Stalled

Last month I started contributing to a local website called NWAMotherlode writing about weight loss and making healthy choices. As a result, I've completely neglected this blog. I suck. I know.

Well, I'm back, and let me tell you, it's become very obvious to me that writing about weight loss and making healthy choices somehow doesn't translate into ACTUAL weight loss and the certain ability to MAKE healthy choices. I truly thought that it would be easier to stick to me guns when I'm around my weaknesses if I were accountable to all the people reading my personal account. Somehow, it's not working. Maybe I'm smart enough to know that no one (or at least not many) who reads the stuff I write will actually SEE me. So... the numbers on the scale can be between me and myself, and that's not helpful since I'm way to easy on myself.

That said - I have been better over the last week. I haven't eaten out as much, I've refused sweets at work and elsewhere, and I have been refusing coca cola more easily as well.Un-sweetened tea is my new friend. And this week I lost another pound. So, thus far, I've lost 5.5 pounds.That leaves me with a lot more to go to get to my 40 pound goal, but I'll take it one step at a time, right??

Okay, enough whining...

My brother told me I should read Food Rules by Michael Pollan to learn what he has to say about food choices. It's been really interesting, to say the least. It's a small tome, and very easy to read. Pollan says things like "If your grandmother wouldn't recognize it as food, don't eat it." And "if you can't prounounce the ingredients, don't eat it." Even if you don't follow all of the rules that Pollan lays down, this book is really a good thing to refer to as you start making decisions about changing your dietary habits. They are simple, and basic, and a lot of them have made me say "well, DUH!"

I'm putting a lot more fresh veggies and fruits on the counter at the grocery store lately, and reading almost every label. I'm amazed at the misleading things on the labels on the foods we eat. For example - I was looking at Cool Whip recently, and saw that there's a "Sugar Free" variety. Great, right? But I'm skeptical, so I look to see if it's got corn syrup or some other sucrose variety... In fact, it does. High Fructose Corn Syrup, right there on the label. But here's the REALLY stupid thing - the ingredients are exactly the same on the Sugar Free version as on the regular version! They are playing on our wish to cut out sugar by labeling their product as sugar free... hoping we won't notice their deception. I chose to buy a carton of whipping cream, and add my own little bit of sugar instead. YUMMY!

I just don't want so much processed and "____________ added" foods in my kitchen anymore. I'll do my best to take things back to basics and eat stuff that takes a little more prep time. It's healthier, and much of the time it's also cheaper than all the crap that's boxed and packaged and pre-prepared. I have time to make my family's food healthier - it's important.

Oh hai, fame and fortune!

Me: Hello?... Cool local blog written for moms? Would you be interested in letting me share my efforts to get healthier with your readers on a regular basis? I'll try to be interesting and funny and generally entertaining, what do you say?

NWAMotherlode: Are you kidding? You are awesome and we love your writing and we can't wait to see what brilliant, hysterical, and at times, thought-provoking, things you have to say to us and our fabulous readers! *happy dance*

So, that's sorta-kinda how it went last week when I emailed one of the women who manage a local blog called NWAMotherlode. Kay... maybe the response wasn't quite that over-eager... and really, I didn't have my hidden camera focused correctly, so I can't guarantee what I saw was a happy dance. It could have just been someone trying to put on pantyhose. (does anyone wear pantyhose anymore? eww..) But, she did say they love my writing, and would love for me to write for their blog. So, Yay!

I'm going to start posting at the Motherlode (not sure when yet) every-other-week as a regular feature. I will be doing what I'm doing here for the most part - sharing info I'm learning about incorporating healthy choices into our lives every day, how to lose weight, get fit, and be healthy without having to follow some crazy "diet" and join a gym. The difference will be that on their blog I will probably not refer as much to my own personal stuff - unless the readers demand it. It's going to be more informational and educational. But of course the only way I know how to write is by throwing in a lot of Goofy and a bit of Wacky now and then... so that will be the same.

So, now on to the personal stuff! This week my weight is still 196, as it was last week. I have been drinking water like crazy, and have started taking a daily vitamin - both easy ways to immediately change the reading on your health-o-meter. I am also taking a ginko biloba supplement and some calcium, since I'm in my 40s and don't drink much any milk and have ridiculously bad memory challenges.

I keep saying I'm going to start walking after work. I know, right? How easy it is to say, how hard it is to DO! Actually, I feel I have a fairly legit reason for not starting - my daughter and I have been sharing a car for the last couple of weeks. Since I have to pick her up from school at 4pm, and I get off work at 4pm, it makes for no time to walk. By the time I get her, go pick up my son from daycare, and get home, it's dinner time. I have asked Oprah to loan me a chef (just during her "off the wagon" days would be fine!) but she hasn't returned my phone messages. Or emails... or tweets. She's just such a busy lady...

But, if all goes as planned, I'll have my own transportation by this weekend, and after The Storm of the Decade - Part 2 passes, I'll be hitting the streets of Har-Ber Meadows in my sneaks! Care to join me??