Nothing Profound

Today is a momentous day in history...and for about half a second, I considered blogging about it. But then I decided that this blog has never been about anything more profound than the daily lives of our family, and so today should be no different.

Eden's party was this weekend. It was definitely a success. She had a great time and when she woke up yesterday, she immediately said "I want to go back to my birthday again!". I also noticed a lot of reenactment play going on with her and Sadie yesterday ("Here, Eden...let me push you around in your birthday throne."). As for me, I'm just happy that it went off without a hitch and that it is over.

Birthday party worries a thing of the past, I am now free to focus on myself again (ha, like I ever stop doing that). Seriously, though. I posted a few days ago about my weight and how I'm not happy with it. So, I've really renewed my effort to do something about it. In the past few days, I've made a good effort towards getting back into a workout routine - hopefully, I'll stay motivated to stick to it. I actually sat down with my calendar and marked off the days and times that I am going to work out - I think this will help me feel more accountable. I've also just resigned myself to the fact that I will be running on the treadmill after work for a while, until the weather starts cooperating more consistently. Planning for this removes the 'bad weather excuse' that seems to have plagued me for much of December.

I was thrilled to see that I hadn't lost much ground with the running, in spite of my hiatus. That in itself is both motivating and a confidence booster.

So, I think (hope!) that the exercise part of getting back into shape is underway. But, I'm starting to realize that as I get older, being physically active isn't quite enough. I need to watch what I eat, at least a bit. In general, I think I eat pretty well, at least in that I generally eat whole foods, and lots of fruits and veggies. I'm not a junk food person, which is a good thing. But, regardless, I'm gaining weight, so healthy food or not, something isn't working. I decided to attack my eating in the same way I approach financial budgeting, and in doing so, I simply ate as I normally would for a few days and tracked the caloric intake, to get an idea of my 'norm.' I was surprised to see that I am routinely eating more than 2000 calories a day, which is more than I should be eating just to maintain my weight, let alone to lose any.

So, obviously, I need to make a change. For the past five days, I've started planning out my eating (to the best of my ability) and tracking what I've eaten (again, as best as I can). I'm trying to stick to 1800 calories per day. Planning out all of my food for the day definitely helps I've realized that the one meal that is out of my control is dinner. Evan makes dinner nightly and is, unfortunately, an amazing cook. I look forward to his meals each night, and he takes a lot of pleasure out of preparing them, so me not eating what he had made just isn't going to happen. Instead, I'm just trying to budget for that one. In keeping my breakfast to under 200 calories (hello, cottage cheese, strawberries and coffee), my lunch to about 400 calories (lots of options here, but so far I've been doing either a salad with turkey or tuna or a small sandwich) and a total of 300 calories worth of snacks per day (popcorn, nuts, fruit), I am able to leave 900 calories for dinner. That does seem like a ton, but for example, last night, we had roasted chicken, whole grain rice pilaf, sugar snap peas and homemade biscuits - amazing how fast those calories add up! So, I think it is realistic to plan for meals like that, and just be happy when it doesn't add up.

I know it probably goes against every weight loss tip in the book to have your heaviest meal at the end of the day, but so be it. This is my reality.

Anyway, I hope to blog about this on a semi-regular basis, to keep myself accountable. We'll see how it goes. I'm a true 'foodie' at heart, so I know this isn't going to be easy. I think if I could just start to see the scale move a little in the direction I want it to, it would be a great motivator.

Oh, and one final non-sequiter (sp?)....we got a bit of snow yesterday! Just enough to take the girls sledding again. It was so much fun! It is definitely getting me excited to go tubing - the girls are going to love it!