Setting goals...

Rick and I have been trying to eat better lately – hence all the flaxseed and walnuts. I’ve also been trying to buy more vegetables (and actually EAT them, as opposed to allowing them to wilt and liquefy in my refrigerator crisper). This has been a rather long, gradual process that I’ve stretched out over several years, in an effort to make “healthy living” a less painful lifestyle. I’ve been working out in some shape or form pretty regularly for about seven or eight years, but when I started, my eating habits weren’t the best. I used too much butter and oil when I cooked, kept too many things with the word “chocolate” in the description lying around the house, and had a really bad habit of binge eating when I was stressed or depressed. Consequently, all that working out didn’t have much of an effect, and I even GAINED weight after a while.

When Rick and I found out we were moving to New Jersey back in 2000, the stress of moving and getting settled in a new place seemed to make me want to eat even more, and I finally got to a point where my clothes were fitting so poorly I’d decided I’d had enough. I kept up with all those workouts, but I started trying to pay more attention to the eating, too. I stopped cooking with butter and oil, and used nonstick cooking spray instead. I started ordering water to drink when I went out to eat, instead of soda. I stopped buying things like ice cream or cookies, knowing I’d probably eat too much of them if they were in the house. And just making a few little changes like that helped me knock off ten pounds right away.

After the first ten pounds, another five s-l-o-w-l-y followed… so by the time we moved back to Texas in 2002, I was fifteen pounds lighter than when I’d left. Which was great, but definitely not where I wanted to be. Over the last few years, I’ve managed to get rid of another ten pounds or so, but I’ve just been sort of hovering here for a while. Not gaining, not losing, just hovering in a weight-loss holding pattern. And while my mom will no doubt say I’m “perfect” just the way I am (because that’s the way moms are…), I know I could get to a better place than where I am now.

Which brings in the “better eating” strategy Rick and I have been trying to work out. One of the interesting things I’ve noticed over the last few years is that the more you make an effort to eat good things and to make exercise a part of your daily routine, the easier it gets. For instance, at this point, if I DON’T get in some kind of work out on a fairly daily basis, it adversely affects my mood. Or, perhaps more accurately, if I DO exercise, it positively affects my mood. So it’s something that I WANT to do, as opposed to something I HAVE to do. And eating better has just become more of a habit – it’s actually possible for me to have ice cream or a box of cookies in my house now, because I’m not compelled to eat everything in one sitting. That’s just not a part of my habitual eating anymore, fortunately.

But, like I said, I’ve been in a holding pattern for quite some time. So I’ve been attempting to make a few more small changes, to hopefully help me break out of it. And where better to keep myself accountable than on my blog? If the entire world knows I’m trying to eat better and work out more (and by “entire world” I mean the handful of people who read my blog on a daily basis… :)) then maybe I’ll be more apt to stick with my new habits. One of the things I’m working on right now is running more – I’ve always been more of a walker than a runner, but I’m trying to slowly add bursts of running to my work outs. Eventually, I’d like to be able to run a few miles without gasping for breath or collapsing on my treadmill. And the other thing I’m working on is eating better – Rick and I are both trying to work on that, but it’s not always easy. Like this morning, I realized I had an entire bunch of bananas on my counter that I’d forgotten about. I bought them last time I was at the grocery store, intending on eating them when I wanted a snack. But apparently I’ve been snacking on other things, because there they are – an entire bunch of bananas, slowly browning and growing mushy even as I type. So I set them on the counter next to my computer, and I already ate one with a bowl of soup for lunch. Now I only have four left…

So it looks like it’s gonna be bananas and jogging on the treadmill next week... just not at the same time – those banana peels make the treadmill really slippery.