It's just been one of those days so far.  I needed to get work done early this morning, so I decided to wake up at stupid-o'clock, which of course meant I hit snooze.  I hauled my butt to the gym since I knew I would function better after a workout, and the pool was packed.  At first, the slow lane was full of slow-lumbering-mostly-floating people, which is fine, but just means I need to be attentive to dodge then.  Then the slow contingent left and all these super fast swimmers decided to swim in the slow lanes.  Commence kicking and waves and water up my nose.

Bah.

Then I got to work and started doing my work and just found it all annoying.  I'm cranky.  I'm irritable with no good reason, and I'm bloated.  I'm physically having to restrain myself from eating everything in sight.

Did I mention I'm PMS'ing?

Thank goodness D comes home tonight.  Although with my general state of irritation, he may want to get back on the first flight to Glasgow come morning.

Getting up this morning was tough!  The alarm went off at 7:20, and all I wanted to do was roll over, stick my head under the pillow and sleep for the next year.  I've been so tired this week.  Some of it is clearly due to the weather and the sun setting so damn early (seriously, by 4 pm), some of it is due to PMS and some of it is probably feeling discord from D being away during the week each week.  Still, score this one as another victory for the New Me.  Despite wanting to be the ostrich with her head in the sand, I instead faced reality and hauled my butt out of bed and went to the gym.  I can safely say there were three reasons I managed to get up: (1) my body is just used to it now, and wouldn't have slept in anyway; (2) I've worked too hard to get into this routine and I'm not going to screw it up now; and (3) I knew I'd feel better after going to the gym.

And of course I felt better.  The pool was crowded, but I still noticed how much faster I'm getting.  I realized today I did double the amount of laps I was doing when I first started, and I'm not getting nearly as winded when I swim freestyle laps instead of breaststroke.  And I passed a few people in the slow lanes, which felt good too.

Still.  I know some of the bad-side-of-the-bed wakeup came from eating too much last night.  I worked late and had dinner in the office, and definitely had more than I needed.  Plus, my body is now settling into a bit of a 155 rut.  Don't get me wrong, that's a great rut to be in and far better than a 162 rut which is where I was.  But if I'm going to be 150 by Christmas, I need to push onward.  I want to be able to wear a bikini in Australia and only be embarassed by my albino thighs, rather than my jiggly belly.

This morning, I had every intention of getting up at 6:30 to go to the Body Pump class at my gym.  It's a fast-paced workout using barbells and dumbells, so you get your cardio and your weight-training done all in one go.  Unfortunately, when the alarm went off at 6:30, I knew there was no way I was getting up.  Some kind of alarm had been going outside from around 10:45 pm until nearly 3 am, so my sleep was quite interrupted.  The Old Me would have called it a wash, reset the alarm for 8:30 and blown off the workout.  The New Me shoved the Old Me away from the controls and reset the alarm for 7:30, knowing then I would still be able to get in a solid 30 minutes of swimming and would still make it into work on time.

Round One:  New Me!

There is, however, one things both the New Me and the Old Me agree on - we all loathe suits.  Now, as a lawyer you would think a suit is more or less my uniform.  As a junior corporate lawyer, nothing could be farther from the truth.  My firm has a "business casual" policy (whatever that means!) and suits are reserved for court or client meetings.  I never go to court, seeing as how I'm not a litigator.  And as for client meetings?  In the 2+ years I've been at the firm, I can count on my fingers and maybe a few toes the number of times I've actually had face time with the clients.  As I move up the ranks, however, that is starting to change.

And today is one of those days.  We have a client meeting this afternoon, so I spent a good forty-five minutes last night in front of the mirror, trying on every viable suit possibility.  Choice 1: too summery, lightweight grey fabric.  Choice 2:  waaaaay too big, looks like I've borrowed one of 6'2 D's suit jackets (huzzah!).  Choice 3:  too trendy for this particular client and this particular meeting.  Choices 4 through 6: while made to order in Thailand, they suck particularly hard and look very bad on me and are too big anyway, and must thus immediately be thrown on the Salvation Army pile.  Choice 7: well, it's going to have to work as it's the only option.  It's from high school and my body has noticeably changed shape since then, but at least it more or less fits, although the skirt is a tad short.

Yuck.  But I am NEVER inspired to go suit shopping.  They are extortionately expensive if you are buying anything moderately decent, and the cheap suits don't fit and fall apart and look tacky on me.  Plus, don't get me started on the impossibility of finding button down shirts that fit over big boobs . . . I know, I know, you can have them tailored, but when they cost a fortune as is, I'm just not willing to spend that much more on altering something I will resent wearing anyway.

Harrumph.  I resent suits.  Do you have any tips for where to get suits that are slightly less resentment-inducing?

On Saturday, I went to get the lady-parts waxed.  Not the most painless procedure, but one I've grown accustomed to.  The first thing my waxer said when she saw me was, "Nice haircut!  It suits you."  The second thing was, "Have you lost weight?"

Yes!  Yes, I have.  And in hearing her say that I felt gratified and happy that someone noticed.  People who see us every day (including ourselves) just don't see the change because it's gradual.  She last saw me six weeks ago.  And I have lost seven pounds since then.

We started talking about how I was doing it.  Simple, I said.  Hard work.  Counting calories and exercising five days a week.  We talked about gyms and working out.  She said she's trying to lose a little weight herself and has taken up spinning once a week.  Turns out, she takes a spinning class at 7:15 on Monday mornings at my gym!  She ended up speaking so positively about the class that I just had to give a go this morning.

I loved it!  Now, granted, sitting on the "saddle" (as the instructor called it) can cause some general chafing of the lady-parts, and granted, I sweat like a stuck pig, I still thought the class was great.  The instructor saw me afterwards and told me I did a great job for my first time, and said I should check out his Sunday class as well, which goes for an hour.

I'm in!

Thanks, everyone, for the great feedback yesterday!  I'm so pleased my thoughts resonated with so many of you.  Things are going well, FINALLY, and if I can spread the wealth around, then I'm more than happy to do so!

As for today, it was yet another up-at-7:30-to-the-gym-for-8:15 pilgrimmage.  This time, I did upper body and abs.  I don't think I worked my upper body as hard as I could have, but then again, I said that about my leg workout on Tuesday, and my inner thighs are still sore.  Seriously.  I'm walking bowlegged, which is kind of hilarious.

I've re-instated a rule from childhood regarding eating.  My grandfather always enforced the dreaded Ten Minute Rule whenever we would come visit him in Houston.  It's simple, really.  Take as your premise that you can shovel food in your face a lot faster than your stomach can send the message to your brain that you're full.  By the time your stomach manages to communicate to your brain that your belly is packed tighter than Red Sox fans in Fenway when the Sox in are in the World Series, you've managed to overflow it causing general pain and suffering.  Thus the Ten Minute Rule.  After you've finished your first moderately-proportioned helping of your food, you wait.  Ten Minutes.  If, after the conclusion of Ten Minutes you are still hungry, then you may take another moderately sized portion.  It works nearly every time.  After Ten Minutes, my stomach has chatted with brain, and my brain has let my fingers and mouth know we're dunzo.

Even D has begun utilizing the Ten Minute Rule.  Granted, he is a Tall Boy with a healthy metabolism and can eat just about anything and not gain weight so long as he goes to the gym.  But since his gym going has been less than respectable recently, he's had to put the brakes on the consumption.  So Ten Minute Rule it is!

What rules do you use to help control your food intake?

I read a blog today that really resonated with me.  Now, granted, this particular blog entry was about child rearing and the power of positive energy in dealing with three year olds.  Not entirely on point with my life right now.  But the message still applies.

If you go into a situation full of negative energy and expecting the worst, you radiate that energy.  And by radiating that energy, you can cause some of that negativity to happen.

I've been trying half-heartedly to lose weight since I moved to London.  I've been blogging on this site for around 18 months.  Now, things are finally working for me.  I looked at my weight tracker on Daily Plate, and since June 23 where I hit my all-time high of 165, I am now down 10 pounds.  If the scale this morning is to be believed, I am down 10.5 pounds.  I've lost about six of those pounds since coming back from the US in October.

What's changed?  Predominantly, my attitude.  A lot of it was inspired by my sister and her success.  She achieved her amazing 50 pound loss through sheer determination, stubborness and hard work.  Lots and lots of hard work.  She didn't go for a quick fix or a cheap way out.  Instead, she logged countless hours of exercise and tracked her food daily.  Through diligence and perseverance, she has accomplished an amazing thing.

I, on the other hand, have generally been all about the quick fix.  I've hunted for something to jumpstart me, and figured I would take it from there.  And when the quick fix failed or didn't stick or I slipped off the wagon, the negative energy would take over.  Why bother?  I would say to myself.  You're just going to screw it up again.  Nothing is going to work right.  Instead, this time, I'm just taking it one day at a time.  I'm exercising five days a week, at least.  I'm logging every bite I put into my mouth.  At first, I'll admit it, I was hungry and cranky and felt like I was on a diet.  Now, nearly a month in, it just feels part of my life.  It's part of my routine in the morning to get up and go to the gym.  It's part of my daily routine to log everything on Daily Plate.

And, more importantly, I'm feeling good.  I'm feeling positive.  I feel like my body is happy with me for feeding it good healthy (tasty!) fuel and for letting it exercise before it spends the rest of the day parked on an office chair.  I have a new, shorter, sassier haircut.  I have clothes that are getting too big.  I feel confident.  I'm walking a little prouder, holding my head a little higher.  That positive energy is reverberating for me and, I think, will lead to even greater successes.

Change is coming.  No.  Change is here for me.  And it feels great!

Today is going to be a good day.  I can feel it in my bones.  Why, do you ask?  I'll tell you why.

Number One: I actually got up at 7:30 today (okay, okay, 7:35 . . .) and made a colorful and healthy lunch to take to work today.  I have a nice salad with lettuce, cucumber, cherry tomatoes and grilled chicken, and a side tupperware with carrot sticks and green grapes.  I also brought in bright yellow bananas and a bag of clementines for munching during the day.  Much as I enjoy my 100 calorie snack packs, as I have to import them (mostly) from the US, I need to limit consumption.  And healthy, natural, colorful fruit and veg is better for me anyway.

Number Two:  I went to the gym and did my weight training this morning.  After a five minute warmup on the bike, I did thirty concentrated minutes of lower body work, finishing with a good stretch and ab workout.

Number Three:  My skirt is too big.  This skirt used to be a tad snug at the waist.  Now, it's sitting on my hips with room to spare.

Number Four: This morning, the scale said 155.  It said 155 yesterday too.  While these are unofficial weigh-ins, it still means that if I can be 155 on Friday, I am down ten pounds.  Ten.  That's a big round number.  That's doubt digits.  That's awesome.  That's the thinnest I've been in five years.  And I'm doing it right.  I'm exercising, I'm eating carefully and I don't feel hungry or deprived.  On the contrary.  I'm feeling hopeful!

Number Five: Unrelated to weight loss, I'm actually busier at work right now, but I'm enjoying it.  I'm busy enough to have the day go by quickly, but still managing to get out by 8 at the latest, which is good.  The work right now is more challenging than some of the other stuff I've done, but I'm feeling confident about my work product for the first time in forever.  I really like the people I'm working with, and I feel like I'm actually adding value.  Sounds cheesy, but as work has made me more miserable than not since I started here in the fall of 2006, it's nice to have some positive energy about it for once.

Well, it's rainy, gray and cold here in London, but I nonetheless managed to start my morning off right.  Granted, the alarm went off at 7:30 and I hit snooze until . . . oh . . . 7:55.  Granted, I forgot to put my wash-up kit in my bag, so I didn't have deoderant, moisterizer or a razor to take care of my current yeti-like state of being.  Granted, my Speedo swimsuit was in the wash and the spare Speedo was in my office, so I had to wear an old black suit that could fall off at any moment.  Granted, my goggles went a bit goofy this morning in the pool, so I am now sporting a pretty awesome pink-looking right eye.

All that aside, I still managed to get in a pretty great swim!  The pool was empty for half of it, which made it even better.  I'm mixing it up now - doing a combination of slower breaststroke laps and faster freestyle laps.  But I think in the spirit of mixing it up, I'm going to swim on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and then lift weights on Tuesday and Thursday.  Let's see how that goes for me.  Gotta get in that 5X a week!

The weekend diet-wise was a bit of a slapshot.  We didn't eat out at all, which is unusual given the current topsy-turvy state of everything due to the move.  We managed to unearth the kitchen and return it to a functional state by lunchtime on Saturday, so we made wrap sandwiches.  D wanted Doritos with them, so I had a handful too.  But only a handful, then I slapped a chip clip on the bag and put it away.  We made a big huge pasta bake Saturday night with noodles, sauce, lean beef and sauteed mushrooms, onions and peppers.  And mozzarella cheese.  It was surprisingly tasty!  Of course, I still have two meals worth for leftovers, even after having it for Sunday night dinner too.  But because we were scrambling so much to get the house done, I didn't manage to log anything on Daily Plate.  I'm going to reconstruct it as best as I can though.

The house in nearly done, thank goodness.  I need to sell a corner disply unit, a DVD rack, a TV and a chair, and then we'll have gotten all the extraneous furniture out of the way.  The kitchen, bathroom and bedroom are nearly back to normal, and the living room will be once that extra furniture is gone.  The loft?  It's still a junk / laundry room right now, but we'll get there eventually.  I see the light at the end of the tunnel!!