Back at it

Wow, it's hard to believe it's been close to three months since I last posted. My weight loss fell by the wayside, but I'm back with it! I have a new incentive: I'm going to Rome this fall, and I have a new goal: to lose 100 pounds by October!
I've been looking over the tour books, and it's clear there are lots of steps and hills in Rome, and I am determined that I am not going to be slowed down by all this extra weight. I get winded way too easily on steps, and it really annoys me. I don't want to live my day-to-day life like this, and I certainly don't want to bogged down when I go on vacation. I'm thinking I should have set travel goals along with weight loss a long time ago!
This week, I've worked out with Matt, my personal trainer, three times: on Monday, Thursday, and today and walked or worked out the other days except Friday. I didn't weigh myself until Thursday, and when I weighed myself again this morning, I already had lost 4.5 lbs.!
I'm trying to find ways to eat plenty of vegetables in ways other than just salads. Don't get me wrong--I enjoy salads, but I don't want to get bored. I'm always one who is up for a bargain, but I've decided I need to change my mindset if I'm serious about losing weight. I went to Buffalo Wild Wings before a Bradley game. Instead of ordering the wings, though, I ordered a chicken wrap with grilled chicken and paid a little extra to substitute the fries with salad. That's going to be my new approach: forget the price, and look for what's healthy.
I eat out a lot, and that isn't going to change. I'm a very social person, and I just need to make the right choices and keep my ultimate goal in mind. I know I can do this. Oh, while I'm talking about eating, I have to share about dinner last night. My sister Diane and I went to the Rhythm Kitchen in downtown Peoria. What a great place to find many healthy choices. We both chose a portabella pizza. A portabella mushroom cap is stuffed with spinach, turkey pepperoni and topped with a little mozzarella. A vegetarian version with soy mozzarella also is available. It was great...and it was very filling. It was served with a small wedge of garlic bread and a little side of fruit. I'd highly recommend it.
On to other things. This week has been a tough week for me emotionally. The reasons aren't important, what is important is that I have come to the realization that even though there are many things in life that are out of my control, the one thing I can control is me. I know that in the past, I've turned to food for comfort. I'm not going to do that anymore. That's self-defeating, and I have to stop that. Instead, I'm finding victory in making the right food choices, in making myself exercise when it's not even close to my favorite thing to do. I realize than an hour of effort in exercise s going to help me not only with my health in the long-run, but it's going to have an immediate impact on how I feel every day, right away.
Bradley offers a Weight Watchers program, and I learned on Friday that they just started a new session. I'll be able to join next week. I really know what I should and should not eat, but hopefully this will help keep me motivated and on track, too. I understand they have a new program, and one of the things is that they allow unlimited fruit in addition to unlimited vegetables. I'm excited about that. I really like just about every fruit, as well as most vegetables, but fruit seems easier to snack on. I think I'm really going to like this.
I'm also fortunate that I have friends at work who know that I've started a weight loss plan, and they are asking about how I'm doing and supporting me. They ask me how my work outs go and they've also given me some pointers. For instance, one of my co-workers said that she bought a special, smaller plate that is hers. I remember when I was in Weight Watchers before, that they suggested using a smaller plate, but I love the idea of buying some special dishes just for weight loss. I really like my winter, snowman dishes, and I've always used the salad plate as a dinner plate. I still have them out, and before I put away my winter dishes, I plan to buy a few smaller, pretty plates to use.
Another tip: Matt says it's good to drink a glass of water about a half-hour before eating. I've heard this before, but I've not really done it before. Overall, I've been trying to drink more water, as I know it's important to drink plenty of it. He also said he tries to eat some vegetables before a big meal, especially broccoli, to help feel full.
Anyway, I'm really exited about this. 4.5 lbs. in just a couple of days! My immediate goal is to lose 20 lbs. by the end of the month. I'm confident I can reach this goal. I'm willing to stay focused on eating right, be disciplined about exercise, and start being in control of my health.