Ouch.

315.  That sure wasn't the number I expected to see on the scale.  I mean, I know I've gained weight, but I sure never expected it to be that much.  I've always thought weight was just a number, that it matters much more how you feel about yourself than anything, but this made me feel awful.  And it's up to me to change it.
I will work hard to stick to my goals. It's been almost 2 weeks since I've had fast food, and it's been difficult.
At this point, I am wearing size 26 pants, and the day those started getting snug on me was the day I knew I had to make a change.  My freshman year of college, I actually lost weight, instead of gaining like everyone else did.  I was down to a size 18, and that's the smallest I think I've ever been.  Living on the 4th floor of the dorm (with no elevator), walking everywhere on campus, and eating cafeteria food really helped.  I also didn't drink at that point, so no consuming empty calories there.  Although, I definitely don't drink as much as I used to... it's a rare event these days.
Now that I've gotten a scale, I've started tracking my weight on a Excel spreadsheet.  I learned from my friend Holly that a good way to keep yourself accountable is to track your weight and keep a spreadsheet.  I think this will be a good way of keeping track of my baby steps too :)

Finally, a Sunday off :)

Weekends can be dangerous, can't they?  I know Cory and I have gotten in the habit of ordering out, a lot, on the weekends.  But this weekend, we actually cooked!  Yesterday I made stir fry for lunch and had green bean casserole for dinner.  Today, I had suggested that we go to Rosie's Cafe for breakfast.  It's one of our favorite places, cheap and great food!  Instead, I got up and made french toast (Cory is getting spoiled, I've been making it on weekends that I have off), we had leftover taco meat and rice for lunch, and for dinner, we've got a pot roast in the crock pot.  All in all, I feel like it was a pretty successful weekend, in terms of not eating out!
Now, while I'm watching the Niners/Giants game (Go Niners!), I'm searching for some yummy recipes.  I'm excited to start cooking, and have plenty of leftovers for me and Cory to start taking to work.  Pinterest is a ridiculous place to find awesome recipes.  Although there are some amazing looking calorie loaded desserts on there too.  I did find a recipe for Cheesecake Bars that I am going to try for our Super Bowl party!
Unfortunately we can only go grocery shopping once a month because of how I get paid, so this next trip is going to be a big one, so we can stock up on ingredients and I can cook a lot!  You should see my shopping list!  I'm pretty proud on myself.  I'm thinking my next goal will be portion control, this will be a fun one, because food is sooooo good. :)

Until next time...
Allison

The year of Allison

Thanks everyone for all of your support!  I had almost 100 hits on this post yesterday, and I am so thankful for those of you who commented with your words of wisdom.  I do have to say I like Amber's "The Year of Allison" so I may just have to stick with that theme. :)

Not going to lie, after working all day at the daycare, and then heading to the mall to work there until close, made it extremely difficult to not go through the drive through.  I mean, come on.  It's so, convenient!  That's what it's there for!  But knowing that I made this promise to myself helped me turn the other way and head home.  I know to some of you this may not seem like a big deal, but to me, it's like I'm so hungry at the end of the day, I feel like I deserve that Big Mac and large fries.  Why?  Oh, because all I've eaten today is that egg salad sandwich at lunch, so what would it hurt?  It's not that I skip meals on purpose, it's just that it gets so hectic in my room with 6 infants sometimes, that I just don't have time to eat.  So, on to my next goal... Eating during the day.

I work at a daycare.  Eating with the kids is part of my job, it's actually a requirement for us to sit family style and eat what the kids eat.  So, this worked well for me when I was working with the older kids... "Miss Allison, why aren't you eating your peas?!  You need to try a 'no thank you' bite!"  So, I started eating my fruits and veggies better.  Plus, those little boogers keep you running all day, so you really did have one serving and you were done.  However, now that I am in the infant room, there's no one nagging me to eat my veggies.  In fact, most of the time, I tell the cook not to bring them to me because I know they're going to go into the garbage anyway.  And then, the cook always brings us extra food.  Sure, it's the "balanced meals" we've all had (think school cafeteria).  So, if it's good for the kids, it's good for me, right?  Well, not exactly.

Since I got a super cute Thirty-One lunch bag from my wonderful cousin, Amy, I have been itching to actually use it!  I'm excited to try new recipes so I can have leftovers to take to work with me.  This way, I know what I'm eating, and how much I'm eating.  Then I can take a sandwich, yogurt, and some carrots and dip, and know that I am full, because not eating throughout the day is obviously not the answer.

New year, new me.

Ok, so I might be a little late for a post like this.  Everyone else made their new year's resolutions weeks ago-- vowing to lose weight, be a better person, the list goes on.  Beyond Cory and I deciding to try our hardest to save money, I didn't give my resolution a second thought.  Every year I say I'm going to lose weight, and every year I do absolutely nothing about it.
For some reason, as I was sitting feeding a bottle at work yesterday, I decided that I want this year to be different.  I realize that my life, especially my weight, is not going to change as drastically or as quickly as I always imagine it will.  So, baby steps it is.  My first one: giving up fast food.  I eat it probably 2 or 3 times a week, and that's not good.  Not good for my waistline, or my bank account.  I think if I can take this baby step, then it will lead to others.
I am also hoping that by blogging this, people will read it, and I will be held more accountable.  Maybe if I get it out there that I am doing this, I have someone else keeping track of me, instead of just me.  So, any words of encouragement would be appreciated. :)

Next goal: Get a scale.  Put my weight progress on here?  Scary thought, indeed...