Not Actually Me

One of my resolutions this year is to get into shape. That means making changes. Big changes.

The first big change was to (more or less) give up soda. A cup here or there is fine. Ginger ale in moderation, also fine. But Mark and I were both enjoying our bubbly, caffeinated beverages way too much. I haven’t had any soda at all since just over a week ago, which, granted, isn’t that long of a time, but it’s a good start.

I’ve also cut back on sugar. That is going to be the hardest part of this weight loss plan, at least at first. I haven’t had any chocolate or other candy since Thursday or Friday. Again, not much of a streak yet, but I’m getting there.

I’m drinking a lot more water, actually getting the 8-10 recommended glasses a day. I’m trying to eat more vegetables. The steamer from Dad II (Mark’s dad) and the food processor from my dad and step-mom are fantastic, and are helping with that goal. It’s nice to only have to peel carrots, then slice them in the processor and pop them into the steamer. Perfect carrots in 20 minutes, with almost no work on my part.

We have the exercise on demand channel, which lets me sort through almost 100 different exercise videos at any time and choose which ever looks the most interesting. I do a lot of dance videos. I can’t dance, at all. But it’s more entertaining than the half hour of crunches and jumping jacks.

We also have a treadmill now. Sunday afternoon, I checked my email and saw a message from Freecycle. Someone had a couple of treadmills they wanted to get rid of. It had been 10 minutes since the email went out. No way were they still available. Buy, I emailed anyhow, thinking that maybe someone wouldn’t show up, and I could be one of the next in line.

A few minutes later, I got a response. I was the first person to reply. Could I pick it up that afternoon? So, I called my dad to see if he could help, and we drove the half mile to the woman’s home. It’s big, it’s heavy, and it’s mine. It’s programmable, and has an incline. Becca loves it, but we’re trying to convince her to stay off of it. I can only use it while she’s sleeping. She tries to climb on behind me, or set things on there to watch them fall off the back. I finally managed a few minutes on there yesterday; just enough to realize how horribly out of shape I really am. I want to add a couple minutes to the program I’m currently using each day, until I can do it easily. I’m doing one that’s about half running, broken up into 3-4 minute sections. I’d like to work up to running the whole time.

I’m hoping to follow through with this, and actually lose the extra pounds I’ve put on since becoming a mom. My goal is to be where I want to be by the beginning of June.  While I’m definitely not aiming for a bikini summer, it would be nice to have an excuse to get some new summer clothes.