Winter Blues

This winter is getting long and I am sick of shoveling snow. Not to mention bundling up in heavy coats, hats, scarves, gloves, boots, etc. I want to wear a cute outfit that people can actually see and a sexy pair of sandals. Ok so I broke down and went shopping last weekend and I really want to wear my short sleeves and strappy red sandals. It also doesn't help my exercise plan when I just want to come home and crawl into a warm bed.

I did pick up the activity a little this week. Maybe the brief thaw lit a spark in me. I worked out at work three days and four days at Curves. That may account for me being down to 169.6 today. This was a surprise as a have been up over 171 for the last couple weeks. I was starting to think I would be stuck in this area forever. This is a sign of hope.

My new hobby of soap making is becoming an obsession. I just bought a bunch more supplies, including ingredients to make transparent soap, liquid soap, and my own lotion. I also want to make my own shampoo and conditioner. I bought a five pound soap mold I can't wait to try out but I am still waiting for my lye order.

Also last weekend we all went to the auto show. It was fun and Ayden loved getting into all the cars and pretending to drive. Hey lets face it, at those prices that is all any of us could do.

Making Progress

I have been only drinking protein shakes and eating protein bars since Monday and it is working. I am down to 170.6 today. I have been taking in between 1200 to 1300 calories a day and drinking plenty of water. Also remembering to take my multi vitamin and fish oil. I got some more gummy fiber and vitamin D. I think the vitamin D is making a big difference. I think I was beginning to fall into my winter depression. I'm hoping I am back on track for weight loss now.

I did my taxes and it did not turn out as good as last year but not bad. Things are crazy at work with the new governor threatening to lay 10,000 people off. They are pushing production and questioning the training travel. I guess they are going to approve it but we can't go at the same time. It does not make any sense really but I guess that's how it goes. Brittany says she and Ayden are going to be leaving in a month to join Mark on base in Georgia so we are planning his birthday party for the end of the month before they go with a Batman theme.

The Battle

I seem to be going up instead of down at this point. I weigh 175.2 which is a set back. I decided to do a week or two of Myoplex and protein bars to reboot. Just like I was starting anew. I'm going to keep working out at work and try to get in to Curves at least 4 times a week. Also once I'm off the shakes I need to be vigilant about maintaining my food diary. And going back to weighing and measuring my food. All of it, just like from the start. I ran out of vitamin D a couple months ago and I think that is affecting me so I bought some more Tonight. I will start taking that again along with fiber, fish oil and multi vitamin. See how easy it is for important things to fall be the wayside and go back to old patterns? Oh well the first step is recognizing the problem right?

Today I made my first batch of hot process soap in the crockpot. I don't know if it came out alright. It looked pretty thick and chunky. I guess I will find out tomorrow when I unmold it. I will do a few more batches before I try to make transparent soap. I have been trying natural hair care products. So far Burts Bees, Aubrey, and Kiss My Face. Burts works well and smells great except the conditioner makes my hair come out in clumps at the root. Not good, had to stop using that before it went bald. Aubrey works well but smell not great. Have only used KMF once so far so the jury's still out. I do like their lipsticks. Well they are more like tinted chapstick.

One Year

I can't believe its been one year since I started my healthy living plan. There has been many ups and downs but I don't regret it. I weighed 247.6 when i started and 172.8 this morning. That is a total weight loss of 74.8 pounds. You can't beat that with a stick! I certainly am much better off both physically and mentally than I was last year. Now I just have to stay focused and not slowly slidding back up. Everyone gets bored of dieting and exercise. It is important to find ways to keep it fresh. I feel like I am in a dangerous place right now because I have found myself making excuses not to exercise or eat right. Losing weight is only half the battle. Keeping it off is an ongoing fight. While I am doing better than I was over the holidays, I am not doing as good as I should. I have been journaling my calories and its mostly on the high side from 1700 to 2200 a day. With exercise I may not gain but I certainly wont lose. I need to work on my attitude the most. I think I need to start taking vitamin D again because I am starting to feel a little depressed. The lack of sunlight in the winter really gets to me.

I know that I still have not reached my goal, but I need to appreciate all my hard work over the last year. That is actually quite an accomplishment. When I think about the stomach problems and all the aches and pains I used to have every day. Yeah, I'm pretty proud of myself.

Week Fifty-One

Well no change at 174.2. I was really hoping for one because I did pretty good (except one day when I ate lava cake). I exercised twice a day for 3 days. Today me and Brandon are starting P90X. I hope something starts to work.

I just got my new dishwasher delivered and we are working on hooking that up. I also have to make a batch of soap later. I just looked out the window and it looks like a big snow storm is brewing. I'm glad it's the weekend.

Week Fifty

OMG! I have ballooned like a whale. I weigh 174.2 today. I worked so hard to take the weight off. Yet in just a short time it comes back on. I guess I could wallow in self pity and commiserate over a pint of Ben and Jerry's but that's not really going to help is it? Can you believe I was actually going to stop posting my weight until I lost a few pounds? I forced myself to examine that and realized that is lying to myself. Walking down the road to self denial. And we know where that road leads...Fatsville! I started this blog to hold myself accountable so I steeled myself to post the whole ugly truth. Ok, so I need to regroup and basically replan and restart my healthy eating plan. I actually even set a new start date, 1/8/11. Exercise has also fell by the wayside so I will have to step it up. I know in the winter it is a lot more difficult to get activity in so at the office we are planning on working out to a video at lunch starting Monday. Brandon wants me to do the P90X program with him. It is a real rigorous program. I don't know if I can handle that but I will give it a shot. We are starting that next Saturday. I figure I have a good 5 months before bikini weather. Ok, ok, I'm not delusional, bathing suit weather.

Week Forty-Nine

Not good, not good at all. I weighed 170.8 yesterday morning, and that was before Christmas dinner! I have not weighed myself since and refuse to until next week. It will be one year since i started this blog in three weeks. On one hand I am really proud of myself for all the weight I have lost, but I will not reach my goal. I am definitely going to have to regroup almost as if I am starting all over again. I know everybody slips once in a while but I also know how easy it is to slip into old behavours and before you realize it you're back where you started.

On a lighter note, yesterday was Christmas and the food was fantastic. I got some great gifts. Some of the highlights were my son Brandon gave me a gift card from Barnes and Nobel and a heated neck massager and Brittany got me a certificate for a mani pedi and a wooden recipe box with my name engraved in it and personalized recipe cards. Ayden had a blast opening all his present at his moms and then here. His favorite was the motorized police car Mark bought him. Later we watched a movie and played games. A good time was had by all. Mark had to fly back to base on Christmas day so I'm sure it was bittersweet for Brittany.

I also wanted to mention that Brandon quit smoking about three weeks ago and is doing great.