If At First You Don't Succeed

Try, try again...That is what I must do. I'm sorry to report that giving up the cigarettes was a bust this past week. I could try to use working 60 hours as an excuse, but there is no valid excuse besides not trying hard enough. My ultimate mistake was not having a game plan. I thought that just telling myself that I would wean off of them would work. No ma'am, Pam. I'm a planner! So, here's my master plan. Tomorrow I will smoke 10 cigarettes. That's actually more than I normally smoke on a work day. The following day I will smoke 9. The day after that I will smoke 8, and so on and so on, until I'm down to 0. Following that game plan should have me smoke free by October 30th. My lungs and my wallet look forward to it! 

Let me tell you, there is nothing like seeing someone for the first time in weeks and having them tell you that they can tell you've lost weight. Matt and my coworkers see me on a regular basis, so it will take a little more time for them to have a *WOW* moment. Along with the compliments and encouragement come questions. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love it when people ask me what I'm doing to drop the weight. Like I said when I started this blog, if I can motivate even just one of my family or friends with my experience then I will be over the moon! "What is your secret?", is the question that always makes me laugh a little. There is no secret. It's a dash of motivation and a pinch of common sense. As we learned from Morpheus up there, diet and exercise are enough. The better I get with managing what I'm eating, the more I long for the gym. The workout room at work is so convenient and FREE. However, it's becoming a little too limiting. I've done a little bit of research and I've decided that sometime next week I'll be joining Planet Fitness! I'm so excited to get in there and bust my tail! Hopping on the elliptical while on break a few times a week has really helped me get my feet wet, but the time has come for me to dive in and transform my body. 

I know you're all dying to know what I splurged on yesterday. Although Matt has declared that Friday is now "Chinese Friday", I had a major hankering for some Mexican. I had more than my fair share of queso and chips and about a third of my taco salad from Amigo. The meats in the taco salad were bland and the whole thing was overall disappointing. Don't get me wrong, I still love Amigo was more than one should, that just wasn't the best item that I've tried over the years. Later I indulged in a Little Debbie and that made up for the lousy dinner. I do think it's time for me to cut my cheat days down to every other Friday. While I was chowing down on the queso I was secretly dreaming of squash and zucchini. I take that as a sign that I'm slowly but surely making a lifestyle change and not just dieting! Yay! 

As usual, I assumed that I would be paying a terrible price for my Mexican when I got on the scale this morning. The result? I weighed in at 254, down 2 lbs from last week. That's a grand total of 14 lbs! I'm pretty proud of myself, but I can't wait to be on the other side of 250! I have an app on my iPhone, Weight Diary Free, that has helped me keep track of my weight on a weekly basis, and it also asked for my goal, and calculates my trends. According to it, at the rate I'm going, I should reach my goal of 199 lbs in 4 and a half months! If I reach my goal before my 30th birthday, then I'll just have to set another one, won't I? I leave you all with the awkward mirror selfie and all of my love! Until next time...