Lunch Meal Prep

             In the last blog, I explained how I did my breakfast meal prep so that I had healthy breakfasts to take to work each day. This prevents me from overindulging in doughnuts, Little Debbie cakes, and Pop-Tarts. I also do meal prep for my lunches that I take to work, which also allows me to eat something healthy that will stick with me. The way I do lunch is much better than a pack of Nabs or a sandwich every day.

             Prior to developing this plan, I always struggled with lunches. I’d stick a pack of Nabs in my desk drawer as my emergency lunch. I’d fix a PB&J sandwich or a ham and cheese sandwich, add a few chips to a bag, and that would be lunch. If I wanted to get brave enough to wait for the microwave to be free and spend three and a half minutes of my already extremely short lunch time, I’d take a bowl of microwavable shells and cheese. While these lunches can be low-calorie, they are also low in sustenance. Therefore, I’d usually add a brownie, cookie, or Rice Krispie treat. Between my Pop-Tart breakfast and my sandwich and a cookie for lunch, I’d leave work feeling hungry almost every day. The result of that was coming through the door and grabbing the nearest snack available: a half bag of chips, a package of cookies, a snack cake, or a couple of spoonfuls of peanut butter. Based on my history, I knew that if I was going to lose the weight, I had to make a better plan.

             While browsing Facebook one day, I saw an Amazon ad that became a game changer for me. This ad was for a mini-crockpot food warmer for about $20. I checked the item out and ordered one in January 2020, just a couple weeks into my weight-loss journey. I was only able to use if for about two months before the pandemic hit and schools were shut down for the remainder of the year, but I was thankful to pull it back out when we were able to return in the fall. I use it nearly every day. The design is just like a crockpot, and the pot is removable for easy washing. Unlike an actual full-sized crockpot, this device doesn’t cook the food; it just warms it up. Sunday through Thursday evenings, I put my lunch in the pot and put it in the fridge. The next morning, I put the pot in the crock, and when I get to work, I sit it on the corner of my desk and plug it in. This is usually around 7:15 each morning. By my lunchtime of 11:20, my lunch is hot; it’s not just warm, it’s hot. I’ve actually burned my tongue a few times. Many of my co-workers have made comments about my little lunch pail, but I absolutely love it. I no longer get burnt out on lunch choices because I now have a wide variety of lunches from which to choose.

             Meal prepping for lunch is extremely easy with this nifty little device. When I fix supper and have leftovers, the next day, one serving of the leftovers will be my lunch. The remaining leftovers are individually wrapped, similar to the way my breakfasts are, and labeled and put in the freezer in airtight containers. Foods that can’t be wrapped go into airtight containers with screw-on lids. I ordered a variety of sizes from Amazon just for this purpose: half cup, one cup, two cups, and four cups. My lunch buddies have been surprised by the foods I bring for lunch this way. There have been the obvious soups, but I’ve also taken lasagna, chicken enchiladas, orange chicken and fried rice, General Tso’s chicken and fried rice, meatloaf and mashed potatoes, Salisbury steak and mashed potatoes, stuffed pepper casserole, chicken fajita pasta, shells and cheese with BBQ pulled pork, pizza, and biscuits and gravy with scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, and hash browns.

             One thing I want to make clear is that just because I’m trying to develop a healthier lifestyle and eat in such a way that I lose weight, I also want to continue to eat foods I enjoy. Calorie counting and exercise as a way to lose weight allows that to be possible, but meal prepping my breakfasts and lunches so that I can consistently eat well throughout the day, makes it happen. While I only have two years left after this one until I retire, the crockpot food warmer has me so spoiled, I don’t think I could do lunch any other way now.

             There won’t be a supper meal prepping blog because I don’t generally put a lot of prep work into supper. I do (most of the time) plan what I’ll have for supper, but it doesn’t take the time and effort in the same way that prepping my breakfasts and lunches for work does. I will note, though, that having an idea of what supper will be makes it easier to decide which breakfast or lunch to pull from the freezer to take to work that day and keep the calorie count within the limit set by the app. Moving towards a healthier lifestyle is not easy and requires much work. However, a year into it, and I can tell a huge difference in myself, both physically and mentally, and that makes it all worth the effort.

My Weight-Loss Plan

A lot of people have asked me about my weight loss, and they want to know what I’ve doing, so that’s what this blog will explain. Let me begin with a disclaimer, though. I am not a doctor, and I’m only explaining what has worked for me. Before you begin your own weight-loss journey, you should check with your own doctor and follow their advice.
My journey began on May 30, 2020, when a pulmonary embolism (PE) nearly killed me (I will eventually write about that). That summer was a difficult one, filled with emergency rooms and doctors and surgeries. When finally in December 2020 I saw my cardiologist and was given a clean bill of health, he told me the next thing I should concentrate on was losing weight. That’s the one thing I could do to make myself healthier. Finally, after all I had been through, I made the decision to take charge of my health and do what I knew I should’ve done years before. I was going to lose the weight.
1. First, I planned. Then I had to understand and accept that this plan is not set in stone, and there will be days when I would stray from the plan, which meant I also had to understand and accept that straying from the plan did not mean I was failing. For me, I also had to write the plan down because that’s just how I do things.
2. I decided to do old-fashioned calorie counting. I downloaded a free app called Lose It!, entered my information, and set my goals. I set it to lose one and a half pounds per week and set my first weight loss goal at a minimal five pounds. I knew even then my actual goal was a lot more like 100 pounds, but I knew I couldn’t go into the app and set it for 100 pounds. That sounds so unreachable, so I decided I’d go with small goals. Five pounds at a time. When the first five came off, I was ecstatic. Then I did the next five, and the next five. Eventually, I made it to 50 pounds gone. I’m halfway there. I really like this app. It sets a daily calorie limit for me based on my goals. I can also set the limit to be flexible, so that I eat fewer calories on Monday through Thursday and more on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. I can also record my measurements so I can see the inches drop. I can create recipes and get calorie counts for those recipes. I have all my data for the last year, and that helps keep me motivated to keep going.
3. I recognized that I couldn’t just cut calories, I also needed to start exercising, so I had to plan for that as well. I started walking, so much so that I was making laps around the halls at work every chance I got and walking in place while standing in the hall for hall duty. People noticed, and it kind of became a joke, both with my co-workers and students. I started walking at home, both outside and inside. Later, I bought a stationary bike, and I try to ride that at least four times each week, but I prefer it when I do so every day. With fifty pounds gone, I’ve added some toning and aerobic exercises. I have some DVDs that I use for that. I knew I needed to be moving. A lot. There were days I didn’t want to. There were days when stuff got in the way, and I just didn’t. But there were more days when I did. And that’s what matters. I kept trying to follow the plan and get in some exercise. I didn’t beat myself up on the days when it didn’t work out. I just resolved to do better the next day.
4. No foods are off limits for me. As soon as something becomes off limits, that’s what we as humans want. Therefore, nothing is off limits. If I want it, I will eat it. However, because this is my rule, I don’t overeat that food. I’ve become very good at staying within the boundaries of my calorie count, even if I have an extra cookie, or a piece of candy or cake, or a bowl of ice cream. And on the day when I go over the limit, I know it’ll be okay because tomorrow is a fresh start. My goal has been to change my lifestyle, to make this a permanent change. I don’t intend to permanently give up cookies, candy, or cake, so I occasionally allow myself to have a little bit.
5. The one thing I have given up is my Diet Mountain Dew. However, I did not do so immediately. I was three months into the plan when I had a vasovagal episode and had to go to the ER, and later that same day, I had a case of colitis. To rest my colon, I stayed away from the Diet Dew for a few days, enduring a mild caffeine headache. After the headache was gone, my son suggested giving up the Diet Dew, since I’d already made it through the worst part. I really loved my Diet Dew. I really did not want to give it up, but I realized I wanted to be healthy more. I have obviously known for years that the Diet Dew wasn’t good for me, and I finally found the motivation I needed to give it up. Since March 2021, almost a year now, I have not had Diet Dew. Even more than that, I haven’t had a pop at all. Now, I drink water and lemonade. I feel better than I’ve ever felt, and I know that switching to drinking primarily just water has made a difference in my weight loss.
6. Another component of my plan is some meal planning. I know how many calories I can have per day, so I try to plan meals in advance to make sure that I can stay within those calorie limits. I don’t always have every meal planned every day (and I want to do better with that), but I am able to plan enough so that I stay relatively close to those limits. I also make sure that I eat at least three solid meals a day. Before, I rarely ate breakfast, and I never had the best of lunches, and I would snack recklessly when I got home, then I would overeat for supper. Now, I have breakfast every day. I spend time prepping breakfasts to take to work: breakfast burritos, hash brown breakfast cups, and bacon/sausage/ham, egg, and cheese sandwiches. I take one of those to work every day, and on the weekends, I fix myself breakfast. I bought myself a mini-crock pot that doesn’t cook food, just warms it, and I take that to work every day. When I have leftovers from supper, I freeze them to take for lunches later. I put my lunch in the mini-crock pot and plug it in when I get to work and by lunch, I have a hot lunch. When I get home, I have my supper, which I have sometimes planned for, but on the occasions I have not, I consider where I am with my calories and choose my options accordingly.
7. Weighing and measuring my food is also important to my success. I bought a food scale. I’m getting better at judging my food portions now, but that’s because I started weighing and measuring my food. I’m learning what three ounces of meat and a cup of pasta looks like. I can measure when I’m at home, but learning what portion sizes look like makes it easier to fill my plate when I’m eating somewhere besides home.
8. Finally, I weigh every day that I wake up at home. I don’t take my scale with me when I’m traveling (that would be a bit much), but I will weigh every morning when I get up. Some days, there’s loss. Some days, there’s a little gain. And some days, it stays just the same as the day before. I know some recommendations say to just weigh once a week, because daily weighing can get discouraging. While that is true, for me, it is more helpful to weigh in daily. It helps me maintain my focus and makes sure I don’t let things get out of hand. I’d rather see I gained a half pound from the day before than two pounds from the week before. This allows me to make daily adjustments when I need to, either eat a little less or exercise a little more.
That’s the basic outline of what I’ve been doing to better my health and lose some weight. I started in Dec. 2020, right after Christmas. I’ve been at this for 426 days (the Lose It! app tells me each day how many days I’ve logged my meals and gives me a projection for when I’ll reach my current goal). Physically, I feel better than I have in a long, long time. Surprisingly, I also feel better mentally. I didn’t realize what a difference being physically healthier could make for my mental health.
Sometimes I feel like I’m on a plateau and the weight isn’t coming off fast enough, but I am resolved to see this through. When I reach my desired weight, I will keep doing these things: logging my food (changing the app from weight loss to maintenance), exercising, weighing and measuring my foods, eating regular meals. I will do that because it’s the healthy way to eat. And my ultimate goal is that this is a lifestyle change to get to and maintain a healthy weight, not a temporary change to lose weight and gain it back.

Step 1 of 5 to Lose 25

Back in 2013, I lost 40 pounds. I was thrilled. Each year since, I have set goals to continue to lose weight. Each year since, I have failed, and I have no one to blame but myself. I know what strategies I used in 2013, but I have stopped using them. That’s on me. Of course, I have lots of excellent excuses – the best one is my lack of time – but that’s all they are: excuses. One-fourth of 2016 is gone and I’m no closer to my new goal than I was on January 1. Since I am the only one who can fix that, it’s time I do.

First, I need a realistic goal, one that can be reached in nine months. If I exceed that goal, then that’s all the better, but right now I’d be happy to meet that goal. Considering I’ve regained 10 of the 40 pounds I lost back in 2013, this is even more important. So, I will set a reasonable goal of losing 25 pounds by December 31. Not only will those clothes I bought after 2013 feel better (it’s amazing how tight just 10 pounds can make them), but I know I will also feel better. I had gotten so that I could walk and not feel winded, but I’ve lost that as well. So, it’s definitely time to say goodbye to at least 25 pounds.

And with a specific goal, it’s necessary to develop a specific plan. Over the next few days, I’m going to outline my plan for you, the things that worked in 2013. I will use this blog to set my goal (done) and to briefly outline step one of the plan. The blogs for the next four days will outline steps two through five of the plan. I use some books that are titled 5 Steps to a 5 to help my AP students. Well, I’m going to consider this my 5 Steps to Losing 25 plan.

Step 1 will involve charting my weight daily. Of course, I’ve been weighing in daily, but I haven’t been charting it. Those who know me know that I like charts and lists, and I’m more productive when I create and use them. Thus, I have created charts and lists for each of the steps of my new plan, including a chart to track my weight loss. Each of these charts has been duly hole-punched and placed in a pink folder and are ready to use beginning April 4 (my first official day of this new journey). My chart contains columns that allow me to enter the date, time, weight, and the difference from the day before. This will allow me to (hopefully) watch the number decrease, while at the same time I can look for fluctuations based on the time of day I weigh in.

Another component of this step will involve charting measurements of my waist and hips. This I will do only monthly as it will take longer for a recognizable difference to become noticeable. Obviously, I should also notice those clothes becoming loser, but I hope seeing these numbers decrease helps to increase my motivation to stay on track and follow this through.

So, there you have it. I’m going to get myself in line and lose 25 pounds by the end of the year. I have a five-step plan to make that happen, and Step 1 is to chart my weight daily and the measurements for my hips and waist monthly. Come back tomorrow for Step 2.

Rediscovering the Treadmill

Joseph Addison once said, “Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.” I love to read, and I believe I have a pretty good mind. I hate to exercise, and I know I have a pretty weak body. I know the solution to the problem, so why do I have so much trouble making it happen?

I have a treadmill. I have actually discovered that when I can get myself motivated to walk on that treadmill, when it’s all over, I have actually enjoyed the activity. I also feel better afterwards. I know that using the treadmill is a key component in my attempt to lose 25 pounds this year.  Since I know all of this, and since I had gotten off to a pretty good start with the treadmill, why am I now in mid-April having a horrific time trying to motivate myself to get on that treadmill?

I actually have a Kindle that will sit on the treadmill and allow me to read while I walk. I love it. I get a lot of reading done while on the treadmill, and reading is one of my all-time favorite things to do. So, why am I not taking full advantage of this free reading time? I had a system set up where I’d come home from work, change clothes, and get on the treadmill. That hasn’t worked out this month. I come home from work, change clothes, and do all sorts of things other than get on the treadmill. I’ve been reading the assigned AP project books. I’ve been reading English 200 essays for conferencing. I’ve been finishing up lesson plans for the remainder of the year. I’ve been doing laundry and cooking and cleaning up the kitchen. I’ve been taking naps. I’ve been browsing Facebook, Pinterest, and news sites. And, probably worst of all, I’ve been eating more than I should, especially since the one thing I’ve not been doing is getting on the treadmill.

I’ve no idea why this particular lull has hit right now, even though most of the reasons have been pretty good ones. After all, I did have to read those essays in order to conference, and I do have to reread all those AP books so the students can’t slip something by me. But I need to pull myself out of this exercise funk. I must get going again. I still have nearly all of that 25 pounds to lose, and with only 8 1/2 months left to do so, I’ve got to lose an average of just over three pounds per month. That’s still entirely possible for April, but I’ll have to do better than I’m doing now.

Therefore, I resolve that beginning Saturday morning, I will once again visit the treadmill. I will get up and walk before we keep our appointments for haircuts. Sunday morning, I will get up and walk before heading to church. Monday afternoon when I get home from work, I will get back into the change-clothes-and-get-on-the-treadmill routine. In addition to walking again, I will do a better job of monitoring my food intake, and I hope to add some toning exercises to the mix.

I may need a cheerleader from time to time. I may need somebody to ask me if I used the treadmill. I may just need someone to hold me accountable. But more than anything, I need to get in the right frame of mind and stick to my plan. It’s time for my treadmill and me to become BFFs once again.

Make a Plan, and Stick to It

Losing weight is hard to do. Anybody who tells you differently is lying to you. Some may think it would be a good idea to jump on one of the fad diet bandwagons, but that’s probably the worst thing you can do. I don’t know anyone who has had consistent success with a fad diet. Ultimately, once the fad diet is stopped, the weight returns. Losing weight truly is a lifestyle change, and it takes a lot of work.

Last year, I had more success than I’m having this year, but I know it’s because I worked harder at it last year. I had finally become frustrated enough to do something about it. I’m glad I did. I feel much better, and it’s nice to go to the doctor for those checkups and have her say nice things about your weight being down. It was also nice to finally clean out the closet and get rid of all the clothes that were too big. I don’t plan to need them ever again. However, I still have a lot of weight I want to lose. Ideally, I’d like to lose another 60 pounds and would be thrilled to lose 40 of that this year. For that to happen, though, I’m going to have to get back to doing what I did last year. And I’m frustrated enough with myself now to do that. I’m getting tired of getting on the scale and seeing no change, and I realize that I am the only one who can do anything to make it change.

One thing I need to do is get back to menu planning, a week at a time. I plan my meals for Monday through Friday, which gives me a little more leeway on the weekends. The thing is if I follow my Monday through Friday plan, I can treat myself a little more on the weekends, as long as I keep it reasonable. It’s not a free ticket to gorge myself with whatever I want. When Monday rolls around, I will have a menu for the week.

The next thing I need to do is get back into writing down what I eat in the Lose It! app. Yes, I have the menu planned, but it is just that – a plan. Sometimes things happen and the plan doesn’t become a reality. By logging what actually goes into my mouth in the Lose It! app, I can know for sure how many calories I’ve actually ingested, and that is very helpful to losing the weight because the food log is for every day of the week, not just the five I have menus planned for. It’s a way to keep me honest and to make sure I don’t go overboard on the weekends.

Another thing I need to do is get back to my exercise program. I haven’t done any walking at the track this summer, and I’ve done very little (and I mean hardly any) with the exercise DVDs I have. That will change on Monday. I’m also going to do a weekly exercise plan. I’ve made monthly plans before, and that never seems to work out the way I want, so I’ll just do these plans a week at a time, the same way I do the menus a week at a time. This will include something from the exercise DVDs and hopefully a return to the park. I don’t want to walk the track alone, so I’ll have to find someone to do that with. Hopefully, Nic will be up to it. If not, I’ll have to find someone else, or I’ll have to suck it up and walk by myself.

A part of the exercise plan will also be the infamous Squat Challenge you may have seen posted on Facebook. I got a late start on it, starting July 6 instead of July 1, so I’m a little behind, but I have managed to do the Squat Challenge for 7 days. That means I’ve already done 90 squats today (not all at once; that would have killed me. Break it up throughout the day, and suddenly the number becomes more manageable.). I will finish the Squat Challenge on August 5. I will then put it aside until October 1, the next month with 31 days. My plan, as of now, is to do the Squat Challenge in every month with 31 days.

In addition to the Squat Challenge, walking the track, and/or doing the exercise DVDs, I’m going to add some arm toning exercises. I’ve done enough of the Denise Austin DVDs that I know several arm toning exercises, and when I do the Squat Challenge, I’m going to add arm exercises to equal the number of squats I have to do. Since tomorrow’s number of squats is 50, that’s a small number of arm exercises to add. By following the schedule of the Squat Challenge, I’ll be working on both my arms and my legs, and hopefully I will see the results of that soon.

Finally, there are a few other little habits that I’ve strayed away from over the past few months that need to become an important part of the plan again. One of those is no eating after 9:00 P.M. With my summer sleep schedule, this one becomes more difficult, so I’ll say that until school starts, it will be no eating after 10:00 P.M., but when school starts back, it’ll go back to 9:00 because I’ll be back on a regular schedule. Another thing is I’d been drinking my Diet Dew only on weekends, and I’ve had a lot more pop during the week for the last couple months than that. It’s been nothing like the four or five per day I was drinking before I went to the weekend only plan, but it’s still too much for successful weight loss. So, starting Monday, Diet Dew is only allowed on Saturday and Sunday again, and no more than three for the entire weekend. As a result of having more pop, I’ve had less water, so the final habit I need to get back to is drinking more water. I add the drink mixes to my water because I’d never be able to drink as much plain water in a day as I’d need to. Doctors recommend we drink eight cups of water each day. That’s 64 ounces. I drink bottled water. My goal will be to drink four bottles of water each day, for a total of 67.6 ounces of water per day.

As I said at the beginning, losing weight is one of the hardest things you will ever attempt to do. However, it is also one of the best things you can do for yourself. I’ve gotten off track, and as a result, I’ve hit a huge plateau. I’m the only one who can fix that. I intend to do just that. I will reach my goal weight. I will lose that additional 40 pounds this year, and the remaining 20 next year. When I do that, I will be just 20 pounds over my high school weight (I think it’d be a bit unreasonable to try to attain my high school weight), but I will still be at a healthy weight. And when I get there, I’ll work hard to stay there. I know I can do it. I’ve watched what my baby brother has done with his weight loss, and when I become frustrated with myself, I remind myself what he’s done. He’s proof that you can decide to take control of your health issues and do something about it. It’s time for me to stop slacking, get back on track, and do just that.

This Weight Won’t Lose Itself

Tomorrow, I will post my March update blog to reflect about how well I’ve been doing with keeping the resolutions I set for myself on January 1. I will go ahead and tell you now that the weight-loss resolution has not been going well, and I’ve no one to blame but myself. I can come up with many wonderful “reasons” why that is so, but truthfully, those reasons are simply excuses for my failure to stick by what I know I need to do to be successful. The bottom line is I know what I need to do to lose weight; after all, I lost 35 pounds last year after I made up my mind to do it and stuck with the plan. This year, I have failed to stick with the plan. By the end of March, if I’d met my resolution, I should be nine pounds less than I started the year. As of today, I’m two pounds less than I started the end of the year. While seven pounds may not really seem like a lot, it actually is in this case, which means this particular resolution is not progressing well. 

As part of this resolution, I set a goal to be able to wear dresses to both Travis’s UK graduation and Brandon’s wedding that are one size smaller than the dresses I wore last summer to Cody’s and Byron’s weddings. At the rate I’m going, that won’t happen. Therefore, I’ve got to revisit my plan, make adjustments, and get myself back on track now. I have already ordered the two dresses, and they should arrive sometime this week. I have until May 10 and May 17 to make sure I can actually wear them. I’m the only person who can make this happen.

So the first thing I need to do is get back on track with what I’m eating. I haven’t necessarily been overeating. After all, I have lost two pounds instead of gaining anything over the past three months, so that’s a good thing. However, I haven’t been cutting back like I need to do. I haven’t been creating and following my menus like I need to. I haven’t been tracking what I’ve been eating. This week I am on spring break, and starting today, I’m getting myself back on track with these things. I will write a menu to follow this week. I will track what I’m eating this week to make sure I’m actually cutting back on the calorie intake. I’m off to a fairly good start in this regard as I have put my breakfast and lunch into the Lose It! app. 

The second thing I need to do is get back on track with my exercise. I’ve only been exercising sporadically instead of consistently. I did get up this morning and do the 3-mile Leslie Sasone walk, so I have taken one step toward getting back on track this week. This afternoon, I will take another one when I revisit my exercise plan and make adjustments to get myself back on track. The important part of that, however, will be to follow through during the week. Being on spring break this week, I will have no excuse to try to convince myself that I don’t have the time to do the exercise. Not only do I need to get back on track with the exercise to help with the weight loss, I also need to get back on track with the exercise so that I can participate in the 5K I posted about just after the new year. I never in a million years would have guessed that I would ever participate in a 5K – or any kind of K for that matter – but that is something I want to do this year. The kids are doing a color run on April 12. I’m not participating in that one simply because the idea of having things thrown at me, even if it is only color packets, doesn’t sound fun to me at all. However, the kids have found a superhero run for September 20. I would like to be in shape by then so I can participate in that one without finishing last.

If I can do these two simple steps, I can get back on track with my weight loss, and it’s within the realm of possibility that I can be where I need to be (down 12 pounds) by the end of April. It’s also within the realm of possibility that I’ll actually be able to wear those two dresses to the events I bought them for. I feel so much better after having lost the 35 pounds last year, both physically and emotionally, but I still want to lose another 65 pounds. My goal is to lose at least 40 of those by the end of this year. I know I have my work cut out for me, but I also know I’m capable of doing this. I just have to make up my mind to do it, and as of today, that’s what I’ve done.

 

Keep Your Eyes on Your Goals

I recently read an article that said a study had shown that weekend weight gain was considered part of one’s natural weight fluctuations during the week. As long as you’re eating well through the week, a little weekend indulgence and weight gain are apparently perfectly normal. On the one hand, that did make me feel a little better, as I have noticed that typically, my weekend weight fluctuates by as much as 2-3 pounds to what it had been through the week. On the other hand, however, it was a little depressing because I’ve also realized that I have to keep losing that same 2-3 pounds over and over, and what I really want is to lose new pounds so that I can reach my goal.

My goal this year is simple and conservative. I simply want to lose 40 pounds by December 31. I would like enough of that to be gone so that by Travis’s graduation and Brandon’s wedding (both in May), I can buy new dresses that are at least one size smaller than the ones I wore to Cody’s and Byron’s weddings last year. To stay on track to do this, I only need to lose about 3.3 pounds per month. Like I said, simple and conservative. I could have set a higher goal, but I know that would mean a lot more work on my part.

The thing is regardless of how simple and conservative your weight-loss goal is, actually losing the weight is hard and takes a lot of effort. At one point this week, I had lost 6.4 pounds since the beginning of the year. With my weekend fluctuation for this weekend, my net loss is only 3.6 pounds, which results in a nearly 3-pound fluctuation for this weekend. That’s just downright depressing.

Here’s the other thing, though. I know it’s my fault. I know I’ve eaten a little more than necessary this weekend, even for an indulgence. I know I haven’t exercised all week. Granted, my sinuses were a wreck this past week and breathing was difficult, which by default means exercising would have been difficult since being able to breatheduring exercise is pretty important. So that was my excuse not to exercise this past week. I also didn’t plan out a menu for the past week, which means I was eating randomly. Finally, I didn’t track everything I ate this past week, another fatal flaw when trying to lose weight. The problem is I know I need to get back on track, but the upcoming week is going to make it difficult to do so.

My schedule for the next seven days is brutal, assuming there are no snow days this week. Monday will be work from 7:30 to 3, a PD from 3:15 to 6:15, and a girls’ basketball from 7:30 to about 9. Tuesday will be work from 7:30 to 3, meeting with my English composition writers from 3 to about 3:30, and FPS/English composition regional Governor’s Cup competition from 5 to about 9:30. Wednesday will be work from 7:30 to 3, quick recall practice from 3 to 4:30, and Bible study from 7 to 8. Thursday will be work from 7:30 to 3, quick recall practice from 3 to 4:30, and a girls’ basketball game in Leslie County from about 5:45 to 10:30 (that includes travel time). Friday will be work from 7:30 to 3 and a girls’ basketball game in Rockcastle County from about 5 to 11:30 (that includes driving time). Saturday will be regional Governor’s Cup competition from about 7:30 to 5 and a girls’ home basketball game from about 7 to 9:30 (it’s Senior Night and Sweetheart). Sunday will be a trip to Lexington for Lily’s baby dedication where Travis and Ashley go to church there, leaving here about 8:30 and getting home who knows when. And technically, I’m due a trip to the doctor for a few minutes to get my next B12 shot, but I don’t see that happening this week. It’ll be back to work on Monday. Anybody else tired?

Looking at the schedule for this week is enough to wear me out before the week even gets started. As you can see, it’s going to be a long week. Meal planning is made difficult because with every evening filled with something, meals won’t be at normal times or places. If I’m lucky, I can be in bed by 10:30 most nights, but not every night. Exercise will be difficult this week because I’ll have to talk myself into getting up at 6 to do it, while knowing that I could get up as late as 6:45 and make it to work on time. Not that we need any more snow days, but should we get one or two, that would help tremendously, allowing both for time to exercise and time to eat well.

Fortunately, this upcoming week is not the norm for me. However, it is what I have to deal with this week, and as I’m feeling a little defeated and depressed about this week’s weight loss and I’m feeling a desire to get motivated to work harder at it, I look at the schedule and ask myself, “How?” and “When?” And right now, I don’t have a satisfying answer.

The best I can come up with for this week is to do my best to track what I eat just to make sure I’m not overdoing it. I can plan for breakfast and lunch because I will eat those while I’m at work. I’ll simply have to plan to allow for evening meals that could be less than desirable for staying on track with losing weight. When it comes time for those evening meals, I’ll have to be sensible and make better choices about what I choose to eat. With such a busy schedule, it would be easy (and tempting) to just eat whatever I can get whenever I can get it, but I can’t allow myself to do that. As far as the exercise, I’m going to have to really work on myself to make sure that I get up at 6 every morning so that I can do some exercise for that day. The further into the week I get and the more tired I get, the more difficult that will be to do, but I have to convince myself it’s a matter of mind over matter, and that I can keep talking myself into getting up to exercise. As such, a big part of what I’ll have to do this week is stay in control and exercise my willpower to do what I know I need to do, which, of course, is always easier said than done.

I know I can do this, and I know it won’t be easy. I know I can’t do it alone, so some extra prayer this week will also be quite helpful, and some encouragement from my informal support group will also be quite helpful. Losing weight is much harder than gaining weight. It takes a lot of time, effort, and work. It takes overcoming the depressing days when you feel like a failure. It takes focus, determination, and desire. It takes patience, which is probably the virtue I’m most lacking. I need to keep my eye on the goal.

I heard an interesting thing on the news last night from a driving instructor who was giving hints for what to do if your car starts spinning on ice. He said to keep your eyes focused on where you want to me (on the road) and that’s where you’d end up. He said that often when a spin starts the driver focuses on everything else, such as the blurred images passing by, and never sees the road. I realize I’ve never had a spin-out like that, but his advice sounds reasonable. Don’t we always tell athletes to keep their eyes on the ball? It seems like the same principle to me. Therefore, that’s the principle I need to apply to this weight loss.

There will be problems and difficult situations as I continue this journey. There will be weeks like the one coming up where it seems like doing anything productive with the diet will be a moot point. There will be weekends when the weight fluctuation is depressing. There will be days when I outright overeat and make my goal more difficult to achieve. There will be days when I have to fight the urge to make an ill-advised food choice. There will be days when I have to force myself to do the exercise. And these days will continue over and over and over, even after I reach my goal. Losing the weight, then maintaining that loss, will be an issue for the foreseeable future. Therefore, keeping my eye on the prize is what I need to do. My short-term goal is to be able to wear that dress in May that is one size smaller than what I was wearing last summer. My long-term goal is to lose at least 40 pounds this year. I will meet those goals.

Resolutions for 2014

While 2013 saw minimal success with the resolutions I set, that doesn’t deter me from setting new resolutions for 2014. I’m trying to be realistic with what I set as my resolutions for the year, and I’m trying to set resolutions that will be important to me. This should make it easier to attain my goals for the year.

Resolution # 1: I’m going to revisit that project that I didn’t finish. I’m considering revising the way I have it set up. I do want to finish the project this year, and I know that means working on it, which happened very little last year. I’m not sure if the revision I have in mind will require more or less time to complete the project, but I am going to have to commit to finishing 10 pages of the project each week. Hopefully, I will do that.

Resolution # 2: I’m going to continue with my blog, and to keep it from becoming as sporadic as it did last year, I’m going to set a minimum number of blogs to post per week. The first year, when I committed to posting daily, I discovered that was really difficult, though I did it. It was sometimes hard to come up with something to write about, and some days were filled with so many other activities that it was hard to get time to do the blog. Last year, I didn’t set a minimum per week, and as a result, there were weeks with no post at all, and I’m not happy about that. Therefore, for this year, I’m committing to a minimum of three blogs per week. I really do enjoy writing for the blog, but I don’t want it to feel like a job, nor do I want to make a commitment that will be too difficult to attain with everything else I have going on, so three seems like a reasonable number.

Resolution # 3: Having met, and surpassed, my goal (finally) of reading 75 books for the year, I’m going to increase the number to 84 books per year. When the goal was 75, reading 6.25 books per month was the magic number. With a goal of 84, it would be necessary to read seven books per month. That’s just a slight increase which should make this doable. Again, as part of that number, I am going to include that I want to read the Bible all the way through. Last year, I read the English Standard Version. For 2014, I will read the New International Version. Also as part of this resolution, there are three books that I want to reread in July, before school starts, because they are very inspirational and will help me get refocused and ready for the upcoming school year. Those books are Teach Like a Champion, What Teachers Make, and Rigor Is Not a Four-Letter Word.

Resolution # 4: I still need to lose weight so I’m going to set a weight-loss goal of 40 pounds for the year, which averages to 3.33 pounds per month, and seems very doable based on last year’s results. If I can lose more than 40 pounds by the end of the year, that would make me happy, but if 40 more pounds is all that I lose this year, that will also make me happy. Starting this year 35 pounds lighter than I started last year is great motivation to keep this going. Towards the end of last year, I went into maintenance mode and was happy to maintain where I was. With the beginning of a new year, however, it’s time to get back into the routine of losing weight. This requires that once again I start tracking what I eat and making sure I’m staying within limits that will allow me to lose weight. Just as importantly, it requires that I get back into, and stay into, my exercise routine. I did attempt to get back on track with that in mid-December as I knew it would help with the maintenance, especially with all the extra holiday goodies available for snacking. I’ll just have to make sure I make myself get up and do the walking routines before I go to work each day, and do extra miles on the weekends. If I can lose another 40 pounds over the course of the year, then I would only have another 20 to go to be where I want to be. I’ve always read that losing the weight slowly is one way to make sure the weight stays off, and that’s why I’m content to consider just 40 pounds for the year acceptable. It helps that I’m already into the routine of a better lifestyle, with exercise and portion control, so I am looking forward to this resolution.

Resolution # 5: When I started tracking my resolutions two years ago, I included a food resolution because my family likes to eat. The first year, my husband and I made a new recipe every week of the year. Last year, we tried twelve new restaurants. Because we still really like food, I still want to include something food-related, but I want something a little different. Therefore, I have decided that this resolution is simply to try something new, at least every month, but more often is entirely acceptable. This something new can be a new recipe, a new restaurant, a new dish that we haven’t had before at a restaurant we’ve visited before, or a new food (last year we tried asparagus). This gives us a wide range of options for trying new foods, and I must say, I’m really looking forward to this one.

Resolution # 6: For the past two years, I had just five resolutions but I’ve decided to add a couple more for this year. This year, I’m going to keep a prayer journal. We all could make improvements to our prayer lives; I know I need to grow in my relationship with my Savior, and I know prayer is the simplest way to do so. Because I am so fond of lists, keeping a prayer journal seems to be the easiest way to make sure that I’m following through on prayer. While I do pray frequently, I want to make my prayers more focused. My pastor suggested praying for protection, power, provision, peace, and perseverance for those around us. By keeping the prayer journal, I think this will be easier for me to do. In my prayer journal, I will have a list of those I pray for daily, and I will have lists of those special prayer requests that come our way. This doesn’t mean prayer can’t still be spontaneous when needed, but it does provide a way for me to focus more on my prayer life.

Resolution # 7: I saw this idea on Pinterest on Christmas Eve and right away I knew I had to add it to my 2014 resolutions. This year I’m going to keep a Gratitude Jar, and I’m going to encourage my husband and my children (and that includes the daughters-in-law) to also keep one. The concept is simple. Each day, I will write down either something I am particularly thankful for on that day or something good that happened that day. According to the Pinterest post, the jar can be opened either at Thanksgiving or at the end of the year. I’m thinking that my version of this will actually end up being a Gratitude Journal. Rather than writing these entries on a small slip of paper and putting it in a jar, I will get a spiral notebook of some sort and write the entries in that. By doing so, the entries will remain in order and I can review the year from start to finish. At the end of the year, I will be able to read all the wonderful things that happened throughout the year. Some of these might be things that I would easily remember, but I’m willing to bet that by the time December 31 rolls around, many of them will be things I have forgotten. In addition, by taking the time to write either something I’m thankful for or something good that happened every day, it’s a reminder that regardless of how bad a day might seem, there is still something good in there and something to be thankful for.

And there you have it, the seven things I want to accomplish for the year 2014. I love the idea of a new year and the chance to do over what we didn’t get right in the old year. Every new day is a blessing, and it’s up to us how we spend it. I’m looking forward to many hours with my family, but I’m also looking forward to making these resolutions become a reality.

Resolutions Off to a Great Start in 2013

The first month of 2013 comes to a close today. It’s already been a busy year, and if the weather for the month of January is any indication, this year is going to be a doozy when it comes to weather. Temperatures in the 70s one day, then plummeting to the 20s with snow the next day. Just this week, we’ve had 70 degrees and sunshine, rain, severe thunderstorm warnings, and now 30 degrees and snow. You can’t help but wonder what the rest of the year will hold.

Despite the weird weather patterns, however, I have been able to make some progress on those New Year’s resolutions that I set just 31 short days ago. I’ll update you on the progress I’ve made, partly to satisfy your curiosity and partly because it’s a way to help me stay focused and on track.

My first resolution related to my writing. Yes, I intend to write every day, but mainly because that has now become a habit for me, and I intend to post a blog every day, which is also habit. I did miss posting a blog a couple days in January, but sometimes things just come up, and there doesn’t end up being enough time left in the day to get it done. My real resolution for writing is to finish the mysterious project. I have made a little progress on that, not nearly what I should have by this point, but I can say that I have worked on it a bit, which is better than having to say that I haven’t worked on it at all. As I rededicated myself to another resolution about mid-month, I find that I do need to rededicate myself to this resolution, and I need to take steps to ensure that despite my busy schedule, and despite my other resolutions, this one gets some of my time, so that by the end of the year, a short 11 months from now, I will have the project completed. This one is a lofty resolution, indeed, but if I focus, I can do it.

My second resolution related to my reading. Because I failed to hit the 75-book mark in 2012, I’m trying to do so in 2013. In order to stay on pace to reach 75 books by the end of the year, I need to read at least 6.25 books a month. As of the writing of this blog (around 1:00 P.M. thanks to a snow day), I have read five books: Many Waters and An Acceptable Time by Madeleine L’Engle, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, Macbeth by William Shakespeare, and The Education of Hyman Kaplan by Leonard Q. Ross. The first two by L’Engle finished up the five-book set in her time travel series. I reread The Hunger Games because my English 200 class has been assigned the trilogy, and I needed to reread it so I could write test questions and discussion board topics and so I could remember enough to be able to answer any questions the students might have. I read Macbeth with my English IV classes. Finally, I read the Ross book because my “other” son, Jeremy, suggested it and let me borrow it. It’s a very funny read about an immigrant in the 1930s who is attempting to learn the very confusing English language.

I’m aware that five books is less than 6.25 books. However, I have read one-fourth of Catching Fire, the second book of The Hunger Games trilogy, again because the English 200 students are reading it, and I need to write test questions and discussion board topics. And according to my Kindle, I am 60% finished with Dracula. My hope is that by the end of the day today, I will have finished Dracula. If I can do so, then I will be at exactly 6.25 books, which is right on target. I believe this is doable, and I will come back to the blog later today and leave a comment letting you know whether it happens. On January 2, I posted a blog “Read the Bible in a Year,” and though I didn’t mention it in my January 1 resolution blog, this is part of my reading resolution. By the end of the year, I want one of those 75 books to be the Bible. I included in that blog, a daily reading plan to make that happen. I have followed that plan and have read every day in January. Thus far, that means I have completed the books of Genesis and Matthew. I’m a third of the way through Psalms, half way through Romans, and a few chapters into Exodus. This plan is so simple and easy to follow, as long as I stick with it, reading the Bible in a year won’t be a problem.

My third resolution related to weight loss. Last year, this one was a major fail. I ended the year at the same weight I began the year, though I had wanted to lose 20 pounds. I knew it was something I needed to work on, but I just simply failed to do that part. I started 2013 with a slightly different goal, lose five pounds per month, for a total of 60 by the end of the year. By January 21, when I weighed in, I discovered I was still on the 2012 track. I knew if this was going to happen, I had to be the one to make it happen. At this point, I did a blog about my weight-loss goal, “Diet Food for Thought.” During my grocery shopping that day, I bought more fruits and vegetables, and I set my mind to achieving this goal. Ten days after that blog, I’m very pleased to be able to say that I have lost a total of 6.4 pounds, which means that for January, I have met my goal of at least five pounds for the month.

So, what have I done these last ten days? Exactly what I should have been doing the first 21 days, and then perhaps I would have actually lost more during the month. I started exercising on the morning of January 22. Using Denise Austin’s Daily Dozen DVD, I got up a half hour earlier so that I could do the 12-minute exercise for that day. This video is great. It has seven days’ of exercises, each lasting just 12 minutes. Each minute, there is a different move. There are exercises for cardio, for toning, and for yoga. It’s a great variety so you don’t get bored. It’s fast and easy so you can work it in. I did these exercises on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday of that week. On Friday, we had a snow day, so I did the Daily Dozen routine, and I added the one-mile walk from the Walk Away the Pounds DVD with Leslie Sansone. It takes just 18 minutes to do the one-mile walk. I did the same routine on Saturday. I did skip exercising on Sunday and Monday, went back to it for Tuesday, but skipped it again yesterday. Today, with another snow day, I did the Daily Dozen routine but not the walk. The point is I am exercising. I can’t do all the moves, and I sometimes go a little slower than they do, but hey, I’m terribly out of shape. I’m at least trying to work myself up to the level that they do on the DVD. As I get better at it, I’ll add more to the routine. In addition to exercising, though, I am using the Lose It! app on my Kindle, and keeping track of what I eat and how much I exercise. This keeps me on track. I stay within my daily budget for calories. It also forces me to make healthier eating choices. Finally, I weigh every day. It’s great motivation to see even a half-pound drop in the weight, and it’s helpful for staying on track as well. I also wrote down my measurements as they were on January 21, but according to the Denise Austin plan, I won’t do measurements again until February 11, which is three weeks from the original date. Right now, having met my goal for January, I’m feeling very good about moving into February.

My fourth resolution related to movies. There is a list of classic movies I have not yet seen, and I identified ten classics that I would like to watch at some point during the year. In January, I haven’t watched any of them. Jimmy did bring The Shawshank Redemption for us to watch one night, but there was something on television that we’d forgotten was going to be on, so we ended up watching that instead. I’m thinking, though, that with the snowy forecast ahead for the weekend, Saturday night would make for a great movie night.

My final resolution related to food. I’m still trying new recipes and finding keepers. At some point I’ll share with you some of the recipes I’ve tried this year. However, this year’s goal was to try at least one new restaurant every month. This was successful. We tried Mi Pequena Hacienda in Lexington, Texas Longhorn Steakhouse in Lexington, and the Big Blue Smokehouse right here in Jackson. I would return to all of these restaurants. We called in the order to the Mexican restaurant, and though there were a couple mistakes (it was a huge order), the food was really good. We dined in at the other two, and the food and service were both good. I’m already thinking about what restaurant we might want to try in February.

All in all, I’ll have to call January a successful month in regard to my resolutions. Yes, there are some things I need to improve upon, such as spending more time on the project and watching a classic movie, but I’m confident I will finish Dracula by tonight, which will have me on track for the reading goal, and I’m also confident with the success I’ve had in just the last ten days of January, I will remain motivated to continue my weight-loss plan through February. I’ve no doubt the restaurant goal will be met; we love to eat out when we travel. Keeping a resolution is a matter of making up your mind about what is important to you. We can all do it. I’m looking forward to following through with my resolutions during the remainder of the year.

Falling Behind on Some Resolutions

Hard to believe, but it’s time for the monthly update to figure out how I’ve been doing with the five resolutions I set back on January 1. Let’s just say that some are going pretty good, and others need a lot of work during the last three months of 2012.

1. Writing. This one is pretty much on pace, as far as writing every day goes. I do manage to write something every day. As far as posting on the blog every day, I missed that one. If you read yesterday’s blog, you know I didn’t get to post on Friday, because I refused to pay $10 to the Galt House to be able to use their Internet service in my hotel room. I weighed the options between posting and paying. Since I’d already had some days in April when I didn’t get to post while on senior trip, that made the decision a lot easier. Had it been that this would have been the first one I’d missed for the year, I might have actually paid the $10 to avoid that, but as it was, I decided keeping my $10 was the wiser move. In relation to the project I’ve been working on, I have been working on it this month, but again, not the twice per week that I’d like. At this point, I feel good that I spent some time this month working on it. I’m going to have to improve, though. I’m finally settling into a routine for the school year, so hopefully, keeping up with the resolutions will be easier.

2. Reading. I’m way off on this one. I’ve read 42 books for the year. Since I’m posting this in the middle of the day, there’s a slight chance it might be 43 by the end of the day and official end of the month, but I’m not holding my breath on that one. What this means as far as my resolution goes is that I have to do at least 33 more in October, November, and December. If I break it down, that’s 11 each month. That’s still doable. I just have to do it. The two books I managed to get read this month were Save Me by Lisa Scottoline and Mercy by Jodi Picoult. Save Me was a heart-wrenching story of a young mother who was accused of abandoning another child in order to save her own, while Mercy was supposed to be the story of a man who killed his dying wife upon her request, but ended up, at least to me, being more the story of his cousin trying to figure out his own marriage. Of the two, I preferred Save Me. Had Mercy actually focused more on the story of Jamie and the implications of his mercy-killing rather than his cousin’s affair and consequences, it would have been a much better book. This is actually the first Picoult book that I’ve not enjoyed all that much.

3. Weight Loss. Well, I’ve lost 3 pounds since the beginning of the year. I’ve fluctuated between 3 and 10, and at the moment, it’s at 3. I have three months to hit that goal of 20. With Thanksgiving and Christmas coming up, that won’t be the easiest thing, but obviously if I stick to the Weight Watchers plan, then hitting the mark of 20 over the next three months is completely doable. My daughter has lost 50 pounds in just over a year and a half. I wish I could stay as motivated as she is.

4. Recipes. We got back on track with trying new recipes. This month, we managed to do six new recipes. They were Pasta with Tomatoes, Basil, and Garlic, Baked Chicken Fajitas, Chicken Piccata, Honey Sauced Chicken, Loaded BBQ Baked Potato Soup for the Crock Pot, and Farfalle with Chicken and Roasted Garlic Sauce. With the exception of the Potato Soup, all the others were a success. The Chicken Piccata was a tad too lemony, but not so much to be inedible or untasty. We just decided that we would just cut back on the lemon next time. The Potato Soup was a massive fail. It spent 7 hours in the crock pot on low, and the potatoes did not get cooked through despite being cut into small cubes. It spent another hour on the stove, and the potatoes were better, but still not all of them were cooked through. We have relegated this recipe to the “Never Again” file. For now, I’ll just stick to our usual recipe for Tater Soup.

5. Update. As usual, this is the one I don’t have any trouble keeping. With three months remaining in 2012, as I write the update for September, I’m starting to look ahead to next year. I’m thinking about what I’ve managed to do well in 2012 with regard to keeping these five seemingly simple resolutions, wondering what I might need to change about them next year. I’m already considering some minor changes, as well as some other things that I’d like to add to the agenda for 2013. I’ve no idea how this is actually going to turn out. I’ve done relatively well with the writing one, but I know I need to put more time into the project. I have much to do with the reading one so that it turns out to be successful, but it’s not totally out of reach yet, so I’m not going to give up yet. If I behave and follow the Weight Watchers point system, losing another 17 pounds is also doable. With the holidays coming up, it will be no problem at all to keep finding new recipes to try. I’ll spend the next three months evaluating this year’s resolutions and considering where to go next year.