A New Way of Eating To Live Healthier Lives

Our family has been dealing with being obese for 20+ years. I was about 20 pounds over weight when we married 27+ years ago. After three pregnancies and three very handsome sons came into our lives I've been slowly gaining. I've been within 12-15 pounds of the same weight for over 21 years though.  Which means I kept all my baby weight gain from my first two pregnancies!
I have let my hair go to its natural color which is some white with a lot of gray and then my brunette hair is still there but plenty frosted. My hubby doesn't care for it and prefers that I be an auburn color out of the bottle. After a years battle with psoriasis on my scalp I've had to for go the hair coloring.
An afternoon at the park with my sweet Grandson who is now 20 months old has me whipped! I can't live the rest of my life like that anymore.  God has given me two grand children and it's up to me to be healthy enough that I can enjoy them.

Hubby does a lot of yo-yo-ing with his weight loss. My husband was at his perfect weight when we married and looked oh so good.  He suffers from high cholesterol, high triglycerides, and high blood pressure. We have spent a lot of $ on Rx's! In the past 3 years his blood sugar has been on the increase. Johnnie's Dad passed away at 44 years young from Hardening of the Arteries.  His grandfather passed away from the same at 40 years young.
Thank God my Johnnie stays active and has been diligent about taking medications to control what has taken the life of his Dad and Grandfather. Genetics plays a big part in our health, but what we put in our mouth daily is a bigger part in my opinion.
Here is my loving hubby with our Grandson at the local park.  We both want to have more energy to spend time with our grand children and children. We desire to feel better physically and emotionally and losing our excess weight goes a long way in both of these goals.  I think these two guys are very handsome & they both make me SMILE BIG whenever we are together.

Our 2nd son (left) was born larger than the other two and has been that way most of his life. His body type is much different than either of his brothers. He has been on a continuous weight gain his entire life. Sean eats for all the wrong reasons just like me. ;0(  We both love to eat and crave sugar for energy! This photo on the left is our #2 son and our Grandson this summer playing in the front yard. Sean is 6 foot 2 inches and weighs 285 pounds. He emotionally struggles with being so big but has not found the motivation to make changes until NOW.
Sean can easily keep up with our Grandson but doesn't always feel up to it.  He really wants to change that. He has the heart the size of TX and is super smart.
It's a long story but I was encouraged to abort my pregnancy with Sean due to some radiation that I was exposed to very early in the pregnancy and even had surgery when I was in first trimester. We prayed for God to intervene and held on to our faith and God's promises that He knew Sean in the womb and would make provision for him in this world age.  God has done so and I'm so blessed that he is MY son.  He is all joy to me.

I went to Women Of Faith again this year and met an acquaintance who looks like she is at her perfect weight but apparently is not. A mutual friend of ours asked her if she was losing weight. She said she was following a great diet that she could live with! She is using the 17 Day Diet. I got online and did a few days reading about this and surmised that it was Adkins like. I had been feeling like if I was ever going to lose weight and keep it off I had to do it now. I talked to my hubby and sons about how I felt and told them I wanted to give this eating plan a try and that if they wanted something that I was not cooking they were very welcome to cook it themselves. I could not make brownies, mashed and loaded potatoes for them and NOT eat them. They all said they would do it with me! Sean needs to do this with others so that he can stay on track and encouraged. Parker eats pretty healthy anyway and doesn't need to lose an ounce! Johnnie needs to lose about 35 pounds to get to his goal and doesn't want to cook so he'll eat what I fix! I have about 70 pounds to lose.  Sean and I will be on Cycle 1, 2, and 3 a lot longer than Johnnie will.  Johnnie will be able to go on to Cycle 4 (maintenance) before the end of this year I suspect as he has always been able to drop pounds pretty easy.  

I use iBooks and downloaded the free trial and then purchased the full book. I read it in a few days and made a list of the foods we could eat and when we could eat them for Cycle 1.  I presented the list to my family and explained why we do not eat fruit after 2:00 PM each day. Daily I get asked on text or by phone ... 'Can I eat _____?  LOL  Poor guys but at least they are asking and not assuming.  I keep the list on my notes on my iPhone so when I am at the market I can reference what we should be eating.
So last week I half heartily followed Cycle 1.  I lost 4.6 pounds! I could not believe it. We ALL started Cycle 1 this past Sunday 9-4-11.  Today my hubby and weighed in and he has lost 2.4 pounds and I lost 2.2 pounds! We need some motivation today as we are all three craving SUGAR.  It's not easy not being able to eat what you like, but we keep telling each other 'You can do anything for 17 days'!  It's true you and I can do anything for 17 days if we put our mind to it.



Today I made my hubby a smoothie for his breakfast.  I used a 6oz container of No Sugar Added (low fat) yogurt flavored with raspberry, a cup of fresh strawberries, and 2 cups of ice.  His lunch will be a lemon pepper grilled chicken breast, steamed broccoli, baby carrots, and a salad with no sugar no fat Organic Ranch dressing. Not sure what we are eating for dinner yet... LOL
My breakfast was an omelet with mushrooms, onion and garlic and I used some Louisiana Hot sauce on top! It was delicious! We drink 80z of green tea after every meal.  I also had one of my two low sugar fruits (red plum) for today. 
My son had a cup of yogurt before he left and took two granny smith apples with him.  I hope he will get on the scale this afternoon so he can see how his body is responding to no sugar and low card/low fat too. He really needs some encouragement as he a chef and is around tempting foods all day long! God please help him to be able to change his eating habits.  Amen
I will try to keep this blog updated a few times a week with our journey to healthier and happier living.  Would love to hear from any of you who are on a similar journey.

Blessings,
Donna Lee