Monday, November 7, 2011

Got To Let It Go

(Did anyone catch the old-school Amy Grant reference in my title? That's about all the creativity I can muster on a Monday morning.)

This coming Saturday is a day that I've been both greatly looking forward to AND dreading. It's annual family photo day. I'm looking forward to it (rain, stay away!) because it always turns into a super fun evening with our photographer and her family, and she always does an amazing job! I dread it because, as you can see from the photo in a previous post, I'm not anywhere near my ideal weight. I've even toyed with the idea of only having pictures of the kids done this year.

Each year I tell myself that I'm going to lose weight and each year I don't. I could tell you that it's because I'm busy with all of my volunteer organizations or that my back hurts so exercising is hard...really I could list any number of excuses. However, that's all that they would be, excuses. I need to find a way to exercise more and eat less. Calories in must be less than calories expended. It's math that even I'm capable of doing.

Please don't misunderstand my intent in blogging this; this isn't a sneaky way of soliciting a bunch of people to say, "Oh, you look fine!" My reason for posting this is so that I have some accountability. It's fully within my power to start making some positive changes, and I think that by posting here, I just might be able to succeed. Maybe.

I spent some time last night thinking about exactly what I plan on doing. It's not realistic for me to declare myself to be on a diet and promise to start consuming only 1,200 calories a day. I need to set realistic goals. Therefore, I have decided that beginning today, for one week I won't be having any dessert-ish items. Now, you might think, "No dessert for a week? That's it?" However, that's kind of a big deal for me. We have TONS of crap in the house. As I sit here typing, I'm actually looking at a partial roll of Oreos that I brought upstairs a few nights ago. There are many candy pumpkins in the candy jar, there are more Oreos in the cabinet and there is a donut left from Peterson's sitting on the counter. I'm not kidding, there's stuff everywhere.

So, for one week, I'm not going to have any of it. Creating new habits will take a while, but I have to start somewhere. I'm not giving up all sugar; I need my vanilla lattes in the morning. But cookies/candies/cakes...I'm giving them up for a week.

Eek. We'll see how this goes. I might be really cranky in a day or so!

1 comment:

Crayl said...

I recently had a conversation with Aaron. I mathematically calculated the years before I am 50, took the amount of weight I want to lose, and then divided that number by 52(weeks0, and that's my goal number of what I have to lose. It's very reasonable and small changes will do it. It's already working. I can still eat foods I enjoy, maybe less sure, and work out a little more...but there is not stress. (Specifically age 50 because of the hormonal changes that I hear make you gain weight around the middle region).
Cutting sugar is the quickest , healthiest little change we can all do! Sugar causes inflammation, which causes pain too! You'll feel better! I am very proud of you!