Remember to Put Your Oxgen Mask on First

Things are still going well. I've made it 4 weeks on the Atkins Plan. Is it just 4 Weeks, it seems much longer. It hasn't been too hard. I haven't weighed myself for the grand total, but by the third week I'd lost 10 pounds! Tomorrow I am doing my final weigh-in for the diet.

The main thing I've been trying to deal with is stress. Stress leads to a panicky feeling (like my insides are screaming--that's all--nothing to worry about), and I don't know how to handle it without food. Like yesterday, I come home and my lovely children all tell me their needs within about 10 minutes. I hear in rapid succession--"I want to go to friends, Do I have to clean my room before I go anywhere, I need to buy my coat today, I need to get my prescriptions filled, I'm going up to school early so I need everything done by Friday, the windshield on my car is cracked, I need $200 extra for books, My glasses are broken and I can't see." Silly and unimportant stuff like that. Within five minutes I was craving a chocolate shake with brownie bits from Nielsens Frozen Custard so much I couldn't see either.

I looked my children lovingly in the eye and said, "I am going to take a nap now." How is that for progress? I substituted sleep and denial for food. After a half an hour or so of denial I was able to go back downstairs and begin scheduling for their needs too. I looked at it as putting on my oxygen mask first so I was alive and available to put on the oxygen masks of my children.