Alright fatty, it's time...

That's my inner voice speaking... it gave up being nice a long time ago.

After months and months of denial I've decided it's time to lose some weight. It's either that or move to a country where my rounder figure we'll be appreciated. Since the latter is highly unlikely, I'll have to go with the first option and torture myself with exercise and healthy eating. It pains me to even think about exercise, much less setting foot in a gym. Exercise just doesn't feel good, and the first 2 weeks back to the gym are always the worst.
(**Skip this blog if you'd rather not read about my plans to lose weight.)

A couple weeks ago, Aunt Stephanie sent over an e-mail with some funny quotes related to weight loss amongst other things (Thanks Stephanie - I loved these), the title of the e-mail was "Girlie Wisdom to brighten your day". Here are a few of my favorites:

The older you get, the tougher it is to lose weight because by then, your body and your fat are really good friends.

One of life's mysteries is how a 2-pound box of chocolates can make a woman gain 5 lbs.

I gave up jogging for my health when my thighs kept rubbing together and setting fire to my shorts.

Amazing! You hang something in your closet for a while and it shrinks 2 sizes!

If only they all weren't completely true!

I'm not sure exactly how I'll manage it yet, but I intend on ditching the spare tire and "cottage cheese" ASAP. Realistically, by February since I have to factor in holiday gorging.

In the meantime, maybe I can try this while I'm at work:

Successful weight loss starts with goals and a commitment to change, so here are a few small things I'm going to start immediately:

1). No more fast food. Period.
I was doing pretty well avoiding this stuff, but lately it's crept back into my life. It doesn't make any sense. How can chicken parts, put into a mold and sold as nuggets be appealing to anyone?

2). Drink lots of water - at least 64 oz per day.
64 oz a day seems like a lot, and makes for frequent trips to the restroom, but this is essential for weight loss. Plus, it might be just the thing to help with my dry skin issue.

3). Cut back my candy and/or sugar consumption.
I can't go without completely, that would be almost impossible... and miserable. Instead, I'll cut back significantly and commit to no candy before lunch or after dinner. I'm also putting chips in this category - including the bag of Cheetos I brought home today.

4). No late night snacking - or snacking period after 8 PM.
I confess, I wake up regularly, very, very late at night and go to the kitchen for a snack. Sometimes it's juice, other times a cookie... It's usually a response to my grindy midnight tummy. To prevent this, I'm going to try a glass of warm milk before bed.

5). Eat a big, healthy breakfast.
We've started doing this already and it makes my day so much better. It wakes my brain up, gives me more energy and prevents me from snacking on junk in the mornings. It's also nice to have that extra time to spend with Alex before we head our separate ways for the day.

6). Drink more milk.
I've heard milk is good for weight loss - and more importantly, bones. I told Alex I married a younger guy so he could wheel my osteoporosis-ridden body around when I was older and hunchback, but he didn't like that idea, so I'm going to try to prevent it by drinking more milk now. Milk is on my "things that gross me out list" along with mayonnaise, sour cream, and mustard... so it's a bit of a chore to get it down my gullet.

7). Get a good night's sleep... try for 8 hours and get a minimum of 7.
I rarely get to bed before midnight. Horrible, I know. How am I ever going to get up for an early AM workout if I'm getting to bed at midnight?! For the next couple weeks, I'm going to force myself to bed by 10 PM. Once I accomplish that, I'll work my way down to 9:30.

8). Exercise.
I save this for last because I'm looking forward to it the least... Plus, I need to talk with Alex and see when he wants to workout - early morning or later in the evening? Hmm.. sounds like an FHE activity waiting to happen. Will do Monday - exercise routine TBD after Alex and I plan on Monday.

If anyone has any helpful hints, please comment.

P.S. Terry, I found the books you made a couple years ago for the weight loss competition we did at work. Who won? Probably you since I bombed on my scripture study.
If you're up for the challenge, we could reinstate the competition using the same criteria and start our points at zero. Whoever has the most points by the end of the year (or whatever date) wins... what do you think? Let me know - I'd be up for a challenge. : )