Week 3 - Update 1

1. Lose 20 Pounds and Keep It Off for a Year
I have lost 5 pounds so far. I was definitely hoping to be a little bit further along this after 3 full weeks of dieting. However, I switched in to phase 2 of the South Beach Diet which always seems to give me problems. Also, I am having a hard time getting to cook all my meals with law school starting back up. Therefore, I resort to eating weird things, like poached eggs instead of dinner or just handfuls of turkey and a cheese stick. I think a major problem is what time I eat. I have been eating dinner around 9 or 10 o'clock because Bobby has been working really late nights. Most nights he doesn't get back to our side of town until 10 or 11 and try to wait as long as I can to eat dinner so I can eat with him. But I think it is bad for me to wait that long because while waiting I snack. I snack on things that I am allowed but I probably end up eating a lot more stuff than if I just ate dinner at a normal time and I had time to burn some of it off before I went to bed.

Last week I was succesful in making it to the gym three times though. I did the elliptical, bike and lifted weights and was definitely feeling the burn. I think this helped me justify the extra snacks, however, so I need to rethink when I am going to the gym and whether that really should allow me any extra food.

Goal this week: I would really like to lose another 3 pounds by this time next week. I plan to go back to phase 1 except for allowing myself one piece of fruit a day as my pre-workout snack. If I don't workout, then I don't get the fruit. Hopefully my going back to strict low-carb, low-fat, I will see a little more weight loss this coming week.

I also hit the point emotionally, which I do everytime I am on a diet, where I just kind of don't care anymore. I start to think about all the things that I am missing on my diet and my brain starts reminding me how vapid, shallow and vain my obsession with losing weight is. I am a smart, successful, driven and normally self-confident woman. It is almost antithetical to my personality to be this consumed with inches and pounds. I tried really hard to talk myself out of this mood and forced myself to go to the gym instead of moping. It sort of worked, but I have a feeling this mood will be creeping back in later this week.

2. Pray Every Day
I feel like a pretty big failure on this one too. With law school starting back up, I have found myself pushing this back to late at night again and falling asleep mid-prayer or making them very short and sweet so that I can get to bed. My plan this week is to pray twice a day -- when I drive to school and when I leave school. It takes roughly 17 minutes to school or back and most of the time I sit there thinking stupid thoughts about freshman drivers or what my plan for the day or evening is. Instead, I am going to put on a little worship music and try praying, with my eyes open so that I won't die in a fiery inferno crossing broadway. I'll let you know if it helps me become a less aggressive, pleasant driver.

3. Blog at least once a week
A few hours late on this one. I think I was embarrassed about not really doing to well with the weight loss and prayer this week and so the last thing I wanted to do was admit to the world that I had hit that wonderful resolution plateau where you get really sick of all the changes you are trying to implement. But alas, my mom wrote on my facebook wall and like remembering to pick up my wet towels off the floor when I lived at home, guilt set in and I finally succumbed.

4. Stop Biting My Nails
Again, doing okayish with this one. Back in class, which is where I always bit my nails to oblivion, I am now still putting my nails near my mouth and I find myself going to bite them and stopping just short of actually doing it. I am basically terrified in most of classes of being called on. Despite the fact that I do my reading and am at the top of my class, I have continual panic attacks during any class in which it is likely I could get called on. As such I am nervous and need something to do with my nervous energy. The last three semesters it has been biting my nails. Now, it is simply putting my nails near my mouth. Still gross, but making progress. Maybe I should try bringing a stress ball to class with me.

5. Stop Cussing
I am doing pretty good with this one. I am surprised how when you stop saying the words you aren't supposed to, they stop coming to mind. I did slip up today when I dropped a giant bag of groceries just as I came in my apartment door because I couldn't hold on to them anymore and my stupid lock is sticky and I was just plain annoyed. I dropped the f-bomb. Luckily no one else was around and I immediately felt terrible. Need to get that darn lock fixed because it seems to incite a lot of anger in me.

6. Make One Frugal Decision a Week
My frugal decision this week was to not purchase the grey version of a very cute sleeveless blouse that I already have in navy. Granted the first time I wore the navy blouse I got a ton of compliments and the grey one was equally cute. But it is a very specific style and if ruffles stop being in style then it would have been a wasted purchase. So reluctantly I left it to someone else to discover on the Gap sale rack.

7. Go on Dates
Bobby's aforementioned work schedule has limited this. It was our three year anniversary this weekend but we weren't really able to properly celebrate it. However, we are planning to make up for it this coming weekend. We do have a spring break trip to Rome coming up which I like to think is our real three year anniversary celebration and any dates that get delayed now will be made up for in our week in Italy in March!

8. Expand My Pallet
Waiting on Bobby for my next challenge. Feel free to suggest things you think I should try next month in the comments.

9. Be More Emotionally Honest
Still working on the idea I came up with last week about figuring out what I want. I haven't had much time this week to figure out what I want. I think getting more prayer time in is going to help me see what I want through God's eyes and according to His plan, which ultimately is the better way to think about my future.

10. Be available to Friends and Family
I tried to respond to all text messages to the best of my ability this week and pick up the phone when called. I think I was as available as anyone really needed me to be this week!