1-2-09 Update

Hey gang! I hope you all had a safe and fun New Years! I was so busy I didn't have time to post any New Years wishes, but I know you guys and gals understand.

I'm very optimistic about 2009. I can't say why, or even what I think will be great about this year, but I just have this gut feeling something wonderful is in store. We shall see....

I've mentioned in the past that I was planning to try a sweet-free challenge in conjunction with Scott Olsen's sugar-free challenge. My start date was to be yesterday. I've made some minor changes in my plans though and I want to explain.

I'm a diet soda addict. There. I admitted it. Diet soda is going to be hard for me to give up. Even the couple of weeks leading up to yesterday had me feeling a little unsettled at the thought of not having my daily fix. Some of you may remember I tried to give it up before - only to replace my sodas with eating everything in sight. It was bad. So this time I'm going to try to wean myself off. Starting yesterday, I am slowly replacing my sodas with water. My goal is that by the end of the month I will be drinking much more water than soda and can hopefully give up that last can for good. So my challenge will not be so much sweet-free as less-sweet. Make sense? Maybe by February I'll be ready to go totally sweet-free. (This may sound like a cop out, but I'm being totally honest here. I need to do this slowly...)

I started journaling my food again yesterday. I don't know if I'll get it posted here everyday, but I'll try. As some of you have expressed interest in my doing a photo food journal, I may try to start that soon as well. Anyhoo, here's yesterday:

Breakfast: 1 fried egg, 1 sausage patty, water, supplements

Lunch: (at Ryan's) 1 roasted chicken breast, 1 med sized salad with a sprinkling of sunflower seeds and ranch dressing, 1 cup green beans, 1/4 cup steamed cabbage, water

Dinner: 2 hamburger patties, 1 tbsp lc ketchup, 2 dill pickles

Snack: 1 cup popcorn (shouldn't have had this, but I did, so I'm fessin' up!)

Counts for Jan. 1st 2009:

Calories: 1,750
Carbs: 22 - 7 fiber = 15 net
Fat: 126 g
Protein: 131

This morning my scale showed me as 1 lb lighter. :) That's always good.

I spent the couple of weeks reworking my low-carb website. It has a little bit different look and I FINALLY finished that myths page I've been meaning to do forever. I'm really excited too, because we have some new success stories going up soon. Feel free to check it all out at
www.healthylowcarbliving.com and let me know what you think!

Ok, I have a lot to get done today. Be sure to check back on Monday Jan. 5th as we kick off our 2nd annual Great Start Giveaway! Should be lots of fun and I hope you'll join us!