Friend Makin' Monday

Entry #28

Weight 222.5 pounds. No loss/no gain. I'll take it!

Today is Friend Makin' Monday. Kenz is hosting it again this week. If you have a blog, copy and paste the questions to your own blog and pass along the fun. Add your name and a link to your blog at the end of this post.

1) Do you prefer talking or texting? I don't text, so I prefer talking to texting. I don't pay for that feature on my cell phone. So, for any of my friends reading this entry, don't text me. I don't even open them.

2) Do you make your bed everyday? Yes, I do it as a form of discipline. If I don't make my bed, I don't feel organized for the day. And it's just nicer to get into a bed that's been made than a messy one.

3) What sounds do you hear right now? I can hear the refrigerator running, my dehydrator drying tomatoes and occasionally the song of a songbird. It's 2:30 a.m. so I'm not sure why the bird is singing, but it's nice to hear.

4) List three things that you always carry with you. I always have my checkbook, my cell phone and hand lotion. There's much more than that in my purse, but those are the three most important.

5) What are your favorite TV shows? I got rid of my satellite service in July just about the time I started this blog. I did it for two reasons. One was to save money and the other was because I was spending too much time sitting in front of the television and eating. Now the only television I watch is Fox and Friends on the t.v. at the gym and whatever I rent from Netflix. Right now it's old NCIS episodes. Can never get too much Mark Harmon!

6) Is there a hobby that you'd like to devote more time to? If so, what is it? I don't really have time for hobbies during the school year. The closest thing would be reading. I love to read and try to do some before I go to sleep. Just finished a Jodi Picoult book, "Nineteen Minutes". It was a good read.

7) What is your favorite drink? My favorite drink is Diet Pepsi. I don't know what I would do without it. It helps me stay away from food when I'm tempted and know it's not time for another meal. I'm beginning to drink more water thanks to the water challenge Kenz and Sean Anderson were sponsoring this past summer. I probably drink the equivalent of six 8 oz. glasses a day. It has to be ice cold, though, or forget it.

8)Share a couple of cool facts about your family. My dad studied for three years to become a priest; my mom spent six months in a convent and they met in church. My dad left the seminary after three years and my mom had decided she didn't want to be a nun. They married and had nine kids! The other cool fact would be that I have a brother, Matt, who is in the Air Force Reserves. He just returned from Kuwait.

9) List one thing that you will do for yourself today. I will return to eating healthy food after an afternoon and evening of indulging in fattening snacks. And I will go to the gym to work out this morning.

10) Share something that you're thankful for today. I'm thankful for so many things, but today I'm most thankful for my health. Considering the abuse I've heaped on my body over the years with unhealthy eating and very little exercise, it's a miracle I'm still in relatively good health. I'm thankful that I'm on a path toward a healthy body.

That's the end of the questionnaire. Now on to my confession. I watched my two nieces yesterday and their mother left some snacks for us. How nice of her. I did well for the first few hours, but later in the afternoon after eating lunch I was still a little hungry and shared some chex mix type of snack the girls were eating. That opened the floodgates and I snacked the rest of the afternoon, went to McDonalds for a quick dinner and continued to snack into the evening.
The good news is that I'm leaving for the gym in a few minutes for a workout that will set the tone for the rest of my day.

Sometimes my friends are amazed that I get up so early and work out in the morning before school. One of the main reasons I do this is that if I start my day with exercise, I'm much more likely to make other good choices during the day. I don't want to "undo" the work I put in at the gym by eating junk food. It also tends to stop the likelihood of going on a junk food binge. Before I started faithfully working out in the morning my life would go something like this:

I would binge on junk food and tell myself that "Tomorrow after school I'm going to the gym." The next morning I'd eat whatever I wanted for breakfast (usually a stop at the AM/PM for a cup of coffee and six pack of mini donuts). I'd have a fat-laden unhealthy lunch and probably raid the goody box in the staff room. It was okay, because I was going to go to the gym after school, remember? Only by the time I put the kids on the bus and prepared for the next day I was too tired to go to the gym. Then I'd tell myself that I'd go tomorrow. Since I wasn't going to go exercise today, why not "enjoy" myself and stop by a fast food place for dinner to go. And since I was going to get really serious about dieting and exercise tomorrow, I'd better get a couple of candy bars to have tonight as a late snack. The next morning I'd stop for coffee and donuts for breakfast and repeat the day. This would go on for days and sometimes weeks before I scraped up the discipline to stop. When I started going to the gym in the morning, even if I'd had a bad night in terms of overeating, exercising in the morning usually ended the cycle.

After the afternoon I had yesterday I am determined to get back to healthy eating and exercising today. I'm looking for a loss next week, even a small one. Off to the gym. Have a great day!