A picture finally!

This morning I woke up feeling like crap. It probably had something to do with not being able to fall asleep till after 2 last night due to this bad cold I have had for about a week + not getting in bed when I should. It has always taken me a while to fall asleep. I envy the people who konk out as soon as thier head hits the pillow. I don't know if I will ever be that lucky but I have decided to make some changes in my bedtime routine (did I even have one before?) to try to get the sleep situation under control. Starting tonight the TV and computer will be turned off at 11 on week days. That gives me time to wash my face, brush my teeth get everything set up for the next day and get in bed with he possibility of 7 hours of sleep. Hopefully it will help with the being tired all day situation that comes with getting about 5 hours on a good night.

Like I said I woke up at 6:40 feeling super run down so while still half asleep I reset my alarm to 6:50... or so I thought. I woke up at 7:50 when my alarm went off missing my bus by 10 minutes >.< Thus missing my carpool. I could have taken the over an hour bus ride getting to work late, but I really didn't feel like making the effort. So I called in sick. I feel a bit guilty for doing so considering there is only one more day till the long weekend but I still think it was the best decision for me. Then I slept in for another few hours. When I woke up I laid on the couch for a while until I decided I needed to eat something even if I wasn't really feeling it.

Oatmeal with PB & Co Dark Chocolate Dreams and coconut on the top.

First time eating oatmeal made on the stove and it was great! Even if I did let the milk boil over a bit and had to clean my stove... Then I finished off my Liberté Blackberry yogurt. I realized I forgot to take a picture when I was scraping out the bowl but I think everyone knows what yogurt looks like.

I weighed in yesterday even though I was feeling sick and bloated and I was up by 3 pounds. I secretly weighed myself again today though and those 3 pounds were gone but I will record yesterdays weight. Maybe it will set me up for a big loss next week ;)

Rain Rain Go Away

I weighed myself today and was down 1 pound from last week. It isn't a huge loss but considering I ate out 3 times over the weekend and had a potluck accompanied by a few to many helpings of desert it is still an accomplishment. I made sure my friend who brought the delicious squares took the leftovers home with her. I did not need those lurking in my fridge.

One of the reasons for not having a gain was all he beautiful weather we had the past week. I probably walked for about an hour each day. Of course the day I store the winter coat in the back of my closet the sun hid it's self away again. Supposed to be back for the weekend though!

Now I just need to make some time to sign up to the gym. I got a 5 free day trial from a co-worker so that is a bit of an incentive :)

First Real Week of Tracking

And my first real loss!

I tracked everything I ate and drank last week as well as the exercise I got. After staying within my calorie limit and walking for an average of 20mins every day I lost two pounds! I realize this isn't a huge loss but it is a start. And considering my ball parked goal weight is about 40 pounds below where I am at right now it is very do-able at this rate.

I didn't decide to change my lifestyle because I had a large amount of weight to loose. Some times that makes me feel like the struggles I have with my weight are less valid then other peoples' but that is not true. The truth is since I have been in my teens I have always been a little over weight. I have had troubles with portion control and did not get nearly enough exercise. The weight just kept creeping up. There would be periods where I would kind of try to exercise more or eat better but I never stuck with it.

It was only recently that I realized I really needed to change what I was doing or I would eventually end up with very real and serious weight issues. Part of what made me realize this was stumbling across this blog community. It was through reading the blogs of many other real people that I realized it was possible to live a healthy life for life and still enjoy it. This is a great community and I am glad to be entering it.

PS: I changed my blog name yesterday. I never really liked the old name and it was more of a placeholder till I could think of something half decent.

Crofter's Superfruit :D

Jamie over at Embracing Balance is doing a giveaway for Crofter's Super Fruit Spread! Go on over and check it out. After seeing all of her peanut butter and Jam toast breakfast pictures I picked up some Crofter's Organic Classic Wild Blackberry Spread that I saw on sale. It is great! I can only imagine what the Superfruit Spreads are going to taste like, but I'm going to wait till I win the giveaway to find out. ;)

Sun!

I am loving the weather we have been getting! It has been Sunny for 6 days straight so far and right now it is 4 degrees out. Tomorrow it is supposed to get up to 8 degrees :D

At work we just got a corporate rate deal worked out with Nubody's that has been in the works for about a month. The membership works with any Nubody's or Good life Gym. There is a bunch of my co workers who go to the gym during lunch breaks a few times a week so I might choose to go with them. If not there is a woman's gym about 5 minute walk downhill from my apartment so I really won't have any excuses. Plus I am such a cheep-o that I know I will feel like I need to get my moneys worth :)

I am really excited for some of the group classes that are available as well. I have 3 Nubody's within a 15min walk from my apartment so with that comes lots of variety in the classes I will be able to take. I am most excited about trying Fit Step, Fit Ride, Fit Mix and of course Zumba that I have heard so much about.

On the food side of things I have been consistently using LiveStrong's Daily Plate to track calories and focusing on watching my portion sizes. Tracking through out the day has been really helpful for me.

For instance, we had a bake sale today for our run for the cure team. I had a cheese biscuit, a lemon square and a cupcake. I tracked all of them. After eating lunch and drinking only water through out the day I have 740 calories left for the rest of the day. Easily enough for a good dinner and maybe even the little night snack that I always find myself wanting. Because I knew that I would want to eat dinner and I wanted to stay within my calorie range I turned down beef jerky and a Starbucks run. I have also kept myself away from baked treats. When I wasn't choosing to be aware of what I was putting in my body I would have said yes to all of those instead of no like I did.

Time to go watch the advance screening of She's out of my League. I won tickets from Empire :)