Jazzygurl81's Journal

[jazzygurl81]

Hello Everyone!

Well I'm new to this, so bear with me . I'm just starting on this whole low-carb thing, and I'm already pretty anxious. I haven't been to the doctor in a while, and I went 2 days ago and was given the good news: I'm 5'6", and now at my highest weight ever of 294 lbs, which is not suprising but disappointing all the same . It's embarrassing to admit that I have high blood pressure at my age. I work in a hospital, and I see what obesity does to people. I've seen young adults my age with ESRD (end-stage renal disease), on dialysis, with hypertension, high cholesterol, diabetic amputees...the works. I've seen people suffering and dying from the long-term effects of diabetes, heart attacks, asthma, sleep apnea, and stroke. I come across young people that have to use CPAP and BiPAP devices just to breath at night, and take a million and one blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood thinners during the day. And the large majority of those patients are obese/morbidly obese. I don't want any of those things to happen to me. I know that seeing those things should be motivation enough to lose weight, but I get frustrated easily and I'm very much an emotional eater. When I'm upset, I don't go reaching for the broccoli. I'm very much a carb-addict; I love bread and pasta and potatoes. But I've made up my mind that it's time for a change.

A friend of mine is doing the Atkin's Diet, but that's just so hard. I'm trying to start off by limiting my carb intake to just one meal a day...today I actually skipped breakfast (I know, I know...) because I was busy running errands, for lunch I had a turkey sandwich (w/ lettuce and pepper jack cheese), banana, and granola bar and water to drink. For dinner I'll have some baked chicken and veggies, as well as a walk in the park for 1 hour. I'm sure I'm already over my daily carb limit according to many types of diets out there, but I want to make this a smooth transition, so for the first week I'll be just having carbs during one meal, and will get more strict with my diet as the weeks come. My biggest challenge is breakfast. I'm up at at 6am...who's hungry at that time?? But by the time 10am or 11 am gets around, I'm starving, but tend to skimp on lunch as well to try to get more work done. I barely have a snack (except for what I get out of the snack machine), so when I get home around 6pm, I'm ravished. I went to the grocery store yesterday and brought a lot of fruits and veggies, so hopefully that will help me keep up with this new WOL.

I'm trying my best to make sure I incorporate not just a new way of eating, but also a new way of thinking! I'm just turning 25 as of yesterday , and I seriously want 25 to be a year of change! By my 26th birthday, I'd really like to see myself 100 lbs lighter. I know that may sound unrealistic, but I have to start off with a goal. I really need a lot of support! I've been checking out a lot of the before and after pictures of the people on this site, and it's so motivating. It really makes me feel like I can do it too. So I will check on here at least once a week and let ya'll know how I'm doing.