Pleasant surprise

So it is that time of the month. I am feeling bloated and constantly craving something sweet. Unfortunately I have made the discovery that at this time of the month I have no self control.
Yesterday someone brought in doughnuts, someone else brought in a cake, and someone else brought in cup cakes. The healthy thing would have been to say no to all of these things, or maybe pick one. However I wound up eating all of them. (one doughnut, one slice of cake and a mini cup cake spread out throughout the work day) 

Yeah really need to work on self control.

 So I wasnt really sure what to expect today when I weighed myself. I got a very pleasant surprise though. I weighed 235.4 pounds. That is a 1.2 pound loss. I will take it :)

If I can just work on my cravings now. I need to find some better alternatives.

Oh no weigh in day

Ok so yesterday was my weigh in day.
I was not really looking forward to it. Mainly because I felt like I hadn't lost any weight. In fact I had been feeling quite bloated. My guess was that there would be no progress at all, or maybe just a tiny bit.
For the most part I have been doing good. Very few indulgences or excessive eating. Truth be told I could have been a bit better with my exercising.  Regardless of what I had done right and wrong it was time to step on the scale. After all we need accountability.
So I stepped on the scale hoping the worse I would see was the same weight, praying I would see at least a little loss. When I looked I couldn't believe my eyes.
I weighed 236.6. That means I lost 2.2 pounds this week. Yay me :)

Looking around

So I am trying to live a better life.
Trying to be healthier, and happier. As stated before, I believe there is more to our health then just our physical being. Keeping that in mind I had a realization.
My home is very cluttered. Now I have never been a clean freak, however I do have to have organisation. While I was going through my health issues my organisation has gone out the window. Espesally the last 6 months or so. My husband and my children did most of the chores while I simply didn't have the energy or was in to much pain. However they do not share my sense of organization. They live by the 'oh here is a spot, so let's put it there method'. This drives me nuts but I let it go.
I realize these kind of things don't matter in the big scheme of things, but for now the disorder is depressing to me.
So I am presented with two choices. Learn to live with it or straighten it up.
My choice is to straighten it up because, I know this will make me the happiest, and I will get a sense of accomplishment from doing it :)

Baby steps

So I weighed myself yesterday. I weighed 238.8 Almost a pound in a week.
I will be honest I was hoping for more, but as long as there is a loss I will not complain.
I had a friend stay the night at my house. Just a fun girls night. However we did indulge in some not so good treats. I had ice cream, some candy and some pop corn.
At first I felt really bad about it. Then I got to thinking. If I really am going to make this a life change then I can't beat myself up over a one time kind of a deal.
I don't eat this stuff all the time anymore. However I do enjoy eating it ocationaly. So moderation is the key at these points. I didn't eat as much ice cream as I normally would have, or candy for that matter. I did however eat a lot of pop corn. We were watching a movie and I got swept away I guess.
When I considered I ate less then I normally would AND I no longer do this often at all, I would say it is ok.
Baby steps is the only way I am going to get there.

Here is the plan

This is not the first time I have decided to lose weight or come to the conclusion that I need to get healthier.
Usually I do good for a few weeks or even months. I usually drop about 15- 20 pounds start to Plato and then slowly start to go back to my regular habits.
This time has to be different. As I said in the previous post, I do not want to experience the extreme pain I did with my hernia surgery again. Also I am approaching 40. If I do not make a change now, then when. Last but definitely not least I have two children who need to see that you have to love yourself enough to take care of yourself. So this time has to be different.
To insure this time truly would be different, I made my approach different.
Instead of going it alone I hired a personal trainer. I am very lucky to have a friend who is a personal trainer, and she is charging me next to nothing for our sessions. Otherwise this would not have been an option.
While I was still recovering from surgery she came to the house to discuss our plan. She said to make small changes a little at a time. After all we want it to stick and not become overwhelming so I quit before really getting started. She suggested I keep a food journal so I can really see what my habits were. She spoke to everyone. She reminded my husband and my kids how important our health is and that in order to be a true change we would ALL have to make healthier choices.
She then told us all to think of an activity we liked to do that would get us moving. If we don't really enjoy it we will have to force ourselves to do it and that was kind of an unnecessary hurdle at this time.
We agreed that once I got the ok from my Dr I would set up a schedule with her to work out a half hour twice a week. Keeping in mind right now I am still easing my body into moving around.
She started me out very gentle last week. More or less seeing what I could handle. She also weighed me and measured me. There has to be acountababilaty after all :)
When not with my trainer, I for my part started to go for an evening walk after dinner. I actually started that before I started to meet with my trainer. I have added using a stairmaster for just a few minutes each day. ( My son happens to have one) In the spirit of making permanent changes I am trying not to add new things until something has become a habit. For example after clearing the table after dinner. We all automatically get ready for our walk. So I added the stair master. However for now I won't add anything new because I still have to remind myself to do it.
When it comes to eating I noticed I never ate breakfast, but I ate a lot once I got home from work. A lot of snaking. Also I didn't eat a lot of protein or fruits and vegetables. So I started by trying to add fruit to every meal (except dinner where I try to make sure I eat a salad). Then I started to make sure I was eating breakfast. The fruit with every meal, no problem. Eating breakfast.....little bit of a problem. It hasn't become a habit yet. It will, but we just aren't there yet.
So basically my plan is to slowly increase my activity leavel, keep a food journal to keep track of my eating habits and make adjustments where needed. Oh and to keep this blog up. Even if none reads it, it is still a way to have accountability.
Simple enough of a plan isn't it? Wish me luck :)

Time for a change

It is time for a change.
On the surface I am pretty happy with my life. My husband is wonderful, my kids are great, and I actually like my job.
However under the surface I am not all that happy.
Over the past few years I have had seemingly one health issue after the other. I had gallstones which lead to having my gallbladder removed after a year. According to the Dr it was one of the worst gallbladders he had seen in someone as young as me. Then I started to have joint pain. Then I had plantar fasciitis in both feet. Talk about pain. After that the joint pain came back. Then I started to have stomach pains that kept getting increasingly worse. After waiting far to long I finally went to the Dr and it turned out I had a hernia (most likely a result from the gallbladder surgery) that was 7.6cm. Turns out that is pretty big and I had to have surgery again.
These things caused me to not enjoy life. I never did anything but go to work then come home and rest. I simply didn't have the energy. My children would ask to do stuff and I would say no, or if I did say yes I would be in a foul mood. Never underestimate what underlying pain will do to your mood. I was not happy.
It was time to face facts. Either I was going to spend the rest of my life miserable or I needed to make a change.
It does not take a rocket scientist to figure out what was causing my problems. If anyone is reading this you may have already guessed I have a weight issue. I am not just over weight I am obese. And it had actually gotten worse over the past few years. Since I was always miserable I was constantly comfort eating. Causing more problems of course.
My hernia surgery was the final straw. I knew it would be painful, but oh man I had no idea how painful. It is saying something when you have spent the last three years constantly dealing with pain and suddenly you are in so much pain you can't handle it.
Given my weight the likelihood of my hernia returning is very high. Let me just say, I am not going through that sh** again.
So I have decided to change my life. Not just to lose weight, but to be healthier. Personally I believe ones health is a combination of physical, mental, emotional and spiritual well being.
So this blog is a way for me to track my road to a healthier happier me.
Since there should be some accountability I will keep track of my weight loss on this blog (gasp).
I am 5'2 and weigh 239.6 pounds. This is actually a 4 pound drop since I started two weeks ago. So I am on my way. :)