Slowly, But Surely

Good morning everyone. Yes, 10:53am is still morning time! I just woke up about 20 minutes ago and although I really wanted to get back in bed, I decided I might as well stay up and be productive. I've been doing that a lot lately. Anyways, it's almost been a week since my last update and there has been progress!

I've definitely been doing much better with my eating. On my 3 days off I ate pretty well, from what I can recall. I weighed myself the day before work and I was 167.2. The morning of work I gave myself a pep talk. Told myself "It's just food. I know it's good, but you don't have to stuff yourself. I know it sucks now, but it will be worth it in the end."

 I stayed pretty busy at work. Did all my usual morning checks, washed the ambulance (doing it alone is a little bit of a workout... maybe?), cleaned some ladders, and a few other random things. Lunch time came around and I tried my best. I only had one small bowl of soup and a plate of salad, which reminds me, I need to bring in my own dressing because Ranch and Italian dressing are not so good. Not only is Balsamic Vinaigrette delish, it's also only 25 calories per serving so it's a win win situation.

The only thing that got me at lunch was the garlic bread. Damn bread! I love it. I could eat slices of bread like chips. The fact that I'm the one who does the dishes and puts away the leftovers makes it a little tempting. To see 5 slices of leftover garlic bread... it's just torture! How could I not grab one more? I wish I had someone to shock me every time I wanted to reach for another serving of any kind of food!

Dinner time I did well. I had 1 medium sized serving of penne with chicken and vegetables in a garlic sauce. That's it. I've been trying to drink a ton of water with my meals to help fill me up as well. I think it helps a little. Another thing that gets me while I'm at work is Southern MD hospital. They have a nice little room for Fire Dept people to do their reports in and it just so happens to be stocked with treats for us. Bananas, oranges, chewy granola bars, Oreos, yogurt, and assorted drinks. So yeah, I could be healthy and eat some fruit, but usually I want the Oreos! I did have a banana this time, but I think another time we went back there I gave in and had an Oreo:-/ Oh well.

The moment of truth is always the day after work. I weigh myself when I get home to see the damage done. Fortunately for me, I didn't get any calls after midnight! Truly a miracle, but it seems to be happening to me quite often. Anyways, I was pretty motivated when I got off work. I decided to go straight to Trader Joe's in Columbia, since we did just get paid and all:-) I love shopping there. It actually motivates me to eat better things. And they have so many low calorie things, it's sweet. Anyways, I got home from shopping and got on the scale. 167 even. Whaaaaat? I know it's not much, but I lost 0.2 pounds after 24 hours at work?! I was pretty excited!:-)

Now I am back to another day before work and again, it's not much, but I weighed myself this morning and I was 166.6. I dunno if I should be happy about that number! But I am, even if it is the devil's number. Now I have to be good tomorrow! I must! I can't let this hard work go to waste!

The picture of Chief up above is from yesterday. It was a beautiful day out so Charlie and I took him for a walk at Wincopin Trail. I forced Charlie to take the long way this time. We skipped one little part of the trail but it ended up being 4.87 miles all together. Chief had a blast and was super tired afterwards, but it was a great walk. It's crazy how much lower my calorie burn is when I just walk. Such a bummer, but I made up for it later with a good workout at the gym. I love the gym on Sunday nights:-)

After our walk, we went to Columbia mall for a little shopping. This is a... sensitive subject for me, I'd say. First of all, shopping used to be the hardest thing for me. Once I found Torrid (a plus size store) things were much better, but I had to pay an arm and a leg for one shirt. And looking back, even with cute clothes, I still looked fat and ugly. The greatest part about losing weight was getting to buy smaller size clothes. It was awesome to buy things in one size, and two weeks later need a smaller size. But after gaining that weight in the academy, a few of my things had gotten tight on me and THAT was a blower. I refused to buy any bigger clothes. I just stuck with what I could fit in comfortably.

The reason it's a sore subject for me though, is because I've received a few comments from people about my style. Yeah, I'll admit it, I'm no fashionista. I guess I suck at being stylish. I've been told I have my "own style" which is ok I guess, but when I take a step back and compare myself to others I guess I just come off as childish in my clothing choices. Always shorts and a random shirt. Flip flops, no accessories, and I just bought my first two "casual" dresses this year. I'm pretty behind when it comes to any fashion trends. So yesterday I decided to go shopping somewhere I've never shopped (Nordstrom) and try on clothes that didn't grab my complete attention. I even strayed from my usual color choice... black. Ok, yes, those are black pants in the picture! But hey, I don't own any black pants so that's my first pair:-) And an orange shirt? Never owned an orange shirt.

I had fun trying on different styles of clothes. I felt like I was on my own episode of "What Not To Wear." And the nice part was that I was fitting into everything that I tried on. 11/13 pants and Medium shirts. Which is the same size I had been wearing prior to my weight gain. I was happy:-) Not so happy when it came time to pay, but I guess you get what you pay for... right? Slowly, but surely, I will find my inner fashionista.

I ended the day with a workout at the gym and a nice bowl of fruit. I'd say it was a great day:-) And now I have one more day off before I go back to work. I'm not sure what I'm going to do today for my workout. It seems nice out so I'll probably go for a run at the trail. All I do know is that I'm not running at Laurel Lake again, at least not for awhile. I ran there Saturday morning and it was so annoying. I wish people would learn some walking/running etiquette! People walking on the wrong side of the path, in the middle, swerving back and forth. I had to dodge people the whole run and it was not fun at all. I'll stick to the empty trail!

Well, I suppose I'll go start my day and figure out what I'm gonna do for my workout. Then start some laundry:-( Oh, I wanted to say thank you to everyone who read my blog last week, and all the people who "liked" it on facebook. I wasn't expecting such a huge response, but it really makes me more motivated to keep writing and to keep working hard every day.  I hope that I can spread some of my energy to those who need it. If anyone ever has any questions for me, or suggestions for blogs to write, just let me know:-)

Anna