Motivation and stuff

That's a "vision board" I made for the LY'09 class. For now, I've just put together a whole bunch of affirmations that really spoke to me out of a recent magazine (Body & Soul) that I read. I made it so that I could use it as a background for my computer's desktop. And that way I'll see it numerous times a day. I'm hoping those affirmations will infiltrate and take over my brain and help me start acting like the healthy, fit person I am on the inside!

It's been a challenging week. I got pretty 0ff-balance with traveling last weekend and not really having full control over my eating. And then I came home with a slight tummy thing. It's amazing to me how not feeling well just makes me want to forget about the whole thing and just comfort myself. Well, part of it - a BIG part of it - was also that coming home from the weekend away, there wasn't any fresh food left and I wasn't feeling well enough (nor did I really have the time) to go get any.

But all of that is opportunity to learn and make changes. Like, I really, really need to have meal plans in place. I'm just not good at winging it. And, well, if there isn't a piece of fruit in the house, there's no making up for that. I've got to get groceries weekly - even if that means giving Chris a little list of stuff to pick up at the sub-par grocery store that he passes on the way home from work. It's better than nothin'!

And, of course, not feeling well, having a new collection to work on and just playing catch-up for my time away has provided ample excuses for not doing the workout thing (again) this week. For reals, though - I HAVE to get my energy up for that. I am feeling better now AND - while out on a date last night - I noticed that I can walk in at least one pair of shoes without my broken toe hurting. The shoes I wore to travel in were good, too, but I couldn't wear them in snow since they're kinda like slides. But I got my snow clogs on last night and could walk comfortably - finally! So, I'm hoping I can get my feets into sneakers next week. (I don't really want to try to exercise wearing my slippers that keep flying off me feet. Or snow clogs. Unless I'm going to walk up the driveway, which, in 20-degree weather, I'm not.)

Successes: There have been some this week!

I've been doing really well at not finishing everything on my plate - being more aware of my "fullness" level and really listening to my brain signals. And where I've had meals that weren't really the healthiest, I've felt really good about only eating about 1/2 of the portions. YAY!

I'm getting at least 2 bottles (16 oz. bottles) of water in. Okay, sometimes, I'm hitting it at night in front of TV, but I am getting it in. My problem is nursing my coffee way way too long (like, until it's officially "iced" coffee!) and not starting with the water soon enough. And I also get busy (especially when I'm scrapping) and just don't drink. Not that I don't like to drink it. I do. It's definitely my drink of choice. 3 bottles a day is my goal. So I want to work next week at getting done with that first bottle before noon. But it is going down. Which makes everything flush out nicely.

And, I've also adjusted my daily eating when I know I'm going to either eat out or eat something not as "fresh" as I'd like it to be (i.e. creamy casseroles and the like). By fresh I mean food in it's most natural state. Like a slab of meat and a salad or veggies. Rather than combining it all in a casserole or having something like fish and chips (like I did last night for dinner at the Irish restaurant. Hey. It was an Irish restaurant, okay?). And by adjusting, I mean that I'll either be very careful of what I have for breakfast and lunch - or I'll even skip lunch. Which I don't really think is the best idea. I think I really need to be eating 3 meals or else I could end up way overeating at that last meal of the day. But, I did adjust and eat less earlier in the day. And I made sure I had a heaping salad and a smaller main portion.

So, tomorrow, we're having the visiting missionaries at our church over for lunch after church. Since they have 3 children with them and we have Eva with us, we decided to have pizza. I added a veggie tray and that will be good. Then we're going to M&M's for dinner, so, hopefully, there will be veggies there.

I really could use some encouragement on the scale Monday, soooo - I'm going for it!