My Quest for Healthy Living Diary

There is nothing fun about dieting. Some people are so fortunate to never have a weight problem. Some years back I worked with a woman who all her life could not keep the weight on. Yet she was healthy. During the entire course of the day at work, she was constantly eating. To top it off she was a "Junk Food Junkie." She would often snack on candy bars and chips. She must have been born with an overactive metabolism.

I am not so lucky. I have always fought to be thin. I managed to keep my weight off over the years before my daughter was born. By eating very little and exercising as much as I could. After the baby (she's in college now) it became harder and harder to fight the fat.

This is my personal diary or quest to become a loser...a weight lost loser. So here I go to overcome my way of thinking, that "Diet is 'Die' with a 'T'.

(Since I have first written this my weight lost and gain has been a roller coaster. That is because this is a life choice to stay fit and keep the weight off. As a human who has fallen off this healthy style of life I need to get back to healthy living.)

The first year after my lay off, I had packed on 20 pounds. Before, when I was working outside of the home, I would get up early in the morning, have a light breakfast and go to work. Once at work I would sit in front of the computer for 8 to 10 hours a day. Rarely would I eat lunch. When the weather was nice enough, I would take a break and walk. Believe it or not, my job was very stressful and found that I was gaining weight just for being there.

Finally after a long hard day at the office, I would come home and if the weather was nice, I would take the dog for a walk. Then it was time for dinner. Not a large dinner, but at times I would eat past the point of being full. After dinner my time was mainly spent in front of the computer until it was time to go to bed.

The following day would start all over again. Do you see a pattern here?

Like many Americans, my job was affected by the economic slow down. Despite the fact that I was looking outside of the home for work, there wasn't a job to be found. Given this fact, I decided that it was time to change the way I looked on the outside, in order to become more appealing to the interviewer when applying for a job. It is a sad fact, that we are judged by our looks first before being accepted for our working experienced. This is mainly true for women. I decided to set a goal at the time of my lay off to get back in shape. After all, there is the stationary bike, a Nordic Track, an exercise glider (like the Gazelle but different brand), exercise mat, fitness ball and weights collecting dust down in the basement.

Nearly a year later, the exercise equipment was still collecting dust. And the question is: Why I am fatter?

(Note that my layoff was in 2008. So time has past since this writing. But hopefully you will find it helpful.)

Make this soup without the noodles and you have a healthy low carb recipe.

Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

Having a shop (actually 10) on Zazzle, the print on demand online gift site, I wanted to share my famous chicken noodle soup recipe on a postcard. The photos of soup on the other products like the mugs and shirts are images of my soup that I made from scratch. The cartoon cow was not really in the soup bowls. Since this is about chicken noodle soup, I thought it would be funny to let those that see and own these products know that no cows were involved in making this soup.

These gift items shown here plus many others with soup images and recipe cards are available on

Sandyspider: Soup – View Here

A typical day for me is getting up early in the morning, maybe having breakfast and spending all day and night on the computer. In between I would take the dog for a walk (provided that the weather was nice outside.) At times, I would find myself eating on junk food during the course of the day. And of course, the day spent on the computer was (and is) for starting a business and finding new ways to make money online. More and more, my quest for making money online became an addiction that I couldn’t get rid of. But this addiction soon extended into social networking. Sitting in front of this magical screen is not the best way for weight loss.

Fast forward to January of the year I first started this. I made a New Year’s resolution to go on a diet. The days and months passed and no diet. Everything the same as before…When I felt depressed, chocolate became my best friend. If there was no chocolate, I would have to settle for some other junk food.

(Something you may or may not be aware of, in general when it comes to junk food, women have more cravings for sweets; while men have more cravings for salty snacks.)

(This is a journal or diary and written for a year that has since past. Reference to certain months cannot change since it was written as a diary for that time.)

Now it is near the end of April and how far have I gone?

I felt encourage to really start this time and commit myself to this weight loss journey.

I am a week into my diet. I decided to go low carb. Though, I have been mixing it up a bit with vegetables. In the past it seemed that a low carbohydrate diet was the only diet that would work for me. My goal (though I could lose more) is 20 pounds. And once that falls off a new goal will be started.

The first few days I lost 3 pounds. Then my husband said that he had been dying for an A&W Root Beer. (He is my worse enemy for dieting.) I reluctantly went with him and ended up with a diet root beer and a hamburger. The next day I weighed myself, I had gained one pound back. The following day another pound was packed back on, despite the fact that I had kept it to low carbs for that day. In short, at the end of week one I lost ONE POUND. Nineteen more to go!

Here are my beginning statics:
Height: 5’4″
Weight: FAT

"Take Two and Call Me in the Morning!" This is not something I would recommend for weight loss. But there are many crazy diets. Somewhere, there could be a chocolate diet.The brownies and truffles are found in

Chocoholics Unite by Sandyspider Gifts - available here

Dr. Atkins weighed 224 in 1963, when pounds due to a poor diet of junk food. He read a study of a low-starch diet in JAMA based on the work of Alfred W. Pennington. Dr. Carefully following this plan, he successfully lost weight by following it, which was repeated with 65 of his overweight patients. He appeared on the Tonight show in 1965, and his diet became known as the “Vogue Diet”. He published Dr. Atkins' Diet Revolution in 1972, which soon sold millions of copies.

Atkins Center for Complementary Medicine in Manhattan treated over 50,000 patients. He founded Atkins Nutritionals in 1998 to promote his low-carbohydrate diet, with revenue of $100 million. Dr. Atkins published the “New Diet Revolution” in 1992, which again became a best-seller.

Atkins argued that "carbohydrate is the bad guy", claiming that it causes the body to overproduce the hormone insulin, which metabolizes blood glucose and thus makes people feel hungry.

Read more on the Atkins Diet at:

Atkins Diet a Way of Life

Atkins Diet Recipes

I had planned on going low carb but caved in to my cravings for V-E-G-E-T-A-B-L-E-S. Vegetables are good for you, but if you are on a low carb diet, they can add up on carbs.

Bet you thought I was going to say chocolate.

I cut back a few hours out of my computer time. Walked the dog up to 2 hours a day and cut out sweets completely. After all this work, I lost 2 pounds. 17 more pounds to go!

I kept the carbs down; yet not quite the Atkins plan. I am not a huge meat eater and I like eating fruits and vegetables. Stayed good for five days, but the last 2 days I went on a carbohydrate laden diet. I ate some pizza slices and corn on the cob, followed by the number one food addiction that I have. Since Easter, there has been this one pound chocolate rabbit waiting...I told my daughter that she could have it once she comes home from college. This rabbit is now missing its ears and head. My weigh in at the end of the week is neither a loss nor gain. This is going to be a long weight loss.

Still 17 more pounds to go!

A long weight loss folks! But losing it slowly is suppose to be better for a person. Although a person like me would like fast results. We went to my sister-in-laws for Mother’s Day. I went off the diet then. But I had gotten back on it for the rest of the week.

I kept up walking the dog up to 2 hours a day. I drank more water. Most of us don’t drink enough. We have always been told to drink 6 to 8 glasses of water a day.

At the end of the week I lost 2 pounds. That makes 15 more pounds to go.

Week five, my daughter was home for a week before going back for some summer College classes. The first part of the week was fine but towards the end of the week, I found myself eating like everyone else and enjoying what I eat. For this, I chose not to weigh in.

Week six was the week to make up for week five. A couple of days were still a set back. I should of been on the low carb diet, since it seemed to work best for me. My motivation just isn’t there. But if I had gained weight during these two weeks, somewhere towards the end of the week I ended up weighing what I had at the end of week four.

I think I will concentrate on eating in moderation, getting exercise and not worrying about the pounds. I will start thinking myself thin.

This is the week that I went on the Positive Thinking Diet. “I will think positive thoughts when I eat fattening foods and sweets.”

Truth is, I kept up the walks and ate until I was full. Sunday I made Stuffed Peppers. And at the end of the week had two candy bars. But I kept positive thoughts of losing weight.

At the end of the week I lost 2 pounds. That makes 13 more pounds to go.

I am back to spending more time on the internet. This is mentioned in my article Are You an Internet Addict?

I joined RocketMoms. (This was a group on Squidoo, which is no longer around.) The very same week I had joined HubPages (2009).

At the end of that week I lost 1 pounds. That makes 12 more pounds to go. And at this rate 12 more weeks to go.

My internet activity jumped this last week. I am back to spending most of my time sitting in front of the computer.

I have been getting support from other RocketMoms who have joined my "Healthy Living Group" though I felt guilty that I haven't been as active in this group that I should be. I hope no one felt that I have let them down.

Despite the increase of internet activity, I still walked my dog 2 to 3 times a day. At the end of the week I had lost 3 pounds. This brings my goal to 9 more pounds.

More time is spent on the computer. Nothing eventful! I worked on six RocketMoms articles. Hoping to ensure Giant Squid! Sorry to say that no weight was lost this week.

(Once again this is a diary of the past. On August 15, 2014 it was announced that Squidoo was acquired by HubPages.)

I’m not here to share my weight loss this week. I seem to be at a standstill.

I had been at a stand still. I have been too busy with all my work online. I have been losing slowing. But I suppose that is a better way to go in the long run. I am the type of person who wants to get instant results. I am not patient person.

But without thinking about it, I did lose 4 pounds this week. That means I have 5 more to go towards my goal. So I should be laughing that I finally broke out of the no weight loss mode.

My original goal was to lose 20 pounds. The final countdown is 15 pounds and that is OK! Since starting this, I have gathered a group of women to help support my quest to get healthy.

As mentioned before that this is my diary of the past. Sticking with this takes willpower and a positive outlook. I have struggled with this. Once again I had planned on trying this again. But now I will accept the "Size Me".

I am not writing about failure but acceptance.

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