It has been 0 Days Since My Last Pig Out

Yesterday, I didn't eat an afternoon snack which means I was ravenous when I got home. Instead of cooking up a nice healthy dinner, my stomach was making decisions and forced me to log on to Dominos.com and order a pizza. Sigh. Of course this morning I regret it!

But it just goes to show how important NOT getting too hungry is. When you're just mildly hungry, your brain can still make decisions. If you're super-duper hungry, then your stomach starts making decisions and it rarely, if ever, makes a decision you'll agree with later!

Today, I vow to eat some snacks so that when I get home, I'm not super hungry. Then, I can plan a rational dinner!

Well That's a Bad Sign

It's always a bad sign when a weight loss blogger stops blogging. You KNOW what is happening in their life? Right? Weight gain. I am no exception! I am officially back up to 173 after my weigh in on Monday. I'm trying to get back on track but it just seems so much harder than before. I don't know what it is.

It was never easy to hop out of bed at 4am and walk the dogs. But now...it's like there's a giant weight on my body keeping me in bed. I can't even get a toe up! Also, I feel like I'm hungry all.the.time. Like ravenously hungry. No, I'm not pregnant! Just a former fattie apparently trying to get fat again!

So if there is anyone out there...suggestions please! I need to mix it up! I need to get my mind back in gear.

Woah. Did that really happen?

I have a special treat for you today!!!

We were backing up an old computer a few weeks ago and we found these pictures of me... I can't believe it! I think I must have fat-amnesia because I seriously don't remember looking this big! Scroll down for pics of what I look like NOW.

-90lbs later

Brrrr!!!! The chill is freezing out my motivation!

It's cold here in the Northwest! Really, really cold! It's my fault, really. I saw "Frozen" at the theater last Sunday so the universe must have thought that I wanted it to be cold. Well, newsflash: I don't!!!

It's been in the low 20's this whole week. That makes it super hard to get motivated to exercise. Normally, I walk my dogs each morning, which is about the only exercise I can stand. When it's that cold, there isn't a thick enough coat in the world to get me out the door. That means I'm stuck with the treadmill in our house. Ugh. Sigh. Barf. Can we say, "Bored to death"?

I hate the treadmill. I hate staring at the wall because the only thing I can think about is how much I hate exercising. When I'm out walking my dogs, I'm busy thinking about the scenery. My neighbor just painted their house. Is that shrub new? Oh no, they lost their fence in the windstorm yesterday! But on the treadmill...it's white, white, white wall.

So let's hope it warms up quick!!!

On a more fun note, I've mixed up my breakfast routine and I love it. I was eating an egg white omelet with spinach and mushrooms. Now, I eat an egg white omelet with Italian Seasoning, cheese, and lightly salted fresh tomatoes. It's a tiny change but it's delicious! I've loving me new breakfasts! I get in an oil serving, a fruit serving, and a dairy serving. Score!!

Short-Term, Medium-Term, and Long-Term Motivations

I've been thinking a lot lately about short, medium, and long-term motivation. I think when people talk about their weight loss goals, they focus most of their energy thinking about long-term motivation: Be XXX weight, get off blood pressure meds, bead diabetes, wear a size XX, and so on. For some of us, accomplishing those goals are months, if not years, away.

But what about today? And tomorrow? Wouldn't it make more sense to focus on what's motivating me right now? One of my favorite Blogs, DeepExistence.com, had a great quote a few weeks back. I even wrote it on a post-it note and placed it on my moniter:

Ask yourself if what you're doing today is getting you closer to where you want to be tomorrow.

This relates to almost every facet of life, but I'm going to focus on weight loss. So let's break it down:
What do I want tomorrow? To me, this means the long term goals described above. My long term goals are the usual--Fit into a size 6, be 144 lbs or less, etc.

So what am I doing to get me closer to those goals? This is where short term and medium term motivations come in. Each of these is designed to get me closer to where I want to be tomorrow.

My medium term goals are a few days or weeks away. For example, one goal is for me not to go crazy with my eating this weekend. My motivation is that my weigh-in day is Monday!

My short term goals are what I can do today. My goal today was to wake up early before work and take the dogs for a walk. My immediate motivation is that my dogs need exercise and drive me crazy when they don't get it. This action is immediately rewarding with tired dogs but it also gets me closer to where I want to be tomorrow...and where I want to be next year.

What are your short, medium, and long term goals?

And what are your motivations to accomplish them?

Clothes!

One of the very best things I love about having lost weight is being able to wear MUCH cuter clothes. I recently discovered a site called Stitch Fix and I am thrilled! You can read a more detailed review here.

If you're interested in joining Stitch Fix, please use my referral code by clicking here.

The maroon sweater and dark skinny jeans are both from Stitch Fix. The necklace and the cuff are from Wantable.com

I get a ton of compliments every time I wear this outfit. It's flattering and modern but also has a classic flair that is exactly my style. Wearing these kind of outfits makes me feel more confident...which has the great side-effect of helping me stay on track. If I feel good, and I look good, then I want to perpetuate that feeling!

I highly encourage anyone who is struggling to find at least one outfit that makes you feel smashing. I don't care what size you are, there will be an outfit you can piece together that makes you feel like a million bucks.  For me, the outfit pictured below is one of those! It's a lot easier to stay on plan and workout if you feel happy!

This picture was after my husband starting teasing me... This one is just for fun!

Don't forget to enter my first-ever giveaway by clicking here.

Stress Eating

It happens to the best of us. Stress sneaks in. Or, in my case, stress rides in on a giant brown stallion with a huge lance, chopping off the heads of the villagers. Wearing a kilt. The kind of stress where all you can really do is duck and cover and hope that it just passes through without really noticing you.

Just try not to duck and cover in the cookie jar.

Keeping my health goals on track is really hard when I'm experiencing stress. I'll stand with the fridge open as I search for cheese and bread that I never actually bought at the store. This is how I combat it. The whole "Keep control of your spaces" soapbox that all diet/lifestyle plans tout. If there aren't cheeses, cookies, and chips in my house then I can't eat them. Plain and simple.

Today work is a different story. Our cafe sells these giant sugar cookies with pink frosting. I can't stop thinking about them! Their sugary goodness would take the edge off just enough for me to sneak out of the scary village described above. But not for long. I'm pretty sure that's how the kilt-wearing stress monster finds me even faster. Because I tried to run! I envision that I'm running down the main street (which is a dirt street, by the way), eating my pink cookie. The stress monster sniffs the air. He, too, can smell the delightful pink sugar crumbs. And then he pounces on me. And not in the good way that my husband does. (Oops! TMI!)

Overall, I think it's better to not have the cookie. It would cause more stress because I'd more than likely beat myself up over it. As it turns out, you don't earn any activity points by beating yourself up so it's just not worth it.