Week One: The Prequel

I am tired.  I wake up at the last possible minute to get ready for work.  I leave for work early so I can sit in the parking lot, close my eyes and relax for a few moments before going in to work.  During my lunch hour I go out to my car, kick the seat back and nap for 10 to 15 minutes.  When I get home, I try to do as little as possible, cook whatever the easiest, most convenient meal is (if it's my turn) so I can sit down.  As soon as I sit down on the couch, that's it.  I have no intention of doing anything else for the evening other than watching TV and talking to my husband.  Sometime around 7:30 or 8:00 p.m., we will both go to bed since he has to get up early for his job.  I will wake up the next morning and do it all over again.  I guess the scariest part of this for me is when the ideas and inspiration stopped coming.  I am a poet and a writer, a creative person who always has some sort of weird notion knocking about in my mind.  But lately, not so much.  I'm just too tired.  I don't like it and have decided something has to change.

I know I need to lose weight, but I've been on so many diets over the years, it seems my body is onto all of them.  I recently told someone that I wished I'd never gone on a "DIET" and I mean that.  Diets don't work.  Changing your diet, what you eat, how you think and feel about what you eat, does work.  I have succeeded at losing weight before and even keeping it off for a while until I let myself slip back into old habits.  I do a mental summary of all the diets I've ever been on, what worked for me, what didn't.  I came up with a few "guidelines" to hopefully help me on yet another journey towards losing weight and feeling better.

1.  I will not call this a diet.  Diet is a four letter word.  I am not on a diet.  I am changing my habits and outlook about my overall lifestyle.  

2.  I will make changes, one at a time, maybe one every week or whatever time frame I feel comfortable with.  The changes may come fewer and farther between as I accomplish some of the main ones on my list.    

3.  I will not weigh myself for the first few weeks, maybe even months, maybe not at all.  In the past I have let that number mess with my head.  When the number is lower, I am encouraged by it, but when the number is higher or doesn't move at all, I'm discouraged, disappointed and get derailed.  No, this time is about feeling better, not about a number on the scale.  I will use how I feel and how my clothes fit as a gauge, which brings us to #4.

4.  Every day I will ask myself two questions to determine my progress:  How do I feel?  How do I want to feel?  As long as I'm feeling better, I know I must be doing something right, and as long as I want to continue to feel better, I will continue practicing the habits that have proven to do so.

5.  I will write about my progress, my ups and my downs.  I need to write every day anyway because I always feel better when I write.  It doesn't matter if anyone reads it, I just need to put it out there to help myself mentally and emotionally.

So there you have it, my personal Top Five for a Better Me!  I have decided the first change I need to make is NO MORE SODA, namely Dr. Pepper.  No offense, Doc, but you gotta go!  My next blog post will be all about you and how I'm getting rid of you for good.