Cleaning House Versus Losing Weight

Weight today: same

Total lost: 0 in five days

1/2 cup of oatmeal:150
1 tsp of sugar:15
1 tbl of powder creamer:30
with sweet-n-low:0
total:195

5oz strawberries:45
1 tsp of sugar:15
1 sugar cookie:50
2 cranberry pomegranate bars:240
1 fruit roll-up:50
total:400
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running total: 595

tortilla chips: 200 (est)
chicken taco with 2 tortillas: 200
chicken taco with 1 tortilla:150
guacamole dip:100
chocolate chai truffle:60
total: 710
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running total: 1305

coffee with 2 tbl of powder coffee creamer:60
Reese's Pieces:220
4 slices of smallish pizza:500 (125x4)
1 coffee with powder coffee creamer:30
total: 810
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running total:2115

Today's challenge: Not overeating while going out-of-town for the day.

Planned fitness: 5K walk

Note on picture: I've started adding flax seed oil to my protein shakes to give my body more of the good oil it needs.






Cleaning House vs Losing Weight

Remember when I said I was shutting off the computer during the day so that I can be more productive?

Well...it's worked. I'm more productive. Yesterday, I finally cleaned the "family room". I took before and after pictures, but won't be posting them...because...well, the before pictures were just a little too messy to be comfortably viewed by the naked eye.

So, instead I thought I'd compare how cleaning a messy room is a little like losing weight.

When you first look at how the 200 Lincoln logs, the 50 tiny toy soldier guys, the 50 some pieces of train tracks, random pieces of paper, broken crayons, 60 piece set of fake food for the kitchen, the entire toy box that is dumped and mixed in with all of this and more... you wonder how can you ever figure it out and get everything in order.

You feel overwhelmed...

When you first start a diet, and look at the idea of counting calories...looking at the back of labels, weighing and measuring your food, then writing it all down, pulling out a calculator to add everything up with, looking on-line for the food that doesn't have labels, exercising, weighing everyday, drinking enough water...you wonder how can you ever figure it out and lose the weight.

You feel overwhelmed too.

So, you breath deep, and say there has to be a way. You begin to do the easiest and most obvious things first...you put the couch cushions that the kids used to play "tent" with back onto the couches. You take anything that has fabric...clothing, blankets, stuffed animals...and put them on a couch.

With a diet, since the most obvious thing is to cut your calories, you begin writing down what you ate on scratch paper and simply estimating what the calories are because you know the very act of writing them down will help you slow down your eating. You know getting started with this will lead you to the next step.

After separating out the clothes, you place boxes next to a pile of mixed up toys and designate a box that matches a certain type of toy. This is the fake food box, this is for the train track, this is for the Lincoln logs, this is for the toy box because it's a mismatched toy, this is for the "wait-till-the-end-when-we-have-it-altogether-box", this is the garbage... Slowly we work through and address each item until all the items find a home.

With losing weight, you have to get organized too, you have to set a weight loss goal, you have to schedule a time to work-out, you have to schedule a time to eat five to six small meals a day, you make a food diary to keep track of what you ate and to write down your feelings. You begin doing each of these things...and slowly you lose weight.

It took me three to four hours to clean that room right. After going through all the toys and finally putting them in their boxes, I then had to organize those boxes in the room. Then I had to put the fabric stuff where it belonged...dirty clothes in the hamper... clean clothes in the drawers.

It took me what seemed like a long time also to lose weight. After I started my work-out program, I had to change it a little and challenge myself a little more. The more I counted calories, the better I got at getting the calories figured out just right. It began to develop into a habit.

When I was finally done cleaning, I was glad I did it. I still remember the frustration and anger I felt at looking at that messy room and trying to wrap my arms around the idea of organizing the mess I had let it become. But still the hard work was worth it and I want to keep it clean now.

When I finally lost my weight. I was glad I did it. I can still remember the frustration and anger that I felt at looking at myself in the mirror and trying to wrap my mind around the idea of how I was going to go about losing the weight and changing what I had let my become. But the hard work to getting here was worth it, and I want to keep my body like this now.

Wow. I guess some of those good habits I picked up on my diet can be applied to other areas of my life.