Nike was right.

Yesterday, I was in a lazy mood. Actually, I'll give myself a break here and just say I didn't mind doing stuff. I just didn't want to do it outdoors. I vacuumed the family room and cleaned the kitchen floor. I gotta say, right here, that cleaning the kitchen floor is probably my least favorite house cleaning chore of all. We have a yellow lab who is really well behaved. We can send her outside and she stays in the yard without us telling her to. However, there is a trick to this. She knows as soon as she comes back in the house she gets a 'cookie'. The treat jar stays on the counter and as soon as she does her thing outside, she comes in and stands by the jar. If I'm slow getting to her she drools. In fact, when she walks through the door she's salivating. When I look at the kitchen floor in the right light I can see all the spots around where she's been standing. I hate cleaning that floor! I spray it and let the cleaner soak in, I mop it and then I go over the remaining spots by hand. Yesterday, was the day to 'git her done'.

Normally, I would have walked first thing in the morning, but it had rained hard the night before and the sky was still heavy. It did not look inviting. So I decided to start with housework, and when I was finished I rewarded myself by finishing a book I was reading.

Of course, hanging around the kitchen gave me easy access to the pantry where the bag of trail mix kept calling me. The almonds and peanuts were great and right on my diet plan, but I don't think I was supposed to keep picking out the raisins and m&m's. The fruit was looking pretty good too, which for most diets would have been fine. 1 cup of grapes is ok, but the whole bunch was probably a bit much. Oh well, the way I see it is that now that they are gone they are much less of a tempation!

As you know from my post yesterday, all this may have been good for the house, and nice for the soul, but my step count sucked and I was in no mood to boost it. So I came to the blog and vented. Guess what? It worked!

Just talking about it made me feel a little guilty. And as I thought about it I realized I was wimping out on a measly 20 minute walk. I didn't have to do the mile and a half up the really steep hill. I could do the easier mile and still boost my count. What was my problem? The little me on my shoulder went on to aggravate me by pointing out that after my walk I would still have time to shower before I needed to start dinner. SO GET GOING, my mini-me conscience said.

And I did. Once I laced on my shoes, and headed out the door, I was ready. Heidi's comment yesterday was right. It's harder putting on the work out clothes, than doing the workout.

Cleaning my kitchen floor was no different from walking. Nike was right. JUST DO IT!!!!!

Total step count yesterday--9643!

Desperate to Lose!

I have had it! I am desperate to lose .... 30 pounds. 30 pounds you say with incredulity??? You are blogging over 30 pounds? Puhleeze!!!!

Yes, I am desperate. I need to lose 30, but for now I'll settle for 20. At least that will be a positive step in the right direction. I am actually 50 pounds heavier than when I got married. Over the last 3 years I have tried to lose weight, only to see it creep up instead of down. I have counted calories and kept a food diary. I have tried to walk. For awhile I was working out. But I lacked consistency in all of these endeavors. 3 pounds down, 4 pounds down, but then it would pop back up again. Last summer I was visiting my daughter and decided when I got home I was going to give 110% and get to the small private gym I had joined. Going through the mail, once I was home, I discovered a letter from my gym saying they were closing at the end of the month. Talk about a downer!

I decided I could go it alone. I had some workout equipment. I renewed my subscription to SELF Magazine because they had new workout cards every month so I figured I could change my workout up. As usual I failed. I couldn't stay consistent. During the cold winter months I found every excuse in the book. I put on 5 more pounds.

So here is my new tactic. It's time to enlist a new support group. YOU! I have a plan, but I need to stick to it. To hold myself accountable, I will post several times a week and let you know how I am doing. I am wearing a pedometer daily and have stuck to the plan for almost 2 weeks now. But this only means that soon something will come up to derail me. Maybe if I have to confess my soul online, I'll be motivated to keep going. It really is 'baby steps', isn't it?

Tomorrow I will share my plan and give you an update on how well I've managed. I'll be honest and tell you about the bad days and the failed temptations. I need your encouragement, your ideas, and yes.... you are welcome to knock me on the side of the head when I need it. It's not fun being tired, and sluggish, and chunky. I want to fit in my clothes again. I am lookimg for some teammates and some cheerleaders! I hope you'll be one of them.

See you tomorrow. Same Blog, New Baby Step.