Unexpected surprises

It's snowing. I love waking up to a beautiful, soft snowfall. I love it until I have to go outside, that is. I don't like the cold. Anyway, back to the positive aspect of winter... a soft, beautiful snowfall. The kind of snow that sticks to your nose and eyelashes. But that's not what I want to talk about today.

Yesterday I was so bummed out about how I have been doing, and this morning I had an unexpected surprise (along with the wonderful snow)-- I lost 4 pounds since my last weigh in! My last visit to the scale was 9 days ago. 4 pounds, 9 days? That's pretty good! 

How did that happen? Really?! Thinking back through the last 9 days, I think I know where I went right when I thought I had gone so wrong. The first 3 days of my new adventure, I did really well. I ate well and exercised.  When we started our bathroom renovation is when my plan went out the window. However, I drank more water than usual, cut out soda, didn't snack between meals because I was busy, and I did move quite a bit (though I know it wasn't enough, at least I wasn't just sittin' on my caboose being lazy).

I guess this is a good reminder not to get so down on myself. There are going to be ups and downs. Beating myself up for a "bad week" is counterproductive. Instead of feeling guilty and upset, when I have a lapse, I need to evaluate it and find out what triggered the unhealthy behavior and how I could have handled it differently.  Learn from it.

Without failure, success would mean nothing. I'm raising my coffee cup (no creamer!) in a toast to a good day full of unexpected surprises, snow and lessons learned.

I need a do-over.

It's been a few days since I've sat down to gather my thoughts, catalog my emotions and re-prioritize my life.

Since we have been doing this bathroom renovation it's been a loud, messy household with fast meals and a definite lack of sleep. It's been easier while running around town to grab something on the go, and easier to throw something in the oven instead of going to the store for fresh, healthier options that I desperately need to shop for. I haven't been too healthy and I feel it. Today I feel like crap.

On top of not feeling physically well, I am feeling guilty. I'm letting myself down. I haven't worked out at all since starting the bathroom. I justify it in my mind by telling myself I've been busy. I did some tiling, I knocked out some drywall, I've mudded and taped walls and have done a whole lot of cleaning.. yeah, my body is sore, but I know I haven't burned enough calories to make up for any crappy thing I've eaten.

I must get back in the right frame of mind. I must remember my little black dress. I must stop making excuses (ie. just because I throw spinach on a home-made pizza does not make it healthy, however delicious...). I must go to the grocery store... ha ha...

Here is some of the work we've done on the bathroom:

Our color scheme and tile! Can't wait! It's going to be so pretty!

Floor tile, without grout

My drywall mudding skills... needs a sand still!

Tub again

The tub in place and floor tile

On a brighter note, I sold one of my favorite cards (Love, Meg Cards), which reminds me that I need to build up my stock a bit. Something to look forward to! I love crafting!

8x4 card, felted and stitched bird, rub-on transfer "Congratulations"

Oh, and Bo, my little guy, now has 3 top teeth. A 4th one is on it's way! He's growing so fast. I can't believe he's 8 months old... It's gone by so quickly.

My sweet 8 month old. I love him SO much.

Busy day 3

As I have mentioned before, we're working on a bathroom renovation. We drove to Cheyenne today to find the vanity and a few other things for the reno, and so I haven't been able to exercise yet. Well, unless you count 2 hours of aggressive shopping exercise...haha! My parents, for Valentine's Day, bought us a gift card to Olive Garden, so we decided to use that today. I did pretty well, for Olive Garden that is, just eating soup and salad.

I'm making chicken with lots of garlic and onion, rice and green beans with almonds for dinner.  It should be pretty tasty.  A workout on the treadmill for me after dinner and sleep, hopefully, lots of sleep.

Happy Friday everyone. Sorry this is so short and boring, but I'm exhausted and don't have much to say.

Day 2

Alright. So, here I am. Exhausted because my 8 month old child woke up every 2 hours last night. He's getting 4 teeth in at the same time, so he's a bit fussy. I'm a bit fussy. I need a nap.

Anyway, my morning started off busy, busy, busy! I wanted to get all my household chores done before my mom came up for the day so I could relax with her and do some other things around the house sans baby. So, I rushed around the house sweeping, mopping, doing dishes, making beds, taking out the trash, etc. and downed two cups of joe with that tasty but terrible creamer. I need to quit that stuff. Pronto.

After the little one went down for a nap I realized I had not eaten breakfast, and my tummy was talkin' smack for ignoring it. I gorged myself on an apple, parmesan cheese (super tasty nuked for about 30 seconds... make your own little cracker! yum!), and peanut butter, not exactly in that order, and another cup of coffee. Needless to say, this ruined my caloric intake for the morning.

To compensate, I had a smaller lunch and will have just a delicious spinach salad for dinner. 1200 calorie rule for the day will not be broken. I am strong. I will not overeat! My brain may say I need more, but I know my stomach does not! Get in the game, brain! C'mon!

So far today I have had 4 big glasses of water and NO soda! It's ah-maz-ing! Really. I'm not even craving it, like I usually do.

My husband, Scott, and I are planning a bathroom renovation this weekend. We've bought our new whirlpool, corner tub, tile, new fixtures and hardware. However, we're missing a huge part of the bathroom: the vanity and sink! Last night we went on a little trip to our local...(okay, so really, it's 30 minutes away, in another town, in another state, but whatever) Home Depot to see what we could see. On the way there, in the silence that came after the "how was your day?" type of questions and answers were done with, I mentioned that I started a blog. I explained to him why and what it was about. Told him I was kinda excited and it was motivating. Ever the realist, he asked "So, did you workout today?" Crap. Caught me. No. I did not. I meant to, but baby Bo's nap did not last as long as I thought it would have... (usually an hour - hour and a half -- 30 MINUTES! UGH!) His reply, "Maybe, instead of blogging, you should hop on that treadmill... it's only 10 feet away from your computer..." Thanks, babe. Thanks a lot. He's got a point, though. I've been very good at talking about what I'm going to do and then never do it. However, now that he has called me out, I have to do it. Actually, we decided to get fit together. We're going to break out the EA Active for the Wii again, and give that a go after Bo goes to bed, and during the day I'm going to use one nap time to give that treadmill a workout!

So, guess what I'm going to do right after the last punctuation mark is in place? That's right, nothing. HA! Just kidding! That dusty treadmill and I have a date.

Here goes nothing...

I'm nervous. Nervous about writing this. Nervous about, good Lord, posting this. I try to be confident in myself, in how I look, in what I'm doing, but this is all new territory and I'm afraid, no, not afraid, just nervous, about how people will react to me.

I am fat. There, I said it. Now I can stop dancing around the huge, pink, cupcake-covered elephant in the room. It's been a constant throughout my life. It hasn't really held me back, though. I have a wonderful husband, a beautiful baby boy... a great life! But, I have a little dream, a day dream of sorts, that I think to myself each night, of being thin. Thin, and in a beautiful, slinky, black dress. It's my little black dress dream. I want that dream to be true. Now. Today. Haha... just kidding, but not really. I know it's going to take time, a whole lot of time.

I know how to get there, healthy eating and exercise, but I struggle with motivation.  I've tried telling myself that I'm doing it for my husband. He deserves a sexy wife, etc... but he already thinks I'm sexy.  I say I'm going to do it for my son. He deserves a mother who can keep up with him on the playground, when he gets to that stage, etc... but I can.  I say I'll do it for my health, but I'm healthy... I'm sure I could be healthier, but I'm not going to die of a heart attack or anything. If none of this can motivate me, I guess I just have to do it for myself, be selfish about this one thing. I have to do it for my little black dress.

So, here goes nothing. This is day one of my weight loss, blogging, and selfish adventure.  I'm going to keep track of what I eat throughout the day, stay as true as I can to a 1200 calorie diet, and do some sort of moderate exercise (until I get in a little better shape) each day.  I hope that by this time next year, I can be 80 pounds lighter and in a sexy, little black number.