10 laps with - Sally Seachange

[Richt]

Featuring sallyseachange, member since January 15, 2005, Supporting Member and Moderator

pace lap
What are your hobbies and/or passions in life?

I’d say that cooking is a hobby (and a nice duty), whereas music is a passion. I learned proper Italian cooking from my mother-in-law along with an appreciation for good quality foodstuffs. Here in Italy we’re really lucky that way. Cooking relaxes me and is an enormous pleasure.
As for music, I’m so pleased to have been able to pass on this passion to my sons. One is on the verge of graduating from music school. His instrument is the violin. The other plays bass guitar and has dabbled with cello and drums too. Music is just one of the things that ties us in a special way.

lap 2
Which describes you best: I don't weigh, ever! ~ I weigh between 2 or 3 times a week ~ I am a full blown scaleaholic.

Ok… confession time. I weigh religiously every day, but I don’t think I’m a scaleaholic.
I say that because I don’t go by my daily weight. It fluctuates far too much. Rather, I plug it into Fitday (I have the pay version) and by doing so I obtain a nice little graph showing my long term weight trend. If the line stays more or less horizontal, I’m happy; If it goes up over a few weeks, I become more stringent with carbs again; and of course, if it goes down too far, I relax my eating a bit. It’s a big help to maintaining and allows me to nip “situations” in the bud.
Before Fitday, I used to write my daily weight in my diary, then calculate the average weight at the end of each week and go by that figure ONLY… getting a similar trend.
Although it might sound hypocritical, on the board I advise people to stay away from the scale; but this is because, unless you look at the “trend” as I do, and don’t get hung up over the daily figures, I really believe it’s far better to weigh only now and again.

lap 3
What is your favorite legal food?

Butter…
…and cream, ribs, salad, tuna, chicken wings, spinach, cabbage, raspberries, pistachios…. I could go on forever. Impossible choose just one!


lap 4
What is your favorite ADBB forum?

I honestly don’t have a fav… I enjoy the whole board.

lap 5
Have you met any of your ADBB buddies in person?

No…but it would be nice.


lap 6
Looking back at the beginning of your journey, did you set reasonable goals when you started your weight loss journey?

At the time I set them, I didn’t think they were reasonable. I wanted to reach the weight I was before my first pregnancy, but I never thought I’d manage it in a million years. When, to my delight, I reached to that goal easily, I dropped it lower. I can’t think of many things that have given me the intense satisfaction and pleasure that going slightly below my second goal have. Thank you Dr Atkins and ADBB!


lap 7
What does 'paying if forward' mean to you?

Exactly what the words imply. I hope to be able to repay, in some small way, the wonderful support I’ve found (and still find) here on ADBB. Being invited to become a moderator gave me a better chance to be able to do that. If I can give back even just a tenth of the awesome inspiration I received on this board, then I’ll be happy.


lap 8
Where do you see yourself in 1 year, as it concerns your woe, exercise and health?

Still maintaining… still exercising… and hopefully still in good health. It goes without saying: Still doing Atkins!

lap 9
How do you challenge yourself when it comes to exercise?

Hmmm… well, I can’t say I really challenge myself per sè… but, when I start something (even something little, like my daily dog walk) I strive to do it as well as I possibly can… and if I manage to do “that little bit extra”, I get a real buzz.
Rather than challenging myself, I find it’s others who challenge me, by their example. Doing things “together” makes me strive harder. Example: The flights challenge… I started doing only a few flights, as they occurred during my day… then, seeing others speeding ahead up the virtual buildings and mountains, I started avoiding the lift (elevator). After that I just kept on increasing gradually. Now… I’ve bought an aerobic step and manage to average 50 flights a day. Thank you Jimmie for such a fun challenge and thank you fellow climbers all!!!

final lap
If you could give somebody one piece of advise about this woe/wol, what would you say?

Take it one day at a time and do each day as well as you possibly can. By taking baby steps, those days will soon mount up. Practice really does make perfect with Atkins and it definitely gets easier and easier. By taking baby steps, your diet “mindset” will gradually change and you’ll find that you not only can do this for life… but that you want to.