Big Steps!

I know people say to take baby steps when you're first starting out with something new, but not this girl! I've never been that girl! Just ask my mom. I am a "go big or go home" kind of girl! I blogged about self image on Style My Way a couple of months ago and decided to finally take the reigns and do something about it. I mean, no one is going to lose the leftover baby weight but me, right? So, I signed up for Weight Watchers online yesterday. Yes, it was on May 13th. Yes, it was on the second week of May. Yes, I realize that if you are going to set a goal for yourself most people start it off at the beginning of a new month. Again, not this girl!! I also know you are never supposed to utter the words diet in public! One should never tell family and close friends that "I started a diet" because if you fail, they know you failed! However, going back to my forty before 40 post, look at numbers 13 and 14. I pretty much spelled it out!

Dieting is hard. Dieting sucks!! I know that on Weight Watchers they claim that you can still eat the foods you love, but that's not really the case! I love cupcakes, cookies, bread, milkshakes, frosting from the can, candy bars.....can I really eat all of those things? Yes, if I don't want to lose weight! Yes, if I eat them within moderation. Yes, if I stay within the points I'm given per day. But what it really boils down to is, no! I can't really eat those foods as often as I would like! I have to be choosy about when I actually eat them. Like when no one is looking or I lie about it on my tracking tool!

Another component of dieting is the dreaded exercise. For those of you who love to work out, I envy you. I hate it! I dread going to the gym, pulling out the workout clothes and getting on that treadmill or lifting those free weights. However, when all is said and done, I feel better afterward. It's just getting through it! I've made the cardio/motivational play list for my iPad. I read magazines or books will on the treadmill. It's just getting myself pumped to go! Yesterday, since my hubby picked up the peanut, I decided to hit the streets instead of the gym. The weather is too gorgeous right now to holed up in the gym. I put on shorts, the horror, threw on the old tennies and off I went. I walked the general route of our neighborhood and kept pretty a pretty good pace. Lots of hills, I went that way on purpose, and felt really good after I got home. I even slept well for the first time in months!

I'm sore today but it's a good sore. I haven't really pushed myself to walk like that in ages. Sure, I stroll around the zoo, Deanna Rose, the mall, but it's all at the pace of a two year old and that's just not cutting the mustard. Will I get back in the gym, maybe. Will I be more inclined to try and get out among nature, probably? Will I bring myself to charge up the controls to my Wii, yes! Because I have a goal! I need to stay focused. I'm not going reveal how many LBs I plan to lose. That's between me and my reflection in the mirror. Oh, and that little number on the scale that's screaming at me! But I will try my hardest to lose what I can however fast I can. Right now, my eight tracker is telling I need to lose eight pounds by next Monday. That is NOT going to happen because who loses eight pounds in less than a week? Celebrities, that's who!

So, it's out there! Like Harry Burns said, "Call the cops, it's out there!" I'm not brave enough, like Jessica of What I Wore, to photograph myself before and after. I honestly can't be that honest with you on my appearance. Vanity, self-conscious, scared. Call it what you will. I can't bring myself to go that far. I can tell you how I'm doing, tricks I've found, recipes I've tried and loved and how I'm feeling throughout the process! Until then....wish me luck!