Ugh!

So I hit a plateau. Already? I can't believe it. I just got my Turbo Jam videos last week but I have not started yet. But I am recommitting myself to my goals this week. The south beach has been great at home. Really easy in fact. But on trips or even out in town, it has been much more difficult. So I think I might even switch to doing WW at home again. I have kept off the weight I have lost so far, but no new weight loss to report.

Anyway, my little family is going to Disneyland next week and now it looks like I am going to Vegas in late Sept for my sister's birthday and I want to look good for both of these! Especially the Vegas trip! ;-) I am hoping that Turbo Jam delivers as promised. :-)

Turbo Jam anyone?

I ordered my Turbo Jam Maximum Results package a couple of days ago and it is scheduled to arrive by Wednesday or Thursday. I am really excited about trying this exercise program. I have lost weight many times in my life but the time I felt the fittest and healthiest was when I was doing an exercise boot camp in addition to dieting. I don't remember what I weighed but I was much more defined. I could actually run 4 miles without falling to the ground dead! That is what I am hoping for more than anything is to be able to have lots more energy, enjoy time outdoors with my family, and to be able to run a few miles (which I used to love) without feeling like I need to take a break. Well, I am hoping for all that and to look good in my clothes again. I really miss feeling comfortable in my own skin. I want to be able to throw on a pair of jeans and and a t-shirt and just walk out the door without obsessing for twenty minutes if everyone can see my rolls of fat. Ugh! I hate that! I want a flat tummy again.
The diet is still going really well. I am trying new recipes so I don't get bored but there have been a couple of nights where I just ate the minimum because I was too tired to come up with a good meal. But I have been really good not to cheat off of the diet. I have had a few handfuls of my son's goldfish crackers  here and there but those things are like crack for the carb. addict, so can you blame me? I am really surprised at how well I am following through. I think things will get more interesting food wise once I reach phase two on Thursday! Just three more days. I can't believe it!

Bye Bye 180s!!!

Yes!! I am officially in the 170s!!  Okay, so I was just there a month ago and then I creeped back up, but I wasn't changing the way I eat. I was just not eating. Oops! I feel like a new person. I have such a commitment to lose this weight, the right way, for once in my life. I don't remember when I started dieting but I was probably 16 or 17, trying to make myself super skinny. Yah. So not healthy. I think that is where most of my diet habits came to be, because it worked. I was able to wear shape hugging shirts, and short skirts and summer dresses.
But it never lasted and so now here I am, almost 36 years old, trying to choose a better way of being for myself. And really for myself this time. I mean, I want to look great for my husband who is only about ten pounds from being fit (that's so annoying), and for my son so that he can see a great example of healthy living, but I am mostly doing this for me. Because I deserve to feel good about the way I look and excited to shop for new clothes, instead of dreading the dressing room. I deserve to feel incredible when I play outside with my son or go for a hike with my husband, instead of hot and winded and wishing I was anywhere but there.
So, that is why I know I can do this.  And for good this time. No more up and down, yo-yo dieting. I am changing the way I think about food. I am changing the way I think about exercise. Because I know it is all a mental game. Of course french fries, and cheesecake, and pizza taste great. Who are we kidding here, they taste really great!  But getting fit and feeling healthy are so much more important to me now than all the junk food in the world.

My short term goals

To complete by 8/19:

1. Lose eight lbs
   
2. Begin a walking/jogging program
3. Drink at least 8 glasses of water per day
4. Find several yummy & easy recipes to cook for every meal
5. Discover two things I love about my body
6. Begin a simple strength training program at home
7. Find creative ways to incorporate exercise into my everyday routine
8. Log exercise in a journal
9. Spend at least one hour outdoors no matter how hot it is

Still going strong!

That title sounds so silly for only 5 days on a diet but I really am impressed with myself since diets and I have never been good friends. I usually only last a couple of days. I am not sure what is so different this time. I keep saying it is the diet but I don't know. Maybe something in me has changed. I am for sure tired of not having any energy and I definitely don't like my clothes not fitting.
But I think I have also realized that if it takes me a year to lose this weight, then at least I will be fitter in a year instead of weighing the same or more. I can choose to stay the same or I can choose to look and feel better. But no one can do the work for me. Unfortunately.

I have also set up a rewards plan for myself, for being consistent with my food choices, for exercising, and for pounds lost. I have to have incentives when the pounds are coming off slow. Otherwise, I am going to get discouraged really quick. So I am still at five pounds and five days on the diet and that sounds wonderful to me!!!!

My long term goals

1. Lose 50 pounds
2. Learn to eat a healthier diet without processed foods
3. Tone up all those jello-y parts
   
4. Develop a consistent and fun exercise routine
5. Learn to use food for fuel and nothing more

Day four on the beach

I am now on day four of the South Beach diet and I can't believe how well I am sticking to it. I am feeling so much better without all the sugar slowing me down. I was worried about how to get all those veggies into my day, but since realizing that they count beans as veggies things have gotten easier for me. Like right now I am roasting chickpeas and I can't wait to eat some. It smells really, really yummy.
I am thinking that I will add exercise when I am on week two of the diet. Maybe start with walking and work up to running?