Step Away From the Cake

Last week my weight was up, way up, 195!!! And I felt every ounce of that. This week I started school and while I tried to make good choices in the food they offered, there was pizza one day and I was hungry and I ate way, way too much. But I have been biking everyday and for the last 2 days eating vegan in during the day and meat only at night. Stepped on the scale this morning and I'm down to 192.2. Wow! That is the lowest I've been all summer. I honestly believe, that for me, the food is the most important part. If I can get the food under control everything else will fall into place. If I eat well, I feel better. If I feel better, I want to do more things. If I want to do more things, I get more active. It all just fits. So I'm going to focus on eating. Right now, while I'm adjusting to returning to school, I'm kind of tired and we need to start walking the dogs again, so that will take up my evenings. I'm just going to focus on food and the activity wil...

For as far back as I can remember my weight has been an issue with me. I remember being a teenager and stressing over my weight and how my body looked. I was thinking about that this morning since I'm feeling particularly chunky after a couple of weeks of sitting on my butt. Have I been dealing with this for so long that it has just become who I am?? I don't like that idea but I think it my be true. I'm not sure exactly what to do about it but recognizing it is a huge first step. I will need to ponder this much more. Later that same day: I have thought about it and I don't like it. There was a time when I was the athlete. Everyone looked at me as the runner, swimmer, biker. That was an image I liked. That is the image I want back. I'm definitely not feeling it this week with returning to school and trying to get back into the swing of things. Also, my eating has been atrocious these last few days. School feeds us and quite frankly, it's not that great. I hav...

I've talked a lot about how I used to smoke and quit about 20 years ago. I was a heavy smoker, a heavy smoker. But I finally managed to quit and I am so glad I did. There are so many benefits to not smoking; health, money, etc. When I worked at Walgreens last year I discovered how expensive smoking really is. I would see people, homeless people, coming in scrounging up change to buy cigarettes. That is sad. I know very few people who smoke now. My neighbor smokes but he's a jerk so who cares. There is one teacher at school that smokes and I was shocked, shocked when I found out she smokes. She goes for car rides at lunch time so she can smoke. That was one of the things I hated most about smoking, it absolutely takes over your life. You have to plan when you are going to have your next cigarette. Now it's even worse with all the smoking restrictions. We used to be able to smoke in the offices I worked in. Then they said you couldn't smoke inside, no problem we just we...

We are what we repeatedly do. Therefore, excellence is not an act, but a habit. (I found this attributed to a number of people, so let's suffice it to say I did not say this.) I've been thinking about my awakening yesterday. I have been deluded myself somewhat in thinking that I could spend the vast majority of my day sitting on my butt and not gain weight/size. Who am I kidding? So I spent last night looking around for apps to help me get back on track. I downloaded Calorie Counter by Fat Secret - I've tried them all and this is by far my favorite. It's got a great database, it scans UPC, and it's easy to use. So that's on my new phone and will be put into use tomorrow. I also spent some time looking for workout apps. I think I found a good one. Fitness Buddy . It has over 1,000 exercises in it's database. Plus it has set up workout routines that you can follow or you can make your own using moves from their database. Then you can track what you do ...