Keep on keepin' on!

Walking is so far a rousing success. We've managed a walk every day this week, of about the same duration and length. My hubby has joined us on a couple, as has Sara's hubby. The kids have enjoyed the time outside as well. I won't have a weight update until Monday, though, because I have no scale at home. I'm hoping to see a positive change though, because I'm doing my best to continue good eating habits even though I've had the last couple of days off, and the weekend is still ahead. I also spent some extra time outside planting some flowers around our tree. It's not the robust garden I imagined, but it looks nice to have some extra color there!

Last night's walk

Last night Sara and I walked for about an hour. I know we walked farther than we did yesterday, because we added an extra couple of loops to what we did before. But when we got back, the pedometer only said 4,955 steps! If we walked at the same rate as yesterday, by my count it should have been more like 6,000 steps, but who knows! Tonight is our night off, as Sara has stuff to do with her family, but we'll be back at it on Thursday!

4,946 Baby Steps!

Sara and I just got back from our first walk. We walked for 45 minutes around my neighborhood, and Sara's pedometer registered 4,946 steps!! The kids both came along in the stroller, so I feel like I got a pretty good workout, I tell you what... *phew!* I'm not sure how many feet or miles that is, I'm hoping Sara will calculate it for me and leave it in the comments.. *hint hint* :) It's a great start, and I hope we'll be able to keep it up!

Baby Step #3

Walking!

Starting Monday, my sister-in-law and I are going to start taking a walk together every night, and every morning on the weekends. Probably not long ones to start with, but hey, that's why these are baby steps! :)

It's a slow start...but here's Baby Step #2!

Not a whole lot to report yet. I'm sticking with the Coke Zero, and have actually had several people ask me about it when they see me with it at work. I was under the impression that it had been around for several months, but I could be wrong! :) One of the things I'm planning to do is start using my Yoga Booty Ballet video again. I had gotten burned out on it before, but I think all I really need is just the determination to get through it and get the job done. I was doing three days a week over the winter, but I'm going to commit to just one for now. It's summer, and I'm spending time outside, mowing and watering the lawn and things like that. If I can keep to one day a week for a month, I'll start to bump up the number of days a week.

Baby Step #1

I have switched to Coke Zero. It doesn't have that weird diet aftertaste, at least not as badly, plus it has 0 carbs and 0 protein, but it's still caffeinated!

Gotta love that :)

Welcome! (sticky)

I'm starting this blog in the hopes that it will help motivate me to finally start getting rid of the pounds I've added since I had my son back in 2003. I'm going to start participating in the Tales from the Scales challenge, in order to keep myself accountable.

The ticker I put in my header shows my overall goal. Right now I'm going to work on getting under 200, or about halfway to my overall goal. I think it will be a huge boost to my ego to get on the scale and not see a 2 up there!

Here's hoping that this will be a diary of progress, not disappointment!

Kicking the Can

I know that pop is one of the banes of the weight-loss world. I see it all the time, that it's empty calories, and whatnot... I want to drink less of it, I really really do. I think right now I'm drinking 3-4 cans a day. I justify it because I'm working really long hours right now, and not getting nearly enough sleep, so I need the caffeine to stay awake. I could use some advice on balance, if anyone has some.

Here is my schedule and eating habits as they are now.

Monday morning my alarm goes off at 6 AM. I get up, get dressed, toast a bagel, and I'm out the door at 6:30.
Get to work at 7, either buy a Coke from the pop machine, or grab one of the 2 I brought with me in my lunch, depending on if there was any in the fridge at home.
Break at 9:30, eat the majority of what's in the lunch I brought, or get some chips or pretzels, maybe even a candy bar out of the vending machine, if I didn't take the time to make a lunch before I left the house. If I'm still feeling alert, I drink water.
Lunch at 12:30, drink the 2nd pop if I still have it, otherwise I have water, and the rest of what's in my lunch bag, or I'm back at the vending machine. Usually I eat a lot less at lunch, and a lot more at break time in the morning.
I usually don't take a break in the afternoon, but even when I do, I am usually still full from lunch, so there's no afternoon snack.
I get out of work anywhere between 3PM and 7PM, depending on how production went for the day. By the time I get home, I am usually starving.
Somewhere between when I get home and when I go to bed is dinner. If there's pop in the fridge, I drink that again, otherwise it's milk or juice, usually not water.

I have 2 kids, and my work schedule really doesn't give me a lot of time to spend with them. Or my husband, or myself, for that matter. So I end up staying up later than I should every day. I have found that the minimum amount of sleep that I need if I'm going to be anything resembling a decent human being in the morning is 6 hours. So, since the alarm goes off at 6, I try to make sure I'm in bed by 12. It doesn't always work, but I try.

I want to drink less pop. However, I really don't like coffee, I tried really hard to start drinking that instead, but when I do, I have to put so much sugar in it, I might as well be drinking pop anyway.

Any advice would be more than welcome as to how I can balance this out. I know my food choices are also something that needs work. I eat a lot of fast food, fried food, bread, all the things I know I'm not supposed to eat. I need to learn how to shut off the little voice in my head that's saying "But it tastes so yummy! Surely one little cheeseburger couldn't hurt THAT much, could it??"