It's All Uphill From Here

At least, I hope so!

The past couple of weeks have been tough, eating-wise. I was on vacation in Florida, which meant too much eating out, too many cheese-and-crackers, too much alcohol. Then I immediately went on a business trip, which meant a repeat of Florida, minus the cheese-and-crackers.

When I got back to Alabama, I was in the middle of the aftermath of the tornado devastation (though not nearly as adversely affected by a long-shot) and had to dive head-first into editing and writing freelance assignments. Talk about stress eating! One night, I was discussing with myself the choice between a homemade salad and ordering pizza. Sadly, pizza won.

The next week was hella, hella busy, and I took no time for myself to do grocery shopping or prepare meals. Then, I was off on a plane again, for my BFF Dominika's bridal shower and bachelorette party...again, too much food, too much drinking, and while there was some exercise in the form of booty-shaking in Atlantic City, I'm not sure I could really call it a "workout" since I had a few vodka-heavy drinks in my hand at the time.

So, it's Tuesday, May 10, and I'm back home, packing my apartment up to move next week. Also preparing for a wedding weekend over Memorial Day for my good friend Amal, and Dominika's wedding on June 11.

For the next few weeks, I want to make sure I don't let the stress get the best of me. I want to stay focused on grocery shopping, preparing meals, taking my lunch to work, and working out at least 5 times a week. This has to be a part of my routine, my day-to-day responsibilities, just like showering and brushing my teeth. When I let those duties go, it's only because I'm on my death-bed with some illness. (Ew, I mean, if I let those go on a regular basis, who would want to be near me?!) I need to treat exercising and eating healthfully the same way.

Too often I let travel and extra work and lack of time come between me and the healthy habits that I've established for myself in the last year or so. I don't want to let that happen any longer. Because when I do, I gain weight. It's difficult to let myself "slide" for more than a couple of days and not gain weight. If I had let myself have more freedom in Florida, but been on track through the rest of the craziness, I might've been OK. But I didn't, and now I have to make up for that.

This week's plan is to attend boot camp Wed. morning and Fri. morning, try to attend Zumba Wed. night if I can move after boot camp that morning, and attend Zumba on Sun. afternoon. I walked 3 miles last night with my BF, so that's one workout down!

I went grocery shopping last night and I'm armed with yogurt and wheat crackers and fruit for lunch, and veggies and beans and whole wheat pasta for dinners, plus healthy choices for breakfast.

My goal was to be down to 215 by Dominika's wedding on June 11. That's a tall order in one month, when I'm sure I no longer weigh 222 after the past couple of weeks. I'll get on the scale Friday morning and see what the damage is. But I have to tell you: I'm not looking forward to what the scale will show.

But whatever it shows, it's the truth, and it's where I'm at and I just have to accept it and move on.

As Jay-Z would say: "On to the next one!!"