Update!

Damn, I'm looking GOOD.

That is all. :)

Long way to go still, but I'm loving the journey and the joy it's brought me.

re-adjusting

I've been holding steady at my current weight for the past few weeks. I haven't gained any weight, but I'm also not losing much. Plateaus are a fact of weight loss, there will be periods where the weight won't fall off like it had done previously. I'm just disappointed that it happened only 30 pounds into my weight loss regime.

I've also noticed a few of my old habits trying to sneak back into my life, and I'm stopping them in their tracks today. For the past few days, I've been staying up later, which is a no-no, and I've been eating a bowl of cereal every night before bed, another no-no. Those habitual problems are down the drain. Eating before bed makes it harder to sleep because instead of resting, your body is digesting the food and then of course your metabolism is down while you're sleeping, so nothing is being burned off, it's just being left on your body all night.

This leads to my detrimental habits of sleeping for ten+ hours, not feeling rested, rolling out of bed and running into work, eating haphazardly. This isn't going to happen. The thirty pounds are staying off, and seventy more are going to follow.

I'm excited, looking forward to a happier and healthier me that is down the road. I look at pictures of girls and I realize that I will eventually look how I want, and I will feel confident and be able to smile and glow like they do. I'm not looking at them and wanting to have their body, oh no, I'm looking at them and I want their confidence! I want someone to be able to take a picture of me, and I can smile and not worry about looking like a walrus in the picture. I can't wait for that day to get here, and I know it's within my grasp.

There's a lot of work ahead, but I've made it this far. I'm not turning back now. This plateau is not going to trip me up. I'm running right past it and continuing up!

My plans to get over the plateau:
Work out BEFORE work and on my dinner break at work. I've been skipping my workout before work, and I think that early boost to my metabolism is very important and greatly enhanced my weight loss, so I have to get back on it.

I'm not eating before bed, and starting my day with a quick breakfast such as toast or yogurt or fruit. Eating breakfast is very important. It doesn't have to be anything heavy, just a quick bite to break the fast from sleeping. I've been skipping breakfast, so I have to start eating breakfast again.

Other than those things, I'm going to stick to the path I'm on, and just do harder workouts, since my normal workouts aren't working me as well.

Onward and upward! :D

day fifty-two: time flies when you're having fun!

I can't believe I have been going steady and strong on the road to happiness and health for 52 days now. Edging closer and closer to two months, which will bring me closer and closer to three months, four, six, a year! It's getting harder and harder to keep track of how many days this has been going on because it's become a lifestyle, it's become the way I live, and that was the goal all along.

However, I must confess... last weekend has thrown my sleeping schedule a bit off course, and I'm struggling to get back on track. I haven't been waking up with enough time to work out in the mornings, but have been maintaining my lunch break workouts in the evenings. Tomorrow is Friday and yet another weekend will then be upon me and I will stick to my sleeping, eating, and exercising schedule through the weekend.

I have plenty of projects to keep me busy over the weekend (I'm re-decorating my bathroom as a tribute to a trip to London and Liverpool, England, I took a few years back complete with a London-themed shower curtain, framed photos from my trip, and a Mind the Gap sign. It's going to be magnificent!) and I'm also planning on going clothes shopping and maybe getting my hair cut. It's starting to become bothersome, especially when I work out and my hair gets sweaty and falls in my face, so I'm planning on getting it cut over the weekend.

Through all of that, I have to fit in at least one workout a day, and stick to eating home-made, healthy meals, at a set schedule. Otherwise everything gets thrown off track and I start slipping and sliding down that scary slope toward my bad habits. Just this week I've eaten out numerous times: once at Puerto Vallerta, and twice at Subway. And I even slid through the Arby's drive thru on the way to work one day this week because I hadn't eaten before leaving, thinking I wouldn't be hungry, and I was as soon as my car hit the highway. So I had a Grillen Chicken Salad Wheat Wrap at Arby's, and was quite proud at resisting the urge to get curly fries and a soda with it.

But it was still a bad/lazy decision to eat fast food. I have to pull the reigns back on myself, plan my meals, and stick to the plan, as I have been doing, instead of wasting money eating calorie- and fat-filled food at fast food places. NO more. I'm through with fast food, I'm sticking to my guns.

This morning for breakfast I had a yogurt and then for lunch I made a salad with grilled chicken on it. It was delicious. I had ranch dressing with it, but I just put the ranch on the side and dipped the bottom of my fork into it before spearing my food with the fork. I do that so I don't use hardly any ranch dressing and I refrain from just pouring it onto my veggies and drowning them in excess fat and calories, which is all ranch dressing is (hence it's tastiness). The salad made me feel so good and I could feel my body almost heaving a sigh of relief at getting fresh and wholesome calories and nutrients instead of stuff prepared at fast food places.

Side Note: The food I chose at the fast food places was not that horrible. Veggie subs both times at Subway and the Grilled Chicken Wheat Wrap at Arby's. I had steak fajitas at Puerto Vallerta. However, for my wallet's and body's sake, fast food is back on the no-no list and I'm avoiding it at all costs.

I have some friends possibly coming over to help me paint some picture frames and hang them in my bathroom as a sort of "project party" and I'm going to make sure I have enough food around to feed them so the urge to run to a restaurant doesn't happen. If everyone gets hungry, I could throw together something quick and easy for them to munch on. That's the plan. I'm avoiding restaurants! All it takes is a little planning to stay on track, and I am the master of planning.

So there's a little update. I haven't died. I haven't given up. Me and my goals are going strong! Viva la HEALTH AND HAPPINESS.