I'm still here!!! I didn't disappear! I certainly didn't get any skinnier either...

I've been on the road since January 18th - eating out (and yes, that typically includes dessert) and not getting any exercise at all. BAD. Very, very bad.

The other night I was laying in bed at a hotel in Kissimmee, Florida, once again having avoided the "fitness center," flipping channels, when BOOM! There it was! The miracle program! A way to get ripped abs, firm butt, toned thighs, sexy biceps - all in one 60 day program! No, NOT Zumba! But I had you there for a second, didn't I???

Did you really think for even ONE SECOND that at home, or on the road, I could get my man's man husband to do Zumba with me in front of the television? OK, it's an amusing thought... but ain't gonna happen. Not a chance.

But this... OH YES!!! THE INSANITY CHALLENGE!!! I was captivated! I was excited! I was motivated! But NO, of course I didn't "call in the next 15 minutes to take advantage of this one-time offer, free shipping, four easy payments of $39.99 and money back guarantee."

But I did think about it. And I thought about it the next day. And a little bit the next day too. And then I surfed the internet and reads lots of fun and interesting reviews about it. And then I looked on ebay. But the truth is, there are lots of doofuses on ebay who just love to pay full retail on ebay PLUS $15 shipping, so I passed on the auctions. It no longer tempts me to sit there counting down the minutes, entering my bid and waiting, waiting, waiting until 5 seconds to go and POW! Scoop someone out of their dream possession.

Nope. I went to straight to craigslist and found someone in the San Fernando Valley (which is not too far from where I am now) who got two Insanity Workouts for her birthday and was willing to part with one, new and sealed in the original package, for a little more than half price. And, she's willing to deliver it. Perfect.

Now I don't have to worry about what I eat for the remainder of this road trip. 'Cuz when I get home Monday, I'm going to start and commit to the Insanity Challenge: 60 days of intense workout. And I'm even going to take a "before" picture of myself in a (gasp) bathing suit; so when I'm ripped and lean and gorgeous I'll take an "after" picture and send it to Beach Bodies and get a free t-shirt.

YES!

Road trips are terrible for the waistline. It's simply not possible for someone with little to no willpower (like myself) to avoid snacking in the car. Or succumbing to poor food choices on the road. For example, and this is an actual example, not a hypothetical: Between St. George and Irvine, there are very few places to eat well, unless you've planned your travel around meal times AND you're willing to take an hour or more to sit down in a real restaurant.

We did neither of these things Wednesday. So dinner was the Mad Greek in Primm. As much as I enjoy Giros, healthy and nutritious they're not. Calorific and gluttonous they are. Did I eat every bite? You bet! YUM! At least, in the moment, YUM! Later, the YUM became laying in bed groaning and wishing I hadn't eaten that; which I knew was likely to happen - but that didn't stop me.

It was a quick road-trip, business oriented only, so we actually drove back Thursday. Chipotle Mexican Grill is not too bad of a meal choice, all things considered - especially when you have to eat in Barstow. Truck-stop food is pretty much the only alternative; so I think I did pretty well with a burrito. The problem was the fuel and bathroom stop at Flying J - with the endless variety of junk food. Brian likes sweets in the car, so he picked out a box of Mike & Ike's. When I got to the counter, the cashier just had to say, "these are 2 for $3 - do you want another box?" Want? NO! But such a deal!!! So Brian went back to the candy aisle and picked out a box of Dots. In the 3+ hours between Barstow and home, it's pretty easy for 2 people to eat 2 boxes of candy.

Calories don't count in the car, right?

I'm up a pound.

Serves me right.

Fighting the fluff is an even greater challenge when it's so darned cold outside. I have absolutely ZERO motivation to go outside on a day when it's cloudy and in the low 40s. Neither am I particularly inclined to spend money to join a gym I know I'll only wind up at a couple of times a year... So FLUFF wins. At least for the past few days.

The good thing is, I've figured out a way to at least manage the fluff. I've found a level of food consumption and enjoyment that allows me to stay the same. Without exercise I pretty much have to starve myself to lose weight. And the bottom line is, I'm not willing to do that.

Pray for sun, my friends!

I hate shopping. My entire life I've never been much of a girly-girl when it comes to shopping, mostly because I have zero fashion sense; but also because whenever I'm around clothing shops I think to myself, "I should wait until I'm thinner." Which I never seem to be... So all the new clothes I've worn in the last few years were gifts from my mall-loving husband or his shopaholic mother (both of whom I appreciate greatly).

So I've been hoarding birthday and Christmas money for the last decade or so. Today, when I fished around in my underwear drawer to find the hidden envelope, I realized I had just a tad over $1,000. So I went to the mall. Fluffy or not.

Buying pants is off limits when feeling fluffy... But I do desperately need more tops; so I literally tried on about 25 items - most of which I hated, of course. "Makes me look fat." "Makes my boobs look too big." Blah blah blah. But I did actually find FOUR - yes, FOUR shirts I actually, truly, whole-heartedly liked, and thought (and I could be wrong) they looked good on me.

So I BOUGHT ALL FOUR. And WOW! I spent a grand total of $41.36! HOW INCREDIBLY AWESOME ARE POST-SEASON SALES??? HOO-RAH FOR J.C. PENNEY! I just might have to go back to the mall and scour the sale racks at Dillards...

Obviously getting sufficient exercise is an essential element to fluff fighting. Since I'm an avid cyclist, this is something that's easy to do. Unless it's freezing cold outside; which it has been, pretty much since Thanksgiving.

From what I hear, this is about the coldest winter in St. George since, well, the lady that waxes my legs can remember - and she's lived here her whole life, which is probably somewhere around 22-26 years. So much for global warming and all... We've had SNOW ON THE GROUND that actually stayed for several days. In fact, there's still some in the shady part of our yard.

It has been in the 30s and 40s for about 6 weeks, with only a couple of days here and there where the thermometer topped 50. EGADS! The wind chill on a bike makes your ears, fingers and toes burn, and your face feel like you've been to the dentist and had not just your chin, but your entire face numbed with novacaine!

So we started taking walks. Did a few hikes and even went snowshoeing. I think that's partly why I shed the first few pounds so quickly; because my body isn't used to any of that - so I must have been working harder. It certainly felt like I was working harder. And it's humbling too... to be able to easily ride 40-50 miles even out of shape, but go for a 3 mile walk and feel wrecked. OY!

Walking, hiking and biking is a good combination, and my goal is to stick with that because it's no doubt healthier to cross-train and be fit for many different sports. It's safer too: Because sometimes (and hopefully on only very, very, very, very rare occasions) cycling is dangerous. Like having the three people in front of me hit a pothole and crash and, being unable to avoid the carnage, hitting a fallen cyclist, being launched into the air and landing entirely on my head... But that's a whole other story...

124.8.

A bit surprising to lose over 3 pounds in a week - but I'm certainly not complaining. I must've been retaining lots of water over the holidays...

What am I doing differently?

I'm cooking delicious and nutritious meals at home. I'll be honest, I'm a lousy cook. I don't know enough about spices and herbs and how to combine them to just whip something up. I'm not good at deciding what dish or what flavors are good in combination for a meal. I'm in awe of folks who can do that, and watching the Food Channel sometimes makes me feel horribly inadequate.

To give myself a tad bit of credit, I'm really, really good at following recipes. I love cookbooks and cooking magazines, and admit to spending more time than I should scouring the internet for potential meals when I should be working. This week, I've made 4 new dishes. A new taste sensation every night. Only one turned out to look better in the pretty picture than it actually tasted; but the meal was decent. Just not great. And I really like dinner to be great. Especially when they say that a way (at least one of the ways) to a man's heart is through his stomach. I admit, I really enjoy being a good wife; and I love when my husband enjoys and appreciates dinner. Things seem to get done around the house.
;-)

In addition to preparing wonderful food, I've been super careful with my portions. One plate. No seconds (as tempting as it is, especially when there's stuffed manicotti still in the pan - which, by the way, tasted even better for lunch the next day). I'm trying to take smaller bites, chew more, and simply enjoy a leisurely meal. So dinner is satisfying but I'm not stuffed. And when it's done, I've actually eaten about half the calories that I normally would have, so I have room, and allow myself a bit of dessert if I'm craving that (and I am usually craving that).

I've had a small home-baked treat each evening. One cookie. One piece of quick bread. I baked a lot over the holidays, so my freezer is well stocked. So I can take out just one, totally enjoy it, and feel like I've still been "good." Which I have. The scale says so.

I started the year ready to be healthy, fit, thin, beautiful (ok, that's pushing it)!

New Years Day I went snowshoeing in Zion with three other women and had a blast. Hiking in snowshoes is hard. But the scenery was wonderful so I didn't really notice my burning quads until later that evening.


I'm often very hungry after strenuous exercise... and since I hadn't taken anything out for dinner, my feeling of famished-ness led me to the poor dinner choice of a Red Robin bacon cheeseburger and fries. Hmmm... So much for all the calories I burned in the snow. I made those up, and then some.

As if one day of snowshoeing weren't enough, on January 2nd we trekked out to Pine Valley for more fun in the snow. And yes, another calorie-fest to follow, this time at Cafe Rio. Two tacos, rice and beans. YUM.

But that's okay. It was the weekend. And I'm never good about starting something new on the weekend; so as I'd already told myself, Monday is IT. The start of the new, better, me.

So now it's MONDAY.

I had NO SWEETS today. Not a one. I did make a strong effort to convince myself that eating a pear is the same as eating sweets. But it's not. It tastes nice. But it's FRUIT. Yummy, healthy, delicious fruit - which under no circumstances will I ever consider dessert.

Fruit just isn't dessert. Unless it's pie. Or a cherry turnover. Or a banana boat. But plain fruit? No way.

It's okay though. I'm feeling pretty good about today's food choices. I started out with a nice breakfast of hot cereal with half a banana and a few blueberries and raspberries. For lunch I had a half turkey sandwich with one bit of cheese. And for dinner I made stuffed manicotti and salad. It was delicious, and I wanted a second helping. But I was good. I ate the reasonable serving that was on my plate, and no more. I was satisfied physically. The mental part is the challenge. Portion control. Portion control. That will be my 2011 mantra.

Pretty healthy, huh? I'm feeling a little hungry now, at 8:50pm; but I think it's good to go to sleep on an empty stomach. So I'm staying out of the kitchen.

I weighed myself today as promised. The result pretty much sucked. But it is what it is and I am what I am - and all I can do is face each day and not think about banana boats too much.

I used to think that New Year's Resolutions were silly. After a surprisingly short time, all good intentions fall by the wayside... so why bother making a promise you're not going to keep anyway. Statistics show that 25% don't even make it past the first week of January... and only about 50% make it six months. Not great odds at success. Sad, especially since the #1 Resolution for adults is "Lose Weight."

Since statistics show that the majority of people who make resolutions fail, I guess I just won't make it a resolution. I'll simply set a goal.

117 pounds. There. I said it. No time frame. No pressure.

To help get there, I'm going to weigh myself every day. Many popular weight-loss programs, like Weight Watchers, don't recommend getting on the scale everyday. Since our weight fluctuates a bit every day, some folks believe daily weighing can lead to discouragement or diet sabotage if you see a higher number on the scale one day to the next. Wimps.

First of all, I'm not the discourage-able type. Second, since I'm not going to be on a diet, I can't resort to diet sabotage. Just thinking about the word diet is depressing. It connotes deprivation, hunger, bean sprouts. UGH.

I'm going to think about my goal as simply being healthy which will lead to a slim, fit, thin body. I'm not going to starve myself or deprive myself along the way. But I will get on the scale, and face the music every day.

Weighing every day means I have to be accountable. It also means I'll immediately see the consequences of eating an entire bag of Oreos; so maybe I won't do that.

Since it's not a resolution, I didn't pressure myself to start January 1st. Or the 2nd even. It's the weekend. Goals are best started on a Monday. Even though I've given myself one last day... I'm NOT going down to the kitchen for a last HOO-RAH. I guess I'm already well on the way...
:-)