Back to Business

Okay, I have been extremely lax in my weight-loss efforts over the past several months, for a variety of reasons. Obviously the holidays are the easiest excuse, but it started well before Thanksgiving, and has continued for far too long.

Well, my reason for not getting back to the Y right away is because I don't like crowds, and didn't feel like dealing with the inevitable influx of people with New Year's resolutions. No big deal, I thought . . . I can still get back to eating right, and work out in the comfort of my own home! Yeah . . . that didn't happen. I've been having far too many mindless snacking sessions and emotionally-induced binges. As for working out . . . I used the Wii Fit for a few days that first week, I think once the second week, and not at all last week. It just doesn't motivate me the way it used to. I feel like it's not a serious workout, so why bother, which is ridiculous because a) any activity is better than none, and b) some of those exercises do make me sweat, especially if I keep it up for an hour.

The biggest thing I've discovered these last few weeks is that, for me at least, the dieting and exercising have to go hand in hand. If I'm not working out, I have no incentive to eat right, and if I'm not eating right, the amount of effort I can put into my workouts is negligible. I miss the way I felt over the summer. I may not be the same blob of flesh that I was a year ago, but mentally and emotionally, and even physically to an extent, I've gone back to feeling like the fat girl. I'm 50 pounds lighter than I was at this time last year, but I feel completely different than I did when I first hit this weight back in August.

Anyway, yesterday was my first day back at the Y. It was still a bit more crowded than usual for a weekday morning, but if there was a flood of "January people" as Pat calls them, it seems most of them are already gone. Either that or I've been avoiding the Y for the past month for no reason. Regardless, I have no excuse not to get back into my routine. It will definitely be a struggle. Yesterday was sort of a wake-up call as far as that goes. Before my workouts started becoming more and more sporadic the last few months, I was up to running for 10-minute intervals. Yesterday I could barely make it to 3 before needing a walking break. It was actually a little heart-breaking. But I can't let it get to me. If I can just get back into the routine, even if I just feel like I'm going through the motions, my endurance will catch up.

I'm hoping that I can get rid of the extra weight and back to where I was within a few weeks. After all, my vacation weight from NYC came off within just a couple days. But that was only 5 days of not caring what I ate, not 3 months, not to mention I was averaging about 5 miles a day walking around the city. So I have a feeling it won't be as easy as I'm anticipating. But of course NOTHING is going to happen if I can't change my habits back to where they were.