It’s Thursday of my week-long Spring Break. Since Saturday, I have done 30-minutes on the elliptical daily (YEAH!!), I eat plenty of fruits and veggies (Yeah!!) and drink water or tea. I don’t look any different – but I guess it is way too soon. What is good is that I am building up good habits. If I keep it up indefinitely, who knows how far I can go? If I don’t start losing weight in the next few weeks – then I need to revisit portion control. That is my biggest challenge. I don’t binge – I just sort of clean my plate. I think eating slowly will help. I do tend to eat fast and I seem to get more down that way, unconsciously. If the food is really good, it is really hard to stop until I feel full. Slow down, eat a third less – I need to put that on my list. And better posture. I tend to slouch and that adds lots of pounds. I don’t even realize unless I look at videos or pictures of myself. I am really after this goal this time! I put so many other things first – work, family, school, reading, learning, sleeping, resting – I really want to accomplish this one, now! It seems like most areas of my life are great – now I want to succeed at this one. So I am giving it more priority than I have ever given it before – more than painting, reading, work, etc. I also want to pray about getting my weight under control. Praying will help. I want to pray more and I think praying will help my weight too. So that’s it for now. So far so good. I have begun and it is good. 6 years ago

So far I have made good on the 30 minutes a day on the elliptical and a few other things. So I am happy I have a plan and I read it every morning and night to make sure I am checking off things I think will help me reach my goal. I’m serious about this – but I don’t feel pressure. I mean I’m happy that I check some stuff off my list everyday, but I don’t berate myself for not doing it ALL. You can get anywhere, even starting with baby steps. I keep telling myself that – I hope it’s true! 6 years ago

So today is the first day of my Spring Break. To jumpstart my “size 8 plan” I will:
*have sex with my husband every day
*eat a minimum of 5 fruits and vegetables everyday
*experiment with recipes for fruit salads, veggie salads, and soups
*avoid meat this week
*drink plenty of water
*get on the elliptical a minimum of 30 minutes every day
*go to the gym 2+ times for weight training, jacuzzi and sauna (yum) – possibly swimming or water aerobics, too.
*journal daily progress
*weigh myself at the beginning of the week (today) and at the end (Easter Sunday!)
*buy a scale that is easier to read?
*take my daughter to the park and walk while she rides her bicycle – Sycamore Park? Park in Pasadena? 6 years ago

Aargh! I don’t want this to be so hard! I find that I have been trying to lose the same 40 lbs. for the last 10 years! I need to jump start this.

I know I have to exercise daily. I bought an elliptical for this. Most days, I just don’t feel like it! I like to walk. I like to play tennis. I like to dance. I want to focus on doing stuff that I like so that it doesn’t feel like such a chore. I need to schedule things and take baby steps…

I think I need to meet with a nutritionist or go back to Weight Watchers. I don’t think I eat badly. Just 3 times a day. I don’t eat junk food very often. I think my portions are out of control. I need to plan my meals more. More snacks throughout the day, so that I am not starving. And eating slower helps. I sometimes eat too fast and then too much because I don’t feel full soon enough.

I reeally want to make some headway on this goal. Baby steps, tinkering at the edges, small changes over time, persistence… 6 years ago