The Bitch is Back

It certainly has been a long time. Have you missed me? Of course you have. Who wouldn't miss this wit and sparkling charm? Turns out the break from journal keeping (aka blogging about my weight loss - or lack thereof as the case may be) has left my waist line a little. . . shall we say unmotivated.
Then along comes New Years. That ubiquitous fresh start. The undeniably futile resolution making. I myself have resisted New Years Resolutions in the past just for the simple fact that I don't like the feeling of self disappointment that inevitably follows. But seeing as that has worked out so well for me in the past (NOT) I thought, "What the hell!"
Now, just to be clear we are not calling anything a "Resolution". That would imply that I have some sort of resolve which to me sounds like you've had to drag yourself to doing something. I'm thinking more like a New Year's Reboot.
Yes, when I first started this journey I lost almost 40 pounds relatively easily. Yay, me! But somewhere along the way I hit a plateau and never seemed to get off. I had previously made a goal to lose another 50 pounds. Half of which I have already lost (included in the aforementioned 40 pounds) Again, yay me! So that leaves 25 more to go.
And since I have already turned the Resolution on it's ear I thought, 'Why not make it an even 30?'
I am going to Reboot my eating and exercise plans to lose 30 pounds. I am using, like about a zillion other people, NBC's Biggest Loser as a motivation and time frame. Every season I am inspired by the people who lose massive amounts of weight with what amounts to no more than diet and exercise. Yes, they lose like 10 - 20 pounds a week. An unreasonable amount for us mere mortals. They have the benefit of living on a world class fitness ranch with unbelievable trainers, nutritionists, doctors, and maybe most importantly - no kid's chicken nuggets and mac-n-cheese.
My Reboot will include 4 days of Curve's gym workouts plus 5 days of at home cardio. I've gotten myself my very own kettlebell (8 pounds) and the new Gold's Gym Cardio boxing game for the Wii and I'm actually looking forward to my extra workouts for the first time in a long time.
As far as eating goes, that is also turning out to be surprisingly easier than I imagined. After this Holiday Season I am just about as sick as sweets as any human could be. I don't think I could even think about eating another piece of cake or pie or candy even with my seemingly unsatisfiable sweet tooth. Yes, I know that won't last and probably before they even roll out the Valentine's candy I'll be raiding the pantry looking for a rogue tootsie roll. I'm going to make sure I have healthy alternatives like fruit, angle food cake, and maybe even the occasional mini York Peppermint Patty. I will also be including more vegis, which unfortunately have been sadly lacking in my diet for the past few weeks.
I've worked in a few rewards along the way like new workout clothes, trips to Sephora and so on. And the biggie, If I can manage to lose 30 pounds by the end of this season of Biggest Loser I can treat myself to a new summer wardrobe. Hey, if I lose 30 pounds I'm gonna need new threads.
Now, if you'll excuse me I've got to go Wii for the next 30 minutes. At least. See you next Tuesday!

New Years Gifts

So it's that time of the year again. That magical time when all of us full-figured gals of the world unite in our self-loathing and think (vainly) that maybe this year, this time I'll actually stick with it. I'll actually lose the weight. Well, you wanna know something? It almost never works. And you wanna know why? Because we set our selves up to fail. We create these totally un-reachable goals. Like, I'm going to lose 50lbs this year. Or, I'm going to work out everyday. Or, my favorite, I'm going to eat better this year. What does that even mean?
Now, I'm not saying these goals are impossible. Not at all. It's just that they are unlikely. I knew all this. And yet I still made New Years Resolutions every freakin' year. Why? I don't know. Why do all the other little lemmings follow that one little suicidal lemming off the cliff? No one knows, they just do.
Until now.
I read a totally awesome post from one of favorite bloggers, Cranky Fitness - a weight loss blog if ever there was one, that seemed to make a lot of sense. The post said that it really all a matter of semantics. Seriously!
Instead of makinf resolutions we should all be giving gifts to ourselves. Well, I'm liking it already. You know I love a gift. Can we register somewhere.
Well, turns out it doesn't work that way. See instead of making these crazy resolutions that are usually given up on by at least Valentines Day, we are going to start making gifts to ourselves for weight loss or health or organization or any old thing. It actually makes a lot of sense. And I have used this tactic in my own life with out even knowing it. Like when I tell myself that by having yougurt for breakfast instead of that doughnut I am going to have more energy and no headaches for the day.
So this year I have a few New Years gifts to myself.
#1 I will give myself the gift of more exersise time and I will do it in unconventional ways. Such as dance-offs with the kids and snoe-shoeing at the lake house.
#2 I will give myself the gift of more vegetables by trying one new vegi a week. I am a notorious vegi-hater and try to get in my servings by huge salads every day, but come on. Even rabbits get sick of lettuce after a while. So I am going to try some of those weirdo vegis at the Whole Foods produce section. Maybe I'll find a few new favorites.
#3 I'm going to devote more time to my blog and give myself the gift of more promotion. When I first started it was purely for my own entertainement, but now I'm thinking I'm gonna go outside the box, so to speak.
#4 I'm going to give myself the gift of (and this is the one I'm most excited about) a cleaning lady. I am a bad housekeeper, not just don't like it bad, but really really bad. I used to be ashamed, but not anymore. I figure those who can't cook eat out. So I am not going to sweat it anymore. It will give me more time for my kids and cooking healthy meals.
#5 I'm going to give myself the gift of more time with my kids. Yes, I'm a stay-at-home mom, but with my husband working away I often have to be two people at once. So with everything else I have going on (see #4) I often don't have time for a lot of the extras that my kids want to do. So thanks to the new cleaning lady I see a lot more park time and Wii Winter Olympics in my future. Bring it on!
So there it is. Hopefuly this time next year I will not be so worried aboout my weight and I will be able to say that my New Years gift giving was a success. Happy New Years and remember to gift the most important person in your life. You!