Did somebody say Thin Mints?

Seriously, I totally overate today. I don't know what it is with me, why I feel the need to eat not until I'm full, but OVERfull. Tonight I had a nice small bowl of pasta with sauce.. and then polished off an entire sleeve of Girl Scout cookies watching TV (Battlestar Galactica, of course.)

Actually, now that I think about it, that's the problem. I'm an automatic eater - put it in front of me while watching TV and it's gone before I even know it's there. Hell, I'm not sure if I even really REMEMBER eating the cookies.

Although they WERE thin mints, which are yummy normally.

If I'm ever going to start making progress on losing weight, I have to figure out the eating thing. Problem is, I sit in front of a computer all day working on code for my clients, and then when I finish working I park in front of the TV or worse, play video games. It seems so easy when I write out goals and so HARD to actually DO them. I have so many things pulling at me - promises and commitments for other people, and so forth - that theres no time to take care of me!

Wah wah wah. Wow I'm whiny. Must be the sugar from the Thin Mints kicking in.

I wonder if we have any more cookies?

Just kidding ;)

Why no avatar?

Yes, it's true; I don't use an 'real' picture as an avatar.
Am I hiding? not exactly... if I'm really honest with myself I'm not using an avatar because I don't like how I look. To be blunt, I'm overweight... and not a little overweight either, but what a doctor would call 'Morbidly obese' - in the 250 pound range or so. And after the close call I had with my kitty's health, I've taken a closer look at my own.

I don't like what I'm seeing.

It's not that I'm a big eater... the weight crept up over the last 10 years or so. It's that I eat the wrong things, at the wrong times, for the wrong reasons. I eat almost exclusively starches and sugars (mashed potatoes, YUM), and I don't eat on a schedule - my dinner is often at 10pm and after engorging myself (since I didn't eat much all day, choosing rather to sit in front of my computer and work) I fall asleep. Thus ensuring that my body turns every bit of what I ate, healthy or not, into nice big rolls of fat.

Lets face it, eating feels GOOD. I feel happy when I eat (one of the few times I actually feel good) so it's easy to have one more serving. Potatoes, stuffing AND rice? Sure, why not?

A year ago I picked up a really good book - at the time it was only available at the author's website, self-published, but it's now available on Amazon. Body Clutter is a great book which I'm going to recommit myself to reading AND following, and you faithful reader, are going to be stuck going along for the ride. I'm going to try writing my assignments right into the blog, with the hope that between understanding WHY I eat, and watching WHAT I eat (with a generous dollop of exercise thrown in) I can start to peel off some of these pounds. If I can get rid of, say 20 pounds, I'll pledge to take a picture of myself and use it for my avatar. How's that for motivation?

Health and fitness is on my mind

With everything that's been happening it might not surprise you to know that health has been on my mind lately. Since I spend a lot of my time sitting, I've gained some weight - and with all the things I'm trying to juggle I eat far more fast food than I'd like. Well with the New Year fast approaching I'm beginning to think about fitness - specifically fitness women, and any advice they might be able to give. So I was glad to run into this blog from a woman's point of view discussing fitness, diet and exercise. Marcela is a certified personal trainer with a Master's degree in physical education , so she really speaks from experience when it comes to helping people get (and stay) fit.

One post I found really helpful was 10 Tips to Starting a Fitness Program in 2007. I always seem to self destruct when it comes to getting started (guess I'm only a self starter when it comes to technology!) so the advice she gives in this post really hits home. The most useful tip I took from her site is not to set my standards based on others. In other words, my family tends to be heavy, so trying to look like a supermodel isn't very realistic! Instead I should set a realistic goal, and then work slowly and steadily towards it. I think that's pretty good advice! With a bit of planning and some determination, I bet this year I can hit my new, more realistic goal of losing 40 pounds :)