Day One - Letting Go and Leaping Forward

My friends posted these tidbits on Facebook. I stole them...

 Are you ready to make the leap?? Are you ready to rock this challenge?? Don't forget, you don't have to buy any product; this isn't a scheme or a get skinny quick deal. You are going to feel better, and you WILL lose weight, but not 60 pounds in thirty days or some other ridiculousness. What you DO have to do is stop what you were doing and move forward.

 I was encouraging someone new to join me in this challenge yesterday and their response was, "I really can't afford another weight loss gimmick right now." I said, "Do you buy groceries?" She stammered and said, "Well, yes." I put my arm around her and said, "Just buy better ones." That's it. We aren't selling anything! We aren't encouraging you to stop enjoying the things you enjoy. I plan to have a day where I can indulge a little bit every week. I know I will fail a day here and there. I know I have spent the last few weeks since I decided to do this eating everything I knew I wasn't going to eat for the next thirty days. Guess what? I gained almost 8 pounds. Now I've got to stop eating junk and lose them again. So I'm letting go of the bad choices I made last month and pushing forward to new choices, better choices. "No more eating after 8 p.m." is going to be one of the hardest ones for me. I think to combat that, I will have a healthy snack right at 8 and then tough it out. Period. That's what this challenge takes...willpower, determination, and an understanding that I cannot do it alone.
So here I am ready to rock this challenge. I start my day with a cup of tea. I put three small teaspoons of sugar in my tea every morning. To cope with that, I switched tea (I drink a flavored tea) and used Splenda instead. Instead of ruining my tea (which I WILL start drinking again after this challenge is over or even after the first week or two once my body resets itself) I have a completely different tea that can taste anyway it tastes because it isn't something I drank every day. So I am greeting this morning with raspberry pomegranate green tea...not bad. If only I could count it as a water...