back on the wagon

Back in North Carolina I was such a good girl when it came to working out! Hubbs and I got up every morning at 5:45 to walk around our neighborhood. It took all of 15- or 20-minutes, but along with watching what we ate, those walks shed pounds like a dream. Then I had my surgery and fell off the exercise wagon. Big time.

I hit "my limit" here in California and really decided it was time to do something. I figured since running and walking have always worked in the past, why not go back to what I know? So, I started running again on June 29. Hubbs and I did a weigh-in with pictures so we'd have before and afters; I think the photos disturbed me more than the weight! Especially the one of my backside! I was horrified. I started pushing myself to run every single day. The first week, I made it Monday to Friday and gave myself the weekend off. The second week I only ran four times because one night was our anniversary (I should have ran in the morning that day instead of using it as an excuse not to run) and Friday and Saturday we were off on Jason's birthday trip. This makes the third full week and so far, doing great! I've run every single day and plan to run both Saturday and Sunday as well.

I've also made sure that I change up my eating habits as well. Anyone who knows me can tell you I loves me some junk food! Most people are under the impression that vegetarian = healthy, but it's not always the case. Jalapeño Cheetos, for example, are vegetarian but that doesn't make them healthy (but they're so good). I still allow myself some junk food, but I eat Pringles instead of Cheetos, and I only have one serving (which is about 16 chips). And yes, I actually count them out, put them on a plate, and put the package back in the pantry.

(These happen to be honey mustard Pringles--very yummy!)

My sweet tooth is also learning its lesson as well. I've cut sugar down to 14 grams in a single sitting--not serving, sitting. For example, after dinner I grab myself a Snickers ice cream bar; it has 15g of sugar in the entire bar. Or I treat myself to the good chocolate (the stuff that's 63% cacao) and I can have about five pieces because it has 14g of sugar in a single serving of five pieces.

And last but not least, I'm reducing my sodium intake as well. I try to limit myself to 600 milligrams of sodium in a single sitting. This is much harder than it sounds. Did you know a can of vegetarian chili has almost 1,800mg in the whole can? Soup too. Even the "low sodium" stuff is still insane. This forces me to eat less store bought foods and make more from my fridge. My one weakness is Red Barron Four Cheese Pizza--it has 700mg of sodium in ¼ of the pie! I usually eat one slice, wrap it up, and it becomes lunch for the next day or two.

It's all paying off big time though! In three weeks I've lost 4.4 pounds! Friday August 7 is when I want to hit my goal weight, so I've got 21 more days to really kick it into gear. That's exactly three more weeks so if I can keep going the way I'm going I'll have no problem getting there!