The Right Tool for the Job

I am going to publish this post after the sun comes up (whenever I wake up), but it is actually 1:45 am as I start to write this.  I am having trouble falling asleep.  Thankfully, I don't have to be awake early tomorrow since my dad took the kids camping tonight and they won't be home until tomorrow afternoon.  Since I was awake anyway, I thought I'd get a jump on tomorrow's today's post.

I've shared pictures of the disaster that is my desk in the past.  Sadly, it hasn't improved since then.  I clean it off and it stays that way for about a day.  But, slowly, items without a real home or stuff that I use so often I hate to put it away (only to get it right back out - ie. my camera and a couple school books) start to make it back to the top of my desk.  Before you know it, the desk is covered in junk.

Unfortunately, the area under my desk isn't much better.  I have a shredder and a pretty, wicker, waste basket that I keep under there to toss all the junk mail until I take it to the recycling.  But, as you can see from the picture below, it always seems to be overflowing.

The mess under the desk.

Small Changes

I had my weigh-in yesterday and was thrilled to see that I had lost 2.4 lbs this week!  Woo hoo!!!  I am getting so close to my first 10 lb goal!  I really hope to hit it next week and am going to work hard to get there!  When I hit that 10 lbs mark, I will be adding more pictures.  I'm doubt you can see the progress, yet.  But, I would love to make a flip book when I reach my goal so I can watch my waistline shrink!

				MEASUREMENTS
DATE	WEIGHT	LBS. TO GOAL	BMI	WAIST	HIPS	CHEST	THIGH	CALF	ANKLE	ARMS	BRA SIZE
8/25/12	263.30	108.30	42.49	40.00	51.50	43.00	32.00	19.50	10.50	16.00	42G
9/1/12	258.40	103.40	41.70	38.50	51.00	42.00	32.00	19.50	10.50	16.00	42G
9/8/12	259.20	104.20	41.83	38.50	51.00	41.50	31.00	19.00	10.50	16.00	42G
9/15/12	258.80	103.80	41.77	38.50	51.00	41.50	31.00	19.00	10.50	16.00	42G
9/22/12	258.80	103.80	41.77	38.50	51.00	41.50	31.00	19.00	10.50	16.00	42G
9/29/12	257.00	102.00	41.48	38.00	51.00	41.50	31.00	19.00	10.50	16.00	42G
10/6/12	254.60	99.60	41.09	37.50	50.50	41.50	31.00	19.00	10.00	16.00	42G
Loss	8.70	8.70	1.40	2.50	1.00	1.50	1.00	0.50	0.50	0.00

So, far this has been done with nothing but changes in my diet.  Not really with what I am eating, but rather, with portion size.  This begins with tracking EVERY. SINGLE. BITE.  I have to admit that I haven't been very good at this.  So often I just plain forget!  Other times I'm not quiet sure what to track because I forgot to measure.  I need to make some changes!

Please, Remind Me!

First, I am going to set a reminder on my phone for around the times that I generally eat my meals reminding me to track my food.  This way, I won't forget and have to try and remember at the end of the day what I've eaten all day - or the day before!

Tracking your food is important with any diet plan.  But, with Weight Watchers, it is the backbone of the whole program.  If you are like me, you often don't realize how much you are eating throughout the day.  You may forget a snack or a desert.  Or you might not remember that you had two helpings of mac and cheese instead of one. 

It's Been a Long Time Coming...

Yesterday, I drank pop (soda) at dinner.  A few months ago, this wouldn't have been worth posting.  I drank a pop?  Big deal!  I drink pop every single day!  But, around the same time I started my weight loss journey, I decided that I was going to cut pop out of my diet.  Since then, I have been drinking orange juice with breakfast and water the rest of the day.  I admit that I didn't post about this when I made the decision because I wasn't sure I would actually be able to stick with it.  But, so far I've only had a couple of glasses of pop - normally at a restaurant or party.  And, I'm happy with that! 

Pop has long been an issue for me. Until I was in high school, I drank Pepsi with every meal and several glasses in between.  I honestly never drank anything but pop.  At home, at restaurants, at friends' house, at parties...everywhere!  I knew it wasn't good for me, but I was hooked!  My food didn't taste the same without it.  I craved the taste.  And, then there is the caffeine...Without my caffeine I would get headaches, tired, and crabby.   You didn't want to be around me until after my first glass of pop in the morning.

When I first started making small changes to my pop-addiction I never thought I would really do away with it completely.  I really didn't have an desire to, nor did I see the point.

The Half-Made Bed

A couple of weeks ago, I decided to start from scratch with trying to develop habits to help me with my housekeeping. I chose cleaning off the counter every day as my first habit. I’m doing better than I was, but it definitely isn’t a habit, yet. So, I’m still plugging away at it.

Not the prettiest bed, but nice and neat.

Even though I was choosing to focus on one new habit, I wasn’t going to stop doing the things that have already become a natural part of my routine – not that there were many things which had! One of those few habits I had already developed was making the bed every morning. I think this was an easy habit to form because it takes merely seconds (I’m not picky about how great it looks – just pull up the covers and go!) and it makes me so much more comfy at night! If I make the bed every day, my blankets get much less tangled at night. Plus, since my bed takes up almost my entire bedroom, when it isn’t made, the room looks like a disaster! When it is made, it doesn’t matter how bad the rest of the room is, it still looks relatively neat.

Menu Plan Monday: What a Week!

Wow!  This past week has been crazy!  First, I was scheduled to work Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday evenings.  Then, the kids got a cold.  Finally, on Friday, that cold caught up with me and I was sick until yesterday.  I even had to call off work on Friday!

With all of this craziness, I haven't posted anything in a week!  Things have been hit-and-miss for the last couple of weeks and just completely "miss" this past week.  But, I promise I'm not going anywhere.  This post is going to be a bit of a catch-up post as well as my weekly menu plan.

I have been working on some new routines.  Not cleaning habits.  I'm still stuck on the first cleaning habit I've been working on since August.  (Oh, my!  I was shocked when I went to look for that post and found that I started that in August!  Where is the blushing emoticon when you need it?  I am so embarrassed that I am having such a hard time with such a simple concept like cleaning off my kitchen counter every day!)  Rather, these are routine changes.  I'm trying to implement an afternoon routine that includes cleaning and my quiet time.  I started it last week and liked the results - until I got sick.  Not only was I able to get a lot done around the house.  But, I think I may have figured out how to ensure that I get to spend time in God's Word everyday.  I'll talk more about that, later!

I've also updated my weight loss chart.  I'm losing weight slowly, but surely.  I'm happy with the progress Ive made in the midst of such stress, craziness, and sickness.  But, I need to step it up.  I'll be writing more about that later, too.

Finally, for the task of the day - my menu plan.  This is the simple part since I already had it planned out!  I'm loving my rotating menu plans.   It took a lot of work to set up, but is going to save me a ton of time from now on.

Day	Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner	Desert	Ricky's Lunch
Mon	Waffles	Grilled Cheese	Crockpot chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans, rolls	Sugar Cookies	Sub Sandwich, Chips, Apple Sauce, Fiber Bar
Tue	Scrambled eggs, Toast	Corn dogs, veggies	Tacos, re-fried beans	Cinnamon Tortillas	Lean Cuisine Pizza, Yogurt, Fiber Bar, Chips
Wed	Strawberry Smoothie	English muffin pizza	Chicken casserole, bread	Sugar Cookies
Thu	Homemade donuts	Quesadillas/salad, potato	Sausage, shells & Cheese, Mashed potatoes, bread	Peanut butter pie	Healthy Choice?, Yogurt, Fiber Bar, Chips
Fri	Cereal	Peanut butter sandwiches/leftovers	Spaghetti & Meatballs, Salad, Garlic bread	Sugar Cookies	Tuna Salad, Toast
Sat	Oatmeal/Strawberry Smoothie	Spaghetti O’s/Ravioli	Chicken noodle soup, bread	Peanut butter pie	Sub Sandwich, Chips, Apple Sauce, Fiber Bar
Sun	Sausage Biscuits	Popcorn chicken, veggies, french fries	Breakfast: Sausage links, scrambled eggs, fried potatoes, toast	Cinnamon crescent rolls

I went on my Aldi shopping trip yesterday and was horrified to find that they had moved everything around on me!  It's all still there, but it took a lot longer to find the things I needed.  Change is so hard!  But, I'll get used to it.

I'm linking up again over at I'm an Organizing Junkie for this week's Menu Plan Monday.