Weigh in was yesterday, but I did have a good excuse for not posting it. I formatted my computer on Sunday night and never got it up and running until last night.

Anyhoo, my weigh in was 250. I didn’t get to see that magical 249 on my weigh in day, but it’s still a 2 lb. loss for the week. Nothing to snub my nose at!

As for WHY the 249 (or lower) didn’t show. Carbs. Sugar. Bout sums it up. It was just one of those weekends where I was ‘munchy’. I can’t say ‘hungry’, but just ‘munchy’. And I totally gave in. I didn’t want to even look at a vegetable, the thought of eggs and cheese just made me blah. Yesterday, however, and today so far have been going really well. I’m so focused on the eating healthy that it’s almost as if I’m not truly following a ‘plan’…just making good choices (crappy weekend excluded). I am going to have those bad days. There are going to be days where the focus is amazing and others when it’s not.

I see a trend though because every single day last week I walked 2 miles on my lunch break. EVERY day. Plus 3 days on Lippy at night, and I ate really well and stayed focused. Weekend? NOTHING. Not a DROP of exercise (unless you count all of the housework and cleaning the basement I accomplished, but still not intentional exercise). And how did I eat??? yeah.

The weather has been dreary and rainy EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. So the gloominess of it may be getting me as well, in the exercise portion.

Shameless sale here…anyone with kids/grandkids want a TON of Little People and all the SHTUFF that goes with them??? I have a HUGE 122 pc. Little People auction up on Ebay. Check it out if you are interested. / end plug. Oh, cept for the link. Little People Auction ok. Now /end plug

I’m sure you can tell by the number of posts lately, not to mention the ‘up-ness’ in them, that I am back on track. Today is day #1 of South Beach for me. I have been following the basic guidelines since I read about it a few days ago. Saturday, after having seen the dr. the day before, I stuck to low-carb through yesterday. Last night I went to Wal-mart and did my grocery shopping to prepare for today on the South Beach Diet (SBD). The scale smiled on me again this morning and I am now a full POUND out of the 250’s!!!!!! 249 I was blessed with seeing. That is only 10 lbs. above the lowest I hit after having Megan. I see pictures of myself when I was 239 and I love it. My face looked thinner, everything. (That’s a wonderful plus to being 6 foot tall…weight is carried better when there is more footage to spread it around on…:) ) I’m seeing that change in my face already and I still have 10 more lbs. to go to hit that low. I truly think that after I get myself out of the 240’s it will be even better sailing. I know there will be a point, as there always has, where I get burned out by the dieting, but I am truly understanding that it cannot just be a week of good eating and exercise and then expect my 18 year old body to reappear.

I have been walking 2 miles a day on my lunch break (2 miles in 32 minutes, even!! That’s a *tad* under 4 MPH…AWESOME)…and then after work, I have been doing more gardening, mowing, anything to stay moving. Compliments are the best motivators…I have had 3 already that people are noticing the loss, and it makes me want to keep on just as I have. I am BUSTING to go down a pants size again. I started all this in a tight 24, I’m now in a loose 20 and I cannot wait to find me some 16/18’s…holy cow. That will be the best feeling. THAT is my focus right now. Changing my body. I have got to find something to focus on and take my mind off of the scale. I need to watch my inches lost, and the clothing sizes, that kind of stuff instead of a friggin number ruining it all. Easier said than done, I know…but I am working on it.

I really am loving the prinicples of the SBD. It’s healthy. It is similar to Core in the fact that you can only have lean meats, fat-free or low-fat cheeses, veggies (no fruit on Phase 1…only for 2 weeks), b eans are a daily requirement, healthy stuff! On WW I think I was letting the ‘oh I can have that ice cream because it’s in my points’ get me…I was filling my points with things that I probably shouldn’t have, and it slowed me down. Having PCOS, my body needs a different kind of diet. I have to watch carefully at the bad carbs and the processed foods. SBD is NOT low-carb. I didn’t know that at first. I thought it was just another low-carb diet. Nope. It’s actually a really healthy way of eating. What I’m most proud of, is lately I have learned to listen to my body. If I feel the temptation to snack, I literally stop and ask myself, ‘Are ya REALLY hungry, or are ya bored or upset???’ and it WORKS!!! I haven’t journaled anything I have eaten in over a week, and will probably get back to that just so that I can look back and see what I was eating, but for the most part, I know what I can eat, in unlimited quantities (within a reasonable amount), and I do really well.

Yesterday, as I reported I was down 1/2 lb. for the week. This morning? 2 MORE. New medication, low-carb (starting South Beach tomorrow after shopping tonight) and exercise. What a lovely sight.

Name a body part. Any body part. I bet mine hurts.

We had a wonderful weekend. Saturday morning, I took Abbie to her horse riding lessons, came home got a few loads of laundry done and dishes done, all the while, Clint and the neighbor guy were seeding the back 2 acres of both of our properties. I called Clint in as we needed to get ready because we took the girls to see ‘Dora’s Pirate Adventure’ LIVE…it was SO much fun! Abbie is a bit old for it, but she still enjoys Dora just because Meggie does, so they both had a blast!!! It was awesome. Megan sang and danced the whole time. We have never done anything like that with the kids because it’s so dang expensive, but now that they are both a bit older it was a great time to go.

Yesterday we were outside from like 10:30 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. and literally hoeing all friggin day. We extended Samson’s (our Chocolate Lab) invisible fence (now that the animals are gone, we no longer have a pasture but a full yard!!!) all the way back to the woods…so the distance that we had to extend it was nearly 1,000 feet total in length. So, yes, Clint and I, taking turns, used a 2″ hoe and literally hoed our way all the way around the perimiter where the wire went in. If I was hoeing (which I do quite well, I must say…) Clint was on his hands and knees laying and covering the wire, and vice-versa. It was a lot of work. I’m surprised my arms aren’t more sore than they are. My butt and tops of the backs of my legs, thighs, hips and calves are all a completely different story. Sore as all get-out. So I just got back from a 1-1/2 mile (23 minute) walk on my lunch break. Thought it would loosen everything up a bit. Nope.

It’s ok though…Clint’s ‘plan’ is working. The scale was down 1/2 lb. this morning from last week. That is the result of 2 up and down episodes during last week and now this being my third day on the new medication, and even though I am definitely pottying more as it’s a water pill as well, it’s not as bad as I thought it would be. It may take a few days to really work as it should, so I need to be prepared, but for now I can tell it’s working because of the dry mouth I woke up with today and the way my wedding rings completly SPIN on my fingers. My fingers look thinner, my mom told me as soon as I got to work this morning that my face even looked thinner. I really didn’t realize that water retention could be that bad.

I looked into the 6-week body makeover that was suggested by Heather in my comments on my previous post. I’m scared to try it. I wrote her back with all sorts of questions, but I am feeling pretty strongly about South Beach Diet. It sounds like a healthy way to do low-carb, which is what my body needs at this point.

I don’t know what to do with my site here now. I want to have a new look. It’s a new start on a new path. I hate to get rid of all of the weight watchers information and not have it posted anymore, so maybe I will leave it all up and have different sections for the two different diets. I’ll see. Who knows when I will even get the chance to mess with it.

Clint’s ‘plan’ that I mentioned is truly a wonderful thing. I mentioned in my previous post that Clint asked me to do things ‘his way’ after all of the ups and downs I have had. Truly after the work outside that we did yesterday, I can see why he is so damn skinny. It’s gonna work. Every part of my body can feel it’s gonna work. I still need to get the SBD book and learn more about it all, but for now I’m leaning on my slim knowledge of low-carb. I have been having omelets like they are going out of style. I love them. I use one whole egg and two egg whites, and mix in some Rotel tomatoes, whisk it all together, pour it in the pan for the omelet and then put 1 slice of fat free cheese and some crumbled crispy pepperoni in the middle of it. (to make the crispy pepperoni I layer about 5 paper towels on a plate, place the pepperoni on it in a single layer (none touching) and microwave it for about 2-3 minutes…be careful if you do this, I had 2 that were black and smoking quite nicely on Saturday morning…could have easily been a fire…so watch them closely and cook them until they are no longer ’shiny’ with grease and ‘crispy’…let them cool and you can crumble them in your hand very easily…they are awesome in the omelet, or eat them with thin slices of cheese for a ‘cracker and cheese’ kinda snack. Amazing.

So I need to get the book and also answer another comment on the SBD support board and get this rolling. So far I am feeling wonderful.

I just returned from my Dr. Appointment. All in all, things are good. He told me he does not want to give me Glucophage, seeing as how my periods are completely regular at this point. That kind of surprised me, but I’ll do what he says. He did give me a prescription though, but it is for water retention and he said after about 6 months I will see a huge difference in the abnormal hair growth. He is pretty sure the water retention is to blame for my roller-coaster scale ride lately.

The prescription is for ‘Aldactone’. That is the brand name. The generic for it is Spironolatone. I just found an amazing article on it already and it seems to be the absolute best for the abnormal hair growth (hirtuism). Now I’m excited.

As for my weight loss, he told me that he didn’t want to prescribe any kind of ‘diet pill’ to help. He wants me doing either Weight Watchers and low-carb/no processed foods, as I’ve been doing, or try South Beach. For those who don’t know, South Beach is low-carb, but healthier, as it incorporated fruits and veggies in and the meats need to be leaner meats, that kind of stuff from what I gather so far. I remember when I tried Atkins, the phrase to keep in your mind was ‘If it’s an animal, you can eat it’…so ANY kind of meat, and cheeses and eggs. I’m going to go this weekend and get the South Beach book, and see what it takes, and also look online for any groups and info. It sounds as though it’s the best for my PCOS at this points.

This is going to be a confusing transfer from WW to South Beach for me. Thing is, with the knowledge I now have from being on WW for so long, I know what are the healthier choices to make.

Hmmm…another weird week, moody ups and downs, and a huge gain on the scale in one day, then a loss of it all, and then today? I’m down an additional pound from last week putting me at 252.5 I WILL get out of the 250’s by Monday. I’m fighting for this one.

I finally sat with Clint the other night and talked to him about how I’m feeling (this is the same night we talked about me having surgery)…he now realizes how desperate I truly feel. He is my partner in this now. Don’t get me wrong, he’s always been completely supportive, but in more of a ‘do what you gotta do’ kinda thing…when I told him I didn’t think I would qualify for surgery, he goes, ‘Well, then we’re gonna do this MY way ’…He is being completely amazing. ‘His Way’ means outside time every night working in the flower beds and garden, and staying as active as he is during the summer…he’s a maniac, I swear, but he’s thin, so he’s doing something right! The more I read and research more on PCOS the better low-carb is for my symptoms. So I’m doing that with my own ’spin’. I’m not ‘counting’ points, but I know in my head how much things are, and I’m making the right choices. I’m eating more meats / protein (chicken and fish more right now) and making sure I have fruits and veggies for my snacks. High carb / processed food is off limits at this point. We are also working on lowering Abbie’s sugar intake as she’s been a hyper woman lately, so that helps me as well when those things aren’t in the house.

I know that when you follow low-carb (the Atkins-strict way, at least) that when you begin to eat normally, the weight comes back fast. What I understand right now (and will talk to my doctor more about it all on Friday as I have made a list of questions and problems I’m having) is that when I do get down to my healthy weight, my body should actually start to produce insulin more normally and be able to handle normal foods, because right now it can’t. If I eat any kind of potato (fries, mashed, baked, etc.) I feel SO friggin bloated immediately and just sick to my stomach from it. I can’t handle those kinds of foods at all.

So, I’m doing this my way, at least until I get the Dr.’s advice (along with a prescription for a healthy dose of Glucophage) and see how it goes. I do feel much better mentally now the some stress from work has gone down, and that I have gotten through to Clint how crucial this is for me. The other day when I posted, I truly felt the lowest I have in a very long time, possibly ever. That is the worst feeling.

I have also been reading lately on some new news on PCOS that Bi-Polar disorder is also known to affect PCOS sufferers as well, and I never have read up on the symptoms, and after looking into that as well, it seems some of my ‘emotional’ things lately are either pointing to that or back to depression, which was previously diagnosed about 9 years ago or so. I never stayed on meds for it as they didn’t help and I didn’t like the ‘drugged up’ feeling…I’m just not a big meds person at all as you can tell, but the Glucophage I am willing to give it every chance for as long as it takes to see the results. The bipolar/depression will be mentioned to my dr. as well on Friday.

All-in-all things are looking up. I’m really not this ‘down’ of a person…and lately it sounds that way here. Surgery is more than likely out of the question (gastric bypass) as right now I don’t think my BMI or weight would qualify me, and I would hate to have to go to that extreme, but we will just wait and see what the dr. has to say on Friday and if he even suggests it.

Thank you for all of your comments lately…you all help me get through so much and I appreciate that so much from you all…you’re the best!!!