Angie’s Journey…

Well…it doesn’t seem to matter what I do, the numbers on the scale won’t go down. I don’t even know what to think. Either way, I’m still trying.

DH went to the doctor today and found out he has high blood pressure (which I knew). He also had an EKG, we don’t know the results of that yet.

We agreed that we want to stop smoking. We want to use the acupuncture therapy to do so as we’ve heard that it’s most effective and reasonably priced. I’m waiting for the doctor’s office to call me back with a referral.

I’m feeling pretty stressed at the moment. This week’s habit will be drinking my 8 glasses of water per day. I’m still focusing on the “not eating after dinner” thing.

Anyway, hope everyone is doing well. I will catch up on blogs later today. Have a good one…

Hi, Buddies! So yesterday, I did really well in the “not eating after dinner” thing. Three days (nights) in a row! Woo hoo…

However, what I actually ATE for dinner…not so good. It was…are you sitting down? McDonalds…and a Big Mac and fries at that (I know, I know). Oye. Well…anyway, I could blame my darling children who BEGGED me to take them, but I won’t. It was my choice to order what I did. I could have eaten so much healthier. However, I’m not going to beat myself up about it. I am just going to try and “get back on the horse” so to speak. And I still didn’t eat after dinner…lol.

Also, a couple of days ago (day before yesterday) I was in the pool with my family and fell down, hitting my butt on the bottom of the pool. Well, didn’t really think much of it until yesterday afternoon. I got a new belly dancing DVD and was putting it into the DVD player to try it out when IT happened…my back just locked up. I feel like the muscles in my back are tied into one very painful knot, and when I walk, I get very painful spasms. Even sitting hurts. All of this on top of carpal tunnel. LOL. I’m having a rough time, lol, just falling apart.

So the bad part is that I can’t exercise very much until this heals–the good part is that I’m still doing as much as I can because I believe if I just sit still, it won’t heal as quickly. What do you all think? I know Sunny Lee is an OT…hint hint…lol.

Anyway, thanks for all of your support. I’m going to do this, even if my body disagrees. She and I have been at odds for awhile now anyway, lol…

Hugs to all my buddies!!!

Well, I made it through night 2 of “no eating after dinner”. I guess this is going pretty well. I’m realizing that it’s not so hard after all. I’ve slacked today on my working out, but I’m going to do it after this. I just need the motivation, lol…I’m working on it.

I found out yesterday I have carpal tunnel syndrome in my left hand (the one I write with) so that’s not cool. I can write with both hands, but for some reason have always leaned toward the left. So I’m wearing this somewhat uncomfortable brace and on Friday I have to go for some sort of nerve test where they will put a bunch of needles in my arm. Oh well. Let’s just hope it doesn’t require surgery.

Anyway, I suppose it doesn’t really matter, as long as my hand continues to work. The good news is that I don’t have to use it that much for belly dancing!! LOL.

SO…I hope you are all doing well! Thanks for all of your support…

Well, I made it throught “night one” of NOT EATING AFTER DINNER. I have to tell you all that when the cravings came, I thought about having to report back to you all, and realized I didn’t want to have to say I failed. I wanted to be able to say I DID IT. So I did!!

A small step for woman, a giant step for ME!! LOL. Anyway, I’m pleased with myself. It’s very hard for me to not eat at night. I don’t know why…but it doesn’t matter, because last night I proved to myself that I won’t actually waste away to nothing if I don’t eat late at night…

Today I’ve got lots of errands to run, so I will be very busy. Plus my oldest son has piano this evening, so it’s not going to end anytime soon.

Hope you all have a wonderful day and thanks for all your support!
Hugs to all my buddies!

Why is it that it’s so easy to do what’s right for others and not for ourselves? Why is that? I mean, when I got pregnant with my first son, I read everything I could get my hands on to learn HOW to “do it” right–raise him I mean. I even researched very carefully how to feed him and stuff so I could avoid causing him to become overweight. I’ve always been very careful to allow him to “listen” to his own body–eat what feels right for him (within reason, lol) and have never kept crappy junk food in the house. He, as a result, tends to make healthier choices than kids his age. And I’m being equally careful with my youngest son. I keep fruit and veggies readily available in the house for snacking, always serve healthy meals, etc. I even make sure they get good exercise.

SOOOO, why is it harder to do that for myself?? Well, I think it’s about love. I LOVE my kids like nothing else in the world. So, logically, if I do what I do for them out of love, should I not be doing the same for myself?? Ohhhhh….

That, folks, is what you call a light bulb moment. Love thyself, woman, love thyself.

Anyway, so as you all know, I’ve been working somewhat successfully on the exercise thing (my beloved belly dancing) but the diet thing hasn’t been so good.

Well, I’ve decided to make one change this week, a big one. My worst “eating time” is after the kids go to bed, when I somehow feel that I should “treat myself” to ice cream or some other delectable treat. I’ve decided that my “change of the week” is going to be this: NO MORE EATING AFTER DINNER! That’s it. One change. I’m doing the exercise thing, and this week, I’m adding the “no eating after dinner” rule. Next week, another change. I think, I think, I think I can do this. I think I can, I think I can…

I’m going to. I know that sounds small, but believe me, it’s huge in my life. Sad but true.

I’ll keep you posted…thanks again to all of my lovely buddies for helping me to do this and for giving me such great support!
Angie

LOL! I knew that title would get ya!!

It’s all because of this belly dancing thing, seriously. In such a short time, it’s really changing the way I feel about ME. I mean, I can look in the mirror and realize that there is already beauty in me, even though I’m a fat ass (LOL). You know?? It’s weird.

Somehow it’s changing me. Is it possible that I’ve really found IT? Could it be?? I’m keeping my fingers crossed…now if I could just figure out this diet thing, I’d be on the right track.

The weekend should be interesting to say the least…

I want to thank all of my wonderful buddies for your strong support! I really think that your comments and such are the thing that pushes me to do what I need to, even when I don’t quite feel like it. I don’t know what I’d do without you all!! Thanks so much everyone!
Hugs!!

Earlier today I was feeling a little down, but I think I’m deciding to feel better. How funny that it actually works, lol. Anyway, I didn’t do belly dancing (yet) today, but I did some other toning exercises. Tonight I have to take my oldest to Boy Scouts and that’s always pretty active, lol. I will still likely do the belly dancing before I hit the sack, though, because I LOVE IT!! (Imagine me singing in an operatic type soprano for those last three words!!)Seriously. And, I gotta tell you all, this is something that is so very  new to me. I actually normally HATE exercising!

So, instead of being all depressed (as I spent the last three hours) I’ve decided to shut up and move forward with my positive attitude in check. My two year old sort of reminded me of my poor attitude. He was climbing ALL OVER ME all day today (more than normal for some reason), and it began to make me insane. Finally, I shouted at him (that was wrong of me) and he was so shocked (normally I don’t do that) that he cried. Well, then I felt like one big jerk. So I sat down with him and told him I was so sorry for having a bad attitude…then I sang him our “everything’s going to be ok” song, and rocked him while we watched Blue’s Clues. It really, really changed the way I was feeling. I was reminded that I don’t have time to be depressed, and that it’s not good for me, and especially not good for my babies.

Who knew a two year old could remind me of something so important in such a simple way?

So, I’m focusing on the good. My family is healthy, happy, and well loved. I’m happy and mostly well loved, lol, and working on gettting healthy. So let’s go…

Well, I’ve been exercising each day anyway. This is really new for me, but I am really digging it. I even taught my sons a couple of moves, lol. This belly dancing thing is so much fun. Also nuts that I’m enjoying it, considering that I normally absolutely HATE exercise. I told a friend of mine about it and she wasn’t surprised. She said that it fit my personality, lol…

The dieting thing is not going as well, but I’m not beating myself up about it. I’m going to focus on regular exercise (probably till the end of this month) and then start introducing dietary changes. I find that if I make too many changes at once, I burn out and rebel against everything healthy. No sense in doing that, so I’m trying to be careful and healthy about this.

Anyway, I’m really proud of myself for doing the exercise thing. Thanks again to those of you who are helping me to get through this. I love this place…

Well…I think perhaps I’ve found a type of exercise I don’t absolutely hate. I was watching something on TV last night about “extreme weight loss” done naturally–without surgery–and one woman said she’d lost over a hundred pounds by belly dancing. She said she didn’t even change her diet, just did portion control.

Of course, this was incredibly inspiring to me, because 1. I HATE to exercise and 2. I HATE dieting. However, I think that if I’m careful and add more fruits and veggies, I can do the portion control thing. Now the exercise thing, I thought, was still probably a no go.

Still, I pulled out the old cable remote this evening and browsed the “on demand” exercise programs, one of which was belly dancing. Now, as out of shape as I am, I only made it through about half, but (I hope you’re sitting down!) I actually LIKED IT!!! YAY!!! I have never found a form of exercise I really liked, besides swimming and dancing, but I can do this in my livingroom. (I have found a couple of other things I could stand, but can’t say I liked them.)

Sooooooo…now I’m thinking of getting one of those Carmen Electra striptease workout videos…hmm…anyone try those? How are they?

Anyway, thanks again to everyone for the support. I really appreciate it. It’s so helpful in moving me forward…

Belly dancing…who knew??

Okay…here we go. Day one. Again, lol.

I’m going to stop beating myself up. Thank goodness for my buddies here on this site! You guys are a great support and quite honestly, I think maybe I fell off the wagon partially because I wasn’t here talking with you all. I’m so glad I’ve found this site.

I’m determined to do this. I want to be healthy for myself and my family…not to mention, I wanna get that hot look I used to have back, lol.

The softball thing isn’t happening right now, long story…but I’m moving. I am really making an effort to stay off the couch, which I know isn’t much, but hey, it’s more than I was doing before. I’m just staying up, running with my kids, staying busy. If I do watch TV, I’m trying to make sure I’m up exercising during commercials at least–marching, arm circles, jumping jacks, whatever–as long as I’m up and moving. It’s small changes, but they are leading to bigger changes. I’ve learned that if I try to do it all at once, it doesn’t work.

I do, however, need all the encouragement I can get. I mean, it’s why I joined this site. I need motivation to keep moving and to increase my workouts…and to eat carefully. I’m working on motivating myself, and you guys are such great support for me here. Thanks to all of you, I really appreciate it.

Regarding my hair, lol…you all heard I accidently dyed it pink (it was very light blonde). Now I’ve gone sort of auburn for the time being, just so it could all be the same color without having to bleach it. What a disaster, lol. Oh well, at least I learned a lesson…

Talk to you all soon! Thanks again for all of your caring and wonderful support!

Angie