Bittersweetness

Ah, Happy belated St. Patty's Day, laddies! I had begun typing a post on the morning of the Irish holiday, and had planned to finish upon my return home from work. But, alas! For whatever technical reason, the site would not allow me to publish the post. Thus, my little green greetings are belated. Nevertheless, we had a grand ol' Irish time on Saturday! After the usual Saturday morning pancakes, I set to work on a green coffee cake for Mandi's forthcoming Mary Kay bash that morning, and Mandi whipped a little green punch using Sprite and green, lime-flavored sherbet. A tasty endeavor, indeed! We completed the ensemble with a few clover-shaped cookies, and our tribute to the leprechaun was complete!

But I didn't come here to tell you that today.

What I did intend to mention was our most recent progress in our declared war on fat. Mandi and I are continuing to be successful with our lifestyle changes, and have begun to realize just how much our routines have become an integral part of our daily lives. The more we trim off the fat, the more motivated we are becoming, and we now look forward to our daily exercise. Another interesting phenomenon has occurred as well; when tempted with satanic morsels of baked perfection, or evil bits of luscious chocolate, we are finding it easier and easier to "just say no." Having read the book I have discussed in previous posts, You On A Diet, The Owner's Manual for Waist Management, we now realize just what happens from a biological perspective when a person eats some of the yummy, but not-so-good foods. Becoming armed with this information makes it so much easier to turn the temptations away!

All of that said, Mandi is now down 29 pounds and is just 4 away from her Weight Watcher's goal weight. The bittersweet moment I alluded to in the title to this post came when I stepped on the scale Saturday morning. I anticipated all week the glorious feeling of watching the scale dip below 300 pounds for the first time in a couple of years, but to no avail. I did lose another 3.6 pounds for a total of just over 44, but came just over 1 pound shy of experiencing said feeling. Of course, I know I was shooting for the stars to try to lose over 5 pounds in a week, and I am more than happy to take the loss I did have, and will be thrilled when I eclipse the 300-pound mark next week! Here I come!!

Well now, I have just revealed my current weight (provided you can do just a bit of math) and it's kind of embarrassing. But how good will I feel when I reach my goal weight (which I haven't really determined yet) and can tell y'all I made it?!?! I'm pouring my fears onto you and opening up, dear reader, and thanks for reading/listening/understanding/supporting!

Alright, I seem to be rambling, so will close with one of those little diet tips I promised to provide in future postings. Adapted from the aforementioned book by Dr.'s Oz and Roizen; 30 minutes of aerobics per day, no excuses! You can't possibly imagine what an amazing affect this has on your body, both physically and mentally. In order to change your lifestyle for the better, you just have to include an element of exercise. 30 minutes per day isn't much to ask when you consider you are taking care of yourself, so just do it. You don't even have to do it all at once - if you need up to three sessions of ten minutes a pop, fine. Just get it done, and I promise, you'll be happy you did. GO FOR IT!!!!