Little Accomplishments

The good news is that my breakfast, lunch, and snack were all good and healthy. Grapefruit, tomatoes, salad with shrimp, cottage cheese, wasa crackers. Yum! I've had a raging headache going on today, but I don't think it has anything to do with the food I ate. 

I also took Lola for a 40 minute walk...very nice day and much needed stress-relief. 

Evening is upon me. Which is generally the toughest part of the day for me as far as eating is concerned. I just want to sit down with a big meal and a cocktail or glass or wine. 

Think I'll make a Greek salad (no feta) for dinner. And maybe spanikopita. Although Joie has her Greek leftovers, so maybe just the salad and she can eat the  leftovers. Diet pepsi and bacardi for a cocktail. 

Gonna run to the Mall of America tonite around 6pm to exchange those dumb, damn killer shoes and buy a different pair. Gotta be home by 8pm for Dancing with the Stars...pathetic, but a great guilty pleasure! 

Weight No Wait Weight

I do not want to waste one more minute of my life feeling bad about the way I look. 

In the spirit of positive thinking, I'm going to re-arrange the above... I feel GREAT about the way I look!

Or, at least, I'd like to. Which is why I'm starting this blog. I am not writing this to share, but more for myself. I feel like I've tried to lose weight multiple other times, but have not been successful. 

I'm not terrifically overweight, but I am certainly carrying more pounds than I should. So as of today, I am 5'2" and about 130 pounds...which puts my BMI at 23.8...normal weight is 18.5-to-24.9. Again, not really overweight, but too much mass for me. 

An 18.5 BMI would be 101 pounds...which is not where I want to be. I want to be at 110 pounds which is 20.1 BMI. 

For most of my grown-up years, I've weighed about 120 pounds...not ideal, but ok. I'd love to get back to that on my way to 110!

I gained these 10 pounds in the Fall of 2007...I think it started with our wedding trip to Italy and then just continued from there. One of my challenge areas is that I love to cook and I love to feed other people. And then, of course, I eat. 

I want and need to lose these 20 pounds to: 

- feel great about the way I look

- be healthy (it's not great for an apple-shaped person like me to carry extra weight)

If I can lose 1-2 pounds per week, this will take between 10 and 20 weeks...that's July 28 - October 6. Sounds like a long ways off, but it's really not. The time is going to pass whether I do this or not. So why NOT do it?! 

That's it. Simple, right? Right. 

So here's my plan...nothing radical. Just good old fashioned eating less calories through whole foods (especially fruits and vegetables). I know I need to exercise as part of this...and I will. At the same time, my weight is nearly entirely dependent up on what I am eating, not how much I am exercising. When I was running and spinning 5 days a week, I didn't lose anything. Weight lifting, on the other hand, certainly does make a difference, so I need to figure out how I can work that into my routine. 

Drinking is another calorie adder for me. If I have 1-2 drinks every evening, that adds up to a whole meal! So I'm going to need to not add a drink with my meal or substitute a meal for this. Another tactic is to be mindful of what I'm drinking...high calorie martinis and juice-based drinks need to be cut down. I'm going to try diet Pepsi and Bacardi - no carbs, 65 calories in 1 oz of the run. 

THIS WEEK'S EXERCISE PLAN:

- 45 minute walk with Lola 4 times

THIS WEEK'S EATING PLAN:

- Fresh fruits & vegetables

- No (or little) cheese 

- Cut back on alcohol

Something else that I'd like to work on this week is less TV/computer and more reading! I love reading and I need to get into a new book. I don't like TV and surfing on my computer so much, but I tend to get sucked into it for something mindless to do. Yuk. 

So...here we go...making it happen!