Begin again. Again.

It has been MONTHS since I last updated.  To be honest, I almost forgot this blog existed.  After my beloved grandma passed away last fall, daily life took a backseat for a while.  Then it was the holidays.  At Christmas time, we came down with the stomach flu, all of us.  And at least one of us has been sick EVER SINCE!  Up until this week.  We have had pneumonia, bronchitis, colds, coughs, sniffles, sore throats, ear infections, weird stomach pains that landed us in the ER, rinse, repeat.  I have never been so completely annoyed with my health in all my life.  I'm tired of feeling old and moldy.  I'm getting my health back.

In the midst of getting sick repeatedly, I had made several vows of getting back on track with exercise and this blog, but just as I would work up the motivation I'd get sick again.  This time I feel like I can really commit without fear of getting derailed again.

So here we go again.

This time I have a plan.  For realsies.

I know, I know.  I always have a 'plan'.  But if you remember, I sort of went with the no-plan plan last time and I really think that's why I lost motivation so easily.  I do better with a goal in mind and a method in place.

Goal: 135

Method: Quit eating

Kidding.  This might sound like quite the lofty goal, but ideally I would like to lose one pound a week.  That's all.  As someone who has resorted to very drastic weight-loss methods in the past, I'm officially worried about doing permanent damage to my metabolism.  I'm going the slow but sure route this time.

Brief weight history:  I currently weigh somewhere between 150 and 155.  I'm around 5'8".  My body seems content to be around 150 it seems.  I always 'normalize' here.  After college, getting married, fasting, having babies, switching jobs, quitting work altogether, rarely exercising, and consistently eating sub-par foods... I always find myself in the 150s.  It's my body's comfort zone.  So I guess the good news is that I haven't put on any weight since I last posted.  My body does not appear to be in an upward trend, just a holding pattern.  So in theory, any changes I make for the better are going to result in some weight loss.

What changes?

1. I'm going to drink water.  Not just more water.  Enough water.  Oddly enough, this is the one I'm dreading the most.

2. I will eat breakfast.  Bah.  I'm not sure when this became such a chore, but I really need to find ways to make this happen.  I'm no longer a breakfast person.

3. I'm going to weigh in once a week and post the results here.

4. Exercise.  I consistently struggle to find the time/motivation/ability/desire to exercise.  My current solution is to try to work out downstairs while the kids play.  I'll let you know how that goes.

5. Rewards!  I get a reward for every five pounds I lose and for every five hours I work out.  The rewards are yet to be determined, but shopping will be involved.  And a pedicure.  Ooh, and a massage.  I think they should be: 5 lbs- manicure, 10 lbs - pedicure, 15 lbs - massage, and goal - new clothes.  And for exercising: every five hours I exercise earns me a new song on iTunes.  Sounds small, but it's enough.


Tools:

I have a few tools for keeping me motivated and accountable. 

1. A body measuring tape.  I'll take measurements weekly.  When the scale fluctuates, it's nice to see that inches are still melting away.

2. lolo Treadmill running app.  It analyzes your playlist to come up with beats per minute of each song.  It then creates a custom playlist for your running program so you are always running to the exact beat of the music.  How sweet is that?!

3. This blog.  I'm going to keep track of my desired weight for each week.  I'll then post my actual weight so I can see if I'm meeting my goal.


As usual, I have my (meticulously googled) plan in place.  Now I just need to implement it.  I doubt I'll be able to regularly do updates on Wednesdays, so I have yet to pick a specific day.  But this time.. I will keep updating this blog!  Nothing will interfere this time. 

Swear.

So let's begin again.. again.