Hey all! Just a long time beacher from another board saying Hi! Not trying to upset the apple cart here, just adding another voice for healthy eating and developing a healthy lifestyle!
A little of my backstory if you care! I just turned 52 and started my personal transformation back in the spring of '04. sort of a late start on our new year's resolutions!
I weighed 220-225 at the time and my blood profile was horrid. Extremely high triglycerides, low HDL, and borderline troublesome fasting blood glucose. All the signs of what is now called inslulin resistance or metabolic syndrome. Found SB quite by accident as it was very popular in my parent's retirement community in Florida when we visited them over the Christmas/New Year's holidays in 03/04 and we bought a copy when we got back, although didn't actually start until April. So easy to put off! Honestly didn't expect much, but I got a bit jazzed by some of the early weight loss and we found it was pretty easy to adapt to other than the initial investments in time and planning. We didn't really feel like we were "dieting" which I thought was a pretty good thing as I had never "dieted" before. (I'm still not sure I have!) Had a tough transition to P2, but came out of it eventually and stuck with it through fits and starts and stalls and eventually about a year later I was down to near my weight as a high school athlete in the 180-185 lb. range. Transitioned (?) to P3 which was really just more of mental declaration in '06 and have been living the beach as a lifestyle ever since! I seem to vary depending on time of year and whether I am visiting my parents or not between the upper 170s and low 180s. If I start to push 185 again, I know I've been far too lax for too long and it's just time to tighten things back up again, although for me that's a tighter P2 as I simply can't imagine myself ever going back to P1. (One of my strong motivations for not straying too far for too long!)
????: South Beach Diet Forums http://www.southbeachdietbulletinboard.com/introduction-forum-just-say-hello/1926-new-here-but-not-sbd.html
Then although I had been doing an interval oriented fitness class for about 6-9 months, I found an athletic form of yoga (heated power/vinyasa flow and a bikram style hot yoga) that really "spoke" to me from multiple perspectives in the spring of '05. I've had a more or less regular practice for over 3 years now and am physically able to do things now that I couldn't even think about when I was a teenager and many of which I simply laughed at when they were first presented to me. But much like SB or learning to live a healthier lifestyle, the only thing really ever required is simply to try and keep trying. As they say, that's why it's called a yoga practice and not a yoga perfect! Between the healthy foods and my on and off the mat yoga practice I really have my life back and that's really the best feeling in the world! My personal best non-scale victory came a few years ago when I returned to being able to ski double black diamond ski runs off some of my favorite ski areas here in colorado. I literally cried with joy on the chairlift on the way back up because I was back doing what I loved and enjoying one of my greatest passions. A few years previously I was seriously considering giving up skiing altogether because it had ceased to be any fun and I was incapable of skiing the "fun stuff" anymore. Now I'm back in the steeps and deep when I can and it's just a blast!
It's all just a journey. Make the best of it and enjoy it! Keep moving forward! And always practice self-compassion! (one of my big themes!)
Hope to become a regular here and more than willing to entertain questions about my own journey, the SB lifestyle or yoga and meditiation. (I just started a meditation practice this week, so not sure I can add much but if anyone else practices, would like to share notes and learn as well!) Guess that's it for now. Sorry, I know I can be a bit wordy at times!
Namaste all!!
07-03-2008
New Here but not to SBD! 
TOTW/F/M Award(s): 2
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