I'm sure there are millions of us saying "New Year's Resolutions: 1) lose weight!!"

what else is new? so here I am yet another year trying again. I've many reasons to really push for it this time though; I'm getting married in September, and my fiance and I have already decided to buy each other snowboards for Christmas next year. I love to snowboard, but I'm so out of shape I'm afraid I'll really injure myself.

It's not really about body image to me (well, that's the lie I tell myself). I'm not necessarily overweight, just on the pudgy side. I'm comfortable with who I am, and I know my fiance loves me just as I am. But I can see this figure of a girl I could be, something better, something wonderful. If I can be more athletic and healthier, why can't I strive for it? Isn't that what we're all about? Always trying to be better than we are? Well that's my mentality for January 3rd anyway.

My plan..

1) lots of water. And I mean lots of water!!!! I used to drink three 24-oz bottles a day and not only did it help with hunger and weightloss, it also helped my skin and health. I miss that.

2) eat low calorie/low fat whenever I can. I'm not going to restrict myself like I've done in the past. I know I'm going to a company dinner on Sunday evening, and I'm not about to eat like a bird. But why should I make alfredo pasta tonight when a nice salad would do? Junk food is my foe and public enemy number 1 is Monseiur Chocolat. If I can stay away from all sugars I'm already one up.

3) sleep.. I average 5-6 hours a week night, then 8-10 on weekends. It's a rubbish pattern--I'm always sleepy. I need to be less ambitious in the evenings and make a firm bed time.

4) discuss and journal my thoughts. I tend to eat when I'm upset or bored or anything in between. If I know what I'm feeling instead of acting on instinct perhaps I can cut myself off from running to the fridge. Sound good? Mmhmm.

So there we go.. 4 little babysteps, nothing serious. Exercise will come later. Wish me luck! :laugh:

Howdy, eliceriggs! :wave: I love your "baby steps" ... they are good ones, IMO, and will take you a long way!!! So I do wish you luck, but you likely don't need it because your plan is so sensible ... you will do it! Have a wonderful journey! :)

Good Luck and welcome to DT. I can go with all your statements. Forget the new year resolutions, after all how many people stick with them. It i amazing how much easier it is for me to do all the athletic stuff I have been wanting to do, now that the weight is gone. All your goals seem very realistic and doable. I look forward to hearing of your sucess.

Well I didn't do so well last night. I ate a salad for dinner, very yummy with red onion.. but then had two bowls of ice cream. I know I should just throw away all the junk from the holidays, but my purse is wrestling with my stomach, and last night my purse won. I can't fathom throwing away food, even if it is loaded with fat and sugar.

I estimate I ate around 2000 calories which would be good if I were 135 pounds and in shape. So no big loss, I didn’t overeat.

I didn’t accomplish too much last night either, though I did manage a load of laundry, and I began putting some Christmas gifts away. My mother tends to give us a lot of household items for gifts.. like silly little things from steak sauce to travel-size Kleenex (mostly stocking stuffer gifts). I don’t have much storage space in the house so it’s sometimes a challenge to find homes for all this crap. My fiancé flew home (we have a long distance relationship for another 2 months yet) so I’m left with this ugly mess of both his gifts and mine!

I’m also missing him like crazy, so I’m nervous this will cause some major over-eating. Oh, and tonight I have the last of my extended family gift exchanges.. here comes more food!

But I’m not going to fuss.. fussing just causes stress. I shouldn’t have any stress today, aside from trying to figure out why my PDA battery is dead when I charged it last night, and why I haven’t gotten my period yet. :(

Thank you Elsie and Athletea!!! I love the support and good wishes!!

Stress leads to more stress, so dont do it. As for the ice cream... well when I first started my diet I was die hard, but I still on occasion would eat icecream. I just take the serving size --usually 1 cup-- and get a 1/2 cup measurer, and use it for my bowl. I still get a taaste for it, but it is only like 130 calories, so it is not disasterous. Eating from the carton is definately bad, because you never know how much you ate. I also dont agree in throwing away food, because realistically there are temptations everywhere we go, and we have to be able to have the will power to control ourselves, and the testing can be a good thing.

That's a very good point.. out of sight out of mind works, but only in your house or work place.. you're still going to end up at a party or restaurant. You need to face temptation, as that's the only real way to conquer it.

And it is amazing how much making an effort and telling yuorself no can totally boost your confidence, which can do such amazing things for your weight loss efforts, motivation, and self worth.

Okie dokie.. now I’m ready to really start. Last night my best friend and I had a gift certificate laden meal at Red Lobster for a last hurrah.. it was fab, and then I went home and finished off the rest of the magic shell on vanilla ice cream.. I am now ready to diet!!

I was kind of tired this morning though, so I didn’t have time to worry about food.. I grabbed a slim fast shake for brekkie and I have some raisin Kashi oatmeal for lunch. My biggest challenge today is to avoid the goodies in the break room of my office building.. all the yummy Christmas gifts from title agents and brokers alike.

Today I plan to eat the following:

Breakfast: 243 calories
coffee w/ creamer
strawberry slim fast

Lunch: 229 calories
2 slices bread
1 tb light mayo
½ cup turkey lunch meat

Dinner: 634
Salad w/ lettuce, tomato, onion & ranch dressing
2 ounces pasta w/ garlic, oregano & onion sautéed in olive oil & ¼ cup mozzarella cheese

Snack: 229
raisins
coffee w/ creamer
1 slice bread w/ tb of peanut butter

That’s 1335 calories, 57 grams of fat (though only 13 is saturated), 159 carbs, 14 grams of fiber, and 49 protein. I’d like to up my protein a bit, that’s always where I seem to be lacking.

I like this diet, I’m not consumed with eating garbage fat free products. Like ranch dressing; I know eating fat free ranch or another type of salad dressing would shave off probably 148 calories from dinner, but I don’t like fat free or other types of dressing. I like ranch, and if it makes me happy to eat it I’m going to eat it, damn it. I think in the past I denied myself so much that I drove myself crazy and eventually binged and gave up.

I also plan to drink 72 ounces of water and tidy up the first floor of my house which will burn a couple extra calories. It’s rainy and cold here, which isn’t very promising.. but I’m ready to go!! Yee hah!!! :hop: