So I did the unthinkable...I weighed myself today even though I swore that I wouldn't.  I mean...how could I resist...it was there, I was there, I stepped on it.  And, despite the hiccups I had last week with scheduling snafu's...I lost three pounds!  And to celebrate today, I stuck to my schedule and finished my workout early so that I wouldn't keep putting it off until it was too late. Lesson learned - I need to apply the same principles that I use at work to those at home (in other words, get the task I want to do least out of the way first).

We've all heard the phrase, "you are what you eat."  As a kid, we used to make jokes about it.  Nutrition didn't mean anything to us.  That was something my mother took care of insuring that I ate a well balanced meal.  Entering high school and college I fended for myself a lot.  I still attempted to eat well.  I think working at Wendy's helped me the most in staying well balanced.  Wait...what?  A fast food restaurant kept you eating well?  Yes.  Because I primarily ate chicken (which wasn't processed garbage like most fast food places), salads, and baked potatoes.  Of course I had my share of burgers but since I was a closer, we often took home the left over salads that were otherwise going to be thrown away at night.  This kept me fed throughout my summer employment. As a married adult, I enjoyed the art of cooking and make quite a lot of recipes that I thought were healthy but also witnessed the weight gain on my husban...

As I'm nearing the end of week two of this fitness journey, I am tempted to step on the scale and see where I am at.  This, I know, will be a mistake.  I've been on similar fitness excursions and know that weight fluctuates too much to worry about a weekly weigh in.  Too many factors are involved in what that number actually means.  Yes, I will ultimately weigh in, but only after I've hit 30 days.  For now, I am happy to share that my clothes are a bit looser and (even though I've missed a workout or two due to scheduling mishaps) I haven't had the back pain that I have been plagued with lately.  Yes, there is still a twinge or two that I will live with forever, but I can stand straighter, and shipment days at work are not quite as painful.  These small steps are much more beneficial to keeping me on track than a number on a scale. Two more workouts for this week and then it is on to week number three.  I got this...

All week I have been waiting patiently/impatiently for my P90 routine to arrive in the mail.  Today's the day it finally came!  Of course I am uber excited and want to start it immediately, BUT, I also want to do this thing right!  So I am abstaining...barely. I have already watched the first dvd, read all the materials, and am staring at the equipment that came with it wanting to begin NOW.  Instead, I have updated my Beach Body account and my, oh, my...it's amazing what 3 yrs has done.  Instead of looking at it from a negative standpoint, I am opting to look at it in a positive.  Three years have gone by and my numbers could have been a LOT worse.  Instead, they have fallen into the zone of what I expected.  I mean, come on...I've lived with this body for three years and I live with the changes on a daily basis.  Looking at a number on a screen should not deter me in the slightest.  Who cares what it says on paper.  Settin...

On my last blog post I touched a bit on motivation.  Day 1 is always the easiest for me because I set a plan, schedule a date, and voila!  I make it happen.  Tackling day 2, 3, and beyond is a new animal entirely.  I have become the queen of excuses and believe me when I say it, if I convince myself to NOT do something, there isn't a shred of guilt remaining to make me regret.  Tuesday was my second day of my fitness challenge and also the day I was scheduled to work on shipment.  Shipment was postponed a day and I was subsequently called off work.  Perfect day to work out, right? Not so much. I spent the majority of the day working on tasks I have put off for ventures that I am trying to earn money for.  I wrote a number of blogs (always hoping that someone, someday, may feel compelled to click on an ad I have posted and I can earn a few pennies off of it), compiled a number of pictures that may look easy, but is very time consuming, wrote...

I have always found that day 1 of any goal is never the hardest.  Motivation is at the forefront of our psyche and eating right and exercising are a breeze.  Yesterday wasn't that bad.  For once, I didn't forget to eat (this is a side effect of being a writer and an artist...when I get "in the zone" of creating, I lose track of time), and I actually scheduled time to work out.  I'm still waiting for my P90 workout to arrive in the mail, but I have plenty of workouts videos and I decided to pull out my Karen Voight's Yogasculpt as an easy transition into working out.  And I'm happy I chose that one.  There is something to be said for yoga realigning your spine and this morning, I actually work up without the usual back pain I have grown accustomed to. Of course, working out with pets can be challenging.  It is amazing how they can ignore me for hours on end but the minute I put on a movie, or pull out my yoga mat, they want to play.  When I lo...

Today is day 1.  The first day of my self-proclaimed day to start my fitness challenge.  I created this blog to help keep me motivated, and possibly help others as they watch me succeed or fail in this endeavor.  I am not a doctor, nor am I a nutritionist.  I'm not trying to give anyone reading this medical advice, or even promote that what I am doing is right, or wrong.  It is just what it is.  My challenge.  And I'm bringing you along for the ride.  :-) That out of the way...I have mentioned this challenge to many of my friends.  Most of which have told me that I don't need to go on a diet.  Whereas this made me feel good in the "thanks for thinking I'm not fat" category, it also made me think of society's perception of dieting.  Somehow, we equate dieting as a means to lose weight.  Losing weight is only for "fat" people.  If you are perceived as "skinny," automatically you are lumped into this category of "hea...