Storm of the Year!

I'll admit I'm getting a slow start to this, but it's tough to get motivated. We had a wicked snow storm the other night and lost power / internet access for awhile, but as a result I did some snow shoveling in the driveway for 30 minutes, which was quite a workout for me. It felt great and I wanted to continue - I think next I will tackle the deck, which has 3 foot deep snow on it (heavy snow, too).
Hey, at least it's something. And surely a start for me, someone who has been sitting stagnant more or less for the past 2 years. We are cutting back on our nighttime munchies, and have been more or less successful the past week. When we have evening cravings, we have fruit or veggies instead of fattening stuff. I love celery and baby carrots dipped in ranch, and that has saved me many times. We also stocked up on apples, strawberries, and bananas - and we've discovered how much an apple can fill you up! So that's our new weapon, having plenty of fruits and veggies on hand. It should make quite a difference, as we do most of our eating in the late evening hours.
We also got some Ensure and generic SlimFast to knock out unnecessary cravings. I usually have an Ensure at night, when I am both thirsty and hungry for a sweet snack, and it works perfectly.

Finding a balance is the hardest part of getting into a new routine. But we both are actively planning...one thing we have agreed on is that eating smaller portions of spicy ethnic foods (especially Indian) really fills you up! Something about the peppers used...but after eating some of that stuff (which burns my mouth but is soooo tasty!), I do not want to eat for a loooooooong time afterwards. So we are figuring some ways out to shrink the stomach!

Soon I'll go and get myself a scale to monitor what's happening with my weight (and hopefully something happens). I'll tell ya, as soon as that snow makes the roads passable and safe enough for pedestrians, we will be walking everyday with our son in the stroller! But with as much snow as we have on the ground now, that may not be until June. Ha!

First post!

Here we are, late Friday night. It's cold and snowy out, and I am having my second wind. I created this blog to help track my personal growth and progress in a couple of areas - namely losing weight. I have weighed the same for the past 2 1/2 years, except when I was pregnant. I've been right around 241 pounds for all this time! (plus or minus 5 pounds)
I am ready to make a change. I need to motivate myself, and I think tracking my progress with a blog will be therapeutic and motivational!
So I can see what's working and what's not, and learn from my mistakes...I just want to be healthier. I have a 14 month old son who is getting more active by the day, and I want to have the energy to run around with him. I want to set a good example for him, and maybe he will learn healthy habits from me. My hubby is helping too, we are all in this together.
Okay, so things I must do to get started:

• Buy a decent scale (because I have not owned one in years!!)
• Weigh myself and take pictures so I can something to compare it to!
  
• EXERCISE!! And eat less junk. It's been a long winter and the stockpile of food is a great source of comfort, so that is the hardest part. Exercising is 100 times easier than giving up my munchies. But, seeing as I pretty much sit around on my lard-ass all day at the computer, I've got to
• Come up with some good starter exercises and set some times. I need structure.

So there we have it! The very beginnings of my first blog! I hope it gets more interesting, but hey, this is for me.