So much for keeping you posted on my progress. Sorry ’bout that. I had to go and sign up at Facebook, and now all my free time is spent staring at my Facebook homepage. How sad is that? It’s gotten better. I am spending a little less time there everyday, and today I decided to finally get in here to post something.
As far as my weight loss goals go, I have not been very good about sticking to anything yet. I have not been exercising everyday and my diet changed very little, though I did pay attention to how much I was eating everyday. I always find a reason to cheat a little bit here and there, and those here’s and there’s add up over time. Over the past week and a half the whole family has been sick with a stomach bug. I lost about 3lbs of water weight in one day. It has stayed off so far. The sad thing is that since my last post I had gained 2lbs. So, overall since my last post I have lost one pound. Just one, thanks.
I got fed up with myself Wednesday night and pulled out one of my Glucose Index books, The Low GI Diet Revolution, and went through the lists in the back of the book. I created a very simple (really very simple) one week meal plan that I personally would stick to. There are a lot of repeated meals throughout the week, which will be easier for me since my work schedule is all over the place and I don’t have a lot of time to cook most days. Here is my menu plan for next week:
(I feel like I need to explain the instant coffee. It’s the General Foods International Coffees. I am addicted to the Cafe Vienna and now also the Hazelnut Belgian. For me it’s a fast coffee treat when I am on the go or need to relax)
You can see that there are just a few basic meals repeated throughout the week. This works for me. When I make my menu plan for the following week, I can change things up a bit with new dinners. For now I need as basic and real as possible so that I can stick to it. Once I am comfortable with it, I can expand.
I think for now I will tackle the food issue and then I’ll throw exercise into the mix when I know I don’t have to think about everything else and can just concentrate on that.
We’ll see where this gets me.
Also, I am coming up on 7 months smoke free. I really never thought I would make it this far.
Current Weight: 181 lbs.
Goal Weight: 140 lbs.
Height: 5′ 8″.
Hips: 47″
Waist: 38″
Chest: 38″ (that was a significant drop. Wow! and yes, my bra is fitting looser)
I quit smoking almost 6 months ago, and in that time I have gained over 20lbs. I didn’t focus on trying to not gain weight when I quit because I just wanted to focus on quitting smoking and getting past all the psychological issues that go along with it; the weight I could deal with later.
Well, the weight is now a huge issue (pun intended). I’ve been feeling really self-conscious about it and yesterday while I was walking around work, I could feel the extra weight on me jiggling and I was mortified.
Over the past 10 years I have struggled with weight issues that I never had to deal with before. Where they came from, I’m not sure. It could have been all my attempts at quitting smoking and the miscarriage and feeling too comfortable in my relationship, who knows. The thing is that I remember being thin and happy with my body.
The bad part about that is that when I was thin and happy with my body I smoked, a lot, and drank coffee rather than eat food. I didn’t eat much back then and food wasn’t on my mind all. the. time.
This is where I begin to struggle with the smoking issue; knowing that I could be thin again if I just went back to smoking. I decided that wasn’t going to work this time.
So last night as I was drinking my cream soda (I know, bad huh?) I decided that today I would start eating healthier and start exercising.
This body needs to go away:
Long Term Goal: Lose 40lbs and tone. Look good in a bikini.
Short Term Goal: Lose 10lbs. by March 28, 2009.
My short term goal will change as time passes and I’ll refine my long term goal as time goes by as well.
Right now I am going to be eating more nutritious foods in smaller portions, and more often. I also need to start exercisisng everyday. Which I will be doing in just a few moments. I’ll post my progress next Sunday.
Current Weight: 182 lbs.
Goal Weight: 140 lbs.
Height: 5′ 8″.
Hips: 47″
Waist: 39″
Chest: 41″
If you’ve been following me for any length of time, I’m sure you’ve noticed how much I love to change things around here. So now that I’m back, I felt I needed something new yet again. This template, Amazing Grace, I picked up from Vladimir Prelovac.
Now that I’m back to blogging, I’m also back to playing with the looks of my blog. Please excuse the mess while I try to figure this all out, thanks. 
Well, it’s been a very long time. 5 months?! Yikes! Can’t say I’ve been too busy to blog; I haven’t really done much of anything. The past 5 months have just been very difficult. I quit smoking at the end of August and lost all my motivation to do much of anything. My creativity shriveled up and died, my energy went on vacation, and my focus ran away. My only focus over the past few months has been to not smoke. I’ve succeded so far, and hope to continue.
I am finally starting to feel that I can grow my focus out to other things. To make this post a little shorter and easier to read here are some bullet points and pictures of the past few months and where I am at now:
- Quit smoking on August 28, 2008
- Had a family reunion Thanksgiving
- G had his second birthday in December
- Finally got myself an XBOX 360
- I was almost never heard from again
- Decided to go back to school to get certified as a Medical Coding Specialist
- Took G on his first trip to the Zoo
- Started to get my energy back and get things done around the house and get back online.
- I’ve been Twittering like mad lately.
I have many plans, but I won’t go into too much right now. Too often I have been public about doing stuff I haven’t ever gotten around to doing. Here are some things I would like to do though:
- Get a new blog design
- Get to creating again
- Share my progress on uncluttering (I’ve gotten a lot done, but still have a long way to go)
- Start blogging on a regular basis.
- Get my son to STOP drinking out of the cat’s water dish, please!
- Lose 40 lbs. (I’ve gained 20 lbs. since I quit smoking!)
- Start exercising everyday
- Eat better
- Get back to the RWLP posting. (I’ve been reading and watching lots of great stuff.)
A lot of stuff. Right now I would love to get started on some of this, but I have to go get ready for work; the story of my life right now.
Baby G found one of his sister’s t-shirts last week and wanted to wear it. I took pictures. He can switch from evil looking to adorable in a second.
Well, sorry about being a few days late on this. For some reason it did not register that its September, hello!
This edition of Reading, Watching, Listening, Playing will be just Reading and Watching. I haven’t done any listening and not much playing this past month. I have done a lot of reading and a little watching.
Reading:
- The Shadow Isle by Katharine Kerr
- This is the 14th installment of the Deverry Cycle. I enjoyed it thoroughly and still highly recommend this series to anyone who loves epic fantasy.Don’t just take my word for it, read the reviews at Amazon. As one reviewer stated, Kerr does not get enough credit for this fabulous series.
- The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz
- Perfect Phrases for Customer Service by Robert Bascal
- On Writing Well by William K. Zinsser
- Ladies Who Launch by Victoria Colligan and Beth Schoenfeldt
- Will Work From Home by Tory Johnson and Robyn Freedman Spizman
- The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan
Watching:
- Bones
- Doctor Who
This months list includes a much longer Watching list. I’ve been a little more lazy this month, so I’m getting more watching time in. Not as much review this time around. Running short on time. I’ve reviewed where I strongly feel I need to.
Reading:
- The Spirit Stone by Katharine Kerr
- Focal Point by Brian Tracy
Watching:
- Spiderwick Chronicles
- Buffy
- Dr. Who
- Dr Horrible - The greatest 45 minutes of the past month. I’ve watched it 4 times now. I would love to buy the soundtrack.
- Control
Listening:
Nothing new here.
Playing:
- Sims 2
- Wild Arms 4
It’s been so long since I’ve posted a clutter clearing post that I have no idea what week I’m in now. At some point I’ll take the time to count them all up.
Just because I haven’t posted, doesn’t mean I haven’t been uncluttering. Aaron took a big step towards getting us uncluttered while I was on vacation at the beginning of this month. While I was away, he cleared out the living room, rearranged it, and baby proofed it. When I got back we hit IKEA for more storage solutions, and now I finally have a living room I can live with.
First let me show you what the room looked like before:
As you can see it was a terrible, cluttered mess. While we still have a lot of stuff, most of it is tucked away in baskets and drawers now.
Aaron moved the entertainment center to the other side of the room and I stacked the modular shelving along the wall. At IKEA we got baskets that fit inside the modular shelving.
We picked up two small dressers at IKEA and created a play space for Baby G around them.
Aaron also attached the VOIP and wireless hubs to a wood panel and hung it on the wall so it’s off the floor. The next step here is to find a way to hide it.
The only thing we have left to do in the living room is to buy a new, small futon and get rid of the one chair we have in there. We found the perfect one for us at IKEA
We started working on the dining/ craft room yesterday and I hope to have pictures of that sometime soon.
Well, where have I been and what have I been doing? Honestly? Absolutely nothing. Since I’ve been out of school I have completely lost my focus. Most days I sit around doing nothing, or spending time with my son (which is important, obviously, and lots of fun). I’ve been tweeting a lot as well. My crafting and uncluttering took a backseat to my sloth. Maybe I’ve had a touch of depression? Possibly. I am stressed out most days because my job is driving me crazy. My job per se isn’t so bad, I still love the books - it’s the customers that I hate with a fiery passion; the sense of entitlement runs rampant among them these days. I let them stress me out. Anyway, all of this stress and laziness has come to a head. I need to refocus and get my butt into gear.
I sent out a tweet today about my desire, and reluctance, for a job change and I received a response from Tammy Powley that sparked some focus back into me. What I do with that focus is all up to me. And I have some great ideas, I just need to keep my focus to make it work.
That is all. I have to go get ready for work now. Should be an interesting night at work with all of this on my mind.
