Warning: More Weight Loss stuff ahead

If you're sick of reading about my weight loss journey, you can skip this one.

Yesterday, I lost another 1.6 lbs. I'm a little under four pounds away from losing both another 5 lbs and also hitting my 10% goal! I'm so excited, primarily because it feels really good to be losing, and also because I'm proud of myself for getting back on track.

I got off for so long that I honestly didn't know how I was going to get back to it. I prayed, I cried, I talked about it ad nauseum with people trying to figure how I would get my motivation back. Nothing worked. (well, prayer always works but it isn't on our time, haha). Until I gained a substantial amount of weight for one week and recommitted! It's been amazing to see that scale moving EVERY week. For a while I was doing one week down, one week up. It made for slow weight loss and a lot of discouragement. Then I quit tracking, quit watching what I ate, and my ups were equal or greater than my downs.

I thought to myself, ok, this is it. Keep going, and get back on track, because going to some meetings isn't going to peel the weight off, and it's becoming a waste of money, or get back on program and REALLY do it. Obviously, I chose to get back on program and REALLY do it.

And I am absolutely thrilled with the results. I am feeling so good and so proud of myself!

Wooooo!

Well, I'm down 15 pounds as of this morning. I'm so proud of myself! I have 50 lbs to go which is no small feat, but I have proven to myself that I can DO this! I'm excited to have broken through my wall. I have lost weight three weeks in a row, which has maybe never happened to me before. It's amazing how sticking to it works!

Springtime will bring a shedding of the pounds

It just has to! I'm not sure if I ever officially announced on the blog that we're having a girl; I know I mentioned it in a recent post though. So here's the official announcement: Brian and I are pregnant with a little girl! Gage will be the best big brother ever.

I am stoked to have a girl (as much as I would've been stoked to have another boy) but it calls to mind some interesting issues for me. I've long harbored concerns about the media influence on girls. The images portrayed of tiny thin women being the only attractive ones; the other end of that spectrum that says being morbidly obese is fine as long as you love yourself (not true, as heart disease, diabetes, etc does not care how much you love yourself,) the princess ideologues that so many girls are into, the idea that being smart is no good unless you're also a perfect 10, that finding "Prince Charming" is far more important than finding God, etc. These portrayals can be SO damaging and I think, as a parent, offsetting these images can be key. But how do you do that? How do you encourage a healthy body image, a desire to be strong, active, and healthy, a desire for intelligence and self-sufficiency? I guess I have some research to do.

But what I most need to focus on is being a positive role model. I need to get myself healthy and active. How can I portray the importance of a healthy, active lifestyle when I'm overweight myself? "Do as I say, not as I do" is not an acceptable method of child rearing in most circumstances.

So once I'm no longer pregnant, I intend to get right back on the Couch to 5K horse. I want to get my weight to healthy point, I want to get myself healthy so I can enjoy more activity without becoming tired, winded, etc. It'll take a lot of work, but it's worth it. I'm also focusing on not having a ridiculous weight gain throughout the pregnancy, so hopefully I can keep that up. Of course, the holidays are now behind us, so that'll get a little easier.

Just as an aside, I'm not saying there are no pressures for boys in the world, or that I'm less concerned with the image issues Gage will face. However, it's a little different to deal with body issues with boys... And I'm not as familiar with those (no personal experience,) so I'll be doing some research and some learning as I go, too. Gage is already healthy, active, and on-the-go, so at this point, I don't see his becoming sedentary as an issue... Unless, of course, we are such good models of being lazy, which we also don't want!
What better motivation could there be than getting healthy and being a good role model to your kids? Here's hoping I can stay on the wagon for good this time!

Some random thoughts bouncing through my noggin

Let's see. I won't tell much about cry-it-out tonight, especially because I'm a little discouraged. We keep having such severe ups and downs that I believe something else is going on with the little guy. We'll have a few good nights and then go back to bad, or worse. Last night was a "worse" by far. Gage went down about 8:00 PM but didn't sleep. At 8:30 I went in and cuddled him until he was drowsy, at which point I put him back down. He slept until 9:30 when he fussed a bit and went back to sleep. Then came the badness. He awoke at 12:14 AM. I went in and rocked him as I usually do, and laid him back down. He was quiet. But around 1:00 AM (I think) he woke up again. At that point, I decided to just bring him to bed with us as I hadn't slept at all. He wouldn't sleep. All he wanted to do was get up and play. So I figured ok, maybe he'll play for 30 minutes, then realize how exhausted he is. No... he played until almost 4:00 AM. And even then, he didn't want to go back to sleep. I had a mini-breakdown and cried about my utter inability to fix this problem. Then the little fella slept until 9:30 AM this morning. He did not nap today outside of a car nap (I did this on purpose) and he played for a while at my parent's house. Hopefully he'll sleep well tonight, if for no other reason than sheer exhaustion.

If you've been following along, you know we're coming up on a month of cry-it-out. The doctor told us it would take a week. Obviously, every child is different. But why, after a month, do we see absolutely no progress that lasts? We have stuck to the bed time routine, we get him into bed at the same time every night as best we can, etc. There seems to be nothing that affects how he sleeps. Starting today, I am going to spend the week mapping out the details of Gage's day. After 7 days of mapping out Gage's days, I'm going to make an appointment with his pediatrician so we can try to figure out what on earth is going on with this little boy's sleep patterns. Why can he only seem to sleep for 4-5 hours at a time? Why does he have such a hard time relaxing? We have many questions that I feel need answers in order to get this sleep issue under control. That's where we're at. I downloaded an app for my Incredible that will help me track the little guy's patterns. I'll be monitoring and logging eating, sleeping, activity, what we do in a day, etc. I figure nothing is too small to log and assess for importance. In case you're wondering, it's 9:03 PM right now and Gage is indeed sleeping. Has been for a little over an hour.

The pictures are starting to pour in from Brian's cousin's wedding. We so enjoy getting to see the pictures everyone took. I can't wait until the photographer gets her pictures online though; it was such a gorgeous wedding that I am excited to see pictures.

One thing is for sure a result of all the family time this weekend and the wedding. I have got to get serious about weight loss. I think I've said that on here a few times, but seeing pictures of myself really brings the point home. I look about 5 months pregnant. My arms are huge, flabby, and fat; my gut looks like it's housing a baby, and my face is way too round. Add in my double chins, and you've got yourself a pretty chubby looking chick. I am not happy with myself, and I've got to get there. I hate being that girl that constantly looks at pictures of herself and hates them. But I've arrived at that point, and it makes me deeply unhappy. I want to look at pictures of myself and my family and say, "Wow, we look great/happy!" Instead, I look at pictures of us and say, "Wow, Brian, you and Gage look great!" While inside, I die a little, thinking that people probably look at me as a fat slob.

My biggest weight challenge is portion sizes. I think if I can get that under control I can get my weight going down again. I started trying to be more cognizant of portion size today. I had lunch with my mom and dad, and we had hot dogs (all beef) and chips. I had two hot dogs, but I did not have any chips as a side. I only put sourkraut on my dogs, and I ate them with whole wheat buns. I did not consume the entire bun. I ate maybe .25 oz of these cinnamon chips my parents have, as well as two graham cracker bites which are roughly the size of a silver dollar. I also had a scoop and a half of ice cream, around 1/4 cup. If you know me, you know this is pretty good. I didn't eat breakfast before I left the house, so lunch was sort of both. Yes, I am aware that this is bad. I rarely skip breakfast, but this was a WEIRD morning. Back to lunch, I ate slowly, and didn't continue eating when I was full. Stopping eating when I'm full is another biggie. If I really like the food I'm eating, I'll eat it fast and hard and then deal with the stuffed feeling consequences. I must re-train myself to eat slowly and stop when my stomach is satisfied - not stuffed. For dinner I ate nice, normal portions of everything I made. I'm focusing on dishing Brian and my meals onto salad plates as opposed to using our dinner plates. This will keep our portion sizes down. I want to stick to what the package recommends for serving sizes, especially with things like cereal and what-not.

The other part of my plan is to walk/run in the mornings before it gets too hot. I have been telling myself I can't get out because it's too hot to take Gage, but if we go early that isn't the case. Even if I'm dragging my butt from exhaustion, I can still get out there and walk a bit. It might even help refresh me and make me a little less cranky.

If I could get my weight under control, I know that I could be a happier person, and in turn a better wife and momma. And of course I would be healthier. When I'm always feeling like I'm not healthy, I'm not attractive, I'm the ugliest person in the room, etc, it is hard for me to be at my best. A big part of my issues with how I look is how I feel I reflect on Brian. He loves me as I am, and tells me so, but I can't help but feel that people judge him on how I look. I constantly wondered if his family was thinking about how much I've let myself go when they were here. I know this is ridiculous behavior, but I can't help it. I can't help but think my social anxiety would improve if I could feel more confident.

Don't get me wrong. I 100% know that looks aren't everything, or anything, really. But if I don't even feel healthy, then how can I feel comfortable in my own skin? I can't. But I want to. I want to be a positive, active role model for Gage. I've posted about that before, too. I refuse to give up, even though I've started and failed multiple times. I know you probably are thinking that I won't make it go this time either. But I'm going to do my best, and maybe, just maybe, this time I can make it stick.

Cry-it-out, Night 16... No crying!

I already told you that Gage slept until 5:00 AM and then I put him in bed with us... he nursed for a while and cuddled, but didn't fall back asleep. He did sleep from 8:30-10:30, which totally screwed him up for afternoon nap, as in it didn't happen. I think we need to adjust his nap times if we can get a consistent night time sleep. I'm holding out hope that tonight will be that night. We did his whole bedtime routine (starting at 7:30 PM) and laid him in his crib at 8:00 PM. He never even cried after I lay him down! He popped his head up and repositioned, but he didn't fuss like he usually does. So I will take that as a very good sign. We are hoping that tonight will bring a long sleep. Brian adjusted the vent in Gage's room to blow away from the crib, and he also adjusted the flow so that it won't get as cold in there. Our goal is to have his room a comfortable temperature for his sleep, rather than having him freezing cold. We are curious as to whether the temperature in the room dropping as he sleeps is causing his late night/early morning wake ups. Fingers crossed that we have jumped the final hurdle... only time will tell.

We are looking forward to a long weekend. Brian has Monday off, but has a half day on Saturday. We have plans with friends on Saturday afternoon, so that should be fun. The rest of the weekend, thus far, is wide open. Next week Brian only has a three day work week. His cousin is getting married Friday, so he took that day off. We are SO excited for the wedding! I found a really terrific dress at Target today, on clearance, to wear for the wedding. I was excited to get a good deal and find a really pretty dress. I had really hoped to lose some weight before the wedding, but circumstances have sort of worked against me. I haven't been running (I missed my 5K goal, which made me pretty sad, but I'm just going to keep trying,) and I haven't been eating terribly well either. But I'm hopeful that as the nights get a little better, and I catch up this awful sleep deficit, that I can start running in the mornings before it gets too hot. Right now all I can do in the morning is sit on the couch and stare blankly at Gage while he plays. I am so tired in the mornings, it takes me a good long time to wake up. No way could I run in the mornings right now on 3-5 hours of sleep. I would be injured before I knew it. Maybe in the next few weeks! I really would like to lose some weight before my 30th birthday. I had hoped that I would turn 30 in the best shape of my life. I could still make that happen, but time is running down. I just need to be more active, and I need to be more rested to be more active. Ugh. I seem to be a master at giving myself excuses, but I'm not sure that exhaustion is just an excuse.

I guess that's about all I've got for now. I'll give you an update on how the night goes ... hopefully tomorrow!

Health chat... oh boy!

I've been avoiding blogging about the slightly more serious aspects of my life this week. I guess I was somewhere between deciding whether I wanted to share or just keep it to myself, but I like to be kind of transparent here and real, so I will tell you about it. I had my yearly check up at the doctor a few weeks back, and because of some symptoms as well as some family history things, the doctor recommended having a blood work up done. I got in to do it a few days later since it was fasting blood work.

On Wednesday, while Gage and I were driving home from my friend's daughter's preschool graduation (which was awesome, by the way) the doctor called. She told me my blood work showed a couple areas of concern. One was my triglycerides, which are a little on the high side. Interestingly, they are higher now than they were last year, when I was 25 lbs heavier. And they are quite a bit higher. Also interesting is that we eat much healthier than we did last year! Go figure. Also an issue was higher-than-normal TSH levels, indicating subclinical hypothyroid. I got put on a low dose of Synthroid to try and even this out. I'm really hoping that the med will help with a range of symptoms relating to the thyroid; if not I guess it'll be back to the ol' drawing board. Or doctor's office, as it were. So if you don't know about Synthroid, you have to take it first thing in the morning and avoid food for 1 hour, for best results. This has been an adjustment!

Also an adjustment is the cold, hard realization that my weight, such as it is, is contributing to an ugly health problem. Right now I'm fortunate in that it is just my trigs that are high and not my overall cholesterol. But I'm not very old! What happens as I age and slow down, if I stay the way I am? High blood pressure runs in my family. I don't want that. My best prevention is to get this weight off now and actually embrace a healthy lifestyle. I don't want to keep doing this false start thing I've been doing.

I deserve to lose this weight. I deserve to be healthy. I deserve to look and feel my best, and I deserve to be an active, healthy role model to my son. He DOESN'T deserve a momma who would rather sit on the couch than chase him around a park for a few hours. He deserves a family who can share with him the BEST that Colorado has to offer, the outdoors. And Brian deserves a wife who is happy, healthy, fit, and active. And most of all, Brian and Gage deserve a me that actually likes myself, and I can't say that when I'm 55 lbs overweight.

So here I go again. Not motivated by vanity but by health. I will get this weight off; I will cut the fat. And when my trigs get retested next year, there will be improvement. If there isn't, at the very least I will know that the weight is not the issue. I have lost 30 lbs in three months (years ago, for our wedding); I can lose 55 in one year. I don't have a concrete plan just yet, because I'm kind of just feeling my way through this new realization. But so far I'm working on eating smaller portions of healthier foods, and being more active. I've committed to holding myself to one dessert per month, and it has to be a good one to motivate me to pass the rest of the month. Brian and I have really been enjoying leashing up Chevy, seating Gage in his jogger, and taking some loooong walks. It's a good start. And for now, that is all I need. I have time to flesh out a plan. But I have a start. And I have a whole lot of motivation. There will be ups and downs, I know. But I'm committed to sticking this one out, to not quitting this time when the going gets tough. I'm kind of excited about my new life.

Some running stuff... or my motivation has returned!

So today is the first day of the rest of my (fitness) life. I now have everything I need to successfully get going on my Couch to 5k plan. I know how to watch my form to avoid heel strikes. I've got a weather sheild for Gage's worn, crappy jogger so that I can run with him in all kinds of weather, even wind. I've got my shiny new Brooks running shoes, chosen with assistance from a runner at Boulder Running Company. I've got my music playlist built, and the Couch to 5k app loaded and ready to go. AND, most importantly, I've got my motivation to really do this. Not for the numbers on the scale, but for fitness, for health, and for Gage. I want him to be able to do fun things with us, healthy thing, like hiking and biking. I want him to grow up enjoying all the beautiful things that colorful Colorado has to offer. I don't want him glued to the couch and TV, waiting for the next show to come on!

I have goals. I'm working toward running the Promise for Preeclampsia 5K in Denver City Park on June 26. It will be my first ever for this kind of event; I've never even been to a race like that. I have a few other 5ks I want to run after that one, but that will be my first. Preeclampsia is a cause near and dear to my heart. I was overweight going into my pregnany, and I didn't watch what I ate, using pregnancy as an excuse to gain 35 MORE pounds. As I progressed in my pregnancy, my blood pressure was through the roof, and each visit to the doctor's office made me fear that they would find my blood pressure high enough they'd need to induce early, or worse, get Gage out via emergency c-section. I was monitoring my own blood pressure every few hours as well.

At my last appointment before my due date, I had trace amounts of protein in my urine, and extraordinarily high blood pressure. They told me to go straight to the hospital, that there was a 60-75% chance that the hospital would want to induce that night. Brian left work, came home, and we headed to the hospital, saddened that we had been robbed of a, "Honey. It's TIME!!!" moment. At the hospital, my vitals were normal, the blood pressure was down, Gage's heartbeat was strong and true, and there was no more protein in my urine. We dodged the bullet that night, but when I went one day OVER my due date, and my blood pressure was REALLY high, the doctors quit messing around. They told me I needed to proceed to the hospital as soon as Brian could get me there, and I would definitely be induced that day. As many know (and Gage's birth would be another post on its own) my labor lasted 27.5 hours after the induction. I will always wonder if I'd been in better physical shape if things would've gone more smoothly. I am committed to getting into better shape before we decide to have another baby, God willing.

Preeclampsia is a scary, scary thing. So far the only cure is to remove the baby, whether you're early in your pregnancy or late. Some women can combat preeclampsia with bed rest, but that's not an optimal solition, nor does it "cure" the preeclampsia. Rather, it buys the mom more time with baby inside. I will proudly run for preeclampsia awareness. Knowing the warning signs could save your life! While I was fortunate to dodge ever having a full on diagnosis of preeclampsia, it was a very real fear through MOST of my pregnancy. And don't get me wrong-I am DEFINITELY not saying that normal weight women don't face preeclampsia because that would just not be true. But being overweight makes the risk that much greater that you'll face preeclampsia.

In the slightly shorter term, I will reward us with a new jogger if I keep up C25k for two straight months. So I have my short term goal, and my more long term goals. I'm training toward a goal, a few goals, when you consider that there are a couple more 5ks this year I'd love to run after the one June 26. My really long term goal is to run the BolderBoulder 10k next year. Now THAT is something to look forward to!

I've got everything I need to succeed. There are no more excuses, no more reasons to plant my butt on the couch and just wait 'til tomorrow. Tomorrow is here, today, and it is time to get started. While "today is the first day of the rest of my life" is a tired, overworn cliche, there has never been a time that it is truer for me than right now. Except for maybe the day Gage was actually born, because, ya know, having a baby changes everything. (Intentional cliche usage there.)

You take the good with the bad, even when there isn't a whole lot of good

The good news first? Ok here goes. I have a husband and a son who rock, I had a nice lunch with my mom at Angie's, and I did finish the long version of the piece I wrote for Brian's uncle Doyle at Sox Place. Sound good? Alright. The day was a major bummer otherwise.

It started out alright, Gage and I got up at 7:00. He was well rested, and I was fairly sure he'd slept straight through from about 11:30. He took a nice, hour and a half nap at 9:00, and then we got ready to head to my parents' house. While mom and Gage and I were having lunch, Brian IMd me and told me he was headed home sick. I told him I'd see him later. Gage and I went to check the PO box, which is near my parents'. I have this nasty habit of opening stuff I'm curious about right away, and one of the things I opened happened to be a bill for medical services that I had the day after Brian's ex-employer cancelled our insurance, three days prematurely. It was a pretty big chunk of change, bringing our total due from that ONE day to somewhere between $1400 and $1700. Great.

So I go into my parent's house, and looking forward to finishing up the writing for Sox Place, taking it from a whole bunch of handwritten notes to an actual piece of writing in .docx format. I turn Gage over to my mom and dad, and start in on it. I get two pages of really good stuff, and then without warning, my computer restarts to complete some updates. Had I saved the piece I was writing? Of course not. All gone. Excellent.

By the time the computer restarts and I discover that it did indeed eat my work, Gage is tired and fussy and I need to take him home. So no more time to retype all I'd written, all that I was feeling really pleased with. I loaded up the sleepy guy to get him home.

Then Brian's mom and sister came over for a bit to spend some time with Gage. After a few hours of nice visiting, they took off and Brian and I ordered pizza from Blackjack. I went to pick it up, and navigation sent me to the 100% wrong place. After many u-turns, driving around like an idiot for a while, and finally calling for directions, I finally found it. Splendid. After we ate, I decided to weigh Gage on the Ski, then Brian weighed himself. He is only 9 lbs away from his goal. I'm so super proud of him but ... it really depresses me that he's so close and I'm so far away. Our weight loss goals used to be something that we were pushing toward together, but now he's pushing toward his goal and I'm totally stagnant.

I quit Weight Watchers because I lost the motivation to do it. I can't go to the gym because, well, when? I haven't been able to walk or run because of the crappy wind, and I don't have room for a treadmill or anything. I can try to do the Wii games, but I have a limited amount of time while Gage isn't jumping me to do those, like, a 10 minute window while he's chill in his high chair. Is ten minutes even worth it?! I know all that sounds like excuses, I get it. But I'm in a rut and really discouraged. And it is hard because Brian tries to encourage me but I'm hard to encourage when I'm feeling like a big, fat failure. And I am right now. He's got 9 more lbs to lose. I've got forty five more lbs to lose. Ugh.

Some days are better than others, and I know that. I also know that things could be much, much worse. It has just been a day wrought with unfortunate surprises and wrong turns and obvious displays of my failings. Tomorrow will be another day.

Happy April Fools' Day, and don't worry-the joke's on me. *sigh.* See you tomorrow for what will hopefully be a more upbeat post.

Chili's is the Carl's Jr. of Family Dining Establishments

It's true. You know how if you're going to eat fast food, you know there are fast food establishments that aren't AS bad for you (Chick-Fil-a) and then there is the worst of the worst for you... Carl's Jr. Chili's is so bad for you yet their food is pretty tasty with all that fat. We went to Chili's last night for Brian's birthday. We had so much fun, it was just the three of us.

Brian got a buffalo chicken sandwich and I got the Shiner Bock BBQ burger. We split an order of queso. Just so you have something to reference, I am alloted 31 points per day on Weight Watchers. Now, I didn't think my burger was going to be a healthy choice by any stretch; I figured 20-25 points for the burger and a few fries. I figured 10 for half the queso. You get extra points each week on WW so you can enjoy a splurge now and then. So I knew I would go over for the day, but figured I would fall well short of the weekly points allotment. Boy was I wrong.

My burger, as served, with fries (I ate less than half but still) was 41 points. The queso, as served, was also 41 points, so 20.5 per person for those of us splitting. I counted my burger and fries as 31 since I didn't eat all of my fries, or even half. I counted half the queso. I ate 51.5 points for dinner alone!!! Ugh!!

I didn't regret it. We had fun and enjoyed our dinners. It made me thankful though, for Weight Watchers and tracking. I'll need to have a low-points, healthy-eating, exercise-packed week from now until Sunday! The old, fat thinking me would have chowed that meal (including ALL of the fries), and never thought twice about it. Now I know that what I ate was unhealthy, and I can correct for it.

Did you know that Chili's Chipotle Chicken Crispers are one of the worst restaurant foods in America? It's true. Thanks, Chili's, the Carl's Jr. of family dining, for doing your part to add to America's obesity problem.
Thank you to Brian for this topic. He said last night after we figured points for my dinner, "Chili's is like Carl's Jr.!" And this topic was born. :) I have such a terrific, witty husband. I love you, Brian. I hope you had a fun birthday!

NFL Training Camp for Wii

Brian is very supportive of me, both in my fitness goals and of me as I am now. A little while ago, he got us NFL Training Camp and EA Active for the Wii. They're essentially the same hardware bundle (hr monitor, leg sensor, resistance band) with different games. So while I thought EA Active sounded fun, I have been REALLY looking forward to NFL Training Camp!! Today I got my first shot at it. I did the 60 day challenge which is 4 days a week on and 3 days a week off.

The game gives you a choice of teams and player to train with which is kind of fun. You can also choose between easy, moderate, and extreme. I did moderate and it was a nice mix of stretches, plyometrics, and resistance band work. I believe it took about 25 min out of my day, perfect for me with Gage. I worked up a decent sweat and could view all sorts of graphs about my performance. It'll track all of that for me as I go, along with weight. I like it a lot!

Speaking of weight, I neither gained nor lost weight last week, which I'm pretty proud of considering I had kind of strayed there for a bit. So now I'm back on the wagon and moving again!

How are you staying fit this winter and staving off the hibernation feelings?

I Beat the Sweets Today!!!

My brother, Todd, and his wife Cara came over for dinner. My Mom really pushed to make brownies for dessert. I repeatedly told her no (yay!) Then after dinner, my Mom told Todd he should go to the store for dessert. Well, he decided he would go and ultimately did. In order to avoid the temptation, I took Gage to bed. The coolest part? Todd got ice cream, which I normally love. It didn't even sound all that great to me! But I was glad I could avoid the temptation. I've gotten sort of off track from WW over the past few weeks. This week, I pledge to restart, and work even harder. I will continue the sugar-free-ness, but I will take it one step further. I will make it an 8 week sugar ban, and I will try to cut down/out high fructose corn syrup as well.

There are two reasons I am so set on losing weight. Well, three actually. The first is for my health. Obviously, being overweight is terrible for you. And I want to live a long, healthy, active life with my son and future children. Which brings to my second reason. I want to set a good example for Gage. Being active, eating right, enjoying a healthy lifestyle... these things are learned at home. I don't want him growing up thinking that fast food is healthy. My third and final reason is much more sweeping. I want to release this very American idea that more food is better, the sweeter the better, the saltier the better, the bigger the better. Processed foods and refined sugars are taking over our tables and this is just not right!

I resolve today, while giving up sweets and cutting out as much HFCS as possible, to become more label aware, choose a fresh version when possible, and to do more scratch cooking when we get out of here. I want to bake our bread again! I used to and I loved it. I want a better life than so many settle for nutritionally. I don't want to just accept that fat is in and obesity is ok with most people! I'm all for loving yourself... but not when you aren't even healthy!

I'll also be trying out our new Wii games, EA Active and NFL Training Camp. Gonna try doing them in the mornings when Gage is happy and playful. I am going to power through my rut and come out the other side with big gains made by having big losses!

Who's with me?

Giving Up Sweets for a Month

I really love sweet things. I mean really. I like most kinds as well. And for the most part, I do pretty well keeping them in moderation. But it would be sooo much better if I could just avoid sweets except for special occasions. So, in an attempt to break myself of this sugary addiction, I'm going off sweets for a month. I think Tuesday was my first day. So far so good, I just don't really have any around so that's helpful. My Mom is doing it with me so we'll see. She ate a sweet roll the other day so she kind of cheated. I think maybe she missed the point of overcoming temptation!!

I'm going to stick with it. I've been doing Weight Watchers but for some reason their new Points Plus system totally detailed me. I haven't really been able to get back on track measuring and counting since it started and I NEED to! It was really working for me. I also need to start walking/ gymin' it again.

Wish me luck!