djmilestones: Thankful

Bring up the word THANKSGIVING and for most people the first thing that pops into their minds would be the Thanksgiving feast. Whether your family goes traditional turkey and/or ham or something a little unique. It is about the food and the family.

These are very appropriate thoughts and most definitely this is what is swirling around in my head, also. We love hosting our children, all who are able to come. The more, the merrier, however...there have been times when on a holiday, such as Thanksgiving or Christmas that it has been just the two of us. This is the time that we can honestly say it gives us time to reflect on each other. Not a time to be sad. Our children have their lives and when they are able to share with us, we are so very grateful.

I have actually heard others say how sad and disappointed and sometimes downright upset that their children are not coming to them for the holiday. Preaching time coming - pick yourselves up and move on so that your children can move on. Remember that if your child has a significant other, they have another side of "the family" to see, depending on where everyone lives. It is not always an easy task so my belief is to let them see what works out for them and go with the flow.

If you see that big feast at the top of this blog, and if you are like so many people who are trying to lose weight, it seems almost impossible. Trust me, it is possible.

For my husband and me, we are trying to go the low-carb way of dieting. Clothes are getting larger and inches and pounds are going away in a timely manner. It was a mindset for me to get to this point. Me? The one who loves bread, pasta and potatoes? Do without? Say it isn't so! The mindset was seeing the results on other people that I knew personally and thinking that this just might work.

Thinking of food in a whole new way helps. We love to cook so this is helping us become creative in our cooking. It is not so much what we can't have, as look at all the things we can have. There are times that we must be selective in what we decide to eat. For example, we visited my brother and sister-in-law and did not mention that we were on this low carb program. We brought some foods with us that travel well and we figured we would just go with whatever we can without being guests that have special needs that are not life threatening.

For me, I had been on a plateau, which happens ever so often. While eating on this 3 day trip, some things that took me over my 20-30 net carb day, I thought that I would really have to get back to my program and stick closer to 20 than 30 to regain the momentum. To my surprise, by going off some (not crazy or wild) I actually dropped 2 pounds. A doctor once told me that sometimes we have to trick our bodies. It is as if our body decides that if this is what you are going to give me, then this is what I will live on and maintain.

My discovery is that every once in a while you must have a day thrown in where you are a little higher in carbs, as long as you can get back with the program and be happy. It is not a treat, it is not a reward, it is not comfort. It is called LIFE. There are times that by having a healthy celebration, I feel that it is a motivation for me to get back to my: