Thursday, November 12, 2009

Days 9, 10 & 11.

It hasn't taken me long to realize that I've over extended myself.  I don't recall that I've provided you very many personal facts in this blog (and I'm too lazy to check at the moment) but here are a few if you're interested.

  • I am a full time mother to three kids and I have three step-kids.  The step-kids will be here the entire week of Thanksgiving.
  • I am a full time employee, and HR Manager. Our organization employees 1200+ employees and I'm responsible for all the HR features that support the organization and associated employees.
  • I am a wife.  My husband works.  All. The. Time. This leaves me to essentially be a single parent a lot of the time.
  • I teach a continuing education/certification class about twice a semester.
  • I'm trying to write a book on the side, which is my true passion
  • I have a ton of people scheduled to be at my house on Thanksgiving. 
So, with all that said, I hope you all will understand that though I said I'd post daily, I won't be able to keep that schedule.  I haven't posted in three days just because of the sheer volume of work I've been doing at the office.

The goal of this blog is to help get me healthy, not just to get me to weigh less (thought that is a major party of it). In being healthy, I firmly believe, and I think research backs this up, that a person must know his or her limitations and manage their time in a manner that it is productive, and not a huge stressor.  So, that is what I'm going to do.

I'll still post here, especially my weigh ins, my goals, the associated successes and/or failures, the occaisional rant, etc. But, it won't be daily. 

So...on with the regulars.  My No Dr. Pepper Goal has been met and continues to be successful this week.  I've now walked twice on the treadmill and have three more times to do so between now and Sunday to meet my goal.  My food intake has been reasonable.  I haven't really made any concerted efforts toward modifying my diet, and keep in mind that hasn't been a goal yet.  I did have some blood taken yesterday for a wellness panel.  I'll share the results next week.  It should be something else that I can measure my success against in a year when I finish this blog!

Monday, November 9, 2009

Day 8 - Weigh In

My post will be short today. The first thing that I want to share is that I weighed 196.2 this morning. That is exactly what I weighed last Monday. I’m content with that since my only change was to end my relationship with Dr. Pepper. If you read my posts last week, you knew that there were a few times I hopped on the scale last week and my weight actually went up. I received great advice last week, though, to only fret about the scale on the one day of the week I actually assigned as weigh-in day. The numbers don’t lie, that was excellent advice.


So, my goal this week is 30 minutes on the tread mill for five days. I already did one day yesterday.

My food for the weekend was pretty normal for me. Saturday was toast and oatmeal, a BLT and potato salad for lunch and ice cream for dinner. Yes, ice cream. Not very nutritious, I know. Sunday, I had shredded wheat cereal for breakfast, cheese and a tortilla for lunch, a small dish of ice cream for snack and a new dish I tried for dinner that was essentially chicken, carrots, and onions on egg noodles. I wake up later on the weekends, so I don’t usually snack. During the week, though, I’m up early and to bed late and snacks are essential. I have a tendency to snack all day at my desk, especially if I am bored or stressed. That habit doesn't work so hot with weight loss efforts. So, I’m going to try to go ahead and start getting my eating plan a little more structured. It is one of my goals later down the line anyway, might as well try for a head start. No pressure, though.

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Day 7 - And I'm Back

Today is Sunday.  The weekend really wasn't so bad.  For the most part I stuck to my no Dr. Pepper goal for the past week.  I say for the most part because Thursday, Friday and Saturday I struggled with headaches, not migraines, just good old fashioned throbbing headaches.  I thought it might've been caffeine withdrawal, but I really thing that should've kicked in on Wednesday, and not lasted for three days.  In any event, I did break down and have part of a 20 ounc Dr. Pepper.  I've already forgiven myself. 

However, I'm cutting back on Dr. Pepper because of the sugar, mostly.  I'm not too bothered by the caffeine, though I do recognize that in the long run, I'd be healthier without it.  But the good folks at Crystal Light have the answer to my prayers.  They have additives for your water that has caffeine.  I believe they have three different ones with graduated levels of caffeine.  So maybe it is not the best answer, but I believe I'll try them out to wean myself off the caffeine while still cutting out the sugar and other junk in Dr. Pepper.

So, my goal for this week is to walk thirty minutes on the treadmill at least 5 of the 7 days.  Wish me luck,

I'll be back to posting my food consumption tomorrow!