It’s beautiful and oh so peaceful.

We were so excited to move out there. It seemed too good to be true. Well… there are trade offs we didn’t know about, or we may not be moving out there at all.  There isn’t internet service. We can sign up for dial-up internet. Say what? I didn’t even know dial up was still around. At first I was panic stricken. For the first time since 1994 I will be without internet.  I have internet here at my old home right up until this Thursday…  I’m going to miss my webcam visits with my babies in the midwest.

At the new home, there is no wireless anything. No cell service? Oh no!  There isn’t going to be any satelite television…  It isn’t available because of the big evergreen trees.  At least we think that’s the reason it isn’t available. As far as we can tell,  there is no digital television at all.  The techie guy was trying to help us figure it out, but he said it’s not available.  For now, we have blurry, at best, television, right up until the big switch over to digital.

Modern technology has kept me sane while my children and grandbabies are living so far from me. I think lack of daily communication with photos and baby giggles is going to be the hardest part of moving off the grid.

I figure with all this open country air, I’ll be getting a lot of exercise. My boys are looking forward to being ranchers, and I know from my own childhood, how much hard physical work is involved, and they’ll need help from mom too. My garden is already in the works… and the workout room is ready for my gym equipment. I don’t think lack of exercise is going to be a problem. Thank goodness for the big spa tub in my bathroom.

We’ll have meals prepared with vegetables grown right in our own back yard. I’m sure our meals will be a lot healthier.  As long as I don’t go all old school in the kitchen, and start baking homemade bread and apple pies daily, I think our diet will be a lot healthier.

I’m excited to start living the country life.

It’s a road trip back into (small) town… full blown vacation to make it to the city! But I’ll be checking my email once in awhile if anyone wants to email me.

This country girl is signing off for now…

Add in the stresses of life… such as I mentioned in yesterday’s post.  Plus the joys of  prom week and tux fittings. I know.  I know. An 18 year old can get his own tux fitted… but hey, it’s a photo op for mom I’m finding it difficult to figure out meals. Not only healthy meals… I’m talking about meals for the family.  I do not know how to do this.

More than one day this past week I had to tell the boys dinner is in the freezer.  Thank goodness for healthy choices.  But there have been times I haven’t been home at meal time. More than once this week we’ve done the drive through at a greasy burger joint.  Well. Thank goodness for a little government involvement in some aspects of our lives.  The calorie count is posted right there on the menu. So going through the drive through now, I can figure out what I want to eat, based on the calorie count. I didn’t realize this until last night. Where have I been?

Based on the calorie count, I chose a fried sampler  over the burger I generally order. I saved myself about 1,000 calories! Who would have thought it. I know… deep fried. I know! It won’t happen often. But we had to eat while we were driving down the freeway… I can’t do healthy subway while eating in the car. It doesn’t work for me.  Good thing about the deep fried sampler. I shared it with hubby, saving even more calories than I would have with a burger and fries.

Today my decisions were made early. I’m packing extra carrot sticks, apples, and string cheese into my ice chest.  Plus I am scheduling dinner into my busy plans.

My walk yesterday was through the halls of the trauma center in Seattle. One of my lifelong girlfriends was in a car accident and airlifted to the hospital this past week.

She’s swollen… broken… bruised… and there are what looked like a dozen tubes connected to her. We stood next to her bed and talked quietly. She isn’t conscious.  I wanted to hold her hand. But I refrained from touching her for fear of hurting her even more.

She has been conscious a time or two this past few days. Even though she has a serious head injury,  she knows who she is. She knows she is moving into a new home. She knows the colors in her new home. They think she is going to be okay.

Will she walk? Her back is broken and she hasn’t moved her right leg. She has broken arms, ribs, collar bone, etc.

I’m thinking of selling my car with the sunroof. She is blessed to be alive.

Blessed to have family and friends by her side.

I’m stressed. I’m not over eating due to stress. This has had the opposite effect on me this time… I haven’t got an appetite for anything. I just walk.

Headache was gone, so I got right back on the band wagon and did a mini-work out.  I’ve been so busy today, I didn’t do much sitting down. So even though the workout was a short one, I wasn’t a couch potato all day long.

My eating plan is right on track for 1300 calories for the day. I’m keeping fruit out on the counter so it’s right there, easy snack to reach for.

I don’t plan to get on the scale until next Monday. But then again, I didn’t plan to step on the scale this morning.  It just happened. It has to stop.

Anyway, I stepped on the scale. I don’t want to live by the scale and weigh daily. But it was there, and I stepped on it. I’m down a pound!  A pound since yesterday! I’m pretty excited! Seeing the one pound weight loss has given me hope! I can do this again!

I managed to get in a lot of exercise on Saturday, but I didn’t do a thing on Sunday. Not even a walk around the house.

We had a lot of family and friends here helping us around the house on Saturday, and a big pizza party on Saturday night. Oh no! This morning my scale read 260, so I’m exactly where I started last week.

Only thing is, I’m up and moving again, so I’m not really where I started last week. When I look at the scale, there was no change. However, my body feels different. It isn’t taking everything I have to make it through a workout.

I’m excited to get this week off on a good roll. We are in the midst of an extremely hectic month. With our schedule tonight, there is no way to manage a home cooked meal, so we are picking up Subway. Mmmm! A light Subway sandwich, packed with all the vegies. Oh yum!  Along with a side of  sliced apples and a tall glass of water, I am looking forward to my dinner tonight!

We’ll have a housefull of friends and family this next weekend too. I’m planning ahead this time. There will be no pizza on the menu! This weekend may have been so-so, but my next weekend will be fantastic!

I’ll be shopping tomorrow so I can stock up my kitchen with healthy food. I know I should go through the pantry and toss out all the bad foods. It’s hard to do in this economy.  Hubby is back to work, but I still think about how tight we were living during the layoff.

I think I can toss the junk food into the box and donate to the food bank.  But then I think about it, and it feels a little unethical. Know what I mean? If it’s unhealthy for me to be munching on chips and twinkies…. blah blah blah

I’ll have to think about it.

For now, I’m happy to have 5 days of exercise done and over with. I’m happy. I feel better about my future weight loss plan. At the beginning of the week, I felt so pitiful. Like I was a failure at just about everything I’ve ever started. Although, I know it isn’t true. It has to do with my food and exercise. It’s not about my entire life.

I plan to exercise tomorrow, and go for a walk on Sunday. I probably won’t be blogging through the weekend.  I hope to have a good report on Monday! Have a great weekend my friends!

I can’t believe how sore my legs were this morning. Tonight my thighs are really sore.  No leg exercises for me tomorrow.  I think I need to spend more time warming up and cooling down. Maybe drinking more plain water will also be helpful.

I picked up some fruit and a few healthy frozen dinners to tide me over for this week.  I really don’t want to focus too much on the food changes right now. I think I’ll feel too overwhelmed. I’m still trying to pick myself up from the realization I gained back almost all the weight I had lost.  I don’t like the feeling of failure, but that’s what I feel like. Okay… enough of the pity party. I really need to move on here and get over this.

So day three and I’m doing okay so far!

I worked out yesterday and today. Two days down. Many days to go before my morning exercise routine is a habit.

I haven’t had a moment to go to the grocery store, so my diet isn’t very healthy. I did find a can of light Italian vegetable soup in my pantry. It’s weight watcher’s approved and fairly light in calories. It was pretty good tasting too.

I realize a few months back I said nothing was off limits. Well, until I get my limits under control, I’m going to have to cut a few things out of the diet.

I would have liked to log in and say, I’ve got this all figured out and I’m well on my way to skinny jeans. Hopefully it won’t take me too long to get this all figured out again.

For now, I’m taking it one step at a time. Exercise is my main focus this week. I’m going to plan out my menu for next week, and hopefully I  have the motivation to stick with the plan.

Then one day I wake up, (this morning) drag myself to the kitchen, and realize I have not one healthy food in my cabinets. What? What….!?  When did this happen?

So this is it. My new beginning.

Easter Sunday… and because it is a holiday, I’m logging off for now to go spend time with my family. But I wanted to take a moment to make a commitment to my new beginnings.

The last couple of weeks he’s working double overtime to get a robot ready for a super competition coming up in less than a month. Late nights and early mornings leaves little to no time for breakfast. I bought some breakfast bars thinking at least he would have something to eat as he runs out the door. I know I should have read the label in the store. Big oops there. Not so healthy.

I’m now experimenting with my own homemade breakfast bars. I found a yummy recipe for homemade energy bars and I think my kiddo will love them. Here’s the easy recipe for homemade energy bars. Packed full of oats, bananas, dried fruit, eggs, juice, and a scoop of protein powder, they are low in calories, low in fat, and high in protein and carbs. Just what my active teenager needs to get his day going.

• I keep my goals and rewards on the first pages of my weight loss journal.
• What I eat – every little bite and nibble.
• Why I ate it.
  • meal time
  • tasting as I’m cooking
  • not thinking
  • super hungry
  • emotional eating
    • how was I feeling
• Exercise – I write down anything more than 10 minutes of constant exercise or walking.
• Measurements – and weight loss are near the back of my journal.
• I keep a short list of restaurants with low calorie meals in the back of the journal.
• I have a list of snacks I can eat.
• I have a short list of tips and hints.

I haven’t been cutting back on the calories.

• I have been eating a breakfast of high fiber instant oatmeal with an extra sprinkle of flax seeds.
• Mid morning snack is generally an apple or an orange.
• Lunch is a sandwich on whole wheat bread with a pile of fresh veggies, thin sliced turkey breast,  mustard and horse radish sauce instead of mayonnaise. I may add a few pickled okra or dill pickle, a  few green olives and sometimes an ounce of cheese on the side.
• Mid afternoon snack is a piece of fruit.
• Dinner is simple. I start with a big romaine and vegetable salad with a few shots of salad dressing spritzers and a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese . I think they are Wishbone salad dressings.  Next I have one serving of meat or fish and a vegetable or two.  Once in awhile I add in a potato.  If I serve dessert, I will have a serving.  Not two servings and not a large serving. Moderation.
• I’m trying to not eat anything heavy after 6:00 PM. I need ‘something’ in the evening, so I eat a little somthing a couple hours before bed. Something like…. a graham cracker, or a sliced apple. It depends on the day. Sometimes a cup of hot chocolate is my ‘something’.

After reading my food diary, I have found it is best to not cut out anything, but everything and I mean everything is on my menu. The key is to keep everything in moderation. If I skip eating a dessert when it is served, I feel like I missed out and then I am more likely to splurge. Oh my goodness! Really… I might hide in the kitchen after everyone has gone to bed and eat the whole dessert myself.

Another thing I know is working for me is drinking a lot of water. I have been keeping track of the amount of water I drink daily, and the days I drink the proper amount, I lose weight.

Increasing my daily fiber is on my list of what works for me and my healthy eating plan. I’ve added flax seed to my daily diet plan. It’s heart healthy and I feel full longer. I also eat several servings of beans each week. I like garbanzo and red beans on my salad. The beans add protein and extra fiber to a salad. I’ve increased my intake of whole, raw vegetables and fruit. No more fruit juice! After drinking a glass of fruit juice I am usually looking for something more. When I sit down and eat an apple, it takes longer to eat, and I have just increased my fiber intake. It makes sense to me to cut out the juice.

I have also been drinking a few cups of green tea daily. I didn’t start drinking the green tea to lose weight, but I think it has something to do with my gradual weight loss.

So there we have it… the few minor changes I made since November.

I’m not losing weight quickly. In fact, I have only lost 20 pounds since I started this weight loss journey.  I will be making changes to my plan soon, but for now I am happy with a slow weight loss.

I am looking forward to this new year. I didn’t set any resolutions, but I do have my goals. I plan to continue with a healthy diet and exercise plan. My goal is to lose at least one pound each week. Two or three pounds a week would be fantastic, but I’m happy with an average of one pound a week.

My ultimate goal for 2009 is to be healthy.

Tonight was a real victory for me. I wasn’t hungry… and I didn’t even nibble on anything. I enjoyed my visit with our friends over a few cups of coffee… okay, so there are calories in my creamer. I’ll add the count to my daily calorie intake, and I’m still doing okay for the day.

Anyway, I can see how the little changes I’m making in my habits are making a difference in how I feel and my attitude. I’m excited to feel the progress!

I stocked up on fresh fruits and vegetables. I found a great deal on danish squash, so I bought a few of them. YUM. I am so looking forward to my Sunday dinner!

Now I’m packing up the kitchen as I get ready for our upcoming move. I’m not sure if this is a good thing or not. As far as the stress level goes, if I get it done, I can check it off the list. But what about cooking for the next month?

I think I can get by with a casserole dish, a couple of pans, coffee pot, a knife, cutting board, and a can opener. We will see. I hope this decision doesn’t have an adverse affect on my healthy eating plan.