Day two of withdrawel was a TOUGH one. I had some major school board business and stress going on yesterday and I just need to tell you that a Diet Coke would have been heavenly. I mean, really, it was very stressful and all I wanted was a little piece of normalcy in my day. But deep down, I knew that I could not give in. It was a little wake up call that indeed I was an addict if I couldn't "make it" through the day without one.

So you know what....I did not buy one. I did not drink one. And by the time I got home, while exhausted and a smidge overwhelmed, I was triumphant over my friend Diet Coke.

And today, I'm down 4.5 pounds in two days! With only a few weeks until Aruba....WOOT!

One of the things that I love about Take Shape for Life is that it doesn't just focus on what you eat. Your overall health and wellness is at the center of the program.

For the past week and a half, Ben and I have been up nearly every night with a sick baby or two. On some nights, we might have had a combined total of 6 hours and by yesterday we were both so run down that we literally fell in to bed and are now getting sick ourselves. It also made an impact on the scale -- no weight loss for either one of us this week.

In the book, "Dr. A's Habits of Health", he states "sleep is your body's way of restoring organ function, stabilizing chemical imbalance, refreshing areas of the brain that control mood and behavior, and improving performance." Optimal health requires that we not only change our eating habits, but our sleeping ones as well. It is necessary for us to get adequate sleep if we want to lose weight and be healthier.

Dr. A's book that I mentioned above has some GREAT tips on how to reset our habits so that we can get a good night of rest. Here are some of his "steps to healthy sleep".

1. Find your Chronotype -- Are you a night owl or early bird? You need to sleep at the right time of day to ensure that your body is getting the adequate melatonin levels necessary to reach optimal health.
2. Set a Bedtime...and stick with it!
3. Set a Routine -- Just like we do with our babies when they are little...bath, jammies, book, prayers....we should also develop our own routine that helps our brain program itself to prepare for the full night of rest.
4. Create an Environment for Sleep -- Make sure your bedroom is clean, comfortable, at the right temperature, and that your bed is conducive to sleep.

So here is to a new week and a whole lot more sleep...that's what I'm praying for anyway. And tomorrow, I start fresh on the Medifast plan. With just 5 weeks to Aruba, I would like to lose 30 pounds before I go.

Happy sleeping...~ B

I used to lay in bed at night and worry about my family's health, particularly about our weight. Despite trying to eat healthier, our waistlines had continued to expand through the years and we were finding ourselves on a one-way trip to poor health and ultimately, death. We weren't living, we were just existing. The motions of every day life were slowly killing us and something needed to change. And, it needed to change NOW!

We knew three things about getting our health back.

1. Our plan could not be pill-based, surgery based, or anything short of a lifestyle change. We knew we had to re-program our minds about food and wellness. 85% of people who lose weight without changing their lifestyles, will gain all of their weight back (and then some potentially) within 2 years.
2. We knew that we needed help and a support system that would keep us motivated when that cheeseburger was calling our name.
3. We wanted a nutritionally sound, scientific based program and not some fly-by-night infomercial that promised big results but only drained our pocket books instead of our fat supply.

A friend of ours, Dr. Eddie Arnold, saw our spiraling wellness and reached out, introducing us to the Take Shape for Life program. Seven weeks in to the program, we have lost a combined total of 80 pounds and that number is rising every day. In less than 5 months (projecting, of course), we will have reached our weight loss goals and learned how to LIVE again. This blog is dedicated to our journey towards optimal health and to the journey's of our friends and family who are also taking control of their waistlines and LOSING IT TOO!