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Just another day!

I've been told recently by a few people how much they like my writing!  Thank you so very much!!  You guys know who you are ;). I try to keep my blog personal.  It's how I like to write.  I also like to share tidbits of information that I learn here and there.  If I can pass on something that helps someone else, it makes me happy!

Well, I guess I should put out there that recently Bryan has been helping me keep track of my progress on this journey down the Skinny Nile, lol.  He's been helping me track my measurements.  So, with that said, starting from the beginning I have lost a total of 54.2 lbs (from my heaviest weight), 43 since Melody was born.  9.9 lbs of that has been recent.  I've lost 3.5 inches over my body.  What I like most is that things that aren't supposed to jiggle when you walk are doing it a lot less now!  Yeah, I know...I'm  a goof.  I can't help it...no really...it's in my blood.  If you've met my family you'd agree.

So, enough about me.  Let's talk about the babies.  Melody is finally sitting up on her own.  Pushes up from her belly.  She also pulls herself up on anything she can get a good grip on.  I don't think I've ever seen such a happy baby.  She's perfectly content to lay on the floor and play.

Natalie is advancing so well.  She's reading more and more on her own.  She's learning a lot of new words and she reads pretty fluently.  It's exciting for both of us.  I hope to pass down my love of reading to her.  She seems to enjoy it already.  She reads the books from her lessons to as many people as she can get to listen to her.  It makes me so proud!

Allyson is starting to show interest in writing.  She asked me today if I would show her how to draw capitol letters.  She did a pretty good job if I must say.  But, then again I'm biased.  Everything they do impresses me.  She colored a really cute picture today too.  She made a picture of herself and Astroboy (her favorite movie right now) standing under a rainbow with flowers all over the ground.  I made sure to write her name and age on the bottom so we can remember that years from now.

Kaelyn is the ornery little munchkin she's always been.  Her big beautiful eyes could get her out of any kind of trouble.  Right now her outfit consists of a diaper and mommy's slippers.  That's it...nothing else.  She loves to be naked, lol.  She's starting to pick things up quickly.  You can understand pretty much all of what she says now.  She puts a lot of emotion into what she says as well.  It's really adorable.

And now for my tip!

Tip of the day:  Share your progress and success with your family and friends!  They are going to be the best support system you will ever have.  Having a strong support system will help keep you on the right track.

Update

I haven't blogged in over a week.  Shame on me!  It's been a little busy around here and I'm just now getting to sit down for a few minutes.  

Yesterday I had company all day.  My mom's cousin came to visit from Chicago and she spent the day with my family yesterday.  She brought up the gifts from my mom, Aunt Kim, and herself for Allyson's birthday.  I'm still struggling to believe she's 5 now.  

I still remember waking up in the hospital after she was born completely confused.  The doctor said I had four seizures and I ended up getting moved to ICU for a few days.  It was scary.  I had bruises up and down my arms for weeks from IV lines getting pulled out and my tongue was swollen so bad I could barely eat.  It has to be the worst feeling in the world to have your newborn baby leave the hospital and you have to stay.  I'm not sure I was even awake when they released her.  I'm pretty sure it was the most traumatizing thing my husband has ever dealt with.  He was in the room when one of the seizures started.  He was trying to hold Ally sitting in a chair while I was sleeping and said my arms just flew up over my head and jerked back down yanking the IVs out.  He tried to call the nurse and hold my arms down while still holding Ally in one arm.  He was shaking so bad after the nurses came in, they decided to take Ally back to the nursery to give him a chance to calm down.  I felt so bad for him after we finally made it home.  For probably a month afterward, if I twitched in my sleep he freaked out.  Here she is newborn.

And here she is now!

She had a great time on her birthday.  We got her a huge cake.  She wanted a yellow cake with flowers so that's what she got!  A half sheet cake with white icing and pink flowers.  She was so excited when she saw it.  It makes everything worth it when we watch her smile.  She's growing up fast!

Melody has conquered sitting up on her own.  She can sit up from crawling and now she pulls herself up on anything sturdy enough to hold her.  When she wakes up from her naps she's standing up in her crib waiting for me to come get her.  She got the cutest pillow yesterday and she just loves it!  Aunt Kathy decided since she wasn't old enough for candy she'd get her that instead.  If she sees it in the floor she'll crawl over to it and flop on top of it.  The pillow is just as big as she is, lol.  Look at this happy face!

So, about me...I am 1.1 lbs away from being the weight I was when I graduated high school!  How exciting is that!!  I'm not done, not even close.  I have more weight to lose, but I do feel so much better now.  It's amazing.  Don't worry, I'm still keeping my food journal.  I haven't forgotten about it.  I'm just not going to post it anymore.  When I'm down to my ending goal weight I'll post before and after pictures.  I didn't take any specifically for the start of this endeavor, but I have some that were the reasons I motivated myself to get healthy and lose weight.  From the beginning I've lost 52.9 lbs total.  Now keep in mind that I dropped 40 and then found out I was pregnant with Melody.  So I gained again with the pregnancy and have been losing since then.  It's been up and down.  I can't wait for the final results so I can compare my pictures.

Anyway, here is my tip.  I've decided to keep doing the tips.  Hopefully they help people.

Tip of the day:  Did you know your body retains water because it feels like it isn't getting enough water?  This was actually a new thing for me.  To stop water retention you should drink more water!  No, I'm not joking.  I'm serious.  Water helps your liver convert fat into usable energy.  Not drinking enough water causes your body to go into "famine" mode.  It bombards your kidneys with concentrated fluids that create more work for your liver.  Thus resulting in your liver working overtime trying to do the job your kidneys couldn't do and not doing it's own job, which is stated above (in bold).  Your body will store the fat instead of burning it off as extra energy.  Instead of excreting water and waste, your body will retain it for repeated use.  We know it as water retention.  To relieve water retention you should drink an increased amount of water to return your body and it's processes to normal working order.

Reform - Week 1 down!!

I busted my tail all week (except for yesterday because it was my day off).  Sorry, I didn't warn anyone that I wasn't going to be blogging over the weekend.  But, I can still give a recap of this past weekend's events!  

Saturday it snowed about a half an inch at most so Bryan and I trudged on out to Rosaryville State Park.  I'm glad I have cold weather gear.  Wore my Under Armour compression pants, my Danskin gym pants over top of those, a blue tank (gift from my aunt for Christmas), my wicking compression long sleeve shirt over that, and a Danskin tee over that, my Under Armour socks (so glad to have those socks!), trail shoes, my running jacket (Champion), and my Under Armour headband (covers my ears) and gloves.  I was toasty, lol.  

We jogged probably the first two miles and then slowed down to a 3.5-4.0 mph walk.  Not much of a slow down really, but you can't burn calories sitting still.  Throughout the nine miles we jogged and walked more.  I don't really know exactly how much of it I ran, but I tried to keep it light for my knees.  I was worried about how I would feel in the afternoon, but it turned out I was fantastic!  I only had a few knee pains on the trail and I took some medication for that to keep it from getting worse.  I was surprised it didn't flare up later that afternoon while I was sitting down.  That makes me happy.  I burned about 1,100 calories on that run.  Trail running is serious business.  You are constantly going up and down hills.  It takes a lot of effort.

Anyway...after the run we came home and got cleaned up.  I think I pretty much ruined my gym pants.  They had mud and ice caked to the bottom.  By the time we made it to the end of the trail I was pretty irritated with them.  I'll know not to wear those the next time we go running because they stretched and started to drag the ground and eventually starting getting caught over my shoes.  I was so mad with them I was threatening to pull them off in the middle of the woods and leave em, lol.  BUT!  I'm not comfortable enough to be running around in my compression pants like a lot of other people do.  Still a little too much junk in my trunk to expose the rest of the world to.  The junk is leaving though!

This week has been a very productive week, diet and exercise wise.  With all my hard work, I've managed to lose 4.8 lbs.  My goal was 2 lbs, but hey...who's complaining!  I'm thrilled actually!  I'm only 6.8 lbs away from what I was when Bryan and I got married and what I weighed when I graduated high school.  For me that's exciting.  

We went out to eat Saturday night.  Took my sister to Red Robin since she's never been.  It was awesome and sooo worth the calories I ate.  Besides...my sister had never been and it's one of our kids' favorite restaurants.  We HAD to take her.  And even with the calories I ate that night, I lost nearly 5 lbs in a week.  That brings me to my tip.  Actually...you're getting a bonus today.  Two tips in one post!  These two go together and they are equally important.

Tip of the day:  Take one day out of the week to eat a meal that isn't on your diet plan.  Just one meal, something you really love in a reasonable amount.  You don't need to give up all of the foods you love.  

Tip #2 of the day:  Don't make your day off from exercise the same day you decide to eat something off of your diet.  Eat well on the day you decide to take off. 

Bring it on Friday!

Reform - Day 5 and I've got my dukes up.  Ready for anything.  I feel great today.  I've been eating and drinking well all week (Monday - today) and I can feel the difference.  I'm less moody, a whole lot more energetic, and heck...I actually feel good enough to put the laundry away without complaining.  HA!  Since when has that ever happened?!  I'm sure Bryan would say it's never happened... He's probably right.  There's a first time for everything though! 

Natalie did her school lesson the hard way today.  She was having one of those difficult whiny mornings.  I had to repeat instructions to her constantly and eventually it started wearing on my nerves.  She normally doesn't act like that.  She loves doing her school lessons.  I got to the point where I had no choice but to break out a piece of paper and start tallying every time I had to repeat something more than twice (which landed her in timeout a minute for every tally).  I always break her lessons down and do them piece by piece.  One step at a time.  I do it to make sure I'm not overwhelming her.  This morning all she wanted to do was slump in her chair and have an attitude about having to practice writing her capital and lowercase L while Allyson got to draw with the color wonder markers.  Well yeah...her sister's activity was a lot more fun than hers, but she could join in with her sister when she finished.  Or at least that's what I told her...nope...she didn't care.  She just wanted to pout.  Her pouting cost her a few minutes on the stairs after she finally finished her lesson.  I asked her if she wanted to do another lesson today and she quickly turned that down...guess she was afraid she'd spend more time on the stairs.  Lol.  I have a hunch she'll be a lot more inclined to do her lesson on Monday.

CamelBak® Octane XCT™ Hydration Pack

Picture courtesy of gandermountain.com

I'm taking today off from the gym.  Gasp!  Yeah...the plan is 5 days a week...not 7.  Taking tonight off because I'm going running with Bryan at Rosaryville tomorrow.  The plan is to do a 10 mile loop and see how I feel afterward.  More than likely I won't be running the entire thing, but I'm going to go as far as I can.  As much as my knees seem to dislike trail running, I love it.  It's peaceful in the woods and I get to do it with Bryan.  With his work schedule being as crazy as it is, we don't get to do a whole lot together.  So this is what we do.  We go running.  It'll be a good two to three hours of alone time.  I'll make sure I'm well prepared for pain.  Take my medicine with us in the Camelbak.  The picture shown here is similar to the one we have.  It doesn't look big, but there is tons of space for storing things like extra socks, snacks, and medicines.  Plus it holds 70 oz of water.  That's more than your daily recommended intake.  This one is on sale right now at Gander Mountain (online only).  They're nice to have when you go on long runs.  By long I mean more than 5 miles.  We took ours to the Potomac Heritage Trail 50k run (where I sprained my knee) and to the Magnus Gluteus Maximus 50k (I actually finished this one).  They're both trail runs and both very grueling, but still extremely fun.  Being in the woods running reminded me of living in Smithville when I was a kid.  We used to run around the woods all the time.

Anyway, here's today's daily food and exercise journal post.  I was going to take today off, but Bryan and I didn't really feel like playing World of Warcraft tonight so we decide to do some exercise at home.  This is where getting the P90X and the games for the Wii really come in handy.

Food

Breakfast- Kix, 1 medium (guessing.  i weighed mine after slicing it) Fugi apple, coffee (no sugar, 2 TBS creamer)  (320 calories)

Snack- Veggie crisps, V8 (THE easiest way to get a serving of veggies in) (130 calories)

Lunch- 2 turkey dogs on bread (100% whole grain whole wheat) with spicy brown mustard, cheddar pringles, 1/2 grapefruit, v8 (400 calories)

Snack- mint cookies, coffee (170 calories)

Dinner- Turkey tacos (made with reduced sodium taco seasoning, whole wheat 96% fat free tortillas, lettuce, tomato, organic salsa, light sour cream and cheese) (505 calories)

Total Food Calories = 1,525

Exercise

Ab Ripper X (P90X)  15:00 mins  200 cals burned

Cardio Boxing (2 20 minute sessions of defense and blocking)  40:00 mins  250 cals burned

Total Exercise Calories =450

Total Deficit 1/7/2011 = 2,100-1,525+450 = 1,025 calories burned

Tip of the day: When going to the gym, wear the proper clothes.  Clothes that breathe will keep you dryer.  Cotton is a no no for hardcore, gonna sweat your tushie off, workouts.  Polyester and nylon are good.  Any material that says it's wicking it's good.  It pulls moisture away from your body so you aren't left feeling wet and cold. 

And Yet Another...

Day of reform!  Day four successfully completed!  I'm still keeping my food and exercise journal.  I've mentioned before how important it is.  It helps me to stay on track.  

Today has been a nice and easy day.  Very relaxed.  I was pleasantly surprised when I hopped on the Wii Fit balance board this morning.  I normally wouldn't check my weight before my week was up, but I was nosy.  I couldn't help it.  I'm not going to to say what the result was, but I can say it was in my favor.  My hard work is paying off.  I was in a pretty peachy mood after that.  I have four more days until I actually have my weekly weigh in.  I've been putting in a lot of effort and I'm glad my numbers are going down.  Hopefully they'll go down some more before Monday.  

Oh!  THE funniest thing happened this morning.  I was cutting up part of my breakfast and the girls decided they wanted a bite.  Well...pink grapefruits aren't always sweet.  I warned them before I gave them each a taste.  Natalie mottled it over for a bit and decided she liked it, but Allyson made a face that looked exactly like one a baby makes after tasting a lemon for the first time.  I couldn't help but laugh.  That just sealed my morning for me.  Well...that and my friend posting another makeup post that had me wanting to run to the store.  Check her out here!  Oh, how I love my makeup.  I don't wear it often, but I still love it like Bryan loves his electronics.  Yeah...it's like that.  If I had more time to play around with it I know I would.  But!  Since I'm chasing around four kids and am almost always late everywhere we go...I never have time to put anything on.  For now, until my older two go to school outside of the house next year, I'll live vicariously through her.  Lol.  

The girls (Natalie, Allyson, and Kaelyn) and I had a fun coloring session this afternoon.  We all sat at the table and they played with their new Color Wonder sets.  They were a Christmas gift from my Aunt Kathy.  Of course mommy had to color too.  It was nice to sit down with them and not hear any arguing for more than an hour.  That's almost never heard of in this house!  

Did I happen to mention that Melody's up and crawling now?  No more Army style crawl and no more launching herself.  She's up and moving and wow is she speedy.  For someone with short arms and legs she sure gets around quick now that she's got it figured out.  We've got all the stairs blocked off so she's not going to fall down.  I'm gonna have to put another gate up to keep her out of the kitchen.  I wish I had one big enough to go across the hallway into the kitchen and dining room.  It would be so much easier if both were blocked off.  I'm not even sure they make them that wide.  Guess I'll be doing some research on that later...

Anyway!  I'm planning to go watch a little tv since it's quiet in the house.  Here's my food and exercise entry for today...

Food

Breakfast- Kix (kid tested...mother approved, HA!), 1/2 lg pink grapefruit, coffee (2 TBS creamer, no sugar) (270 calories)

Snack- cheese nips, V8 (130 calories)

Lunch- ham and cheese wrap (no mayo.  had avocado on it instead) (420 calories)

Snack- mint cookies, coffee (same as breakfast coffee) (170 calories)

Dinner- spaghetti (100% whole wheat) with vodka sauce, salad (420 calories)

Total Food Calories = 1410

Exercise

Bike (15 miles)  65:00 mins  400 cals burned

Total Exercise Calories = 400

Total Deficit 1/6/2011: 2,100-1,410+400 = 1,090 calories burned

Tip of the day:  Count your calories closely.  Break out your measuring cups and spoons.  Do it right!  Every calorie counts!  

P.S. If you'd like to know how I come up with the total deficit let me know.  I can explain it in better detail if you'd like!

Reform - Day 3

Who says I can't muster up the nerve to clean my house!  HA!  Not that it was a mess, but trying to find a place for all of the girls' new toys hasn't been easy.  After my sister gets back from the Eastern Shore on Friday I'm gonna have her help me filter through their stuff, trash what's broken and donate what they don't play with anymore.  It's great to have 4 (including my niece Zoey) in the house that play with the same things.  Mel's things fit in a little rope handle bucket in the corner of the living room.  Doesn't make any mess at all.  One or two toys at a time keeps her happy and smiling.  Other than that, I've restored order to our house.  Even the laundry is getting caught up and that's not something I can normally say.  I HATE laundry.  It's the thorn in my side.  Most people already know that.  I can't stand it.  Give me a bucket and a rag to clean the floor with any day.  I'd rather be on my knees scrubbing the floor. 

Anywho...I'm finding it easier to wake up in the morning.  I grab my cup of green tea and I'm good to go!  I'm in love with my green tea.  I like that I can get it in so many different flavors.  Check out the different flavors. I've tried probably half of them.  I haven't found the mint green tea in my commissary, so I might look for it downtown.  There's only one that I don't like, but I'm not willing to write it off yet.  I think it was my fault that it tasted awful.  Leave it to me to forget to put the lid on my coffee pot so the water could drain down...HA!  The tea yesterday morning steeped for probably an extra hour before I realized I forgot to put the lid on so the tea would drain into the pot.  It was extremely bitter.  My absolute favorite is the White Mangosteen and Peach.

Woohoo!  I ran two miles today pretty much pain free.  (Shhh!!!! Don't tell my doctor).  No seriously...he'd kick my butt.  I'm supposed to be limited to biking (recumbent), the elliptical, and walking as tolerated until physical therapy can straighten me out.  He's diagnosed me with Iliotibial Band Syndrome (ITB).  What that basically means...from what I understand...is that my tendons are rubbing too close to my knee bones creating a lot of pain at times.  Pin point stabbing pains...it sucks.  Anyway, he compared it to tendinitis.  It flares up during extended periods of strenuous activity (i.e. running long distance).   He also told me to avoid stairs.  I laughed at him when he said that.  How can I avoid stairs when my house is 3 stories?!  I'm not sleeping in the garage!  Some things you just can't detour around.  

Bryan and I have this little challenge going on.  We've been calling it the BJ 500.  Each of us have to do a total of 250 push ups and 250 sit ups in a week, equaling to be 500.  HA!  The BJ 500!  It's not as bad as it seems.  We just randomly throughout the day drop and do 10 situps and 10 pushups and go on about our way for a while.  As long as you keep on track with doing about 35 of each a day you'll make your goal.  No biggie.  Haha...try doing it first thing in the morning before you've had anything to help open your eyes completely...doesn't work out so well.  OR...when your 2 yr old decides to walk over top of you and step on your hair in mid situp...yeah...there's nothing like ripping half of your hair out to help you focus!  UGH!  I thought I was going to cry this morning when that happened.  

So here we are at day 3 of my reform and I'm still on track.  I'm looking forward to my sister coming back Friday so Bryan and I can go do a loop at the Rosaryville State Park.  That's 10 miles of trail running.  Yeah yeah, I know...the doctor is going to eat me up about it.  Well he can just stuff it.  I'm going to do something I enjoy doing with my husband since we hardly have any time together.  Running trails is fun.  Anyway...here's what today looks likes...

Food

Breakfast- oatmeal, toast, green tea (same as yesterday) (290 calories)

Snack- snack mix, V8 (130 calories)

Lunch- tomato soup, grilled cheese, caramel rice cakes, green tea (423 calories)

Snack- cheddar pringles (100 calories)

Dinner- honey mustard chicken and rice, carrots, toast (445 calories) 

Total Food = 1,388 calories

Exercise

Jog (2 miles)  25:00 mins  300 cals burned

Total Exercise = 300 calories

Total Deficit 1/5/2011 = 2,100-1,338+300= 1,012

Tip of the day: Drink a cup of water before meals.  It helps you to feel full faster when you eat.  A lot of people already know this one, but many don't follow it.  It's a handy little piece of information.

Reform - Day 2

Today has been a rather unproductive day.  I managed to get absolutely nothing done around the house.  BUT!  I did get Natalie's lesson done.  She's 74 lessons from being done with Kindergarten.  Next year Bryan and I plan to put the girls in the new charter school they're building here on base.  Natalie will go to first grade and Ally will start Kindergarten.  We'll see how their Kindergarten matches up to what Natalie is doing now.  From what we've been reading about the plans for the school, it's supposed to be pretty advanced.  I just want my girls to get a good education.  

So, now that our situation is changing, I have been able to put in applications to some jobs here on base.  Keep your fingers crossed for me that something comes through.  I'm in desperate need of some time outside of these walls.  Don't get me wrong, I love my girls, but I need to see something other than my constant surroundings and talk with people whom hold conversations on things other than Barbies and My Little Ponies.  I'd also love for every other sentence I hear not to be "mommy, she hit me!" LOL.  Although Kaelyn is getting pretty good at that one.  The other day she tried to blame her cousin for hitting her...her cousin whom was still on the Eastern Shore 80+ miles away!  

Anyway...Day 2 of the diet and I'm still doing well.  I'm going to give a rundown of the snacks I normally like to run to.  

My favorite snacks have always been potato chips.  Mostly salt and vinegar potato chips (UTZ please!), but I'm a fan of many other flavors.  So to keep from busting my diet wide open with the terrible amount of calories and unneeded saturated fat...

• 100 calorie packs (snack mix, cheese nips)
• 100 calorie packs Pringles (regular, cheddar, and sour cream & onion)
• 100 calorie packs Synder's Garden Veggie Crisps
• Orville Redenbacher's Light Butter popcorn.  It's only 15 calories per cup of popped popcorn! (and it's 100% whole grain)
• fresh veggies (LOVE the crunch of a fresh vegetable)

Now, those of you that read my blog posts and know me, know I'm married to Bryan...the living sweet tooth.  So to curve the sweet tooth...

• 100 calorie packs cookies.  There are tons of different kinds.  Right now I have a fudge cookie with a mint coating.  LOVELY!
• Edy's Fruit Bars.  Strawberry in my freezer at the moment.  80 calories per bar.  What I love most about them is that you get chunks of strawberries in them.
• Fresh fruit.  Now, you know I couldn't leave that out!  I love my fruit.  Apples especially.  Crunchy and sweet.  My favorite apples are Gala and Fugi.  

No diet would be complete without some good quality protein.  I've got a few snacks up my sleeve for that as well.

• Chobani Greek Yogurt.  Peach is my favorite.  140 calories and 0 grams of fat.  There's 14 grams of protein in one little 6 oz container!
• Polly-O Mozzarella String Cheese.  Love it.  I have to peel it just like a kid.  80 calories and 7 grams of protein.  
• Soy Nuts.  GASP...I don't have any left in my pantry...well that's just fail...I'll have to get some more so I can post on them too.  Soy nuts are an acquired taste I guess you'd say, but once you decide you like them it's hard to get away from them.

So there you have it...my snack list.  These are the things I normally go for during the day.

Here's Day 2 of my food and exercise journal

Food

Breakfast- oatmeal, toast (with homemade jelly), green tea (290 calories)

Snack- chips, V8 (130 calories)

Lunch- tuna on crackers (multi grain), caramel rice cakes, V8 (400 calories)

Snack- veggie crisps (100 calories)

Dinner- baked chicken thighs, mashed potatoes, corn, fruit bar for dessert (400 calories)

Total Food Calories = 1320

Exercise

Stationary Bike (calorie burner program setting) 60:00 mins  422 cals burned

Total calories burned through exercise = 422

Total Deficit 1/4/2011:  2100-1320+422= 1,202 calories

Tip of the day:  Invest in a food scale.  They're expensive, but they're wonderful to have.  Bryan got me one in the UK and it's been a big help.  My scale will tell you how many calories, grams of fat, protein and other good things (adjusting to the weight) something has.  All you have to do is type in what you're looking for.  It weighs in oz/lbs, grams, and fluid oz.  Here's a picture of my scale...

Salter Nurti-Weigh Dietary Scale

Starting the new year right!

 The New Day One:

I, like many other people, kinda sort of fell off the bandwagon.  I strayed a bit away from my diet during the holidays and it's time to get back on track.  I've got some big resolutions for myself this year.  I've got a total of 46.6 lbs to lose to reach my goal.  I'm trying to lose 2-2.5 lbs a week.  I'm not doing anything overly drastic.  Just breaking out a new notebook to use as a food journal.  I blogged about food journals before.  I stand by them.  They're a wonderful tool.  I've personally kept a journal while we lived in the UK and found myself in the frame of mind that if I don't want to have to write down that slice of cake...I avoided the cake all together.  You tend to stray away from the bad things if you know you have to write everything you consume in a record.  If you try to cheat...you feel guilty and that just stinks.  

To help keep my food journal and exercise journal I bought myself a pretty little Mead Five Star (3 pocket) 100 sheet notebook.  It's PINK!!  And the only reason it's pink is because the BX (Base Exchange) Didn't have purple.  Booooooo!  Here's an example of my notebook.

Same thing except mine is pink

I went onto a website to help me calculate how many calories per day I should be eating to maintain my current weight and how many I should eat to shed pounds.  I also factored in how many calories I should burn doing exercise.  So this is what I've come up with...

Maintenance of my current weight:  2100 calories

Daily calorie intake for weight loss: 1500 calories

Calories burned during daily exercise: 300+

That leaves me with a deficit of about 900 calories burned in a day.  If I follow this as close as possible I'll have a deficit of 6,300 calories per week.  1 lb is 3,500 calories.  So, 6,300 is 1.8 lbs.  

I've decided I'm going to share my journal with you:

Food

Breakfast: Oatmeal (apples and cinnamon), peach Greek yogurt, hot green tea  (310 calories)

Snack: veggie chips, small can of V8 (130 calories)

Lunch: Salad (everything but the kitchen sink kind), choc mint cookies (400 calories)

Snack: veggie chips (not even the full 100 cal bag...Kae stole part of it) (75 calories)

Dinner: baked tilapia, basmati rice, spinach, strawberry fruit bar for dessert  (330 calories)

Food Total: 1,240 calories

Exercise

Jog 1 mile (shhh don't tell my dr...) 13:20 mins  143 cals burned

Incline walk (7.5% / 3 mph) 20:00 mins  160 cals burned

bike (rolling hills level 5 & 7) 30:00 mins  130 cals burned

Exercise Total: 433 calories burned

Total deficit 1/3/2011 : 2,100-1,240+433=1,293 calories burned

I'm keeping track of everything in my notebook and weighing myself once weekly.  I'll note all progress!

Tip of the day:  Keep a food journal!