It has been no secret that I have struggled with my weight for many years. My goal for 2010 is a weight loss of 35 pounds. But in order to accomplish this, I need a plan. I am going to try to eat 5 fruits and vegetable each day and drink more water. Hopefully, these things will make me feel fuller so that I do not eat things that will sabotage my efforts. I am hoping that if I write about this goal, it will hold me more accountable.

I feel my place of employment is one thing that presents problems to my efforts and I am not sure how to deal with it. One problem is things are really slow and it easy to have idle time. But the bigger problem is the amount of food that is always around in the office. I have never seen a place that has so much candy and whatever. There is always food around and I am the kind of person that does not manage this well. When it is not there, I won’t seek it out. But when it is there, I will not say no either.

I feel that if I had more to occupy my time, I would not be as distracted by all of this excess food. But I know this is not the answer. If I had more to do, I would probably blame it on something else. Exercise is something that I do regularly, but I would like to increase the amount of exercise that I do. Time is an issue here. But if I could eat a reasonable amount of calories, the amount of exercise that I get each week would be more than adequate for weight loss.

I always say losing weight is about 3 things…a sensible diet, regular exercise and managing your relationship with food and the last one is kicking my ass right now.

I struggle certain times of the day and I have the most success when I am not faced with the situation. The candy that I eat in the afternoon when I am at work, I do not look for or miss when I am not at work. But what do I do to avoid eating the candy in the afternoon when I am at work? The fact that I am somewhat bored at the time of the day does not help.

I think rather than setting weight loss goals in the form of pounds, I will set them as changes in my lifestyle, such as; eliminating the afternoon candy from my diet and adding more vegetables to my diet. I know that if I make healthy choices, the weight loss will follow. It seems the more you obsess over something the hard it is to achieve that goal. If you take small steps towards getting to the finish line, you will be there before you know it.

At this point, I just want to get 10 pounds off and I am going to do that by cutting out sweets during the day (this will be my biggest challenge) and adding a 20-30 minute walk in the evening. I am not going to put a time limit on this goal. I think that will set me up for failure by putting a time limit on this goal.

I have made some decisions about where I want to go with my weight loss program. I have been at a stand still for a while and have even gained five pounds that I am struggling to get rid of. I have reviewed several diets and I believe the Fat Smash Diet is something that could work for me. The thing I am most apprehensive about is the first phase. I keep telling myself that is only for nine days, but it is a cleansing phase and that means that is no meat or fish allowed (or much of anything else for that matter). The other challenge will be not drinking any soda.

I have looked the plan over carefully and I think I can find enough to eat to keep me satisfied for nine days. I would like to get 20 pounds off in the next three months (that is when my son graduates from high school). It should be doable if I follow the plan. You would think I can get 20 pounds off in 3 months, since most of the miracle diets tell me I can lose 30 pounds in 30 days. LOL.

I am having problems with my hip and I am not sure if it is from my weight or from the way I sometimes hold my laptop when I am working. I suspect that both things may play a part in the problem. I plan on starting tomorrow. I will keep you posted.

I still exercise at least 3 times a week, but before I was exercising about 6 times a week and loving it. Now it seems like a chore. The title of this post was something I heard one of the contestants of “The Biggest Loser” use and it is true and I am hoping if I keep repeating it, I might begin to believe it. I know that when I posted on the blog regularly, that I seemed to be more organized about managing my health. So, I figured I would start here.

I think some of it may also have to do with some financial instability that I am going through right now. I had a fairly decent part time income from the internet and right now it is very inconsistent. Although it is probably only temporary, it still makes me nervous. I just feel like I am stuck in a rut and am looking for a way past it.

I am breaking most of the rules I set for myself. I think it is time to get back to basics and set some small goals for myself. I have started building blogs and selling them. I am going to put some of the auctions in the sidebar. They are well designed and very inexpensive for a turnkey site. Check them out from time to time. Maybe you’ll see something that you’d like to own and make money with.

Right now sweets are a huge problem for me. If I can go one day without them, it may give me the motivation to get back on track. I need something and I hope I find it soon.

I am still not very good at writing down what I eat, but I do believe having it open next to me does make me more aware of what I am putting in my mouth. I often will record small goals or things that I would like to work on changing. Although, I do not always use it for what it was intended, I have benefited from it.

So, for the month of August I lost the 2 stubborn pounds that I had regained and 3 more pounds. I would have liked to get 2 more pounds off, but what I have learned is that being critical of your progress is asking for trouble. For me, as long as the scale is going the right direction, it is a good month. I have found that as long as I hold myself accountable, but do not put undue pressure on myself I will lose weight.

Now for September. I have lost 2 pounds this month and am hoping to lose about 3 more. I avoided the Ohio State trough yesterday and as of right now I do not have any big plans for the game that include food.

I am thinking about having a bacon, egg and cheese McGriddle this morning. This was something I used to eat several times a week and when I made the decision to try to live healthier, I went down to eating them only on the weekends. I rationalized that because I exercise more, it was okay and I was losing weight. But I in recent weeks, I have cut that back. It has probably been 3 weeks since I have enjoyed the favorite food. They have 450 calories and actually play havoc with my sugar levels, but I do not seem to have problems with them, if I eat them right before I walk. So with that being said, it is time to go to the park and walk before it rains.

I still managed to walk for 30 minutes today, but I think I will let my second 30 minute walk go for this evening. I attribute some additional exercise and a reduction in calories for a two day period with jump starting my weight loss.

I am ready to get started with some strength training and will try to work that into my schedule after the Labor Day holiday. I believe I will meet with my personal trainer and see what she recommends as a good strength program. I would like to work with resistance bands, but I am trying to figure out where I can attach them in my house.

I really feel that if I take small steps and increase my goals slowly, I will have my recent weight gain off by Thanksgiving and then I will be in a position to plan the next part of my move towards being healthy. I am amazed at how my desire for unhealthy foods is starting to disappear. My only hope is that I can maintain the motivation that I have at the current time.

I have gained 2 pounds that I just cannot seem to get off. Now to most people this may not seem like much, but I have set my weight loss goal for the time being at 25 pounds. I have gotten as much as 9 pounds of that 25 off, but here comes this 2 pounds.

I have not binged and I still exercise a lot. I would guess it is just a matter of time and the 2 pounds will come back off and hopefully more after that. I struggle much more with the eating part of getting healthy than the exercise part. I do well in the morning and can manage my eating in the afternoon, if I concentrate on it. But this tends to be the most stressful part of my day.

I have set my weight loss goal at 5 pounds a month and I am hoping to have the 25 pounds off by Thanksgiving. So, right now in order to reach that goal I need to lose 7 pounds this month. But these are benchmarks and they are not set in stone. At this time, I have the strength to continue the new behaviors I have established.

My weight loss motivation is high. I have no hesitation when it comes to exercise, but I wish could exercise more control when it comes to what I put in my mouth. I embrace the good days and try to do things different when I have a bad day. Thankfully, my days are not nearly as bad as they once were.