Back to Reality... with a Crash Landing

Hey folks!

Well, Kate is at school. It's really weird. The boys are totally out of sorts and don't know what to do without their "leader". We took her as a family; Josh went to work late so he could see her off on her first day. She was so excited and a little nervous. The school she is going to is doing all day kindergarten for the first time this year, so everything is a little hectic and in transition.

We walked Kate down to her classroom where she got a necklace ID with her name on it, then she sat down next to a sweet girl named Hayley and they immediately started coloring the princess coloring pages and chatting away. =) No tears were shed by her or me. Well, when I got home I cried a little bit.

I forgot her lunch, and when I took it back to her she acted like she'd been in school all her life. "Oh, hi mom. Thanks for bringing my lunch. You can put it by my backpack. I'm coloring with Hayley." :-D Put me right at ease.

I think school will be such a blessing for her. She is smart and intuitive and has an inquiring mind. I think she'll love learning. I only hope she isn't the smarty pants kiddo who is endlessly raising their hands, bouncing up and down in her chair and yelling, "Ooooh, Ooooh, I know it! I know the answer!" Not that she is a child genius or anything, and I may be biased a bit. ;-)

Anyhoo, now that one big milestone is successfully completed, I can try to get out my thoughts regarding my weight loss and where to go from here.

Running through the airport and nearly keeling over was a big wake up call for me. I already knew that being thin does not equal being healthy, or fit. But whoa nelly. I didn't really realize how UNHEALTHY, UNFIT, OUT OF SHAPE I really was. Am. So what am I going to do about it?

Well, for starters, let's look at my weight. I gained a bit on vacation and am sitting right around 145. Sometimes a little more, sometimes a little less. I'm not worried. There are several factors contributing to this, besides the food I ate. I'm constipated. I'm bloated. I know that once I get some movement going and start my cycle that it will go down. I'm trying to drink lots of water and watch what I eat.

Yesterday I had an oatmeal pancake with homemade strawberry jam, a short (8oz) chai latte from Starbucks, a corndog, a handful of nuts, 3 mini Reese's PB cups and then dinner. Meatloaf, chicken/cheese noodles and green beans.

I am going to research eating clean. I know it's something I want to lean more towards, I just have to get the energy up to do the research and implement it. Any recommendations for books or websites to get me started? I know I won't be throwing away all the food made with white flour, just as I know I won't quit baking. But I will strive to have healthier choices on hand and limit the white flour and sugar.

I also really need to focus on drinking more water. This is a big one for me, and not easy. I don't really like water that much, but I also don't want to fill myself full of chemicals from sugar free drink sweeteners.

I am going to do at least one more round of HCG, starting next Monday. My goal is to get down to 130. I'm about 15 pounds away from that right now. I'm not sure if one round of HCG will do the trick; depending on how things go I may go longer than 21 days, just so I can reach my goal. I know I'll gain 2-3 pounds back, and I'm okay with that. Honestly, 130 is optimistic for me. I was 135 for many years, until I got married and had kiddos. So shooting for 130 gives me that wiggle room I need.

Once I'm at goal, I will begin going to the gym. Now that Miss Kate will be in school, it will be easy to just head straight to the gym after dropping her off at school. Christian loves the gym and Owen is just gonna have to get used to it. :-P I plan to use the elliptical and if I get brave try out a spinning class. I'm also going to try to add in some weights.

So, to start myself off with a great big BANG, I'm joining Dawne's challenge. Treat Free September Challenge. Basically, I'm going to go the entire month of September without any "treats". This will be easy while I'm on my HCG, but once that's done is when the real self-control will come in. For me, "treats" means a sugar and flour filled pastry/baked good or chocolate. That's pretty much my go to for treats. Chocolate or some sort of baked good. So I'll say good-bye to those for September, along with basically everything outside of my regular meals and healthy snacks (fruit or nuts). Wish me luck!

I plan to tackle all of this with the mindset of the Skinny Turtle... Slow and Steady. I know I can't eat clean, do HCG and hit the gym overnight. But I will be conscious each day of what I eat, of my physical fitness, of my water intake. I feel like I really need to focus on it and do it until it becomes a natural way of life. Right now the gym is so foreign to me. It's NOT a part of my normal routine and I dread it.

I don't need to train like an Olympic athlete. I just need to get my body moving. Strengthen my heart and lungs, train my muscles, burn some fat. Baby steps. Little, tiny, baby turtle steps. :-D

So that's where I'm at for now. Let me know if you have any clean eating resources, or even workout/weight training resources for that matter!