Sleigh Bells Ring......Are You Listening.....

The holidays are coming....yes they are and it really IS the most wonderful time of the year, but the hardest time of the year to stay on board with a sensible eating plan.  After all, if you indulge in too much apple pie you can simply choose to wear the nice and cozy chunky sweater that hides it!

But....I will try and stick with the plan.  The good news is, my husband has decided that he too would like to shave off a few El Bees so....it will be much easier to be good when HE is watching and I don't cook a separate skimpy meal for myself while going all out for the other family members.  So I went to the market today and LOADED up and fresh fruits and veggies, and skipped over all but the leanest cuts of poultry and seafood.  So....though I imagine we will both gladly accept the free pass for over indulgence on Thursday, we will hop right back on the wagon on Friday.

I was really busy this week, and barely had time to think about food but I did do my best to remain sensible.  I must shamefully admit that I gave into the craving twice, and indulged in a Cherry Coke.  Sugar, caffeine and all.  I felt a little badly about it, but it was yummmmmmmmEEEEE!  Nobody's perfect.  Especially not me! :)  Happy Thanksgiving week everyone, I hope you enjoy a wonderful holiday surrounded with the people you love.

XO

Baby steps....moving right along!

So . . . I am now a week into my effort at Operation Slimdown.  And, I guess I am at a bit of a disadvantage, because I have not yet mustered up the courage to step on the scale to see what I do in fact weigh, and how far I do in fact, have to go. 

I have accomplished some mini goals though....I have dropped soda!  Boy, I sure do miss the little kick that the caffeine and sugar gave me, but I am dealing.  I have been drinking tea with a pack of splenda to help with the caffeine withdrawl, and also plenty of lemon seltzer because I really miss the fizz!!! 

I am looking forward to some time on the eliptical tonight after the kiddos are in bed....I had hoped to go for a long walk around the river, but the cold air kept me indoors. 

And...that's about it for today!!! 
Until next time......

On Your Mark...Get Set...Sit!

On your MARK.....get SET......SIT?!?!?!? 

Wait, did I just write "sit"?  Yup.  Kind of anticlimactic, right?

But, it kind of sums up this week for me.  And, along with my promise to get in shape, I promised you the truth, and I promised that I would tell you how I am doing on the plan.  Well, I said I would do a minimum of 30 minutes of pure excercise a day.  And, well, I failed.  NOT every day, but some days.

I do have some excuses, but I wont bore you with them, or dwell on them, because I wont take them.  Not if I want to fit into that dress in February.  And now, that the weather is quickly becoming crisp, and you can smell wood burning through people chimneys, and holiday music is piping down Main Street USA, it suddenly seems a lot closer. ALOTCLOSER!

On the bright side, I HAVE been watching what I've been eating, and I have nearly kicked the soda habit!! YeeHaw!  THAT right there should magically melt a few pounds away!!  (A girl can hope, right?)  I have upped my tea intake (but I am SURE it boasts far fewer calories than good 'ol CocaCola) to help keep the edge off of a caffeine withdrawl and I am EXHAUSTED at bed time, but better that than continue to sport a Pop Belly, right? 

And there you have it, a week down......and some time to go.  I need to put on my my my my my my boogie shoes and get movin!  I'll check in soon and let you know how it is going. 

Until then....

New Cars Are Nice And All.....But.......

Ok, so my husband got a new car today.  It's all shiny, and new, and pretty, and smells good inside.  We needed this new car, our old one served us well.  We had it for 10 years and clocked over 160,000 miles on it.  But the thing is, I kind of resent that new car a little bit.  Ok, truth be told, I kind of resent that new car a lot.  Now don't get me wrong, I'd much rather be the passenger in his shiny new car which has each of its hubcaps (something that cannot be said about the former) then in the clunker, but each time I look at it I will with a small pang of regret remember that this car is one of the reasons we decided not to take our trip to Disney this year.  I know, I must be crazy, right? (well, actually, I am not crazy, just a little neurotic.....NDM#147 when you get right down to it...but there are at least 146 before me, and hundreds after.  Each of them who share this neurosis will totally understand my gripe with the new car) And, it won't be long before there is another reminder in my driveway of  "The Year of A Zeroion Trips."  That's right folks, I need a new one too, another roadblock in my quest to return home to see the fantasmically shiny Walt Disney World gates.   I will learn to love this car, surely I will, but for now, I choose to sulk for just a little bit.

BUT....in other news...I am doing well on "The Plan"!  Ok, I may have slid a little today indulging in what is sure to NOT be a low fat lunch of Olive Garden Soup and Salad, but I have indeed been doing well in monitoring what I eat and working it off by doing at least 30 minutes of excercise each day.  Things are looking up! :)

So....What's The Plan Anyway?

Ok.....so in my first attempt at blogging I admitted that I've allowed myself to grow too big for my britches.  I promised that I would keep you up to date on my progress, but may have left you wondering, well exactly what is the plan?  How is she going to do it?  Well, truth is I don't have a hard and fast plan, but I do have hard and fast goals.

• Wear my wedding bands again (that's right!  Can't squeeze them over the sausage fingers!)
• Chase the kiddos around the park with the same energy and enthusiasm that I used to
• Get back into my clothes!! 
• I have a dress I hope to wear for my birthday.....3.5 months to go!! 

I'm thinking the biggest question you may be thinking of is so what's the bottom line?  What's the damage?  How much does she weigh?  Truth is, I don't really know.  I could guess, and would probably be fairly close, but exactly to the ounce, I truly don't know.  Worse truth, I don't want to.  See, the thing is the LAST time I dared to stand on the scale, I topped out at 2 pounds OVER what I weighed the last time I checked into a hospital as a patient.  Which, if you're wondering, was the last time I gave birth!  Yup.  I weighed MORE than I did at 9 months pregnant, with 9 pounds of baby, and a heap of pounds of all that stuff that comes along with it.  Now, I will step on that scale again someday, but not until I know I wont fall in a pile on the ground and create a puddle of tears.

So, for the plan, I have developed one habit that I KNOW I need to eliminate.  After my youngest child was born, I developed a soda habit, the sugar and caffenine was a jolt I needed to help boost my energy.  Well, I usually drink 2 sodas a day, and those are not diet drinks, just totally empty calories going right to the pop belly.  That will stop. 

When I am making my kids lunches, I snack as I pack.  Pack some chips, taste a few, make a PB & J sandwich, lick the PB off the knife before putting it in the sink....I am sure you know what I am talking about.  I eat sometimes without really even realizing that I am doing it!  That will stop.

♪ ♫ ♪ I like to MOVE IT MOVE IT!  That's right!  I need to bust a move baby!  I used to be very active, but now, I am pretty much a slug.  So...back to the Gym, back to Wii Fit, a walk around the river, whatever I need to do, I will do a minimum of 30 minutes of pure excercise a day.  

And for now....that will do.   Tomorrow is my official start day, I figure that on halloween day, I want to allow myself the luxury of one last 100,000 bar before I buckle down and stick to the program!!!

Hello World, Please Hold Me Accountable!

I have avoided looking in the mirror, and having my photo taken for some time.  And right here, right now, I am about to share the good, the bad and the downright ugly.  Yup.  Time for some painfully bare truth.

You see, I have a birthday coming up in a few months.  One of THOSE birthdays.  You know the ones, they start with a number and end in a Zero.  A big fat 0.  And that my friends, is sord of why I decided to start a blog.  You see, I am not a writer.  But I am something, rather I have become something.  I have become fat.  Yup.  Fat.  And, I really want to do something about it.  I want to eat better, move more, and shrink my ever expanding waistline before I hit that big birthday in February.  I am asking YOU dear reader to hold me accountable for it.  You see, it's sord of a psychological thing, I do not like to disappoint anyone, and surely I would disappoint you if I said I would do something and then failed to do it!

So....I tell you this, I will get in shape, and I will keep track of my progress (and sure to come setbacks) along with other random things that might pop into my mind on any given day so that YOU can hold me accountable for it!

Avoiding the mirrors and photos for a while has helped me hide from my softening, but when my brother was married in September I could not hide from the cameras, and I was not happy with what I saw. 

You see.....when I was about to turn 20, I looked like this:

 When I had just turned 30, I looked like this:

And, while in my mind I still look the photos above, in reality, as was proven to me from these photos taken at my brothers wedding, I actually look like this:

So there you have it.....including below the cleavage that might be confused with a cleft chin.  YIKES?  In this photo, you can actually sord of see a glimmer of the slimmer gal I used to be, but that is only because I am cleverly hiding the multiple chins I have accrued by sticking my chin out and looking up at the photographer.  Lovely.     

So, I will be working on this.  I have three and a half months ahead of me before my 40th birthday. 

Um.....wait a minute, did I really just admit that not only am I FAT but nearly 40 in my first ever blog post!?  YIKES!

Ok...so there you have it.   Please check in with me every once and a while to check my progress, and give me a kick in the butt if I am not sticking to the plan!!  In return, I will tell it like it is.....you will get the full story!!

So...until next time....