I am still here and still losing!

Surprisingly, even with some not-so-great diet choices lately I'm still down. This morning on the scale I was 242.2. That is down right about 14 pounds from when I first started. I would like for my weight-loss to be going a little quicker, but I don't want to push it.

I decided to stop drinking coffee everyday about a week ago. Its been somewhat of an adjustment, but I haven't had any horrible headaches or anything. I figure that I'll allow myself to have coffee when my father comes into town once a week because its sort of a thing we do. I'm not being too strict with the rules, I'm just keeping in mind that I want to have coffee about once a week and if it goes over, fine, if I miss it one week, that's fine too.

I'm definitely snacking more than I was in the beginning. I'm trying to cut back again. Handfuls of things here are there aren't satisfying and they usually aren't nutritious, good foods. I'm doing surprisingly well with my water. I'm always drinking at least 4 - 16.9 oz. bottles a day, but sometimes I drink up to 7. Just not having diet soda in my house has made all of the difference. I don't drink it!

I am going into high gear until the 10th and really trying to get anywhere between 235 and 240.

My pedometer is saying I take about 3000 steps a day and that's without any extra activity at all. None of those steps are aerobic because I don't do them continuously. I'm going to try to work on walking at least a couple times a week, even though its absolutely horrible walking with three kids that all have to be pushed in a stroller or carried in a front pack. I'll try for Mondays and Thursdays. When I walked to the store to get milk the other day I burned a couple hundred calories and took an additional 2200 steps, so even a little activity goes a long way.

I'll be going shopping next week and I need to really get a lot of fruits and veggies again. Towards the end of the month I ran out and have way too much processed stuff in the house. I'll buy fresh, but I'm also going to buy plenty of frozen veggies and berries too. I'm going to try to eat pretty much vegan, so I'll be buying soy milk for cereal in the morning and switching to other vegan-friendly items.

I will update again on or before the 10th with more progress. I WILL be below 240 by that date.

I was right, I am not starving!

I can't believe that in the 5 days since my last blog I have found the answer to the question I was asking myself.

Why can't I control my hands or my brain when it comes to food?

The answer is simple. I can.

...and I have been. I can control what I put in my mouth. (that's what she said)

The emotional reasons behind my eating are many and I can't fix them overnight, but just being aware has made a huge difference. Like, I wanted to eat this afternoon because I was tired. I was tired because my kids were crazy. I was depressed because I didn't want to feel tired and lose hours of my day to sleep. Once I knew why I wanted to eat, I remedied the problems. I put my kids down for a nap and started moving so I wouldn't feel so tired and depressed. It worked.

I have found out that I can set my mind to something and do it. I stopped drinking diet soda. A little over a week ago I was drinking 2 litres of diet ginger ale a day and had been for over a year steady.

I started drinking water. I've never enjoyed water, but I decided to start incorporating it and within 2 days I am up to 8 glasses.

Each goal I reach tells me that I can do what I set my mind to.
I feel accomplished and that's a new one for me.

I am not starving.

...really.

Yet I can't walk past a box of open, possibly stale crackers and eat at least one.

I can't hand my children a snack without taking a bite.

I can't just have one cheese stick, one half of a sandwich, 10 almonds.

I can't have one cupcake, one piece of cake, 1 diet dinner.

I am an adult and I cannot control my hands and my brain.  

How is that possible?

I am going to think about the answer to this and update whenever I can.