It's A New Day...

 

It's been seven months since I've posted here. Seven months where LIFE beat down on me and kept me busy and gave me excuses to ignore the pink elephant trumpeting in the room. For fifteen years I have been passionately pursuing the chance to receive my Master Fifth Degree Black Belt rank in TaeKwonDo but for the past two years or so I have sorely neglected my training. This shows in the numbers on the scales and my inability to participate in testing for the ultimate rank at my school.

To be completely honest, I am ashamed of what I have become. Saddened I have allowed ANYTHING...EVERYTHING...get in the way of reaching my martial arts goals. So easy to blame the fourteen hour days of summer camp or commitments of my new writing career or even the requests of friends and family that can eat away at my free time. But I started this particular blog to try and keep it real...to be completely honest with myself...and the ONLY REASON I am overweight is because I have allowed it to be so.

I'm returning to this blog after a soul-searching hiatus where I have worked hard to prepare myself for the long road ahead. There are unique as well as common medical issues I deal with but I refuse to allow them to get in the way. I have limited financial means to buy the healthiest of meal items but refuse to allow that to stop me from doing what I can. I even have a bum leg that is a constant reminder of the person I can no longer be but I REFUSE to allow it to be the reason I won't reach my goal of becoming the new and improved me!

To that end, and to keep myself accountable, I will randomly post updates to my journey as well as share various things I learn along the way which have been helpful to me. I know I'm not alone in my struggles with my weight. But it is my nature to self-sabotage...as if I am not worthy of a healthier lifestyle and THAT is the monkey on my back I will endeavor to shake off. 

Am I alone in feeling this way? I don't think so. I think there are many others like me in the world....wanting so badly to step out of the shadows and into the light of self-appreciation. Maybe some will follow my journey. Maybe some will join me in the battle. I hope so...then we can all be WARRIORS together and reach our individual goals together!

Here are four things I've put into place to help me move forward with my plan to claw my way back to a healthier me:

1. Joined a gym...it's only $10 a month and by cutting out junk food I will be able to afford to do this. I started today and will see how sore I am in the morning...;~)

2. Loaded the Hungry Girl Diet app on my iPhone...this free app gives me easy access to healthier meal choices and I can always go to their website at www.hungrygirl.com for even more cool recipes.

3. Loaded the My Fitness Pal app on my iPhone...this free app allows me to track things like what I eat, how much exercise I get, and the water I drink. It also gives me encouraging information like how much overall weight I will lose in a certain time frame if I stay on track.

4. Going back to training one on one with my martial arts instructor two times a week beginning next week. The combination of these changes will hopefully allow me to test for my Master rank by this time next year.

Have YOU  been wanting to make changes in YOUR life? Are YOU wanting to get back to a healthier weight? You don't have to struggle alone. Let's reach that goal together!! Let me know in the comments one change you can implement in your life right now to put you on that path to a better you...
 

ARE YOU A "HUNGRY GIRL" GIRL?

No, I don't mean this kind of hungry...where you grab a plate and see how much it can hold before spillover. For being overweight, I'm really not a person who spends every waking moment thinking about food. Just ask my sister...when we are running around on Saturday doing our errands, I can literally go all day long without even thinking about eating. So that's not my problem.

I have my list of favorites like anyone else. Here are the four "C" foods I will indulge in even if I'm not particularly hungry

1. Chicken

2. Chinese

3. Cheese

4. Chocolate

CHICKEN

Chicken I eat every day...sometimes three times a day. It's surprising I haven't started clucking a long time ago. I use to also eat a lot of carrots (another "C" food) until my skin literally started to turn orange and my doctor told me to step away from the carrots!

CHINESE

Chinese is VERY tempting to me so for right now I have to just avoid it like the plague. Remember the whole control thing I talked about in my last post? Yeah, this is where I have none if you drop me down in the middle of a Chinese restaurant so I just don't go there right now...maybe I'll be back one day.

CHEESE

I like every type of cheese from fat free cream cheese to those little triangles of Laughing Cow spreadable cheese to Monterey Jack and Sharp Cheddar hard blocks of cheese. From grilled cheese sandwiches to shredded on my salad to pieces dunked into spinach dip, I love cheese!

CHOCOLATE

Chocolate is dangerous for me. It's not like I'm allergic to it. My son was, however, until he was a teenager so guess who was left to eat the chocolate holiday candy that came his way? The reason why chocolate is bad for me is because it is my number one "go to" food when I'm upset or stressed. I'm an emotional eater and I allow myself to indulge in chocolate whenever I have challenges in my life that make me uncomfortable. My goal in 2015 is to slowly find other ways to replace the chocolate in my life...

One of the websites I've come across to help me claw my way back to a healthier me is Lisa Lillian's HUNGRY GIRL website. You can find it at www.hungry-girl.com. This fabulous website has it all. You can sign up for a free daily email with healthy tips and tricks. There is a Facebook page, a Twitter page, a recipe archive, The Hungry Girl Diet book as well as other Hungry Girl books, a Pinterest account, and even the Hungry Girl TV show!

This is one of your one stop shop websites and if I can't find things to help me on my journey, I seriously need to consider getting my eyesight checked!

Maybe you're already a Hungry Girl or maybe you are still struggling like me to figure out how to regain control of your life. It's okay...we're in this together and 2015 is gonna be a great year for us Hungry Girls...;~)

Hopefully you'll be seeing a lot less of ME real soon!

Thanks for stopping by and come back any time!