So much to share

There is always so much I want to share as the week drags on but finding time to write shorter posts through the week just hasn't happened lately. I have the "gift" of being long winded the way it is without gathering all of my weight loss ammo up and blasting you with it in one go, but alas, this is how it has to be right at this moment. 

That said, here is this weeks post!  

I've been telling you about making little mini goals for myself and keeping track of them on my dry erase board. Well I thought I'd take a snapshot of my actual board in action to give those visual readers something to look at. Taking a picture of a silver board proved to be more difficult than I expected. Like 10 shots later I finally said "screw it, good enough" and this is what you got.

So what you're looking at is my 7 week planner. The dates that have the "E" in them are days I am to exercise. Up there at the left you have the "key" as well as my starting (for the seven week, not all-time) weight. I get a star every day I exercise, I get a water droplet every time I drink my three bottles of water at work. I get a fishy every time I eat fish (goal is to eat fish three times a week). I get a smiley face every time I eat "on plan" meaning every 2-3 hours, 2 pieces of fruit a day and no binges. That little piggy bank there on the right is my Eurofantje (euro elephant, I guess it's cuter if you speak Dutch), every day I get a smiley face, my Eurofantje gets a euro. At the end of my 7 weeks if I make 80% of my goals, I get to spend what is in my Eurofantje on something for myself! So again, I don't have to be perfect, just 80% "really good". It leaves myself room for error, take the pressure off from trying to be superwoman and I can really enjoy and appreciate the efforts I am making. There on the upper right hand corner are my stats from last month.

This dry erase board resides on my dresser in my bedroom. I see it every single morning as I'm choosing socks to wear that day. It's in my direct line of vision and is a constant, but not nagging, reminder of my goals for the day. It seems simple, it may even seem childish to some, but drawing those little images is one of the highlights of my day. Seeing the calendar fill up as my weeks chug along, that makes me proud and it a great motivator.

I also realize that I haven't shared any recent picture of myself or progress pictures. I think that's what makes other weight loss blogs interesting, to actually see some pictures. I didn't take a picture for you tonight because I look like complete crapola and Marco isn't here to help me so I thought I'd look into my folders and find a recent one for you all. Low and behold, I realized that I have deleted every single unflattering photo of me (meaning any that shows my body "as it is") so I came up with the below shots that were taken while we were in Illinois last November, so really, not too too old. In this first one Sadie is kind of hiding my body, but you get the general idea. (that's my kiddo and hubby there too!)

 Here is a better full body shot, so you can get a better idea of what I look like standing up (you can also scroll down to the bottom of the page there on the right and I have a shot of me standing, last May while on vacation). Either way, you get the general idea.

I have decided that I am going to go ahead and follow Dewy's advice (Dewy is my therapist for those new readers who have recently joined *waving hi*) and keep weighing in blind and this time, with follow through. When I started at Novarum to get help with my Disorderly Eating I made a promise to myself that I would do what they said, follow their guidelines blindly and give everything they asked of me a real shot. So even if it makes me a bit uneasy and it's not exactly blog world friendly not to post weekly weights, I'm not only doing this for entertainment value (assuming you're being entertained). I am doing this for me. It's important and I want to really give it my all. Dewy also made a really good point, that I only got on the scale last time to look (when I was supposed to be weighing in blind) because I was feeling some emotion, some nervous emotion and instead of dealing with what that emotion was, I let the scale tell me how I should feel. Who can argue with that rock solid case? Not I! So I'm not sure when I will know what my actual weight is but I will continue posting on my other weight loss goals.

Exercise, it's getting easier. I'm still only working out in my home and only with the Wii but it's getting less "Oh my God I'm going to die" and moving right along into the "Gosh I'm burning up, oh, only 14 minutes left, that wasn't so bad" phase. My favorite workouts right now are the Wii Fitness Coach and the Wii Just Dance 2. I do 30 minutes of cardio workout with the Coach and it can get a bit monotonous but I really sweat, work hard and feel good afterwards. With the Just Dance 2, I really work up a sweat, I thoroughly enjoy the music and dancing and I tend to work out longer, like 50 minutes, but the waiting in between songs while the next one loads up can get irritating and you lose momentum. I even tossed around the idea of doing a 45 minute workout with the Fitness Coach but the last thing I want to do is ruin the good thing I have going by pushing myself too hard.

I have tons more to say but I'm sure I've reached my .02 limit for this post so I'll leave it at that. I hope you all are having healthy, successful weeks!