Fitness

Ok, it is time for me to get really serious about getting fit.  I am at the very highest end of what is healthy for my height, and I really don't like it.  I also have a ton of smaller sized clothes that have hardly been worn and I can't wear at the moment.

So today I joined My Fitness Pal, and am going to make an attempt to log all the food I eat.  I am also starting the Couch to 5K running plan, and probably will bust out my 30 Day Shred DVD.  You can see my Fitness Pal ticker at the bottom of my blog.  I need to lose a total of 25 pounds to reach my goal.

Making Time

On Tuesday evenings this month, I am taking a class for work.  I am attempting to make a new friend while there, which can be difficult since the class is how to teach sex ed...  But I am forging along nonetheless.  So today I found out that she has been married only a month longer than Mr. Logical and I, which is cool, and that she gets up every morning at 4 am to go running.  4 am, people!  That is serious dedication to a fitness routine.  Which got me thinking, how can I get myself that motivated?  What can I do to be more active?

One thing that I am trying to do is to cut back on my caffeine intake.  I would frequently have a 20oz coffee in the morning, a can of Coke Zero at lunch, and a glass or two of diet soda at night.  I have already limited myself to one soda a day, and am working on cutting that out all together, and the coffee.  I tried it this weekend and it was great.  I also want to get back in the habit of waking up early, rather than late.  Hopefully the caffeine cutback helps with that.

Healthy eating

When I graduated high school, I was 5'11" and weigh 123 pounds.  I didn't diet or exercise.  My mom is the queen of portion control, so while I thought I was eating whatever I wanted, I was actually eating small portions of whatever I wanted.  I had oatmeal for breakfast and yogurt for lunch every day.  And then I went to college.  I ate whatever I wanted, but didn't know how to control my portions, and I was eating out a lot more.  By the time I graduated from grad school, five years later, I was 204 pounds.

Through Weight Watchers, and later moving back in with my parents (yay for Mom's portion control), I was able to lose 40 pounds in two years.  Since moving out, twenty pounds have slowly crept back, and I have been working on getting to the weight I felt happiest at, which was around 150 pounds.  I still really struggle with portion control and motivation to exercise.  On January 3, I started the South Beach diet, and have lost about eight pounds in the last two weeks.  I'm really looking forward to start introducing smoothies and protein shakes into my diet this week.  I've really struggled with giving up sugar, as I have the world's biggest sweet tooth, but I think it has really helped my migraine problem.  Hopefully reintroducing fruit doesn't mess that up.

I don't have any before pictures, but look out for the after pics soon. 

Schedules

Today everything gears up again after a week and a half break: work and school.  I'm trying to add a few things into my schedule this year, as well.  Luckily, school is online, but there are several days where I must post online.  I'm trying to configure my schedule so I have school, work, gym, blogging, another online project, and cooking dinner all balanced throughout the week.

I currently leave for work by 7:15, and if I get up when Mr. Logical leaves at 5:30, I could get all my school postings done in the morning.  My work bestie, Julie, just joined my gym and I think we're going to work out together after work 3 days a week.  The other 3 days, I can use my bike on the trainer here at home or do Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred.  Sunday is typically my rest day for exercise, and I might make it a rest day for school as well, and use it to work on some other projects.

The last thing I have to work in is cooking twice a week.  When I lived alone, I got to be pretty good about scrounging up some dinner, but somehow I don't think that's going to fly every day any more.  I know that 7 days a week will be too much for me, plus Mr. Logical love to cook, so I settled on 2 days a week.  I've been utilizing AllRecipes and Pinterest to help me come up with some ideas, but I have to do better planning when I'm going to cook and grocery shopping.

In the past, I have bought date books and tried iCal, but neither are intuitive to me.  I'm a remember it in my head kind of gal, but I think now that I have so much going on, I'm going to make a more concentrated effort to use iCal a little more effectively.  This should help me coordinate with Mr. Logical, too.

Welcome 2012

In an effort to become a better writer, I am resolving to write a blog entry every day this year. I'm resolving a few other things this New Year's Day, as well: to finally reach my healthy weight, to cook dinner for my husband at least twice a week, and to finish all my unfinished craft projects laying around the house.

The two most important things I want to keep up with are blogging and exercising. I think the key to this will be carving out a set time for each. Ideally, I'd like to do both in the morning before work, but realistically I'm not sure if this will work. One thing I have working for me is that my carpool meeting spot is in the same parking lot as my gym. We'll give it a whirl this week and see how it goes.