Progress...finally!

I am finally making REAL progress in my health and fitness journey!

I have officially moved to my new location where I have many more opportunities presented to me. It feels soooo amazing. I feel like I can breathe. I feel like I have energy again.

There was nothing wrong with the town I lived in before---it was my hometown. A very small East Texas town. For small towns, it's very nice.

I'm just not a small town kind of girl. I felt like I was suffocating there and it definitely had an impact on gaining all this weight back. I gained it all back when I moved BACK to that small town. It's my fault. I let it happen. But I wasn't happy in that environment and I used food and slothlike behavior to cope.

Now I'm back in a real city. I've only been here for a few days, but, WOW, what a difference!!! I feel like I'm coming alive again!!! Woooo-hooooooooo!!! You think that will help me in my health and fitness journey???? Heck, yeah!!

So I've made some major progress just in the few days I've been here:

1. I now have a one-year membership to 24-Hour Fitness for myself and my fitness-obsessed 16-year-old son. I worked out for the first time there today and did a Zumba class!!! Loved it! Also did a "Amp'd Abs" class, which was also beneficial. The year membership is completely paid for both of us, so finances can never get in the way of me being at the gym, like it did earlier this year.

2. I joined Weight Watchers today!! It was the first time I had weighed in about 2 months and I was not so shocked to see that I had gained 11 pounds in the last 2 months. I have felt myself gaining. I have felt my energy level dropping more and more. But you know what? It's okay. Because now I'm DOING something about it. I'm not just talking about it. I'm DOING something about it.

Today is a new day. It is a wonderful day. I'm excited for the future.

The short term goal is to lose 50 pounds by December 1st.

I KNOW I can do this.

I've also committed to three 5K races in the next several months. I'll write about that later this week and list them.

I'm truly so excited!!!!

Moving

Just a quick update---I am right in the middle of my move.

Next week I'll start blogging again regularly and really take it up a notch.

Time to make some real progress on my health and fitness journey!

Six month check-in

Well, folks, here it is---the month of June.

My blog is entitled "From Fat to Fit in 2009". However, since my progress has not been what I had hoped, maybe it should have been titled, "From Fat to Slightly More Fit in 2009". Or "From Fat to Less Fat in 2009". Or even "From Fat to Fit---My five year plan".

The good thing is---I haven't given up!! I've definitely had some major, very unexpected curveballs thrown at me so far this year, since I started this blog in January. But I've never given up. And that's what counts.

I'm starting to feel fired up again now. I feel like the worst is about over. I am determined to make significant progress in my health and fitness journey in 2009.

I'm moving to the Dallas area in the next 2 weeks and my life hopefully will fall back into a routine again soon. I'm so excited I'll be moving to an area with many more fitness options. It's also going to be a much more positive environment for me overall, which will help me in my fitness journey, as well.

So here is what I'm going to do in the next couple of weeks:

1. Sign back up for Weight Watchers to help me with the food part---I was very successful on WW last year, but quit after losing 30 pounds in 3 months. Why did I quit??? Who knows. Self-sabotage, again, I guess. So I'm signing back up. I'm committed to going to all the meetings and weighing in every single week. That helped me so much before--just weighing in every week. I just need to keep going no matter what. So I commit to signing up in my new city by June 15th.

2. Sign up for a 5K race and begin walking at least 20 minutes 4 times a week. I'm picking the race today and I've already had some wonderful, very supportive people offer to help me stay accountable on this. That will help me soooo much. Accountability is key for me. I've got to unleash that athlete inside of me!! She's begging to come out. I feel it everyday. Also become a member of the Dallas Running Club. I'll start walking and sign up for the race and club this week.

3. Join 24-Hour Fitness and start going 4 times a week---outside of my outdoors walking. I actually really enjoy going to the gym, once I get in the groove of going. I love to swim. I love to lift weights. I love to do the classes---dance/cardio and yoga especially. I just need to get going. I'll sign up for 24 Hour Fitness sometime next week---my first week in the Dallas area.

I also want to incorporate hiking into my life regularly. I love hiking. I love the outdoors. But maybe I should do the top 3 first and not try to do everything at once. I know there are a couple of hiking type clubs in Dallas, too, I can check out at some point.

I'll also start posting my weight loss every week here---meetings will be on Mondays. That will help with accountability, too! And I'll post my exercise times.

Enough talking already. Time for action.

I have already paid to go on a cruise December 12th of this year. My goal is to lose at least 50 pounds by then. Very do-able.

I just need to get to work.

Rewards

I reward myself with food. Not with good food----with bad food.

So say, I'm proud of myself for a job well done. What do I think I deserve? Well, a hot fudge sundae full of fat and chemicals for my body, of course!!

That stuff is like POISON for me!! How can I consider that a REWARD?

But I do.

I'm becoming more and more aware of it. And it is just so ridiculous. I remember last year when I would weigh in at my Weight Watchers meetings. If I lost a few pounds----guess what I did? Yes, I rewarded myself with bad food. After all, I didn't have to weigh in for another week, right?

Crazy!!! I somehow HAVE to shift my thinking.

First of all, food should not be used as a reward. Secondly, I really wish I could see CRAP food just as that--CRAP food. I don't though. I look at something like a piece of chocolate cake as something glowing with a halo on top and angels singing all around it.

It's actually POISION for me. It's terrible for my body in so many ways. But it will just take time for me to reverse that thinking.

In the meantime, I have to find a new reward system. When I want to reach for food as a reward, I have to be able to do something HEALTHY that feels like a reward instead.

And, no, jogging doesn't feel like a reward.

So what can I use for a reward? What is something that is easily accessible to me and feels like a reward? It has to be something inexpensive or free. Something I really enjoy. And it has to be something that has immediate positive effects.

Hmmmm....nothing perfect is coming to mind. I'll just brainstorm here.

• Go to the movies (sans popcorn)
• Call a supportive friend who can pretend to lavish hefty praise on me :-)
• Go to the lake and read
• Go to the park and meditate (notice I didn't say walk)
• A bubble bath???? I haven't had one of those in years---just going by what I see in the movies. Looks like a reward for them!
• Paint--I don't always feel like doing this, though
• Listen to music
• Dance while listening to music! Maybe make a special CD of my favorite songs that I love to dance to and only use it when I want to reach for food! (Oh, that actually feels like a great one!!)
  

Everything else I can think of wouldn't have immediate gratification---it would take planning of some sort, like going out with friends or going to the theater. I need things I can do right away and get the positive feelings immediately---just like I get from food.

I'll keep thinking.

But I'm becoming more aware. And that is progress.

I think I need a reward for that...