Week Two - Day One

Okay, so much for daily updates on the trials and tribulations of Nutrition Bootcamp. Of course, life got in the way and I spent last week like a gorilla at the zoo with her baby permanently attached to her. Even Thursday, when my daughter accompanied me to work because she still couldn't go back to daycare, she was stuck to me like white on rice.

Speaking of rice, and the white hell that is sugar, it was a good week until Saturday. I managed to skip the sugars and minus a few monster headaches and a little more exhaustion that usual, I didn't die. But then the weekend rolled in and so did the bad behaviors that plague me. We went to Touch-a-Truck at the Glen and even though I ate before I left, when Ryan handed me a Del's Lemonade and a box of popcorn for Ben, Syd and me, I didn't even think before I started eating. A slight recovery at lunchtime was forgotten as soon as I saw the banana bread from my mother in law. And one thing led to another and the next thing I knew I was baking blueberry muffins. And just because I made them with kidney beans didn't wipe out the cup of sugar.

So, I fell off the wagon, so to speak. And now I have to haul my ass back into it and just move ahead. Every time I choose something without sugar, I am making progress so I have decided to go easy on myself. No, not easy enough to avoid success altogether, but easy enough to accept setbacks with grace and realize that I still have time to get in shape for the summer. And the fall. And the winter. And the rest of my life...

Day One

So here it is. Last night I began an 8 week program called Nutrition Bootcamp. This is the first day of the rest of my life - or at least the first day of the next 8 weeks of hell. Not because it is a punitive or difficult program per se, but all because of one little caveat...giving up sugar.

I love sweets. Not cake or pastries, as much as ice cream, cookies and candy. And sweet things like flavored coffees and diet sodas. It's a long road ahead of me. Emily tells us that our taste buds die off every two weeks, so ostensibly, I should only want to choke the life out of her for three weeks before I will sing the praises of a sugar free, artifical sweetener free lifestyle. In fairness, I am willing to give anything a try in the hopes of someday being able to get my wedding ring back on. Since about three months into my second pregnancy, I have been a "single" woman, unable to force my rings over my chubby knuckle without cutting off the circulation to my finger.

As a part of this program, we are required to journal our meals, notice our hunger levels and in particular, emotional eating. We also need to set some long and short term goals for ourselves that must be more specific than: Lose 20 pounds or get back into a size 4 by Labor Day. Apparently, there must be a reason for all of this, an underlying purpose.

I want to be able to wake up in the morning and not sigh when I haul my fat ass out of bed. I want to be able to chase my children up and down the stairs without stopping in the middle to breathe. I want to look at a pedometer without thinking of all the ways to cheat. I want to WANT to exercise instead of finding a million perfectly good excuses to avoid it. I want my family to embrace a healthier way of living - from eating to functional physical activity. I want to be less attached to my television and more interested in my surroundings. I want to be able to wear the closet full of clothes that I already have AND I want to be able to shop for new things because I want them, not because I need to find a pair of pants I can get into without having to hold my breath and pray. I want to wear a two piece bathing suit with confidence. I want to learn how to easily and thoughtlessly cook healthy foods. I want to complete a mini-Ironman competition. I want peace on earth.

Enough with that - I need to go eat. Stay tuned for my fabulous food journal and the trials and tribulations of Nutrition Bootcamp. For the next nine weeks, my body is in the hands of one Emily Gedney, RD. Pray for me.