning of the year when I tried to do something about my health, it seemed things got worse.  I had a cortisone shot in my knee for my arthritis and the next week I was so sick with throw up for two days.  Not my idea of getting healthy. I tried to go off the Gluten for a while and was feeling better, but other things seemed to overtake me and I was back on the Gluten and sugar again.  There were days I had no energy, motivation or the ability to get out of bed more than going to the couch.  In the process of it all I lost my job and had no income for six months.  It was only by God's Mercy I survived.  So here I am again....once again trying!  Never give up!

This morning I started Day 6 with no wheat, gluten, sugar or soda.  I can tell you this is the best I have felt in many many months.  I think it is so crazy that what we eat affects our daily life so much!  How can you celebrate a birthday without a birthday cake?  Or Christmas without all the Christmas Goodies?  I have to learn how.

This morning I decided to revitalize my blog, because of the changes I have seen in my own body and life in just six days.  Let me take you back to last Thursday.  I had a Rice Krispy square.  I needed a little something to hold me over as I went to the Family History Center for three hours to volunteer.  A little over two hours into my shift, my stomach began cramping, and gurgling, and I got very gassey.  Because it was a slow day I was told I could go home, which I did. Then I felt like my stomach just exploded as I had runs so badly and my stomach was still gurgling and gassey.  I cried.

I cried for two reasons.  I hurt and didn't know how much longer I could stand of this who stomach issue.  And two I cried because the next day I was to meet a child hood friend that was in town from Iowa. But after a prayer and really pondering the whole issue, I just felt like I would not be well enough to meet them for lunch the next day.  I had to cancel.  I looked at my life and all the things I had recently missed because of my legs and my stomach and it made me mad.

I had a new cleanse I was going to try but was going to wait until Monday to start it, but decided on Thursday night I was going to start it the next morning.  The cleanse it said was to remove the trigger foods in your body that makes you crave the sugar, wheat and gluten.  I thought yeah right.  But I guess it was my last hope, so I did it.  Within a couple of hours it was going through me and the first thing I noticed were my knees were sore but didn't hurt as much.

I emailed the site I got it from and they said that sometimes the cleanse does work that quickly.  I really tried to put my mind frame into eating meat, fruits and vegetables instead of the processed food we all love.  So here it is day 6.  Here are somethings I am noticing.

1) Out of the last five days I have over half those days I have had some pretty descent sleep.  One night even sleeping six hours.

2) My feet are beginning to get wrinkles in them.  YES!!  They have not seen wrinkles in the last year!  That means the lymph fluid is moving.

3) I am not as tired as I was -- it seems as of all of the last half  of 2013 and 2014.  I am actually getting things done, like going back to my writing.

4) I think more clearly, am more emotionally stable (not crying all the time), and see a bit of hope and brightness in my life.

5) The best thing is I have not had any sugar, wheat, gluten, or soda for five days going on 6.

I am going to document my journey through this blog, and also my own private journal I am keeping.  I just want all to know there is hope and we can all do this together.  Someone once told me the reason they were fat was because they were a loser and had no self control.  I don't believe that. No overweight person I have ever talked wants to be overweight.  But sometimes we just have to fond what works for us.

I remember when I was in Texas and gave up the sugar and soda. A friend told me I inspired her.  She couldn't do the "No Soda and No Sugar" thing, but she found her own journey.  She began exercising.  It was an hour a night faithfully.  She told me the first year she lost 24 lbs. Then she found an eating program that worked for her.  In the year she has started her eating program she has lost over 100 lbs.  Go figure!!

My legs are very troublesome to me and they will only do so much until I get frustrated.  So I decided to go back to the other approach what I eat.  As much as I tried to control it I couldn't, until I did the cleanse, then I could stay away from the processed food.  I know I won't be perfect, but I do need to find alternative ways to eat the things I love and I think there are ALTERNATIVES.  I just have to find what works best for me!!

If you are struggling with a weight issue, take one area and start there.  Maybe you have decided you are not ready to give up chocolate or sugar, but you can sacrifice the exercise portion of it. Start out with a small step and keep building.  Let me know how you have decided to change your life and get healthy!! 

How Do You Track Progress?

Yesterday on Kathy's blog One Bad Apple Dish she said something that has been on my mind. 

"I've been on Laura's no sugar - no soda diet. One of the benefits may be that I have more energy and don't need to sleep as much. I'll keep going to see if this continues. As far as the weight goes, I am going to have to count calories. Even though I'm not eating sugar and drinking soda, I am eating too much. I've been replacing the sugar with other carbohydrates instead of vegetables and fruits. I guess I have to keep track of everything I eat in order to lose weight."

By the way Kathy has done great with the No Sugar, No Soda, even with a hubby we all love who tempts her!!!  Way to go Kathy!!  And if you have never read her blog, you should take a peak at it!!  She does a great job and has been my inspiration and encouraged me to share my story.  Which I have benn able to do more and more thanks to her.

Anyway, when I moved from Utah to Texas I sold everything including my bathroom scale that I loved!!!  Sometimes it was so discouraging to get on the stupid thing and see the same 40 lbs lost over and over again.  So last year when the weight started to come off I could tell it in my clothes.  I could see it in the pictures.  Some of my pants actually fall off me now.  I knew by the way my clothes fit I easily lost in the neighborhood of 70 lbs and I was okay with that.  I wanted to make sure I was not just tooting my horn so I wanted a way to measure this progress.  So today I decided to take the plunge and use up a Christmas Gift card and buy another  scale. I got the scale home and got on it and wanted to CRY!!!  Wahhhh!!!  The scale did not go high enough to weigh me.  Sad but true.  I look in the mirror and saw my little cheeks begin to flush red. It was the same story again and again. I felt like a failure and yet I knew I wasn't.  So yeah my bubble busted today!

I have contemplated all day as to what I was going to do with the scales.  Take them back?  Or keep them and use as a goal to get to.  I know there are other things I could do to measure my progress but I really wanted some numbers in pounds. Kathy mentioned how she had been substituting her no sugar and no soda with other things and they were not fruits and veggies.  When she said that, I took a good look at what I Had been eating as well.  I see all the things I need to do, write down what I am eating, and exercise.  For writing things down, I don't have a phone app where I can just put it on my phone (I know a louse excuse).  My friend Lisa told me about My Fitness Pal, I glanced at it maybe I need to look a bit harder at it.  As for exercise it is hard when you can't walk very far. Yet I know there are chair exercises I can do and need to start doing them. 

So I am curious what do you all do to track your progress? Do you go by the scales?  Count calories? I would be interested to know.

I'm Laura and I'm a Sugarholic....

Sad but true. When a friend first told me I was addicted to sugar I laughed! “I am not addicted to anything!” I boldy told her. After all addicts were all about drugs and alcohol, right? None of which I did. “Prove it then” she said to me.

“If you are not addicted to sugar, then you will have no problems giving it up for two weeks, right?” I thought piece of cake!!!

She challenged me to go on the Atkins diet for two weeks, just meat and vegetables. I took that challenge and learned a great deal about myself. I was indeed addicted to sugar. My first three days on Atkins I lost 21 lbs, could sleep all night long soundly, and went from having a hard time walking the driveway to my mailbox and back to walking a mile – all within three days. That was over 10 years ago and today I still battle that addiction.

Over the years I have learned a few things: when I tell people I am going off sugar they tell me I won't last and I normally don't. But I have had some successful runs, my longest being six months. This past year I decided to go off sugar and soda and simply gave up chocolate, sweets (pies, cakes, etc) and candy, as well as the soda. My last run was 86 days, and I am sorry I ever took that first bite of sugar again.

So here it is almost a new year and I am going to go at it again....are you with me? In my 86 days of being off sugar and soda I had people ask me how much weight I loss!!! Someone could tell I lost weight? Woo hoo!!! For me the only way I can lose weight, is by giving up the sugar and soda. It was a such a simple thing to do that I was not overwhelmed.

When I have gone on diets before, I think of all the things "I can't have". I see now I am focusing on large amount of "cant's" where when I give up the sugar they are all grouped together in two groups and it is less overwhelming for me. It's a step right?

Here are some pictures of the last year. What do you think?

The photo on the left was taken October 2009, the one on the right October 2010.

This was taken December 18, 2010.

One of the reasons I decided to give up sugar in September was because I felt my life was so out of control and that was the only thing I could control. I made it through Halloween with no candy and through various parties and other events passing each time on the sweets and candy. I know if I can o this so can you!!! So beginning January 1, 2011 we are going to start again, one step at a time and one day at a time.

There are a few ways we can do this, in quarters like businesses do? For holidays? I have not decided which way I am doing yet. I do know with the support here, we can all do it together. I have a favorite saying (I made it up myself) “Alone we cannot win the battles, but together we can win the wars.” This is a war we are fighting and we need to ban together.

If you want to join us, please come introduce yourself and

WELCOME!!!!