Chasing Summer

We’ve seriously been chasing summer.  My man and I just got back from a 7 night cruise in the Caribbean.  Jamaican sun, Grand Cayman snorkeling, Cozumel Mayan ruins, and a stop by a hurricane torn Bahama Island.  Have you any idea how impossible it is to be good on a cruise that long?!  I would like to say I was, but no, I wasn’t.  We had some seriously amazing fun and we ate too much tasty food so you can imagine my reluctance to get on the scale today.

3 pounds!  Surprise!  I can handle 3 pounds!

I took my break, now it’s time to do get back to it.  It’s been an adjustment to get used to placing my own napkin on my lap, and I miss the eggs benedict and chocolate croissant I had in the morning on the ship…but my regular protein shake today tasted like home…and good choices…and I’m glad to be working towards seeing the numbers drop back down and keep on’a droppin’.  Ya mon!

I won’t be writing a diet book anytime soon

I’m tired but I knew I had to write something since last week I was so  busy (for reals, no exaggeration) that I never  had any time in front of my computer and totally neglected to write a.n.y.t.h.i.n.g.

Last weekend I decided that if I’d lost significant weight this week I was  going to refer to my secret as the  Banana Bread & Boogers diet (intriguing and gross at the same time = best seller). Last Saturday morning we had some bananas that needed to be baked into bread or thrown away. Who would waste 3 perfectly good (brown) bananas?!

Not me!

When the yummy bread was warm from the oven it was all I felt like eating…probably ate half a loaf all by myself that day. The same day I came down with a cold so nasty that not only was I not interested in food, but I had no interest in much of anything that didn’t involve laying down or wiping my nose. I blew my nose so much over the course of this cold that my ribs were sore from all the extra exercise they were getting.

Alas, the Banana Bread & Boogers diet was a sad disappointment. My weight this week is in the same 3 pound range I haven’t been able to escape in months (you’ll have to take my word for it because I haven’t mastered my new phone enough to easily move photos to my computer).

With that (unsurprising) disappointment I’ve decided to try something different this week. My cousin recommended this new thing, another friend refered me to an authority I trust on the topic, and after a tiny bit of research I decided I would try it. I’ll tell you all about “it”  next Friday after we see how/if this new thing helps me.

In the meantime, I’ve got to get back on my game. My class started last week and I’ve only worked out twice since! This week I’m going to the gym twice and to Mandy’s free cross training class (we just call it “the workout”) at the church on Friday. In my Perfect Wife & Mother fantasy I will have (in my new phone) my week scheduled, budget squared, and  my healthy menu planned. Def totes.

Wish me luck.

P.S. Does anyone tweet? Thinking of opening a Twitter account so I can share/complain/inspire/fail in 140 characters of less on a regular basis. What do you think?

“Healthy” is Not a Bad Word

My mid-week decision to stop eating sugar seems to have made all the difference. I did pretty well this week! The day after my no sugar decision I came home from grocery shopping with some of my favorite healthy eats…

Being prepared with healthy foods I enjoy makes a big difference. The past few days I have also done well at not making exceptions to my no sugar rule, exceptions like “…but I’m at Disneyland” or “…it’s late and I haven’t eaten yet” or “…but I organized this ice cream social” or “…hey look, there’s a delicious cookie within reach”. The other thing that helped was my friend, Heather. She volunteered to keep me accountable and I’ve been reporting in to her (and she to me for that matter). Knowing that someone is paying attention to my sugar intakes ensures that I pay more attention to what I’m eating.

I ate better this week and did good at skipping treats, but my workouts…not so great. For several reasons I didn’t get to a spin/cycling class and I haven’t gone to Mandy’s Friday workout in too long. I went ten days between my last 2 workouts. Yesterday at Mandy’s class was so much more difficult than usual…and I think she may have been going easy on us! I was prepared to step on the scale (a day late) and be disappointed again because of my lack of exercise these past 2 weeks. Instead I was pleased….

I lost FOUR POUNDS this week!!!

The morale of my story this week is: It matters what you eat! Sometimes I think we (well, I) pretend that as long as I/we exercise then we’re doing fine. My month or so of gaining weight shows that is not the case. It’s the basic principle of calories in versus calories out. Simple as that. Miserable as that.

My semester starts on Monday and my boys go back to school, too. I’m already trying to plan out my workouts and packing lunches. Stupid planning. Losing weight is so much more work than gaining weight, but I suppose if it was easy there’d be a lot less fat people. I’m working on decreasing the number of fat people by one.

Wish me luck!

Best laid plans…

I just ate a cookie. It wasn’t even homemade.

This morning for breakfast I ate several sticky buns. Those were homemade…and delicious.

The sticky buns started me on a downward spiral. Maybe I should give myself a pass for Christmas, but I set a specific goal to weigh significantly less by the new year. In the crazy, busy prep for today I didn’t even weigh myself or blog on Friday. No wonder it is so hard to maintain, let alone lose weight during the holidays.

But I’m not waiting until New Year’s day to start again. I’m starting again right now.

This week is going to be tough. My regular workout is off for the next 2 weeks. We’re still partying with family for a few days. Kids and I are home and working on not driving each other crazy for at least another week. Luckily I’m going to stay with Rae for a couple of days. That should encourage some good habits…2 bloggers, both accountable to you lot, hanging out…we’d better control ourselves!!!

Other than hoping their is strength in numbers I need specific plans. Tomorrow my sis and I are going to go for a walk or a hike or just workout together. The rest of the week I need to get at least 20 minutes of exercise in each day to make up for everything I ate this weekend. And I really need to eat my vegetables!

I’ll report in for the last time this year on Friday. Until then…

Wish me luck!

The Trifecta!

It seems that Halloween is the beginning of the Trifecta…the perfect set of stumbling blocks to any diet.  Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas…at least in respect to the yummy food that you eat too much of way too often.

During the month of October and more and more as you get closer to Halloween, candy is everywhere!  Thanksgiving give you free license to pack your gullet full of all the tasty food that puts you into a sleepy stupor.  Christmas brings event after event where you are walloped with scrumptious food right at your fingertips…and how can you not sample some since it’s the good stuff that you probably won’t see other times of the year.

So what to do?  It’s coming… Knowing that it is coming and I cannot stop it, I am working on goals to help me through.  Goals!  I may not meet them perfectly, but it will engage my mind into a deeper battle before I succumb or succeed in avoiding the traps in my journey through the end of the year.

I mentioned last week that I am not going to have a single candy bar during this month.  My hubby laughed at me and mentioned how convenient it is that Halloween is the last day of October and November is just a day away…so I can just mack on it all then  SO  I’m extending my goal through November.  I don’t usually eat the stuff but for some reason Halloween give you free license to eat a ton, so I won’t start.  Talking to my family about my goal also helps me…told them what my goal is and now I’m accountable to them AND they know not to offer me any candy!  If they do they are busted!  I’m going to find a way to include exercise into my Harvest fun as well.  There’s a HUGE corn maze close to us that takes an hour or longer to get through.  Since you don’t stand still in a maze, it means fun exercise!  I’m there!

Turkey Trot is my help for Thanksgiving.  Moving your feet before you eat!  It seems to  keep me from stuffing my face as much – wakes up my mind and I feel invigorated.  It seems to help me remember to keep my portion size smaller and make wiser choices.  After all, I don’t want to backtrack and undo all the good achieved by getting my feet moving the days and weeks before as well.  Hey, if you live near me, you should join me.  Our team name is Cold Turkey…mostly because we don’t do much preparing for a run like that…we do it cold turkey.

What to do for Christmas?!  I’m still working out a plan.  I’m hoping that keeping my exercise routine going and the successes that come from it will help me keep my head straight when temptation comes before me.  I’m going to keep my eye open for activities that get me moving instead of the ones that have me sitting and watching.  Let me know if you hear of anything that fits.

So, I didn’t see any weight loss this week, but I did find myself fitting into a couple of things that didn’t before.  Keeping on keeping on…