Things I'm learning along the way. . .

So now I’m a month or so into my journey. I have LOST 5 pounds! Woohoo!!! I have to admit, I thought it would be more, but I'll take what I can get. This is all thanks to a daily food diary I keep that has to be checked by the dietician once a month. I have to learn to only drink small sips of water and sugar free drinks (no carbonated beverages EVER again!) throughout the day and no drinks with meals.

I also have to learn how to take at least 30 minutes to eat each meal. That part is really hard when you're at your in-laws house and 4 minutes into your meal, everyone else is already on seconds. By the time you get 25 minutes in, they've had third helpings and dessert! Not to mention everything in that house is a carb. That house is a whole nother story . . .

Anyways, it must be working. I have more energy now than I did a month or so ago and I'm sleeping better than I have in months. My next set of goals that my dietician gave me are:

• to be sugar free
• fried foods free
• and caffeine free

all by next month. I also need to eat more fruits. She said that will help satisfy my sweet tooth. So with each meal I need to add a fruit since I seem to be concentrating on veggies too much (can you imagine that?). My hubby's trying to figure out how I'm going to be fried food free, but he's trying. I came home the next night after this appointment and he had bake pork chops for me instead of frying. It just blew me away! This is a man who hates to cook and would eat McDonald's every day all day if he could. So maybe my good changes may trickle down more than I think.

Goal Tending

OK - so my biggest motivator is someone who sits beside me every day at work, yet I see maybe 2 minutes out of the day (gotta love cube-world). She's athletic, motivated and she knows the right things to push my buttons in this fitness push of mine. Even her blog has helped me reach a decision!

She does this great thing called "Nutritionathon" and tracks it through her blog. Updates us on 7 or 8 specific goals she has set for herself. Nothing loosey-goosey about the goals either, like "lose weight" or "exercise more" with this girl. she's got it down to a T - specifically how many sodas, sweets, etc. she's going for and how well she met said goal each day.

I like this idea. No, strike that. I LOVE this idea. I'm a planner and the more details I have, the better i can follow it. But, I can't right a blog post every day with the details either. But, I am the queen of spreadsheets, so that's what I setup!

Starting on Friday, 01 February, you can keep track of my goals through this link: http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=p-mJfOClu-kA7ktPEOswNPQ or through an RSS feed at http://spreadsheets.google.com/feeds/list/p-mJfOClu-kA7ktPEOswNPQ/od6/public/basic.

Why Feb. 1? Well, I figure start with a whole month and see from there. that gives me two "free" days, one of which includes our office holiday party (office holiday party on Jan 31 - that's a whole different story!).

Here's the details of the goals I set for myself:

1. Absolutely No Soda
2. Only 1 Cup of Coffee
3. At Least 40 oz water
4. 3 full, planned meals, rather than waiting until I'm hungry to eat and then eating what's on hand. (This is where I might change the rules, if I find I'm eating more just because I planned to eat a certain thing at a certain time)
5. Only 1 sweet, if even that much. I know I have the willpower here, I just have to stop using these as an escape.
6. At least 1 15 - 30 min. workout - yoga, hip-hop dance, even a KidStuf rehearsal - as long as it gets my heart pumping and body moving!

So, that's my starting plan. Check in starting Friday to see where I go from here! Oh - and thanks Amanda! You ROCK!

Teri - My history

Ok, here goes my accountability part. After a whole lifetime of struggle with being overweight, I have started my journey to living healthy in 2008. I made a decision in the latter part of 2007 that I didn’t want to live the next 33 years of my life like I did the first 33 years. Plus, I want to make sure I get the next 33 years!

So my husband and I attended a weight loss surgery seminar at Riverside Methodist Hospital. It was very informative and I knew in my heart that this was the place for me. This was the help I had needed all these years. Not just the surgery, but the support and information they provide long before surgery and long after. Unfortunately, my hubby didn’t feel the same way. He was very interested in it until he heard that he couldn’t eat steak anymore. Then I sadly saw the interest fade from his eyes.

I took time and thought it over weighing the good against the bad. Could I really give up doughy breads and my Mt. Dew?? Let me digress. . .my name is Teri, and I’m a Mt. Dew-oholic. I use to average a 12 pack – or more – a day. Ok, now back to the present . . . Could I really give up the food that I loved? Finding out I was type 2 diabetic only changed my habits for a short time. Did I really love all that food more than my kids? Heck no!! I have to do this -- I HAVE to learn how to “eat” again.

So on December 6, 2007, I started the process. I reported to the doctor’s office to submit my urine and give blood for all those tests. Throughout that day, I met with a dietician, a counselor – who gave more tests than in school - and, finally, a doctor. Come to find out all is good except one thing with my blood tests. I have to take antibiotics for 14 days to get rid of some bacteria in my tummy – no biggie. (No one told me they were horse pills!) Then the counselor thinks I’m ADD, but that has yet to be proven! Since I’m too big of a scaredy-cat, I am choosing the lap-band over the gastric bypass. The doctor did think my choice in the lap-band surgery was appropriate and he feels that I will loose 100% of my weight loss goal considering my age and mobility. It’s all up to me now. All 120 pounds of it!

I’m hoping that keeping this accountability log will help me with this process and maybe encourage others that they can do it too! I’ll try to post as often as I can.

Still unmotivated

So, not 100% yet and just feeling lazy. I really want to clean my house though and get motivated to get back on track. Any idea, thoughts, help in that area would be appreciated. (And, no "just do it" doesn't really help, so please don't say that!)