I am on a mission. I have got to lose weight. Last Thursday, November 11th, I was out with Kielle strolling through Bed Bath and Beyond. We weren't looking at anything, just cruising along enjoying ourselves. I don't know what happened. Maybe there was a glitch in the matrix. Maybe I temporarily lost my female common sense. I have no clue. What I do know is that I made a horrible mistake...
I stepped on a scale.
Yup I did. Why you ask? I have NO idea! What was I thinking!?!? Who does that!?!? Who randomly walks into a store on a beautiful sunny day and steps on a scale - knowing that they haven't even thought about exercising or eating right? I mean really?!!?
I immediately wanted to cut off my feet. It was like they were burning. Why is my body rebelling against me?!?! Why is this scale telling lies?!?! After staring at the numbers on the scale for a few minutes, I swung into action. Where is the saleswoman? Excuse me - I think this scale isn't calibrated right. Yes - I went there... looking back I knew good and well that scale was correct. I just couldn't face the truth.
I weigh 161 pounds.
The trip back to the car was the fastest Kielle had ever experienced in her stroller. I was getting on the good foot for real! Its almost as if I thought I could immediately lose 4 or 5 pounds by sprinting to the car hahahahahha. I still can't believe it. Now let me give some background. To be fair I was 198 pounds when I had Kielle 10 months ago. And to be honest, I have done absolutely nothing to lose the weight. Not only did I neglect to exercise, but I actually went full force the opposite way. I am a regular at Dairy Queen. It's the blizzards. I just can't resist them and I've been eating banana pudding from the restaurant Folks at least once a week. All bad.
Time for some action. *cue Redman song here*
I have set a goal to lose 20 pounds by May 11th. 6 months exactly. I can do it. I've already started - and I'm all about the business! My goal is to do at least 2 hours of physical hours of activity a day. I know this may seem like a lot, but I think back to when I lived in the city and I walked all the time. It was no big deal to walk 15 or 20 minutes hauling grocery bags or pushing a shopping cart. Living down here where we drive everywhere I have lost those quick moments of daily exercise that add up to hours towards a healthy lifestyle. My 2 hour regimen can include gardening, mall walking, jogging, playing elephant with Khyri - anything that gets my heart rate up. The first week is always the hardest, but I'm pushing through. I've raked my front yard, walked the mall, jogged, and used exercise videos. My favorite video so far is Jillian Michaels' 30 day Shred. I've used this dvd before after Khyri so this is a good starting point for me this time around. I've just gotta stick with it.
In addition to adding exercise (physical activity) into my daily regimen, I'm paying attention to what I eat. I'm not gonna use the word diet because it scare me and turns me off, but I'll say I'm modifying my intake :-) My first step is to eat leaner meats. My homegirl Rima gave me a good tip that my meat portions should big no bigger than the palm of my hand. Not the whole hand, just the palm. I'm also cutting out high fructose corn syrup - well as much as I can.This is proving to be harder than I thought. That mess is in everything. It looks like I will be spending way more time in the grocery stores now reading nutrition labels. I think the easiest change for me will be increasing my water intake and lessening the amount of sodas I drink. I will miss my gingerale, but sacrifices need to be made.
Its day 6 and I'm feeling stronger and actually a little leaner. I'm not going to step on a scale until January 1st. I don't want to be obsessed with numbers. I much rather focus on changing my entire lifestyle. The holidays are going to be a challenge, but my thinking is that hopefully I will be well into modifying my intake that I won't veer too far off the path of weight loss success.
Day 6 is done.. onto Day 7.
