My attempt at blogging.. again

I've tried this before, but never seemed to stick with it. Blogging, I mean. Well Mildred.. here we go again!

First, let me tell you a little about myself. I'm a 36 year old mother of 2 girls, aged 17 and 11. "Bug" is 17 and "Monkey" is 11. They are fascinating creatures. I'm in constant awe of how proud, and yet confused, I am of them on a daily basis. I'm married to a wonderful guy who has always been there for me, no matter what. He's truly amazing and today (well, maybe yesterday by the time this posts) we celebrated our 6 year anniversary. I'm very grateful for everything he has done for me. I am an RN. Graduated last year. Some days it's very rewarding, other days I feel like a glamorized waitress (not that there's anything wrong with that.) Overall though, I'm glad to be doing something that I enjoy. My best friend is also an RN. In fact, we met in nursing school. We are stuck like glue. Two peas in a crazy pod, we say. She's also low carbing and we keep each other going. She's a very big part of my life and I don't know what I'd do without her.

I began my Atkins journey waaaay back in 2003.. you know, when it was everywhere. I just had a few pounds I wanted to lose and was intrigued by the thought. I was working as a waitress then, and a coworker came to work talking about it one day. She pointed to a rack of ribs and said "I could eat that whole thing if I wanted." Well.. bam! I went to buy the book. *Always buy the book!* I realized that she had no clue what she was talking about because I'm quite sure that bbq sauce was loaded with sugar! But none-the-less, I was hooked. I wanted to lose about 20 pounds. I quickly lost 10 and although I didn't reach my goal (which looking back was probably too low) I maintained and loved the WOE for about 4 months. Then we had some money problems and as backwards as it is.. crap food is cheaper than real food. So I reluctantly fell off the wagon and gained back what I had lost and more. Since then I've been off and on the wagon countless times. As a diabetic, I know this is the way I need to eat, but I could never stick with it.

Fast forward to February 24, 2010... I was ready and motivated. I had put on some weight while in school and although I had lost 15 pounds when I started working (and wasn't sitting on my butt studying all the time,) I wanted to lose some more and feel better. So I started. Again. I was at 153 and set my goal to 135. My goal date was June 3rd.. the day my best friend and I were leaving for the beach. I knew I wouldn't have a supermodel body, but it would be better than what it was. I started eating strictly and exercising at least 3 times a week. I hit goal on May 24.. exactly 3 months since I started. I was elated! We went to the beach and had a blast. We got tattoos (which cost us money that we had planned on spending on food and entertainment, but hey, ya only live once!) So with less money to spend, we had to be careful about where we ate. We brought LC foods for breakfast and lunch, but planned on eating dinner out on the town. We didn't plan on eating hot dogs and fries and ice cream though. Oops. So when we got home, we tried to get back into the LC/exercise routine again. I did it half-assed for a while before I totally got off track. I only gained 2-3 pounds back, but I felt like CRAP! So we decided to start over and kick some LC butt! September 6th (Labor Day of course.. what?!) we started again and have been doing well since. It was only a few days before the bloated feeling was gone and I was down those 3 pounds I had gained. I haven't lost any more yet, but I'm ok with that. Ideally I'd like to lose about 4 more to hit 130, but more importantly, I want to tone up. I'm going to really focus on exercising to lose the flubber that is around my middle and thighs. I hope this blog will help keep me accountable. Eek! Come along with me, won't you?!