Working on my Attitude....

Ok, yesterday bf and I went to his mom's for a big family party... I knew there would be fried chicken, etc., so I ate healthier stuff beforehand: steelcut oats for breakfast, three-bean salad with no oil for a snack, and chicken and fat-free cheese on a whole-wheat tortilla with a side of baby carrots for lunch. And thank goodness because there was indeed fried chicken, corn that already had butter in it, and mashed potatoes that I had taken a couple bites of before it was announced that they had real butter and sour cream in them. Sigh. I ate very little but then they brought out the gooey butter cake and I had 2 pieces. At least I have some successes to think about, and I guess I can just learn from the gooey butter cake incident. When we got home that evening I had whole wheat penne and 2 tsps olive oil tossed with more three-bean salad and chicken. I had taken the dog for a walk that morning, which is more of a work-out than it sounds because it was his first walk. He's a year and a half old and weighs almost 70 lbs; we don't usually walk him because we have a big yard, so we just take him out and play fetch with him for his exercise. So our walk was a little like the first part of an episode of one of those dog behavior shows, with him pulling against the leash and dragging me along until we came to an understanding. But then we walked past a fenced yard with another dog in it, and all bets were off. He really wanted to make a new friend, but I dragged him by the collar until we were clear of the chance for canine networking. So it was a walk AND an upper body workout, whoo hoo!

Today I went to the gym and spent 30 minutes on the elliptical machine, then stretched, did upper body work on the weight machines, and did some situps. This was the first time I’ve used the weight machines at this gym. I joined in February and got a free personal training session with my membership; I asked the trainer for a weight routine with the machines but she gave me a routine with the yoga-ball thingie and handweights instead… she said it was a big fat-burner. Well, thanks for listening to me and hearing my goals, but I like the weight machines and that’s what I know I will use consistently. I did the little yoga-ball handweight routine maybe 4 times before I totally lost interest in it. Maybe I should have stuck to it, ok, yes, I really should have stuck to it. But it’s hard enough to make yourself work out when you don’t feel like it, and then to have to be psyching yourself up to do something you hate? I know this weight loss thing is work, I know it takes commitment and consistency and discipline, but let’s not make it harder than it has to be. I love running, I love the elliptical machine, I love yoga, and I love the weight machines. I will do situps because I know they work. So thank you, kind trainer, but I have now officially abandoned the ball-thingie routine for the weight machines. And maybe sometime I’ll ask what they’re really called, too. Because I like them!

Going back to the gooey butter cake incident, bf’s mom made it especially for him because it’s his favorite. So she sent the leftovers home with us. I made a big case for sending it home with someone else, someone with kids maybe, but I was over-ruled. And maybe that was selfish of me but the reality is that I am the one who eats leftovers in this house, for the most part. I had a close call with the cake about half an hour ago, I actually started to get it out of the fridge but I made a pot of coffee instead and decided to drink some more water and update the blog while the coffee brews. So far so good, today. Again I say “Whoo hoo!”

I am really hoping this blog will help me with my dedication to weight loss this time. I get so lazy and am so incredibly good at making excuses for eating wrong and not working out. But I really want to do this. I want to get healthy and fit, and do it the right way, and then in a few (ok, several) months the fit and slim woman I see in my mind’s eye will be reality. I think I have to work on my attitude, on motivating myself more, on making this decision, this process, this goal MINE. Owning it and committing to it.

Here’s to me, and here’s to you, getting fit one decision at a time!