Lazy Saturday

The title describes it all! I have had a very good, lazy Saturday. Woke up this morning and it was a little chilly...got to have some great snuggle time and breakfast with my honey. Then we headed to an outlet mall and scored some great deals. I got brown pants and a pretty dark teal light sweater (both 30% off) at Gap which looks awesome with my skin tone. I also got two pairs of flats at Nine West (buy one, get one 50% off), one a brown suede and the other a brown/camel quilted suede--it looks kind of like a cute sneaker but nicer. We spent about an hour, or more, in Brooks Brothers as S was looking for some weekend, casual clothes that are still nice looking. He finally found a few things but he sure is picky about his clothes for a guy!! He always looks really nice and well put together so the extra thought is worth it. We ate lunch at On the Border and I enjoyed the food. Came home, did some laundry and watching football. I caught a quick nap while the clothes were in the dryer and now S is taking a nap...so why do I still have the tv on football? I can totally change it! I need to scrub the tub and plan dinners for next week, as well as make a grocery list but other than that, I'm going to enjoy the downtime. I might play some Sims 2 while S sleeps.

Later gator!

The Plan

So I should probably share my reasons for starting a blog and what I hope to gain from the experience. As I said in my first post, I lost about 30 pounds my senior year of college (my lowest weight was 168). I was still a few pounds from my goal of 165 which would have put me in the healthy range for BMI, barely. I moved to Washington D.C. in November 2005 with all intentions to lose the remaining few pounds. Well, when I was in college I was constantly moving, going from class to class or up and down at work. Now at my job I literally sit all day in front of a computer. Unless I make an effort to exercise, the only exercise I get is walking from the Metro station to my office and back to the Metro station (a total of about 16 blocks). Add that to the fact that I eat at work out of boredom and I'm back up to about 180. To be honest, I had only gained a couple of pounds back and then I met my boyfriend last November and my weight has steadily climbed in the last year.

So as I mentioned before, I lost the 30 pounds in college by counting calories and working out 5 or 6 days a week. Since I've had success with this method before, that's what I'm choosing this time. Over the last few months, I keep recommitting myself to this plan but within a few days I fall back into my old ways. I've thought about it a lot and determined the reason I continue to do this is because I don't want to change my life. I'm too comfortable with eating what I want and not considering the ramifications of my choices. But I'm tired of my clothes feeling tight and feeling lazy and unfit. I want to be a strong, healthy woman.

I've been reading weight loss blogs for a while, lurking around. It seems a lot of people have success with blogging, it keeps you accountable. So I'm looking at my blog as a way to keep me accountable and also as a way to share my experiences. My plan is to write down my food and exercise for the day, every weekday and possibly some sort of weekend wrap-up. As far as keeping track of my calories, I've used a small notebook in the past (and this seems to work well because I can take it with me anywhere) but I also tried SparkPeople for a couple of days. I like that SparkPeople gives you all kinds of information about the food you're eating but it's a little hard to use in the beginning b/c of inputting all the information about foods they don't have in their database. So I haven't decided...

Monday's the day!! I'm ready...my body is tired of this overprocessed food and no activity.

October Goals

My goals for the month of October:


1) Finish business school applications. Some are due in mid-October and others aren't due for a while but I just want to be done.

2) Exercise for 1860 minutes (31 days x 60 minutes of exercise a day = 1860 minutes). I realize this is a large amount but when I workout, it's usually for 90 minutes so 1860 minutes / 90 minutes = almost 21 workouts, leaving me with 10 days of rest.

3) Count calories for all days (including weekends) and stay with an average of 1800 calories/day.

4) Follow budget! This will be difficult as I have two, possibly three, trips planned for October.


I may have some more but these are the most important. So why am I waiting until October to begin these goals? Being a little OCD, I always like things to start at the beginning of the month, week, etc. Plus, I'm in the middle of writing application essays, which are stressing me out a little, and giving myself a few days to "psych" up for October.


Let me just say this: I haven't worked out or ran in several days and yesterday as I was walking to the Metro stop, I wanted to break out in a run so bad. My legs were aching to be used. Perhaps I'll post my reasons for starting a blog/what I hope to gain from the experience later.

The Beginning

Hmmm...where to start? Well, I'll tell you a bit about myself. I'm 24 years old and live in the Washington DC area, originally from Oklahoma. I work for the federal government but am currently applying for business school to get my MBA (Masters of Business Administration). I won't start school until next fall which seems an eternity to me. I gained a lot of weight my first three years of college. My senior year I lost 30 pounds by counting calories and working out. Since I moved to DC after graduation, I've gained 15 of those pounds back mainly because I sit all day long. I am rededicating myself to exercising and eating right. This is a good start--more to come tomorrow as I let myself think about some goals.