At War with My Diet

I gave up soda pop last Monday on the 4th of July. I just decided that I'd had enough - I've had zero interest in my diet and exercise routine of late which means I haven't had much of a routine at all, and not much success when I was doing it, so I decided to make a shift.

I discovered Chris Powell by accident flipping channels about two weeks ago and was astonished by the way he helped a woman who was very overweight lose a lot of weight and change her life. He moved in with her for three months and worked with her on both her diet and her exercise routine and it was amazing. He has apparently done this with several people, but the most amazing story was the one detailed on his website, which apparently was his first extreme weight loss success. You can read about it here.

On his website, he has a short list of some quick things you can do to start on the course of weight loss. Obviously it is harder to lose weight the less weight you need to lose, but it is inspiring to see him coach people through their obstacles and bring them to a place where they can envision see success, and envision themselves at the finish line of achievement.

Not only that, he is very positive and uplifting. It was nice for me, and just what I needed, to read his positive affirmations. Even my 20 minutes a day is something more than what I was doing, and that is something in the right direction!

As a result of perusing his website and following him on twitter, I am now working out almost every day, even in the evening so long as I get the time in, and I dropped soda pop altogether from my diet. I have been a long-time fan of Coke, but switched to Diet Coke and ultimately to Coke Zero about two years ago. I LOVE it. It is absolutely one of my favorite things to have at my fingertips, at my desk when I'm working, or in the car when I'm driving, or on my nightstand when I'm relaxing.

Temporarily, I've switched to drinking water with crystal light lemonade in it. That has upped my water intake from about 20 ounces of water per day (shame!!) to about 70 ounces of water per day, a huge jump. I drink it all day long and there have been some interesting results already.

First, I was severely depressed and suffered headaches for three days solid. My mood was already really low when the Casey Anthony verdict came in and I just walked around with my eyes full of tears for a solid two days. The verdict hit me hard but I was already pretty depressed and probably some of it was chemical.

Now I don't crave it at all. I'm happy to grab my bottle of water and run, and have no guilt! Also, I'm getting my workout in, too, which is wonderful. I'm not weighing myself at all yet. I don't want to get all obsessive about the scale. The important thing to me is shifting my habits and thoughts to positive thinking and healthier activities and foods.

Of course, a few days ago my husband told me his concerns about aspartame. Obviously that was a concern with the diet soda in the first place (artificial sweeteners), but I said the Crystal Light is a temporary move to get me drinking water and letting go of soda pop.

I had an interesting experience Saturday night while visiting my parents. My six-year-old brought a rootbeer over to me to open and the first sight of it cause my stomach to lurch and a delighted feeling to rise up inside me. I was surprised at that response because I haven't even craved any soda since the third day. But as soon as I reminded myself that I wasn't drinking that anymore, the feeling left and I was fine. No craving, no desire, no sadness at saying no.

Of course, it wasn't a coke.

Anyhow, I've rearranged my links on the side of my site, and added Chris Powell's website to my list of Faves. I've dropped links that are dead and will be continuing to remodel my blog over the next week or so. I am shifting a lot of the polygamy stuff over to a new blog and recreating this one with a broader focus on things that interest me.