Finally down to a healthier BMI!

The new electronic scale told me this morning that I was down to 140 lbs - even with some light clothing - and therefore my BMI is finally under 25.

Total lbs fat is now 40.

This was somewhat unexpected, so I was thrilled, and it gave me a boost of motivation. I'm aiming for 137 lbs by the time we go on vacation in 2 weeks.

I already see and feel a difference from the way I was 6 months ago, when I honestly thought that I was looking slightly pregnant. I don't miss the belly fat and bloating.

I'm still aiming to be 125 lbs by this time next year, plus having a better level of overall fitness. I want to be able to run 5 km or comfortably do a class at the gym, and have plenty of energy each day.

My new "fast food"

Since time is always an issue, here are some of my new fast foods:

1. Eggs and egg whites

Cheap, lots of protein, and less than 5 min. to make. I like to make mine with salsa from a jar, for lots of flavor and some extra veggies, and virtually no effort.

2. Smoothies

Frozen fruit stays in the freezer so it's ready to use any time and doesn't rot. A bit of juice, a bit of protein powder, a bit of plain yogurt, and I have an awesome breakfast to go in 2 min.

3. Thai curry chicken breast/thighs

I buy a package of boneless skinless thighs or breasts, rub them with green Thai curry paste, and bake them. Then, I put them individually in freezer bags. Instant lunch to go.

4. Pre-washed greens

Instant salad. Goes well with the chicken.

5. Pre-washed and trimmed green beans

Love green beans but hate the work involved. I just found a perfect bag of green beans that was literally ready to cook with no prep.

6. Toppits/Dorot frozen herbs

Flash frozen cubes of garlic, ginger, chili peppers, basil or dill make it easy to add lots of flavor with no fat and no effort. If I drop a cube of garlic into strained yogurt in the morning, it's tzatziki by lunch.

7. Baby carrots

Instant veggies.

8. Pacific or Imagine boxed soups

Butternut squash or black bean soup in a cup, 1.5 min in the microwave and I've got a hot, nutritious snack/appetizer as soon as I get home from work.

Weekly weigh-in

Down another pound, despite some lapses during the week.

I'm also noticing that when I do have a lapse, I feel it much more. My body seems to violently reject sugar now, and really doesn't cope well with it.

Mixed progress

I'm getting better at portion control. My meals still aren't perfect, but I've developed better awareness. We were out for dinner on the weekend, and I was able to pass up some of the things that I would have grabbed before. This time, I was able to say yes to a Meditteranean salad and tuna, and no to Caesar salad, bread basket, bruschetta, deep-fried appetizer and dessert.

Exercise-wise: I did get a nice long walk in on Sat. afternoon, but other than that, the week has been a write-off. Making time is a serious issue. My husband was out of town and things came up at work. The DVD is still in its plastic. Tonight I need to do it, no excuses.

Progress report

My weight was down 1 lb this week, with a slight reduction in percentage of body fat.

Of course, I've also noticed that every scale seems to be a bit different. From now on, I'm only going on the readings from THIS scale, since we use the same one each week at the weigh-in.

My realistic goal is 1-2 lbs/week, since that it was will realistically be fat loss.

The theme of the week at today's group meeting was exercise. Bottom line: It's not just about spending more time at the gym, but about doing a serious weight training routine with high-intensity cardio intervals. If I can do it in 30-40 min. a day, that would be awesome!

Supersize me

At my daughter's sleepover party last night, the girls surprised me by choosing to rent "Supersize Me".

I had seen it before, but it was certainly an added bit of motivation. Last time, I thought it made fast food seem gross. This time, it drove home the fact that it is truly toxic.

I related to it. I was clearly in the grip of a junk food addiction, in which my mood would briefly elevate as I was eating, followed by a dip, weird depression, general anxiety and other weird feelings. Honestly, I feel like the past few weeks have been a detox session.

I'm sleeping better. The bloating is gone. Most of the cravings have passed. I had tons of energy this weekend. My waist is at least an inch smaller.

I don't know why I had so many false starts, but this feels like lasting progress. It's not been just about having willpower when a craving strikes. It's been about having a plan, so that the cravings are stopped in their tracks. I've also been really trying to cut through the denial to truly appreciate the dangers of certain foods and ways of eating. The soft drinks obviously had to go - they were the most drug-like. I'm trying to make sure that I always have my water bottle now. I only use 1/2 cup juice/day now, just for the smoothie. The rest was also way too much sugar. Cutting out the grains felt extreme, but I can't deny that I feel better. I wonder if I was sensitive to it all along? I may increase the grains a bit once I'm at the goal weight, but I'll keep remembering portion control. All the fibre and whole grains doesn't do any good when you overeat.

I've stopped the fast food, pretty much cold turkey, and I don't buy myself things from convenience stores anymore either. It's gradually getting easier, as the new way of eating is coming together as a habit. That's really what I need - it has to be on auto-pilot for me. I can make a morning smoothie without thinking about it, with stuff that is always in my kitchen. This past week, I made twice the amount of greek yogurt, so I had plenty on hand for both smoothies and dips. I love the baby carrots, because they are so easier to grab. The pre-washed baby spinach takes no effort to stuff into a plastic container. I already know that my designated daily grain is a whole grain tortilla with hummus. I just need to prep the rest of the veggies and the proteins. I baked extra Thai green curry chicken thighs on Friday and froze them, so hopefully those should be good meals this week.

My challenge in the upcoming weeks will be to integrate "my" food with the rest of the family's meals. I'll include my husband with my meals this week, since I think he would benefit too. He will just need a bit more, since his activity level is higher. Also, it would be great for healthy eating and fitness to be a joint venture, instead of separate obsessions (he's a fitness nut). I also want to continue to improve the kids' eating, without going overboard. They are young, and following my food plan clearly wouldn't give them enough energy. OTOH, Supersize Me drove home, yet again, how we are really letting our kids down if we don't give them healthy meals. The school is a lot better than it used to be, and is really pushing fruits and veggies as proper snack choices (and they provide time for morning and afternoon snack in addition to lunch). I need to find a way to keep sugar and carbs under some sort of control, and up the protein. My son has figured out that too much sugar makes me puke. It gets challenging when I have restrictions on what I can send with them - no nuts, no meat, and something individual restrictions on eggs and fish, depending on what allergies classmates have.

Finally making a bit of progress...

Today was #3 of my 10 week weight loss group.

I'm down 2 lbs from last week. In addition, I've noticed far less bloating since I've drastically reduced the flour, and I have more energy.

The first week, I had massive carb cravings, but those are mostly gone now and I seem to be adjusting. My body just had to realize, "Oh, I'm not really starving".

I still need to increase the amount of exercise, esp. muscle work, so I'll need to finally make a workable schedule.

I hope that some slight modifications with my eating, like having even more veggies, less juice and a bit more protein, plus the increased exercise, can kick the weight loss up a notch.

Since I've terminated my memberships in imamother and babycenter, my online time has decreased, and I've been more focused at work. In turn, my stress is reduced.

New goals:

Keep on top of bills and billings, both at home and work, and get all billings done by year end
Go to bed by 11 p.m. each night
Have dinner on table by 5:45 p.m. each evening, then spend 1 hour with my son on homework and reading.
Weight:
144 by Nov. 11
137 by Dec. 12
130 by Jan. 10
122 by Oct/11

1st session of weight loss group

We started this morning, and I got my individual food plan.

Needless to say, it's very different from the way that I've been eating!

I need to eat a serving of protein at least 3x/day (tofu, fish, skinless chicken, low-fat cottage cheese - regular dairy, legumes or nuts/seeds don't count in this), 1 dairy serving/day, 1x day nuts/seeds, 1x/day whole grain, 1x/day legumes, 1x/day starchy veggie, 2x/day fruit, 4 tsp good oils/fats and a minimum of 5x/day veggies. Plus water - lots of water. No soft drinks, no caffeine after exercise. 3 meals/day plus 2 snacks, so that I'm eating every 3-4 hours and not having my blood sugar dip. Min. 30 min exercise, 6 days/week, and the grain gets eaten within 1 hour after the exercise.

The menu plan will need to be modified. Here are some of my thoughts:

Keep the hummus wrap, with veggies/sprouts. Make it on small tortilla instead of a large, and use 1/4 cup hummus or black bean dip. That will count for 1 grain, 1 legume, 1 veggie and possibly 1 oil. Eat after workout.

Breakfast: Keep a smoothie with 2 fruit, but change it to add protein powder and take away juice.

Lunch: veggies tofu curry, mock saag paneer curry, chicken over salad, salmon over salad, beef stew, chicken stir-fry with veggies

Dinner: balsamic salmon, roast chicken (3-4 oz.), turkey meatballs, egg, tofu curry, served with starchy vegetable (mashed or roast sweet potato, squash soup), regular cooked veg and a salad.

Snack #1: the hummus wrap with sprouts after the workout

Snack #2: veggies and greek yogurt dip, hard boiled egg

I'll need to plan Shabbat extra-carefully. I'm thinking of switching my schedule around so that most stuff is done ahead of time and I can workout just before dinner, so that I can have a serving of challah. The next day, do hummus, hard-boiled eggs, tomato, cucumber for breakfast, grain at lunch (with an extra grain if I do a massive walk in the afternoon) plus leftover chicken or beef stew, with veggies, guacamole and veggies for snack, another protein and veggie meal for dinner.

So far....I'm hungry, but not feeling bloated or sick. Time to eat.

Intake appointment for nutrition group

Had my initial appointment with the nutritionist, so that she could evaluate my life and develop a plan for me.

If I was Catholic, I would say that it's like going to confession. I had to be honest and admit my various health and food sins - the junk food at work, the lack of exercise, the fact that I often skip food and ride the adrenaline high until finally crashing when I do eat, the fact that I stay up WAY too late and then can't fall asleep and feel sluggish the next day.....

Clearly, what I am doing is not healthy. Cortisol and adrenaline and wild blood sugar swings are creating havoc on my body, and putting me at risk for all sorts of really nasty stuff. I also started to realize that I never really developed great habits, although I had some better periods (like when I was more active in high school). In the past, I looked skinny - but that was because I lost weight due to stress while eating fast food and chocolate.

It became even more painfully obviously to me that food and weight are just part of a bigger picture. One theme is that everything on the surface with me looks fine - but I cover up what's below. I don't look fat, but clinically I am. I talk about healthy eating and have a virtuous grocery cart - but I cheat at work when no one is looking. So, I need to come clean.

Tied in with that is being honest about my needs and actually scheduling them in, instead of sneaking around. My husband is actually good at this, which sometimes makes me jealous. My natural tendancy is to take on everything and forget about myself - making the kids' lunches but not my own, etc.

I need to do a master schedule, because that is how I work best. Without something in writing, I'm lost. I know that about myself. So, cravings don't really start at 2 p.m. at work. They start when I don't plan on Sat. night to make time on Sunday for shopping, scheduling and menu planning and prep.

I had a realization that the schedule doesn't have to seem too onerous. I can look at it the same way that I see a budget as permission to spend money. In other words - I can view exercise time as MY sacred time, and not feel that there is really something else that I need to be doing. I can view an earlier bedtime as permission to rest and not worry about things left undone. I can view work blocks as time to focus on work, without worrying about exercise or errands or calls. I can delegate the stuff that I don't like doing, so that I concentrate of the stuff that I do. This way - I'll sleep properly, do work when I should, shop and plan meals, have them ready to eat when I need them, exercise when I should and not worry about it the rest of the time, etc.

So, that's my homework for this weekend: Make a master schedule.

Joined nutrition group at gym

My initial weigh-in was 148 lbs - 2 lb for clothes = 146 lbs. If the electronic body composition scale is accurate, 36.5% of that is fat, which is classified as obese. It's a bit of a shock to see that, because I don't look obese, but I carry it in hidden spots and don't have the muscle mass to offset the numbers.

For the past couple of days, I've been good about making meals and following the meal plan.

I also got a bit more focused at work. Sept. was a disaster, with all of the holidays and my law clerk disappearing. Now, I'm actually at the office, and I got a new student to assist. That's keeping me more focused. So far, I'm making an effort to docket everything, and I managed to clean out the bottomless piles of files. My goal is to deal with everything up front, so that I'm more efficient and I don't have the stress that builds when I know that things are waiting.

That said, I'm no longer sure that my menu plan is so wonderful. The nutritionist said that the yogurt and nuts shouldn't be counted as protein, but considered carbs and fats, and she thought that my beloved morning smoothie was spiking my blood sugars. On the other hand - I finally figured out how to make quinoa that is properly cooked, and it worked well with curry.

Speaking of curry - my mock saag paneer was great last night, but it put me right to sleep! I crashed for the night just after 9 p.m. So, no work done, but I woke up refreshed, without an alarm clock, at 6 a.m., exercised, bathed a kid, and got all the lunches (including the adults) done in record time. I'll try to keep to earlier bedtimes (but not that early), but also want to avoid in general foods that will wipe me out. I keep trying to remember to drink water all day and keep eating small amounts to balance the blood sugars.

I need to build in workouts 4x/week. There is no way that I can do it otherwise. Maybe long walk Sat., workout Sunday, workout Tues. morning, workout Thursday - that sounds doable.

My goal - now in writing and made public at the gym as well as here - is to be down to 131 lbs by the middle of December. I'm motivating myself by thinking about that goal - how my picture is going to be displayed at the gym, and how I'll look and feel on vacation in January. It would also be a great start to my eventual goal of 123 lbs by Oct. 2011.

One year till the big 4-0

I'm turning 39 this weekend.

That's motivation for turning all my half-assed schedules and plans into something firmer. I've got 365 days to make some solid changes.

So, my concrete goals to do by 40 are:

1. Get down to 125 lbs, which is right in the middle of my healthy BMI range and the weight at which I have historically felt most comfortable.

2. Get fit, so that I can run a mile, have plenty of energy for life, and engage in some fun fitness activities without hesitation.

3. Get a firm grip on finances - stay out of debt, pay down mortgage aggressively, develop and keep a budget, finance upcoming expenses without stress.

4. Develop better sleep habits, getting to bed before midnight.

5. Eat healthy foods (since it would be theoretically possible to lose weight while eating complete crap - I've done it before), with a focus on eating real foods.

6. Keeping focusing on family time: being on top of things with the kids, and making couple time.

7. Try to keep up with friends, etc. in a way that makes sense with my schedule - using Fri. night/Sat., reconnecting where possible.

Plan to get there in 365 days:

1. Get down to 140 by Nov. 11, so that I won't be overweight at the Dr. appointment. After that, lose an additional 15 lbs, hopefully by January.

2. Turn off computer every night and get into bed before 12 midnight.

3. Make a DETAILED master schedule on computer (not scrap paper), and save as a template. Every Sat. night or Sunday, customize it for the next week. Include EVERYTHING - every meal and snack for everyone in the family, exercise, work routines, etc. Then, follow it!

4. Don't keep cash around, so that I can't buy junk. Record every credit card purchase.

5. Docket daily, do billing/accounting weekly, do month end stuff on time. Record everything, both business and personal.

6. Schedule in time for the good stuff too - time for family, time for friends, time for self.

7. Keep this image of a trimmer, fitter, more relaxed, more accomplished self at my 40th birthday, and work toward it every day.

8. Keep this journal of the journey there.

Holidays suck.

We went away for a week in August. That was fun, but when I got back I was faced with a mountain of things to do, a slew of doctor appointments for the kids and a mishmash of childcare arrangements until school started.

School resumed....and we were promptly out again for Rosh Hashanah (with me having 50 people over for dinner over the 2 nights). It has been like this all month - I haven't had a chance to catch my breath, before another crisis or holiday hits. To top it off, my legal assistant - who wasn't supposed to go on mat leave until Oct. - doesn't show up for a few weeks.

Needless to say, some of my best diet/exercise/work plans are going by the wayside.

I did so a few things, though:

1. My sister gave me a pedometer, which is fun, and she's trying to train me.
2. I'm really trying not to go overboard these holidays, and to make reasonably healthy food.
3. I joined Fitday.com and find it useful....when it isn't a holiday and I can actually log things.

Tons of work, no sleep......

Suddenly, everyone seems to want me to draft their Separation Agreements. Now. Doing one wouldn't be a problem - it's a few hours. Dealing with a slew of them means that there is a backlog. I need to go into a "drafting cave" when I do them, because it really takes some concentration away from phones and interruptions, so I do it at night - but that has meant that my sleep is minimal. With minimal sleep comes less concentration. It's a vicious cycle.

Long weekend

We just got back from a long weekend.

My tummy was doing some bizarre things and bloating like crazy. It just got back to normal this morning.

Food: Not too bad. No real junk, and most of the food was homemade. However, a few more veggies would have been good.

Sleep: Good, for once.

Exercise: Did a 6 km advanced hike down a mountain, which was pretty impressive. However, my calves are still aching!

Work: None - I was on vacation!

My day so far.....

Missed breakfast and ate junk at lunch. I know that's bad.

I did get some work done, so I'm feeling energized about that. However, I'm also going nuts because my assistant seems to have simply vanished. She's not here, no explanation at all, not answering home or cell phone, not responding to email. She also has one of my important files with her. I'm hoping she's okay - but if she is, I'm going to be really pissed.

Suddenly being without an assistant also means that my filing is again piling up.

Will do more drafting and billing tonight, along with going to the gym.

My weekend eating was so-so. Friday night I mostly had fish and veggies - but I did take extra challah and cake too. It's just too good. Yesterday I was fairly good (smoothie for breakfast, chicken for lunch and fish for dinner), but the potato salad was my weakness - I had way more than I should have had. I did go on the elliptical for 1 hour on Sat. night. Didn't get that much sleep last night, but slept plenty on Saturday.

Accounting is up-to-date! Just need to do the rest of the billings, then I'm all caught up.

I'm glad that I actually used for Friday designated bookkeeping day the way that it was intended, for once.

A few days into Weight Loss Buddy system...

I now have an online weight loss buddy, which is an additional incentive to keep me on track.

For the past 3 days, I've actually managed to bring a real lunch and snack with me to work. It helps - but I still feel like an addict craving a hit. Even though I feel awful after the fact, going out and grabbing something filled with fat and sugar just feels good at the time. I'm hoping, like any other addiction, that the craving will disappear after a while.

I did manage to get some stuff done at work that I had been putting off for a while, and that had been causing me some stress. That feels good, at least. However, I'm beginning to wonder if my assistant will ever show up to work on time for at least 3 consecutive days. I'm flexible, but this is getting a bit much already. The whole purpose in having someone is to make sure that the routine things get done and that I stay on top of everything!

I got to the gym on Wed. for a good workout, and I plan to go again today (while I have a chicken in the oven). The stairclimber at the gym feels SO much better than my elliptical at home, so I actually enjoy it.

Sleep is getting a bit better, but is still an issue. I have to just say that I cannot stay up past midnight for any reason, period.

Quick meals strategies

I'm trying to come up with easy ways to do an end-run around my cravings.

Here are some things that seem to work:

Breakfast: fruit smoothies (frozen blueberries, strawberries, sometimes a banana into a blender, cover fruit with juice and water, blend). Gets some nutrients and anti-oxidants in early in the morning, and it's really fast. It also takes no effort or energy to digest, so I stay awake.

Lunch: the hummus wraps with sprouts are actually easy to prepare, and quite good. Satisfying, but not TOO filling.

Snacks: the trail mix in small snack containers seems to do the trick of killing my cravings while I'm in the car. It's crunchy, and the few chocolate chunks give me a hit that lets me bypass the chocolate bars.

Now...I've made the wraps for tomorrow, but just need the discipline to do this every day.

In other news....I planned to do tons of billing tonight, but stupidly brought home the wrong box of files.

Goals

I was back to my bad habits today. Not to self: Red Bull and Pringles is NOT the breakfast of champions. Way too much sugar and sodium, and it gives me the sweats. Not good.

I did walk around 4 miles last night with my husband, so that's good.

The gym is great, but after a strong start I'm starting to drop off on my schedule. I really need to go 3x/week for my ball-based exercise routine (which I love), plus do some cardio 5x/week.

I'm also finding that if I get behind on the menu planning on Sunday, the rest of the week really slides. I need to have my hummus and black bean spreads ready to go, my low-fat tzatziki all prepped, and my trail mix ready to go. I pack the kids' lunches every day, but need to put myself on the list as well.

Finally, I need to spend more time working, because when I know that things still need to be done and bills are coming up, it causes pressure, which in turn makes me not sleep well and eat the wrong things.

Plan for today:

Do some files tonight, including billing. Do some major billing tomorrow and Friday as well.

Starting new workout routine

I joined a gym.

Worked out on Monday, Friday and Sunday, plus did cardio at home on Sat. night. The ball routine is quite intense, and I'm feeling it!

My big weakness in diet is still eating junk while away from home. My diet at home is actually quite good, as long as I'm eating a regular meal and not mindlessly snacking. Having quick lunches and snacks to go will need to be a priority. I can feel my body feeling crappy after eating the junk, but I need to keep the cravings away.

The other issue is getting through my work without procrastinating. That will alleviate stress, give me more money, and in turn I'll be less likely to eat out of stress, and will sleep better.

So, new goals are:

Make lunch and snacks.
Do my work!!

I'm planning on a billing blitz before July 1, to avoid the new tax.

Let's try this again.

I tried doing 30 min cardio in the morning instead of the evening yesterday, and did feel energized for the day.

I also tried taking some Smartburn tablets, and just taking veggies and a hummus whole grain wrap from home. It worked - I didn't feel hungry, and felt a surprising amount of energy. I'm not a pill-popper, but whatever helps. I checked the reviews of it online and talked to the pharmacist, and there don't seem to be any reports of major side effects. It did produce a bloated feeling - but that's part of what killed my appetite. The key seems to be that I really need to take it 30 min before meals, and do it for all meals. I skipped one today, and got hungry again.

My assistant is off sick, so that's definitely slowing down things at work. I was just getting used to having someone deal with all of the administrative stuff, and now I'm back to doing it this week.

In terms of diet, I'm getting into the routine of making fruit smoothies every morning. I tried it with milk instead of juice one day - yuck. I'll stick to the fruit in fruit juice mixture.

Finally, I've put in a request - again - to close my Babycenter account. It was just sucking up too much time.

Need a new start AGAIN

This is getting downright depressing. I sound like an addict.

So far today:

Exercise: about 15 min. this morning
Food: Had a smoothie and vitamin for breakfast, but didn't pack a lunch so things went downhill.
Sleep: I was doing better for a while, but the past 2 nights I've reverted to my bad habits and started staying up late for no good reason (internet or TV).
Work: I did hire a part-time assistant, which has been helpful for organization and dealing with the backlog of admin tasks and phone calls, and more of my files are getting up to date. However, there is still a major file to tackle, and I need to get on top of the billing/accounting again (after doing a blitz last month). I also feel like an idiot because I went to the wrong address for a meeting this morning.

Need to get back on track.....

Everyone got sick, and any discipline I had went down the toilet. It's hard to do work, cook or exercise when your sinuses are exploding.

That said, it's depressing how far off track I've gotten.

So...my new plan to kick some tuchus:

1. Once more, kick myself off the worst time-sucking websites by closing my accounts or forcibly blocking access.

2. Start each day with a major sort/file and message check at work, and doing a daily task list.

3. Actually do some real exercise daily.

4. Don't leave home without a packed lunch.

There are a few things that I do manage reasonably well - usually, this is because they have become part of a structured habit. The secret seems to be that I need to get myself into some new routines until they become automatic habits.

Day 5:

Food: Shredded Wheat cereal, potato salad, cole slaw, challah, beef and barley stew, 2 pieces chicken thigh, 1 piece fish fillet, some fruit, green beans, spinach

Exercise: around 45 minutes of Wii Fit and elliptical

Sleep: Fell asleep with kid, got up in middle of night to go to my own room, woken up by coughing (croup) from son

Work: Got my work from the office

Day 4:

Food: smoothie, fake crab and veggie stirfry, 1/2 serving pasta, chicken soup with carrots, challah, homemade hummus and guacamole, sauteed green beans, pesto baked spinach, 1 piece chicken thigh

Exercise: 20 min Wii Fit

Sleep: Adequate

Work: Not much done as I was home with kids

Family: Stayed home with 3 sick kids

Starting to lose a bit of weight....

I know it's still really early, but Wii Fit says that I'm down to 143 lbs and my BMI is now under 26.

I'll do measurements in another week or so.

Day 3:

Food: Fruit smoothie (just frozen fruit and juice), tea, omega-3 pasta with olive oil/garlic/basil/parmesan cheese, bite of salmon cake and articoke dip, baked salmon fillet, cucumber with guacamole

Exercise: Fell asleep again!

Sleep: Fell asleep @ 10 p.m. with kid #1, went back to my bed @ midnight, woke up with weird stomach @ 3 a.m. and stayed up for an hour, alarm off at 6 a.m. but stayed in bed until 7:30 a.m.

Work: Opened 2 new files, billed closer to goal

Family: Kids getting a bit sick, otherwise good. Still need to push up bedtime.

Goals: EXERCISE!! Also - not falling asleep with the kids, by getting them to bed earlier, then doing my stuff including exercise so that I stay asleep once I go to sleep.

Day 2:

Food: tea, chocolate milk, whole grain hummus wrap with bean sprouts and red pepper, hi-fibre trail mix, 1/2 serving omega-3 spaghetti, turkey meatballs in tomato sauce

Exercise: fell asleep instead

Sleep: good, except for waking up for an hour at 1:00 a.m.

Work: around 50% of billable goal (got distracted by computer issues), got some long-standing tasks out of the way

Family: #3 continues to improve in behaviour, esp. with the morning routine. Slowly bringing bedtimes forward.

Next goals: need to finally exercise, get a few more fruits and veggies, don't fall asleep with kids.

Day 1:

Food: cholocate milk, slice of bread, whole grain black bean and hummus wrap, cucumber and tomato with non-fat tzatziki, homemade pizza with skim milk cheese, caprese salad, white tea

Exercise: fell asleep instead

Sleep: got to sleep relatively early, woke up around 2:30 a.m. (guess I'm not used to normal sleep yet)

Work: didn't make billing goal, but did some successful consultations and managed to get some long-standing errands out of the way

Family: Got the kids in bed at a reasonable hour, actually remembered to send class snack in for my youngest. #3 has also been improving his behaviour - slowly but surely cutting down on the whining, and he actually got dressed by himself and skipped the morning tantrum.

To work on: Exercise, doing more at work

Progress today

Food: chocolate milk, slice of white bread, whole grain hummus wrap,

Sleep: Went to bed too late last night, but up at 7:15 a.m.

Exercise:

Work: 2 consultations, some billable work, did some errands that needed doing

Introduction - why I need a kick

I want to make some changes in my life, so that I can be healthier.

While I was always fairly slim in the past, my BMI is now over 25 and I’m officially “overweight”.

My bad habits look like this:

I wake up tired, forget about exercising, and get so rushed in the morning that I skip breakfast. If I get hungry, I grab some junk on the way to work.

I often work through lunch hour, and then get REALLY hungry by around 2 p.m. At this point, I start to feel the urge to rush out and grab fast food.

The fast food provides a temporary comfort and sugar rush – but I then feel sluggish and slightly gross. I don’t get as much accomplished after eating.

Since I’m feeling a bit sluggish and tired, I’m not as productive as I should be while I’m at work. I just want to relax – so I tend to waste time online.

Since I don’t get as much accomplished, I don’t stay on top of my billings and other work tasks, leading to stress.

I’m tired when I get home, so I’m not as efficient as I should be and I tend to fall asleep while putting kids to bed.

When I wake up, I get stressed about work not done, and then stay up late and don’t sleep well.

I finally get to sleep really late, and the pattern begins again.....

As you can see, excess weight is just a symptom of an unhealthy pattern – one that is leaving me tired and stressed.

So, my main areas of focus need to be:

Sleep

Diet (eliminating junk food, eating smaller portions throughout the day)

Exercise

Work

I know what I need to do....now, I actually have to do it!

My hope is that this blog will force me to be accountable, and commit to a long-term change in habits. Every day, I plan to post an update under these four categories, to force myself to stay on track. I’ll also report how I’m feeling, what seems to trigger success or failure, and any significant goals reached.

I'll also track a fifth category - family life. It's the one area that thankfully doesn't need much improvement. However, I'll track it because (a) I don't want to lose focus on the fact that it is the majority priority, (b) the fact that I'm often tired or stressed IS related to the fact that I'm a mother of 3, so if I'm showing lifestyle "debits" I can at least offset them with some family "credits", and (3) I need to feel that I'm doing something right.

Comments are welcome, although I reserve the right to delete spam or anything that's downright offensive.