On low carb diets, all I wanted to eat was carbs.  I dreamt about eating a big fat loaded baked potato topped with gravy and french fries.  Mmmmm!  Needless to say, it didn’t last.  Nor did the cardiac-lose 25 pounds in 3 days-diet, the fasting every other day diet or the lettuce and water diet.

In order to lose weight, you must change the way you eat.  You need to change it for good, not just long enough to complete the book on the current diet.

It took me 10 months to lose 43 pounds.  I felt fantastic and energized.  I loved it that all of my clothes were too big and that my boobs were small(er).  This has to be one of the easiest things I’ve have ever done in my 32 years on earth.

The one thing that I think made this successful for me was writing down everything that passed my lips in a journal.  As the day went on, if I ate it, I wrote it.  I calculated the points (calories) as I ate them.  As long as I kept doing this, I was successful.  I firmly believe that the key to my success was that I didn’t have to give up anything.  I just had to hold myself accountable when I went over my daily allowance of points (and believe me, that is difficult) or count the points for the fatty, calorie filled, cream filled, sugar dipped yummies that I indulged in on occasion.

I was 12 pounds away from my goal weight of 140 pounds when I went to the Dr. to find out what was wrong with my right shoulder.  I was having pain when I inhaled deeply and suspected I had some inflammation in my right lung, seeing how I’m a nurse, I tend to diagnose myself quite frequently.  My diagnosis would come as a complete surprise.

The Dr. was ready to send me for a chest xray, but first wanted to confirm that there was no chance of pregnancy.  I was pretty sure that I was not pregnant but told the Dr. to do a pregnancy test just incase. And guess what….?  Yep, I was pregnant.

I delivered my baby boy on August 22, 2008, after gaining 60 pounds.  My weight loss journey has not been as easy this time around.  I’m only down 17 pounds, then 13 pounds, now 12 pounds.  But today is the beginning of my new journey.  From this day forward, I am committing myself to stay on the weight loss wagon, changing the way I eat.

Since no more children are in the making, planning, etc, I think this would be a good time to start.  Wish me luck!