Walk. That's kind of all I do.

Exercise:
30 min. eliptical
3 hours of walking

I think I've gained weight since Karen came to visit.

I'll write more next time.

Fitting into old clothes again. Yay!

This past week, I hit my 20 lb. weight loss mark. That put me at 236! I cried I was so excited. I kind of let go for a few days, though. I was so busy and I didn't put as much stress on my dieting as I should have, so I've gained a pound or 2, but I'm not obsessing over it.

I put on some pants I haven't been able to wear in over a year. Later that day, I got a phone number. . . Coincidence? Haha - probably. It was a really good feeling, though. I lost it in 2 months, so that is a safe weight loss pace.

Exercise:
1 hour and 10 minutes of walking and
20 minutes of yoga (because I forgot my work shoes and had to leave early. . .)

Life is good. What can I say? :)

Ramblings and such

So, I don't have diabetes - thank the freakin' LORD! However, I tell myself that I do because I could still develop it one day should I not take care of myself. I'm sure this has been said a time or 2, but it's still good for me to reiterate it.

I've gone to the lengths of literally making myself envision not having toes or limbs due to poor diet control. I know, it's a bit extreme, but it has helped, obviously. Now, when I see something sugary and delicious like the pastries I work around, I don't think, "Yummmmy sugary goodness!" I think, "Walking with a cane when I'm 75 because I can barely move my legs." Yeah, it's not so appetizing after that.

My hopes with this are that one day, I can have children who make the correct decisions for themselves. They will see me struggle with this daily, no doubt, but hopefully, they will see how much richer my life is for being disciplined and making wise choices so I can be with them. At this point, I'm not even sure if I'm going to have children. Physically, I am unable at the moment, and emotionally, I'm not sure if I want to have them one day. There are so many health problems that I have that I wouldn't want to bring someone else into, so that's something I will need to contend with when the time comes. Granted, I want babies, but I may just adopt and save a person a lifetime of medical bills. That's really difficult, either way.

On a much, much lighter note, I've been cooking a lot of Italian food lately. I'm pretty much convinced that I'm the most amazing chef ever! :) It's pretty good, I must say. Gina taught me how to make her Nana's sauce today. I have eaten a bowl of the sauce alone. It's pretty incredible, and I can't wait to make stuff with it. Last Monday, my friend Whitney and I made a delicious meal: homemade (not by me) onion coriander pappardelle pasta topped with sun-dried tomatoes, chicken, fresh mozzarella, and homemade (by me!) sun-dried tomato and basil pesto. Holy mother of Mary's baby. It was INCREDIBLE. It was HEALTHY! We were happy. Apparently, I still am.

I consider myself a salad chef for the most part. I loooove to experiment with salads, but I've been experimenting more and more with Italian food. I hope it doesn't stop because it is a) delicious, b) less expensive than eating out, c) fun to make, d) healthy, and e) making me happpppyyy!!! YAY!

Ok, enough of that. I'm sure I will write more about this later.

Hitting milestones in more ways than one.

I felt so good about myself yesterday (Saturday - which is still today to me as I have yet to go to sleep). I weighed at 239! That's the first time I have been below 240 in a really long time, and I am more than proud of myself. I've been telling pretty much everyone (well, of my friends at least). It feels so great to be on this track.

Exercise this week:
75 minutes of yoga and
45 minutes of walking.

I've been working a lot this week, so it has cut into my walking time. I did want to go to the gym to work out after work, but I've been exhausted from waking up really early and going to be really late. Tomorrow will be another one of those days, but I hope it is the last of its kind for a while.

This upcoming week, I'm hoping for rest, more walking time with friends, more yoga, and that I will be able to sign up for the belly dancing class with some of my friends! They love it, and I'm really interested. It would be really good for me. All of this would be great for me.

I've been cooking some really amazing food lately, too. Maybe that is what has helped a bit. Whatever it is, it's working!

Not in the highest of spirits, I'm afraid.

It may be coming off steroids that is making me a little down about my health tonight. I'm sure it will be alright in a matter of a day or 2, so I'm not worried about my outlook. We have our days, I guess.

This week, however, I feel that I've been extremely productive and active. It has been a busy week, but I feel accomplished. My house is dirty again, and I'm not too excited about that, but hopefully, I can fix that tonight.

I weighed just now and my new scale rang in at 248. It had said 242.5 about 2 days ago, but that's alright. I'll get there. I'm really just worried about getting back on a better eating routine since the medication and birthday parties have given me a little eddy to play in for a week. Here's hoping tomorrow will push the reset button. It's all mental.

As far as exercise goes, I have done. . .
90 minutes of walking and
30 minutes of dancing.

It's been a pretty good week as far as exercise, so I'm excited about that. I've been challenging myself to clean a lot and dance while cleaning. I'm trying to put more movement and fun into my everyday activities. It will be nice, though, when I live somewhere with a dishwasher so I can spend more time dancing in my kitchen than washing dishes!

Friend, I hope you've had a really good week!

Yay! She's back! :)

Hello, my friend - I'm glad you're back! I knew you hadn't left me.

So, my scale hasn't worked since before I left for Georgia, so I'm going to return it soon. I don't understand scales.

The past few days have probably put some weight on me seeing as my extremely high dose of Prednisone causes me to be ravenously hungry. Thank God I'm at a camp on a church getaway. I brought my own food, and it's pretty healthy considering I had to get it ready made from Whole Foods. I was running around doctors' offices and pharmacies right before I left and didn't have a chance to cook what I wanted to bring. I was kind of sad about that, actually, but oh well. What can I do about it now?

This week, as far as exercise goes, I've done. . .
45 minutes of walking and
30 minutes of hiking.

Not too bad, all things considered. It was kind of a rough week in spots, but I managed to get by and my eye is doing so much better (thank you, compounded drugs)! I'm just hoping my overeating won't continue when I get back home. I'm planning on getting a bike this week, so maybe that will do something for me. Who knows?

Bike season approaching.

I think I'm returning my scale soon. I'm tired of it being a teenager to me.

I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate myself on not gaining weight over the holidays! I believe that is the first, and I know if I lasted through this one, I'm sure to last through more. I did indulge a bit in some wine on New Year's and drunkenly ate chips and queso like I had never eaten before, but I'm not beating myself up. It was really difficult to resist the rainbow chip cupcakes my brother made for my nephew's birthday. They were impressed, though.

That's why I'm doing this. I'm doing this so my family can see that change can happen, even in the small things. I want to show my mother that she doesn't have to end up like her mother, bless her heart. She's not doing so great and it is tearing me up. Some people just never get it. But I get it. I want to show my mom that she can play with my children one day when she's 85 and not sit alone in her assisted living apartment unable to move much. That broke my heart, but I can't dwell on it.

I'm learning so much just by observing things and the strength to refuse things politely. People understand more than I had ever imagined. I'm taking mental notes of how much change I've made, and it is so nice to have friends who encourage and support me. Some of them keep me in line, so that's nice, too.

Exercise wise, I've done about
30 minutes of car dancing and
30 minutes of walking.

Chuck is moving to a house down the street (or so he thinks), and I walked to see him yesterday. It was a nice, little stroll over there and back. It's about 6 blocks, so it isn't bad at all. I hope he moves there because it will be a nice motivation to be active and see my new best friend.

I've thrown myself into cooking more lately. It feels good. It tastes REALLY good! I hope I don't get lazy, though. Laziness is the root of all evil, or at least, for me it is.

Oh, and I should be getting a bike soon! I'm excited about that.