Superman is NOT my father

I’ve been noticeably absent from my blogging lately…as I’ve been preparing to wrap things up at my current job, I’ve been putting in crazy hours and putting even crazier things into my mouth.

The good news is that the scale has not gone up. The bad news is that the scale has not gone down either.

I’ve really reflected a lot lately about how I got here. I wish I could blame it all on food alone, but honestly I don’t eat THAT bad…OK, I do make some bad choices but most of the time I’m eating fairly healthy.

Stress and inactivity have been the main culprits of my weight gain. I would come home from 8, 10, 12 hour days and just want to sleep…and that is exactly what I would do. Take an hour nap, then get up work on homework, eat my dinner in front of the computer, work on more homework, get on FB, then go to bed. And then, I would get up at 0530, sit in front of the computer and drink my coffee, do more homework, and then get ready for work. Skip breakfast or eat something greasy from the café at work. Eat lunch at my desk while doing more work. Come home…and start this vicious cycle again. Now sometimes I say to myself, “Self, it can’t be that bad. You made it through finishing your bachelor’s degree while working a demanding full time job. You accomplished something!”…which is true, very true. But, as I completed such a huge accomplishment, I lost the time to take care of me.

Now you’re probably wondering why I’m blah blah blah-ing about all of this business, right? Partially, I’m thinking out loud. Reminding myself as I get ready to start school (again) that I need to take care of me too. Also, as a reminder to my friends—who are moms, wives, sisters, daughters, students, and full time employees—as much as we would like to think we are the direct spawn of Superman and Wonder Woman, we are not. We cannot fuel our bodies on coffee, Redbull and fast food and be healthy. We need to remember that there are a WHOLE lot of people who look up to us and that we are responsible for—may it be our kids, spouses, partners, parents, whoever—and that we need to be healthy, not only to take care of them but also we need to set positive examples of health.

And that’s my random thoughts for today, friends. I usually close my blog with “Happy dieting, friends”…but I think that I will change that—because I don’t just want to diet, I want to be healthy for many years to come, so…I’m out of thoughts, but I’ll come up with some catchy closing for the next time. :)

Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels

We all have different ways to motivate ourselves, and some of us our more successful than others keeping that motivation going strong. We have moments, mantras, and routines to keep us on track.

So..."nothing tastes as good as skinny feels"...and as much as I would like to take credit for this one, it came directly off of my sister-in-law Cheryl's fridge. She has this written on an 8 x 10 piece of paper at eye level on her fridge. This is her way of motivating herself to get out of the fridge!

I have another friend who recites "Fatty fatty 2 x 4, can't fit through the kitchen door" every time she thinks about eating something unhealthy.

As much as I'd like to be on track this week, it's just not happening for me. I'm not feelin' the love. Meetings with pop, donuts, and cookies have been on my schedule all week. Insane hours have turned into a reason to not get on the elliptical or pop in a DVD. Excuses, excuses! NOTHING TASTES AS GOOD AS SKINNY FEELS. Get it? Keep saying it over and over and you will.

Find your mantra, your mojo, your motivation--whatever it is, keep at it! Or just do it, like Nike. I'm going to stop making excuses, and you should too!

As soon as I'm done here, I'm making myself a little fridge sign with Cheryl's mantra--nothing tastes as good as skinny feels--and maybe even adding some Victoria's Secret models on it. Who knows? Maybe this will be the mantra that I need to stay on track...do you think they'd be mad at work if I made that sign for the vending machine? Bwhahahha!

Happy dieting, friends!

My WTF moment...

I've been a little behind on the updates, but my life has been in total chaos lately. I've made no movement on the scale, and the only one to blame for that is myself.

This dieting is not easy, I tell ya! Too many temptations out there...and a Saturday filled with deep fried foods and a few adult beverages, so I knew that I wouldn't have any good news when I got on the scale today.

It was no surprise to me that I started my morning at a meeting with a donut and Cherry Coke...really, Melissa? WTF were you thinking??? To add to my own self-loathing and misery, I decided to eat noodles not once, but twice today. Beef noodle soup for lunch (only due to lack of planning on my part and the oh so terrible cafe choices today), and spaghetti for dinner. Ugh! I feel like an elephant is sitting on my abdomen...bloated, nauseated and feeling downright miserable.

So there was my WTF? moment...if you put junk into your body, your body will return the favor by making you feel like junk. Tomorrow I will get back on track, drink my water, eat my veggies, and stay away from the madness that I put into my mouth today. I will get up early and workout. I will conquer the fat! There will be no bikini pic today, because I'm sooo bloated that I look like I'm preggers...which I can guarantee that I'm not :)

Remember friends, dieting is like breaking yourself from any other bad habit. It's OK to fall off the wagon once in a while, as long as you keep climbing back on.

Happy dieting, friends!

Work It Out

Let’s face it—I hate to workout. HATE HATE HATE!!!

Once again, I’m faced with the reality that I know that cardiovascular exercise is important. I know I need to do it—but I just hate to and lack the motivation to get sweaty during these humid Michigan months.

I have an elliptical trainer that I bought 2 years ago that has done nothing but collect dust. I have a pile of DVDs that are collecting dust. I have a Wii Balance Board that is—you guessed it—collecting dust. Last year, I bought a slew of new workout clothes that have maybe been worn once or twice to actually work out in, but have been worn for jammies several times.

My goal is to start out slow—every other day is what I’m pushing for—to do at least 15 minutes of exercise. I know 15 minutes doesn’t sound like a lot, but for a big girl who hasn’t worked out in awhile, it’s more than enough to start! The 17-Day Diet recommends 17 minutes of activity a day but I'm just not up for that yet.

I’m hoping that when I start my new job, I’ll be more motivated to workout—especially since I’ll only be working three days a week. As I finish orientation and transition to nights, I think that I’ll join the YMCA (and now you have that song stuck in your head too) located near my new employer. I can go in the morning, get a workout in, then come home and sleep. I think that the Y will be much less intimidating than my local health club, and since it's in GR I am less likely to run into peeps that I know!

On a positive note--I refused to let myself step on the scale this morning. Small changes really do make a BIG difference.

Work it out, my friends! Get some activity into your day!

Scale Obsession

Since I started this weight loss plan, I have been obsessive-compulsive with the scale. Every morning, I’m weighing in. I know that this is unhealthy, because on the days that I’m back up, I’m instantly in a bad mood, but the days I’m down even by an ounce, I’m more determined to stay on track.

Honestly, I haven’t put forth the effort in this that I should. For about 5 days, I’m good—following the plan as I should, counting my water, not eating fruit after 2pm. But then, SOMETHING happens—work, life, family, etc—that I say to myself, “Self, one little candy bar won’t hurt. No one will notice that bag of chips and Mountain Dew from the vending machine.” Then the battle with the scale begins again. When I originally started the 17 Day Diet, I was 167.3—so I have sustained some of that weight loss (almost 8 lbs), but I’m just not to where I need to be.

As a nurse, I should know what is good for me and what isn’t--but don't nurses make the worst patients??? I  know that a normal woman will have weight fluctuations that average about 5 pounds per day. I know that all of this crap I’ve been consuming (chips, candy, pop, BEER) are not the healthy, well rounded things I need to be consuming. I’ve also realized that now that I’m over 30, my metabolism is just not what it used to be.

I decided this morning that I am not going to let this scale define me anymore or set my mood for the day--after I weighed in at 159.6 lbs, -1 lb from yesterdays post. I have decided to cut down to a weekly weigh--on Mondays--when I will post a new pic as well (yikes, another bikini pic???).

Happy dieting, friends!

Inspiration

So, I've been following my friend Beth's blog (http://bethielynner.blogspot.com) and she's pretty darn inspirational! She and I started this 17-day diet at about the same time, and she has been WAY more successful at sticking to it then I have!

I should probably start out by talking about myself a little. I have 2 wonderful boys that mean the whole world to me. Braxton is 5, and Shaun is 16 (oh, did I mention that my friend Beth is my son Shaun's stepmom? Or my "other baby momma" as I so lovingly refer to her). I've been a nurse for 8 years, and in just a few weeks, I'll be starting my dream job in Labor & Delivery after working in ICU and Med/Surg as a staff nurse and manager for my entire career. Scary! Excited! Sad! I'm hoping to start a NP practitioner program in August.

My goal for this blog is to give myself some personal accountability in this weight loss business, and maybe brag about my wonderful family every now and then. I weigh as much now as I did during both of my pregnancies (OUCH!). I will be posting pictures of myself on here, because seeing it in a picture is worth much more to me than looking in the mirror. Yes, there will be bathing suit pictures with all of my fatness out for the whole world to see. If you don't like it, don't look at it!!! I really don't expect anyone to read or follow me...because this is for me. And if I can inspire someone else along the way, great!