Sunday, September 30, 2007

October

I love October, I truly do. The air lets go of its summer sluggishness and perks up. It smells good. It feels good. The nights turn crisp, but not cold.* The summer haze gives way to a sky of marvelous blue. The beach, no longer overrun with tourists, is perfect with water warm enough for barefoot walks. There are other things I like about October. The pumpkin patch. The fair. Halloween. Jeans. Sweatshirts.

October makes me feel hopeful. In October, I can do anything.

Which is why I've decided to lose weight. I'm ready, and this baby weight is getting old. It isn't the only reason I am skipping my high school reunion, but it is one reason. I need to lose seven to ten pounds to be back to my pre-pregancy/ pre-fertility treatment weight. Ten would be lovely, but seven would get me back to my favorite jeans.

Here is my plan: Eat less. Exercise more.

This is easy to say now after a day of face stuffing (E's birthday party), but I feel like I'm ready. I feel bad about myself. I've gone soft and my rear end is drooping. May face is full. My thighs touch. Ew.

It is going to be hard. I'm busy at home and at work and this doesn't lend itself to thoughtful eating. I tend to go a long time and then eat too much. I need to pack lunches and remove temptation from the house (bread, crackers, and candy** that means you). I am trying to plan the week's dinners now. Lots of brown rice and veggies and lean protein. This is how we eat when we have time for meal preparation so the trick will be to find that time. I need to cut my snacking, too.

As difficult as eating correctly will be, I think the key will be getting exercise. I used to be a runner. Then I had children. When I was running, I ran marathons. I wasn't fast, but I wasn't embarrassed by my efforts, either. I need to start running again. (Walking doesn't do it for me because I am an endorphin junkie.) Once again, time is a huge problem. I'm going to be running at night, I guess, because mornings are just too full and already-harried around here. I may look into a membership at the gym near my office so I can have a shower if I want to run during the day.

Tonight I told J about my desire to lose weight. He has agreed to not be the food police, but to be supportive. We'll see.

My goal for the month is to lose five pounds. I'll report back.

*Excellent for sleep if the children are cooperative.
**I have a well-developed sweet tooth.

6 comments:

Suz said...

The biggest problem for me in loosing weight is always time. I could really stand to loose some of my summer weight and while I lost the baby weight, I've never made a dent in the infertility weight which just seems to like hanging around. I just might take pieces and parts of your plan - it sounds like a good one! Good luck!

Anonymous said...

Good luck with your weight loss goal. I need to start tackling some of mine too.
Monica

Nico said...

That sounds like a good plan. I find that getting motivated to exercise is the hardest part - once I'm actually doing it, and afterwards, I really enjoy it. Maybe tell your husband in the morning when you want to go running that night, and ask him to remind you (strongly) of that plan when you don't feel like going. And then get up and go!

Nico said...

Hi Em,

I also wanted to apologize for my post of the other day. I was in a really pissy mood after an interaction with an IRL 'friend' of mine, and I wrote the post in that frame of mind. I was kinda hoping that I took it down quickly enough that bloglines wouldn't pick it up, but of course not. It was obnoxious, and I'm sorry. I really wish now that I hadn't written it, but of course I can't change that.

N.

Anonymous said...

Ah yes... I think that plans in my very near future too. Except, not the running. I think I'm a laziness junkie. Walks on the beach give me plenty of endorphins. I found that chucking all the evil stuff from the pantry and replacing with healthy low fat stuff went a long way. Too often when I'm really tired I would grab a biscuit or in the evening open up a tub of dip.

Love your description of October. Here in Sydney it's getting unpleasantly hot, dry and windy.

christine said...

Eww I guess I'll have to start thinking about that in a few months. But hey don't they say you lose lots of weight with breastfeeding!? (myth, myth, MYTH)