Gettin' Up

Finally. You know that day that you vow will be the day you get back on track? Today was that day for me.

I finally put together the Belly Off! eating plan and the Transformation '09 workout. It's amazing how together a little planning ahead, a little hard work and a little leeway will make me feel on my game.

I pushed my way through the workout this morning, working out the kinks of the day in my head. The big point is to remember that making this change (any change) is a one day at a time thing. I didn't allow myself to think about what was on the menu for tomorrow, how many pounds I have to lose to make my goal this month or what I'd rather be eating. OK, that second one is a fib. I did check Calorie-Count.com to see if I could make my goal by the end of the year. According to the calorie target tool, I can if I stay active and eat a little under 1,400 calories a day.

I'm not sure if I made that target today, but I do know that I ate a lot better than I have in weeks.

8 a.m. 1/2 oatmeal (dry) cooked with water + 1/2 mixed berries and 1 Tbsp reduced fat peanut butter

10:30 a.m. reduced fat string cheese + granny smith apple

Noon Tofurkey sandwich (3 slices, 1 slice regular muenster cheese), five baby carrots, three stalks of celery and nearly 1/4 c hummus

2:30 cup of Tazo passion tea (gorgeous and tasty)

3 p.m. Smart balance microwave popcorn

4:30 began chewing a six-stick pack of gum because I was nervous about not eating until 7.

5:30 2 Tbsp peanut butter, stick of string cheese (not on the plan)

7 p.m. 1/2 package seitan cooked with maple-dijon sauce, 1/2 package fresh broccoli florets, individual cup of applesauce, three squares dark chocolate

Although I veered from the plan some, I still felt virtuous and on-target. I accomplished most of what I'd set out to do today at work, plus a little more. I walked back into work this evening, and walked to the store for some essentials after that.

Tomorrow will be more challenging. I've got a "breakfast" meeting with a source and I'm providing pizza for my teenage journalism students. But this is a part of the balancing act. Normally, I'd consider these occassions license to go for my favorites -- a carb-heavy bagel at breakfast, several slices of pizza at dinner -- but I plan to stick to my, um, plan: 3/4 of egg beaters at breakfast (or three eggs), soy burger with mushrooms, half a potato and steamed asparagus for dinner. Tomorrow's a big eating day, and I have to admit, I'm pretty happy about that.

-8 pounds, here I come...