All I can say is I'm ROCKIN' my diet. I've lost 12 pounds so far. In the past that would annoy me. "Only" losing 12 pounds after about 6 weeks, but I'm just excited now. I can see into the future and know that if I keep this up I WILL be at my goal by the end of the year. As I'm getting older these years are flying by anyway so what's a few extra months?

I have tweaked my diet a little. I am not only counting calories but I'm counting carbs. I'm trying to keep them under 100 a day. Some days that's not easy, but I'm doing it for the most part. My daughters 6th birthday was 2 weeks ago and we had 3 parties for her. That meant 3 days of birthday cakes. I had small pieces and threw the rest away. I also cut out calories on other things those days so I didn't feel bad eating that cake. I'm planning on going out to dinner with friends tomorrow night and I know I will have no problems getting back on track on Saturday.

I think I'm planning much more this time than in previous attempts to lose weight. It's so strange but this hasn't' felt like I've been on a diet for 6 weeks. I think my body is getting used to the smaller portions and not as much sugar and fat. I feel like I'm in a better mood too which is strange. Usually diets cause bad moods, but I am physically starting to feel better which makes my mood better.

The only thing I am not doing is exercising. I really need to start doing that. I don't want to work hard to lose weight and then then have flab all over my body. The baby is slowly but surely starting to get better around strangers and I just have to force myself to leave her in the daycare at the gym. We've all been sick for weeks so that was an easy excuse. We are all better now so I need to just force myself to go.

I know I need to blog more. I don't even have an excuse this time. I actually think about things to say all the time, I just don't sit down and do it.

So, I am not going to say I haven't blogged because I've been doing terrible because that's NOT TRUE this time. I am doing AWESOME! I hate to say this, because we all know how these things can come back around to bite us in the ass, but for some reason this time I "get it." I get that this is a lifestyle change. I get that I have to record everything I put into my mouth to be successful. I get that I can't eat like I was eating and lose weight. I just get "it" and don't feel deprived.

I have no reason why either. I'm just doing what I need to do. There are times when I do eat badly, but I get right back on track the next day. Like last night for instance. I went to a friends house for dinner. She had pizza and that was it. No salad, no fruit, nothing healthy. So, I took it as a "cheat night" and ate the pizza and today I am back on track. It is a bit harder once you eat like that to get back on track, but I did it.

I've been averaging about 1200 calories day in my eating. I just load my plate up with veggies and limit the protein to a smaller portion. But, my goal is really 1500 a day so if I go over that 1200, it's ok. I'm good with that.

The BIG thing I've done that I've never in my life done before is to eliminate drinking pop. (Yes, in Michigan we call soda- pop) My goal was to cut down to one diet pop a day and I was doing that. But, my rule is I can't drink pop until all my water is consumed for the day. So if I'm slow at drinking the water, I don't get the pop. I realized after a few days that I hadn't had pop for about 4 days and was amazed that I didn't even miss it. I never in my life thought I'd give it up. But again, if I'm out or at someone's house, I'll drink it. I haven't cut it out completely, but for the most part I don't drink it anymore.

I honestly don't know what's caused this change in me. I don't know why I'm doing so well and not hating every second of it. At the beginning I did. I was in a terrible mood the first few days but that feeling went away.

The next thing I need to work on is exercise. I'm just not doing it. I can't seem to find the time. I get about an hour and a half a day while the baby is napping and I think other things are more important to do. I know there will come a time when I want to work out so I'm not sweating it just yet. I am just thrilled that my diet is going so well.

So (drum roll please) I've been on this diet for just over three weeks and I've lost EIGHT pounds! Yes, that's right!!! I am so happy about that. My goal is to lose 50 by the end of the year which is only one pound a week. I sent a very achievable goal because at the end of the year when I weigh 175, I won't care that it took me the whole year to lose the weight. I will just be so happy that I got there. Right now I am 4+ weeks ahead of schedule.