Planning Stage

This is my first post for this blog. I don't know how to start it, but I will write what is in my heart. As of this moment, my self esteem is very low as well as my self-confidence. I wear clothes that I feel I am comfortable with, which is mostly black. I feel that dark colors make me look thinner. However, I don't want to be wearing all dark colors for the rest of my life. I used to love to shop for clothes, but at this point I just hate it. I don't like buying clothes because it makes me feel even more depressed knowing what size I am now. I hate the feeling that the size that use to fit me, doesn't fit me anymore and it makes me feel depressed.

What makes me even depressed is knowing that the people who you're counting on to support you always make you the laughing stock anywhere you go. I feel that people who are the closest to me are the people who make me feel worse about myself.

The first thing that I would want to change are these emotions that I feel towards people and towards material things that I should be enjoying in this world, such as clothes for starters.

And so, I decided to start this blog. I'd like to share my journey with you towards the challenges I'm going to face towards weight loss. Why 60 pounds? It's simple, I am currently 176 lbs. For someone with a height of 5'5" with 2 kids, the average weight I should be is 135 lbs at most. I'm targeting 115 lbs, which is less than my real ideal weight for my height. I've read somewhere that if you have already given birth, you should give yourself an allowance of 5 lbs per childbirth. I am hoping to get encouragement from comments which will help me boost my self esteem and become an encouragement to others.

This is not DAY 1 yet. I plan to do it JANUARY 16. My diet will be ATKINS and my choice of exercise will be swimming, walking and jogging (all cardio exercises). I will concentrate on diet first and will advance in exercise later on.

According to ATKINS diet, part of the initial stage is planning when to start it. The start date should be the time when there are no events that you need to attend to that will have you eating and cheating. Why January 16? For one, its after payday. I can start changing the grocery list from HIGH CARB to LOW CARB food. Second it's after the holidays. By that time, my Dad had already left abroad; we always eat out when he's around during vacation time. Third, the first 2 weeks of the ATKINS diet is the most crucial stage where there will be alot of hormonal changes because of the shift from buring of the sugar and carbs you consume to the burning of the fat contained in your body. Before the 2 weeks will end, I should have already shed a few pounds before my birthday on February 7.

Things that I need to do for the next few days is to get my measurements. I will post them here. I will also post the things that I have eaten here. Normally I would count the calorie content, but now I will avoid the 4 type of food that I will avoid with ATKINS which is SUGAR, RICE, BREAD, ,and PASTA.

I plan to get exercise a slow start which is 2 30 min exercise per week that I have to meet. If the first 2 weeks become too challenging for me, I want to try the appetite suppresant FERN-SLIM or XENICAL to help me aide in my diet for me to avoid fatty and high carb foods. I don't want to have to spend of these pills, but if need be I will do spend on them.

Until next time!