I can't believe it - I did it. I made the financial commitment and purchased 6 pairs of jeans - 1 in each size from 16 to 6.



I also commmitted to my daughter that I would fit into those size 6 jeans before the end of the year - she's going to be a big motivator, I know it!

If I don’t make things important to me, I’ll never be disappointed. This apathetic attitude, that’s pretty much the pattern of my life really relates to my weight loss pattern. Typically I set goals with a ‘yeah, it would be great if’ kind of attitude. Great, but not essential. That way I’m allowed to feel accomplished if I succeed, but I’m hardly disappointed if I don’t. I can’t tell you how often I use the words, “Oh well… Such is life”.



The good news is that this attitude saves me a lot of stress. I don’t worry much, because hey, stuff happens. I don’t run myself into a frenzy trying to get things done, because things that get done, get done, and those that don’t, well they aren’t THAT important.



What I haven’t quite figured out yet, though, is how I change my ‘floating through life’ attitude so that I can accomplish more, without losing the parts of myself that I like, and continuing to life pretty much stress free. How do I make my health and weight loss goals important enough that I don’t skip a workout or make poor choices. I realize that to do this, I’m probably going to have to invest some emotion in my goals, and that doesn’t feel comfortable. I hate being disappointed and worse of all, I hate to disappoint myself. But, maybe it’s time to step out of my comfort zone. Maybe it’s time to push myself outside of the gym, if only to make sure that I make it there to push myself again.



Something to think about at least.

The first is getting closer and closer. I’m working on planning my first week of meals. I’m also creating a calendar for myself in my Calendar creator program, listing all my workouts and with another ‘body I admire’ for each month for inspiration. I’m also doing all I can to find my weaknesses, and setting new plans to help me succeed. The first new habit I’m going to create is to write down everything I eat each day. I know I ALWAYS do a better job of eating and snack a lot less when I have to write it down. Knowing I have to write down everything that goes into my mouth usually makes me think twice before I put it there. May as well take advantage of my inherent laziness after all. I’ve also worked really hard on creating a daily schedule that not only leaves me time to exercise, but to journal and plan my meals the way I need to. I know this is an important element for me, but I also know that it has a tendency to overtake my life. I need to find balance between having a healthy life and having a life. Mainly I’ve been focusing on my mental attitude. Building a support system both internally and externally. Setting myself up to succeed by foreseeing and overcoming problems BEFORE I’ve found myself at the bottom of a box of chocolates. My biggest issue? The ‘I want it now’ attitude. When it comes to the choice between having my cake today, or loosing 2 lbs tomorrow – I’ll almost always have the cake. After all, it feels good NOW, and there’s always next week to lose those 2 lbs. I need to create a sense of urgency, within myself, a need to lose those 2 lbs THIS week, that will overpower the urge for the cake today. At the same time, I don’t want to become insanely focused on the scale. I’ve tried the mental attitude that this is about being healthy, and not just about weight, but – that hasn’t worked yet. So rather then try the same thing over and over and getting no results, I’ve got to figure out a new approach. It’s all a learning process, and trial and error. You can bet, that I if I find a trigger that works, I’ll shout from the mountain top!



Something else I’m doing different this time? I’m starting my challenge on a Saturday. This way I’ve put my ‘planning time’ on a Friday Night or Saturday Morning – OR – if I don’t plan Saturday’s a day I can usually ‘wing it’ without too many consequences because I’m at home, and Sunday’s a free day anyway so I’ve got basically two days to finalize my planning for the next week before I have to go back to work. As I said I’m trying to set myself up to succeed in every way I can.

As much as I hate the whole 'New Year Resolution' deal, I can say that the 'goals' I've set myself for the new year have me looking forward to the change of the calendar more then I ever have. There is something inside me that says, "This is the year it all changes". Not just nutritionally, but in other ways as well.



One of the biggest things that's happening in our lives is that Nigel has resigned, and Jan 1st is his first day working for, ME! Well for us really, but we like to joke that I'm his new boss. We've been trying to get our own business running for two years now, and we just couldn't find the time. So we finally desided to take an enormous leep of faith and MAKE the time. No more, 'When we have all our bills payed off" or "When we have a year's worth of income saved".



As I said before I've set the bar pretty high for my personal fitness goals. Nov 1st is when I plan to hit goal. Yes,it's agressive. But I belive it's achievable. I'm not allowing myself a lot of 'slurge' room, but I think that's a good thing. I've also been doing a LOT of visualization. Yes, it's still hard for me to visulize myself as thin fit and at goal, but I can imagine I'm somebody else and THAT person is thin, fit and at goal. Funny thing the mind. I'm a pretty good actress, so I think that 'acting' like a thin fit person might be the key for me. Play the part long enough and you become it. At least that's what I'm going to do.



Besides the trip that Nigel has promised me (When I reach goal) I have another goal. Next year for christmas I want to give him a 'pin up' calendar. som of the AMAZING transformation photos I have seen have inspired me to want to do something similar, for 'his' eyes only of course. But just imagining being able to confidently pose for something like that has been a BIG inspiration for me.



I'll be posting some definative goals soon. This week will be a LOT Of planning I'm looking forward to it! Better get started.

Hey everyone - Not much to report, progress or otherwise. I've managed to keep things rather moderate over the past few days. Christmas, of course, is running me ragged. My son and daughter spent the weekend with me, and haven't really set a date to go back to thier dad's. They are supposted to go back before Christmas, I know that. Then they are back with me for a week until New Year. For those of you who knew me before I can say that a LOT has happend over the past year, and things between my kids and I have improved 110%. My son is even talking about coming to live with me. Oh - and the ex got married. Life is GREAT. My fiance' and I haven't gotten married yet. We're still waiting for enough money to go on our honeymoon. It will happen when it happens. Until then we're happy, and in love. We will have been engaged two years on New Years, and most people have stopped asking when the date is. We're more committed to each other then many of the married folks I know, so I can't see how a piece of paper can change anything.



Healthwise I'm doing ok. I've gained a lot of weight back, but I've got a plan in place for that. I've also got an awsome inspiration. Last night as we were laying in bed discussing Christmas Nigel and I started talking about gift for each other. I mentioned that I've really struggled with what to give him, just because he's such a hard person to buy things for. He pulled me close and said, "You know, one of hte best gifts you could give me would be for you to lose this weight and be happy with yourself" Ok - I know some women would be completely offended by something like that, but if you knew my sweety you would know that he would only say something like that with the deepest of love in his heart.



So he and I started talking about my goals. I told him that I've figured out that if I started full bore in January and kept with it, I could reach my goal in time for Thanksgiving. So he said. I'll tell you what, if you reach your goal, then as a celebration we'll go to New York City and watch the Ball Drop next New Year's Eve. He also promised me a shopping spree which, belive me, I'm going to take him up on.



One of the things I'm going to do as an 'investment' in my goals is I'm going to hit up a store and buy 6 pairs of jean - from size 16 (my current size) to size 6 (my goal size) all the exact same brand and style. That way I'll have a true impartial measure of my progress. I'll easily be able to measure how close I am to the next 'goal' without being side tracked by the difference in size between brands.



I'm looking forward to the coming year and the challenges it will bring.



Happy Holiday's to you all! and thank you for the welcome back!

It's that time again. The time when everyone on the planet is recommitting themselves to loosing weight getting fit, and 1000 other promises that we'll forget about before the end of January.



I'm no different. I'm recommitting; looking to regain that focus that I had. Looking to make it last longer then a day or two. The only time in my life when I was successful was when I was posting faithfully - here. And so I start again.



I've backslid. More then backslid it seems. Today's weight 203, and what have I had so far to eat? A cinnamon roll and a muffin. I haven't picked up a weight or stepped on the treadmill in months. I've got every excuse under the sun. I'm too busy, I'm too tired, I'm too...stupid is more like. It's time to put myself first again. It's time to start feeling GOOD about myself again; mentally AND physically.



And so I'm here - looking for a little tough love and a lot of ideas and support. I'm going to start slowly the end of this year. As much as I would love to jump in with both feet right away I know that this is the holiday season and I'm going to enjoy it. That's not to say I'm giving my self the excuse to continue the way I've been going. It just means that I might walk instead of run one day, or only do 3 sets instead of 5. It means that I'll have a piece of chocolate on a day other then my free day but not the whole box.



But, I'm going to make progress, each and EVERY day.



As for 2005 - I've got some goals - I'm going to plant the idea that THIS is the year I'm going to reach my goal. It's time to stop saying one day, and make it happen today.