Eat real food....

Saw a blog post this morning advising to eat "real food".  Boxed foods are not "real" foods.  Cheerios aren't good for you because, even though those little O's have "whole grains", they aren't natural.  They've been mushed and squashed into a tan goo.  Then they're extruded into those little O's that we even feed to our babies as first finger food.  

These foods, in this picture, are all processed and are not "real" foods.  Dammit.  This is pretty much the only kind of food I have in my house. 

"Real" food evidently doesn't come from a box or a can...  it's only found in the produce aisle.

Week 1 of the 12-Week Challenge

Well, weighed in today.  Jeanine fiddled with the scale until it appeared that I had lost a pound.  I didn't do very well for the first week, even though I have been walking for a half an hour every day before work.  Katie and I took McKenna and Dawson to the water park at French Lick over the weekend and we just ate carbs to beat the band!  I had a hotdog in a bun for lunch on Sunday, plus a root beer and a bag of baked Lay's.  We went to Chicago Pizza for supper and shared a pizza.  Had another root beer.  We had a salad, but I ate WAY TOO MUCH.  Breakfast on Monday was biscuits and gravy, French toast sticks, etc., from the breakfast buffet that was included with the room.  Another root beer while at the water park.  Then a Subway meatball sub for lunch with a cup of water.  UGH.  TOO MUCH FOOD.  I'll see what happens this week.  It's my PLAN to try to stick to a plan.        

Hmmm... more evidence that carbs are the culprits

Well, today was the first weigh-in for our at-work-12-week-challenge.  While I was in line, one of the ladies from another office was talking.  She had lap-band surgery in July and has lost 60+ pounds so far.  But before she could even HAVE the surgery, she had to "de-fat her liver" and lose at least 10 pounds.  They told her to go on a protein diet.  She did, and not only lost the 10 pounds in the time-frame they gave her, but lost another 14 as well.  She eats protein and vegetables.  Protein. Vegetables.  Hmmm.....  Does THAT sound familiar?  And now she only eats about a cup of food at each meal.  Hmmm... what have I been saying (if only to myself) about the capacity of the human stomach per meal?  A cup.  Hmmmm.... seems I was on to something and I didn't fully realize it.

Let's see what I can do with THIS little tidbit of information.    

I have always wanted to be somebody, but now I realize I have to be more specific. ~Lily Tomlin

From SparkPeople's Healthy Reflections today:

Getting specific about your goals

Are your goals detailed enough for you to reach them?  We all have aspirations and we are better off for having made them.  But if your goals are too vague or unstructured, you'll find that attaining them is difficult.  Wanting to lose 30 pounds is a wonderful goal, but you need a plan to get you on the right track.  These things don't happen overnight.  Today, think about your goals and form a plan to achieve them.  Write them down, chart your progress, refer to them as often as you need to stay on track, and most importantly, hold yourself accountable. 

A ha!  The beginnings of a PLAN.... 

Ever the Optimist?

Oh for Pete's sake... here we go AGAIN. It's the beginning of 2012 and I STILL weigh over 200 pounds. 204, yesterday morning, to be exact. Naked. Ugh.

I know people... Debbie... Erma... Tammy... who have lost lots of weight and kept it off, but I just can't stick to anything for longer than a couple of months. Why the heck can't I do do it too?!

Well, here's the beginning of ANOTHER try.

I've been getting up a half an hour early, driving to town, and walking before work. At work, Jeanine et al have issued a 12-week challenge. Weigh-ins every Wednesday. The nursing department has been doing "walkabouts" every hour. Walking from the top floor of the building to the bottom, up to the 2nd floor, across, then down and back up the other side. It takes them about 3 minutes to do a trip. Multiply that by eight times a day and you've done almost a half an hour of exercise at work.

We'll see what happens at the end of the 12 weeks...