Keepin' On

It's the time of year when you hear and see all kinds of health and fitness advice, gimmicks, and tricks. It's the season of “Lose Weight Without Changing ANYTHING!”, “Eat this and drop 30 lbs!”; weight loss drugs, potions, surgery specials, and programs are EVERRYWHERE in January. In that environment, it's really hard not to want to buy in to a 'quick fix' or 'miracle cure' for obesity and unhealthiness. It would be so much easier if I could take a pill and wake up my ideal size, and my only job was not to inch back up to where I am now. Every time I hear one of these commercials, instead I think to myself, “I'm doing this right.” That said, I still kind of hate dragging myself to the gym more days than not. I long for weather good enough to run outside, or health enough to run in the cold. My house has been coughing and hacking for the better part of six weeks, with intermittent bouts of fever in between. At this point, we're waiting for my health insurance to kick in (which will cover Hubs and I both) hopefully next week. Then at least one of us will go to the doctor and hopefully get over this...whatever this is. My urges to binge have been a little quieter of late. I am still struggling with separation of my “highest human brain” and my “animal brain” sending out the urges, but I have been able to quiet them in the heat. I'm happy to say that there is a bag of chocolate chips in my pantry that hasn't seen action in a week, and even then, only a tablespoon in a day. Tracking my food is a really good thing for me. As it turns out, I'm pretty competitive with myself and that number on the screen. It becomes a challenge to meet my nutritional needs, make things my husband will eat, and get in under that goal. Especially when I factor in a dessert or a cup of cocoa-lette at the end of the day. I signed up for the year's first race yesterday. A 5k through the tunnels underneath OKC in two and a half weeks. I don't know whether I'll be up to running the entire thing or not, but I am excited for the race. I finally weighed myself this morning, and saw a 2 in front of the number. I'm not entirely sure where I started, but that felt pretty good. I was worried that I was well up over the 3 mark and that it would take a long while to get under it again. The scale is not my true measure. I have a 13.1 mile goal ahead, and several slighter goals along the way. Those milestones are where I measure my success.