Where did my feet go?

Gaining weight most certainly doesn't happen over night, but sometimes the realization of just how bad the wheels have fallen off hits you like a ton of bricks. It's a sad and lonely moment when you're standing in front of the mirror and you can admit to yourself that you look like a hundred pounds of pure potbellied stallion in a fifty pound bag! For the past week I've been trying to diagnose the cause of my current "fluffy" situation (thank you Gabriel Iglesias). So I came up with a list of my ten bad habits:

1. Never eat breakfast (like ever!)
2. Drink too much coke (cause it's amazing!)
3. Don't drink enough water (it's not coke!)
4. Too much French fries (they go great with coke!)
5. Too much drive thru (I don't have to leave my car to get coke and french fries!)
6. Don't eat until starving (bloated from all the coke!)
7. Bored eater/ tv eater (that coke commercial looked refreshing!)
8. Don't get enough fruits and vegetables (there's no fruit in coke?)
9. Always go for seconds (I still have coke left, I should get more food to go with it!)
10. Not enough sleep (this one is unrelated to the coke consumption, I'm sure.)

So while I'm going to improve in all of these areas, if I try to tackle them all at once, I know I'll give up. So for the next ten weeks, I will focus on one each week. This week will be breakfast week! I will  take extra effort to make sure I jump start my metabolism ( if I have any left) by eating a good breakfast. I'll keep you posted on what a difference it makes.

If anyone has quick healthy breakfast suggestions, let me know. I'd also love to hear about your bad habits and what you can do to break them. Be specific. It's easier to stick to your guns when you know exactly what you need to do! Good luck!

Alright fat, either you go or I go!

I'm fat! The kind of fat that every morning I have to make the decision to either tuck the bottom of my belly into my pants and let my belt ride the belly button express all day, or to flop my gut over my belt buckle and hope the stretch on my shirt keeps me from looking like one of those girls who thinks hanging a little ponch out the front is "sexy" (you usually see them at Walmart!). I have to wear a sweater vest to church to protect those around me in case a button goes rogue from the intense pressure they're under. Here in Arizona, there is no good reason to wear a sweater vest, especially in August! So as I started thinking about my goals for the new year, and my life in general, I've decided I've had enough. I'm tired of saying things like "I would love to do that if I lost a little weight", or " after I lose a few pounds I'll do..." With two young kids, I don't want to look back in twenty years and add up all the things they missed out on cause "daddy loves butter more than them!" So here is my line in the sand. This is where I make my stand. I don't have a lot of money for a condescending judgmental trainer, or uber-organic foods that were grown under a rainbow and nurtured by the power of positive thinking. I'm doing this my way. I know that an average joe can lose weight the old fashion way, eating better and exercising. So as I find good advice I'll share it. If you find stuff that works, share it. I know that there are a lot of people like me out there and we can all learn from each other! Let's take our lives back!