I'm Back!!

Before I say anything, I just need to get something off my chest--I fell off the wagon. And I fell hard! Turns out I gained back almost 10 pounds in about a month. Totally scarey!! But I am happy to report that I am back!

I realized that I needed something to work toward and once the 1st quarter of our family goal competition came to an end, I'm sorry to say that most of my goals did too. But now I have something else to work toward and look forward to. This year is my hubby's and my 10th anniversary, so we are going to take a little trip toward the end of the year to celebrate. I am hoping to get down about 20 lbs. between now and then. My husband is also going to try to lose some weight, so we are going to compete against one another.

I think my biggest obstacle is going to be finding time to devote to hard-core exercising. My 1-year-old has been on a sleeping strike for a couple of months, so I have been choosing to get extra sleep rather than get up early or stay up late to exercise. I need to figure out how to squeeze some good cardio in. One good thing about the summer is that I have been going on a lot of walks with my kids. I have my girls ride their bikes and I push the baby in the stroller and try to keep up.

I have updated my weight-loss ticker and I am happy to report that I am down 2 pounds since Monday. Here's to healthier living and looking better on the beach for my trip!

Evaluation of Goals

I was reading back on one of my first posts about how I intened to meet my weight-loss goals, and since I am in a new weight-loss phase, I decided it would be a good time to evaluate my goals and make sure I'm doing what I should to get results. Click here to see my original goals. Here are my updated goals:

Exercise: I need to exercise at least 3 times per week for at least 30 minutes on the treadmill or elliptical. On the other days (other than Sunday), I need to do something active or use the Wii Fit Plus.


Improved Eating Habits: I need to control my portion sizes, avoid snacking all day (three meals with a snack between breakfast & lunch and lunch & dinner), make good choices for snacks, avoid desserts except for very special occasions. Sundays are more "relaxed" days, but I still need to control my portions.

Water Intake: Drink at least 96 ounces of water every day. Ideally, drink 128 ounces each day.

Now that I am well into this whole weight-loss things, I have a confession to make. I think I have had an eating disorder since I graduated from high school and moved out of my parents' house. Now, before anyone gets alarmed and concerned, it wasn't a major disorder. In my opinion, everyone, at some point in their lives has some sort of eating disorder, be it big or small. Mine is that I let myself believe that I could eat whatever I wanted whenever I wanted it. Growing up, my parents were always good about not having a whole lot of junk food or sugar cereals around. My mom was good about feeding us good meals every day, and we didn't do a lot of snacking. And, I'll admit, it drove me crazy! So, when I left home, and became and "adult," I figured that I should be able to do whatever I wanted (within reason, I was raised with good morals), and eat whatever I wanted. Thirteen years and probably 70 pounds later, I figured out that my mom wasn't restricting my food intake; instead, she was trying to teach me that I needed to have self-discipline over my eating habits. I see the error of my ways now, and I am paying for it. I think I have made good progress about what food choices I am making; and honestly, I haven't had a whole lot of cravings for junk food, or other unhealthy things.
 
Now, I have a lot of friends who tell me that I should "live a little" and enjoy the sweeter things in life, and they are right to some extent. My problem is that I have been enjoying them too much and not using self-control. I know that once I have lost the weight I want to lose, that I will be able to enjoy Oreo's and cake and ice cream again. But when that time comes, I will be smarter about how much I let into my mouth and how often I choose to eat it.