So....here we meet again.....

It's been a while.  Like a long while.  I think I have moved once, changed jobs several times and watched as my family unit has evolved.  All this means stress!!!!  What have I done in the past when I am stressed?  EAT!!!!

Today is day three of the newest program.  I don't know why but this one feels different.  I am finally taking it seriously and have the image in my mind of what I want to look like and feel like when I am done.  So here's the story.  I started at my new job in December.  Since then I have put on an additional 8-9 pounds topping out at over 190 (191-192 at times).  I don't like looking at myself, don't like getting dressed up, don't like being out with people.  Pretty much I have turned into a fat, lumpy hermit.  This is not what I want to be.  I have tried the usual giving up stuff, restricting this food or that food, tried workout programs, running programs, you name it, I have tried it.  Something always came up where I 'couldn't' do whatever the regime asked for and within a week or two, I had given up.

About a month ago, someone new started in my group.  Now we are a foursome, the cubes are all filled and we are working with all engines on go!  This new person has made me feel less like an outsider and more normal within the group.  I am the oldest person in the group, but not the manager of the group which brings it's own complications.  Then because I am about to send someone off to college, while the rest of them are just beginning their married and parented lives, I don't have much in common.  I see them making the right decisions where I made the wrong ones - wrong in the sense that I am not further along in my career or financial security, that kind of wrong, not that any one has died or a country has been put into revolution.  I was beginning to feel like I was an alien.  But with the new person, I began to feel like it wasn't just me thinking "Yeah, I can't afford $200 a plate dinner receptions on a weekly basis".

So my boss had participated in a fitness competition and worked out with a trainer during that.  This trainer has also written a book in which my boss and her experience is highlighted.  So my coworker and I decided we would do the program in the book.  The book is "Drop 2 Sizes" and it gives detailed menu plans and workout plans.  The idea is the right food and the right exercises will help you not to lose weight, that is a by-product, but to change your body mass to be more lean muscle which further helps you to get into the best shape of your life.  I think the clincher for me is that I know someone in the book, I can ask her questions or hear how it worked for her directly, without the 'editing' a book may have.

We got the book last week and started on Monday.  I can tell I am motivated because I have been cooking all week and I got my ass out of bed at 6 am to get to the gym by 7 to workout before a day of training at work.  I have done two workouts, one on day 1 and one today.  Today's workout got rid of the aches and pains from Monday's workout....and I am already feeling today's workout in my abs and legs.  Fortunately, my new job has an gym in house so I only have to pop over from one building to the next.

I think the difference between this plan and the other plans is that it's not just me doing it and I have a daily check in.  I know in the past I have suggested to friends to do something at the same time, but there was no accountability.  This time I have a daily check, almost to the hour.  It's good to have someone to share the experience with and to commiserate with when I'm feeling down.

So, expect to hear more from me as I go through this journey.

TTYL,

Annie