No Junk Food, No Elevators. Day One.

Everyone chooses something for Lent. Well, not everyone, but a lot of people. In the spirit of Lent, I'm avoiding junk food and elevators. For fourty days.

Day one has been pretty easy, at least the elevators part. There are not that many floors at my job, so taking the stairs doesn't bother me much. The junk food part? That part is difficult! I haven't eaten any junk food today, but I did run into some temptation.

Today's temptations?
1. Left over packzis
2. Caramel popcorn
3. Doritos

Let's not even talk about the vending machine at work that's at my constant disposal.

Guess Who's Back?

You hear that gnawing sound? That's guilt eating away at me. Don't worry, it's not painful in this form (because a lot of times Guilt is a bad thing). Guilt is actually helpful this time in forcing me to get my act together.

I haven't written in a while and Guilt here knows I haven't been good about my eating habits. It's always the eating part that makes this healthy thing so hard for me. My appetite taunts me. It sits with me at dinner and pokes me on the shoulder like a kid. "Hey, hey, hey. Don't you want seconds? What about chocolate? You should have some pancakes with lots of butter and syrup. That sounds good. You deserve it; you've been stressed out this week." So, I do. If I don't, it'll just keep buggin' me. And since I live alone, no one but me and my appetite knows that I've given in "just one last time".

It's becoming very discouraging for me, since I keep giving in. Sometimes I feel as if I have no control. I try to use that tips that I know - Drink lots of water. Eat fruit. Don't deny yourself, simply have what you want in moderation. 

I was getting better at doing those things, but then I'd have a bad day and eat what I want. The next day I'd feel guilty (the bad kind of guilty), beat myself up for it, feel sorry for myself and then I'd eat even more because I'm an emotional eater. What an endless cycle.

Although the  healthy eating hasn't gotten any better, I haven't given up. I've been working out an average of four days a week now - Yoga on Mondays, Bootcamp on Wednesdays, Cardio machine the other days. I went to step kickboxing the other day. I wasn't fond of the instructor, but I might go again. I also want to add some rollerskating in there. I love skating, so I figure I should throw it into the exercise cycle.

What I need to do is learn how to use weights. I know how to do cardio. Everyone knows how to do that, but the weight room is intimidating. I don't know what I'm doing and there isn't anyone placed in the room to show me what to do. There is no strength training teacher just for me. So, I avoid the weights. Really, who wants to look like a goof in front of a bunch of other people who know what they're doing and look good?

So goes for the month of February - stop eating like I've got the metabolism of an eight year old and learn to use the weight room.

Ringing In The New Year

I'm ringing in the New Year with bad food! 

I thought my last hurrah would be the lunch date at The Torch. I lied. Tonight, I will make yummy bad food choices. Then after that, I'm all about healthy choices with occassional bad choices sprinkled in there. It's lucky I don't keep junk food in my house, or I'd have to toss it all out.

I'll be making a visit to my doctor soon to get a physical and talk to him about my eating habits. I figure I shouldn't try any diet fads or do this completely on my own and instead I will take advantage of the health professional in my life. 

I'm excited and scared about my New Years resolution. I'm excited because I've already had several people tell me they would be glad to go running or to an exercise class with me. I'm fired up about the moral support and possible exercise buddies: Angela, Amanda, Brandy, Kristen and Shannon. I'm going to get somebody to exercise with me on my Jen-less days, if it's the last thing I do. 

I'm also a little terrified of the running and the exercising and the not eating cookies whenever I want.  But I think I will be able to complete my goal, because I'm more afraid of what will happen if I don't stop eating so many cookies. 

Wish me luck! I'll blog again after my first weigh-in on January 5.

And So It Begins

Today Jen and I went to The Torch for lunch and mapped out our plan to successfully complete The Crim on Aug. 22, 2009.

It was my last big hurrah with the bad food. Sad face. Fortunately, it helped us get a lot of our ideas on paper. So now we've got ideas for exercise, scheduled buddy work out days, rewards, healthy eating ideas, a grocery shopping attack plan, ideas for motivation and Jen has even recruited the help of a friend, who just so happens to be a personal trainer. 

I think Jen and I will be really good for each other with this. She's determined when she wants to be and I remember her scary ways from back in my roller derby days. Her practices were like boot camp! And I've already told her, I will not be stood up on my buddy-exercise days! 

This is going to be so good for me. My ultimate goal is to finish the 5k of the Crim and to lose 40 pounds by the end of the year.

Our first weigh-in is Jan. 4. We start the journey o' health and fitness Jan. 5. I'm a little scared. What have I gotten myself into?! *eep*