This is the first morning weigh-in where I haven’t lost, but I held steady. After today I think I’m going to go with a weekly weigh-in. Perhaps I’ll weigh in the morning tomorrow and then every morning after that. Weekly works a little better, I’m not constantly watching it and disappointed with daily fluctuations.

Nothing much to report besides that this morning. Just spending a lazy-ish Sunday with my girl. Doing our stretches and walk later this afternoon.

Stretched and walked around the house briskly for 10 minutes to make up for not wanting to go outside in the crazy humidity. Good news is, though I was a tad dizzy from the circle, I felt the workout as much as I would have if I’d gone outside, yet I’m not as insanely hot afterwards, though I did my cooldown and stretches just the same. I think on hotter days or when I don’t get out to walk in the cool mornings, I’ll walk the house until we get our elliptical here in a few weeks.

I think the accountability of posting my meals, exercise, and weight loss online as well as blogging here, even if I don’t have much to report, every day is helping.  I’m down 4 pounds since I started tracking.  This is actually very surprising to me because… well… it’s “that time of the month” and I’ve always had problems not gaining weight during this time, let alone losing it.  I know it’s a good bet that this first set of easy pounds is just water weight and such, but it is encouraging for me to see the weight coming off, no matter how small or “easy”. I know it will get harder, and take time, to get to my goal of 130. I’m committed this time, and my support system is there when I need them.

On another note, my right leg and foot shows no signs of swelling today. For the past 5 or 6 months, my right leg and foot have been swollen (mostly my foot) due to some venous reflux in my thigh. I was aware of this, went to the doctor and everything, and was told that there are two ways of resolving it: surgery or weight loss. I choose the later. My feet both look normal and unswollen, even a little slimmer than earlier this week due to lack of water bloating. I’m loving it!

Today, Sean came home and took me out on a lunch and movie date! It’s kinda a late Mother’s Day/early birthday treat. We had a quick lunch at Jerry’s Subs by the theater, and we both had delicious (and healthy) subs. He had an Italian cold cut and mine was roast beef. Both at/under 500 calories. Then it was on to the theater!

We watched Star Trek: Into Darkness… and while we do think it was a good movie, it almost tried too hard. I did enjoy the eye-candy in the forms of the Mr.’s Pine, Quinto, Cumberbatch, and Urban; and let’s not forget the ever-funny Mr. Pegg. I was good and didn’t splurge on an Icee and got water instead.

All in all, a wonderful morning and afternoon. Sean had to leave at 3:30pm to head back to the rig in Galveston, but I’m glad he came home for what time he could! Even though he can’t be home all the time through my weight loss, he’s supporting me how he can, by striving to eat healthy and lose too!

Walked Hannah to the bus this morning but had to forego the walk down the block until later when my head settles down. Woke up with a slight headache that might have been from clenching my jaw over night, as my jaw is sore as well. So I’m puttering around the house until this afternoon when I’ll walk with her after the bus. Drinking tons of water today in addition to not snacking all day should help. I got a slight pick-me-up this morning when I had my weigh-in and was down a pound since yesterday morning. Slow and steady!

I’ve begun using the Lose It! app and it helps a lot to keep track of my calorie and water intake as well as my weight loss goals. I got Sean to install it too so we can motivate each other.  You can record exercises, save recipes and meals, and customize it pretty far. It also has a barcode scanner for store bought goods to help track nutrition.

I’m learning that when I start to feel a little hungry, just drinking more water helps quiet the pangs until it’s time to eat. That way I’m still doing something (drinking) when I feel bored or whatever, and I don’t ruin my day by eating something I’ll regret.

I’m feeling pretty good today, besides the headache. I don’t feel fatigued like I usually do, and the water is helping with that I think.

In addition to everything, I’m trying to cut back on salt. I’m usually a fiend for salty foods,  I even put garlic salt on my popcorn. So making a conscious effort to cut down on the salt to see how I feel, since it plays havoc with my blood pressure.

Tonight I plan on making baked onions with a side of steamed broccoli. Hannah likes cooked onions so I’m hoping she enjoys it as well. I can always make her some fish sticks or something if she doesn’t like the onions, but she’s shown remarkable interest and enthusiasm for helping me with this new life change. She is excited for and proud of her mommy.

If I get truly adventurous, I might even add in some aerobic vacuuming of the living room. It all works for now, it’s just a matter of getting me up and moving and sweating. Getting that heartrate up.

Here I go!

A few years ago, I actually lost a good bit of weight during my Healthy Giving pledge drive, where people pledged money per pound on what I would lose, with the money going to Kids Need to Read charity.  I have no plans currently to do another drive like that, mostly because it’s quite embarrassing to have gained all the weight I lost back.. and then some! I am the heaviest I have ever been – it seems every time I lose any weight I can back what I lost with a little more, so it’s always a case of two steps forward and three steps back.

Well, friends, I’m 30 now. Hell, I’m going to be 31 this month. I’m so tired of feeling miserable in my body. I’ve said it before, but honestly – this is my final hurrah. I have to do such a radical change in my life that I have no option to go back.  Radical yes? Gradual? Maybe.  There’s the rub! I’ve tried to do these massive life changes before and I never keep up with it. Something always happens, or I hurt myself, or I just don’t have the support system that I need to continue.

I’m hoping that now I’ll be able to actually commit to something.  Someone told me “it’s a marathon, not a race” so I’m going to try to adopt that as my philosophy for this.

Long story short, my first change for good is to start drinking more water.  Simple sounding eh? Yeah, well, if you know me, you know I don’t drink a lot of plain water.  I drink teas and juices (lemonade lately), and until a few months ago, I drank a lot of sodas.  A few months back I decided to cut out sodas, so that’s one less thing I have to worry about, and I’ve been drinking caffeine-free tea.

So after I woke up with another headache from hell, I have drank nothing but water. I’ve been eating normally, that is – three meals a day, cooked – nothing fast-food.  And just water. Lots and lots of water.  I have a gallon slender jug in the fridge to keep a good supply of chilled water, which makes the difference for me. Cold or nothin!

I’m slowly going to add more things to my water as part of my healthy regimen, starting with walking during the day. When I say I’m out of shape, I mean walking long or fast seriously hurts. Going to start walking down the block tomorrow, and add around the whole block in a couple days, in addition to stretches before and after my walks.

Going to be blogging how I feel, mostly for my benefit. Not trying to win any blogger awards, so it will mostly be stream of consciousness.

Thanks for reading!

However, I do have my root beer, so I’m semi-content.

The rest of the time I’ve been working on spreading the word about what I’ve taken to calling Funds for West. Between now and the end of April, SewGeekAustin is donating 50% of all proceeds to help those affected by the fertilizer plant explosion yesterday in West, Texas. Since I’m a small part of SewGeekAustin now (I’m kinda the media manager and webmaster for the small business run by my friend and fellow survivor Claudia), I enjoy doing some pushing when it comes to the business and the charities it donates to. Especially when it’s an emergency type situation as helping those out so close to where we were living only two months ago.

So it’s a little cheer (joy in web design) and a few tears (for those in West and of course still for Boston) and a smidge of root beer for me today. Maybe tomorrow will be brighter, less rainy, and disaster-free. *knocks on wood*

While we aren’t as close to my friend Claudia as I would have liked, we are very close to my father-in-law Ron, which is a good thing in and of itself. We’re in the 77084 zip code, in a neighborhood that is right up my alley! It’s called Glencairn, and as it sounds, all of the street names are extremely, amazingly, awesomely of the Scottish persuasion.  Our street itself is … *drumroll* … Clan MacGregor!  The whole neighborhood is full of such Scottish goodies, including Castle Fraser, Kilwinning, Lerwick, and more. I’m so easily amused!

Let me tell ya.  Living in a house after years of apartment living – even though we’re only renting – is … so refreshing.  We have at least twice the space we had in our last apartment and have a front and backyard!  I’m so glad Hannah can finally enjoy us in our own house too. She’s totally diggin’ her new room, and since moving in on the 22nd of March, she has kept her room clean and even has organization sessions with all her toys in her closet on the weekends.  Crazy child!

We’re still in a bit of a transition period caused by relying on a reimbursement for our relocation from Sean’s company that hasn’t come yet. However, he is now fully done with his advanced training and will be promoted by the end of this month, and we can finally catch up on everything and move on to this new and improved chapter of our lives. I’m so looking forward to that because with the relief that I will get from that huge stress (financially speaking) will allow me to move on and get healthy with my husband.  You have to admit, it’s neigh impossible to attempt to lose weight and get in shape when you are plagued by other stresses in your life. Especially if you are like me and are an emotional eater. Some people deal with stress in different ways.  Me…. I turn to food because it’s comforting.  However, I’m going to be in a position in my life where I can find other comforts and activities to relieve stress in my life, and I have a local support system that’s not going to just use me for their own gains. *cough*

I am going to attempt to post more, mostly for my own benefit, since I’m sure there aren’t that many folks who visit this site. I look at it as a way to hold myself accountable for the changes I want to see in myself. If I post it here, I will more likely stick to it, barring any future catastrophes in my life (which hopefully I got enough of in my 20s).  Daily journals on how I’m doing with my weight loss progress as well as my forays into learning to cook. Yeah yeah, I sorta know how to cook, but it’s a handful of things like basic baked chicken and the like.  A big part of my new outlook on life and my new routine is going to include a lot of cooking for myself and for my family. I think this will not only be good for Hannah (and Sean when he’s not out on a rig), but it will help me keep my routine going and make healthier food choices.

So until the morrow, this is the improving Kazia, signing off from Houston.

Evidently Sean went through a tough leading heroine phase while traveling, because he has a lot of e-books featuring a badass leading lady. And like me, he loves sci-fi and fantasy, so why not a book about Jane Yellowrock – badass Skinwalker vampire huntress.

So far it’s pretty good. Will have a verdict when I’m further than two chapters in but so far I haven’t wanted to strangle the editor or the writer yet. That’s usually a good sign!

So off I go again, into the wee hours of the morning, holding my cup of tea and my e-reader in homage to Mom.

A lot of people are making New Year’s resolutions around about this time. I’m not going to throw out any crazy specific goals for this year. My main goal is to be happy and healthy, and do whatever possible to keep myself that way.

Sean and I tried something different during the last half of 2012. He took a leave of absence from his travelling job at Schlumberger so he could stay home with Hannah and I.  It was wonderful! However, times are tough and he is going back to work for Schlumberger on January 7th. However, we’re going to push a change through to help him out a bit by  moving to Houston in the next couple of months.  His job is based out of Houston and when a rig job is done, he has to go back to Houston to do paperwork. With us living there it’ll be better because he’ll be able to spend more time with us there and not have to travel back and forth to Austin on his days off.

Another plus side to moving to Houston is I’ve recently connected with my friend Claudia D. Her family moved to Houston in 2012 and it will be a joy to have a local friend who is actually a true friend!

Happiness and health. Sometimes they both go hand-in-hand, so I’ll be blogging more often about my efforts to become healthier.

Here’s to a happier year than last year!