2012: Operation Fridge

While I know that I'm not usually the one that writes about these things, I am finally brave enough to talk about it!  2012 is the year that I will get back down to my 2009 weight!  And if I do it, I get a fridge!


Yes you heard that right people, a new friggin' double door fridge to showcase beautiful fruits and vegetables at eye level! This is a deal that somehow I got my fiance to agree to this after having a conversation about me putting my money where my mouth is when it comes to hitting my goals.

Like this little Ferrari

But the sad part is that while I wish that I was thrilled, the fact of the matter is that I'm pretty upset about it.  Reason being is that I've had this bet in place for about six months and am still only on my way to getting there when I could have had the fridge a LONG time ago.  In short, I'm embarrassed, ashamed and just overall p*ssed at myself about it.

And the reason that I'm talking about this finally is because of one person, Ann, from a blog called Twelve-in-Twelve that started as her goal of doing twelve races in twelve months.  I went to college with this very strong young woman who has has an incredibly tough and fulfilling journey in weight loss, a love/hate relationship with running (glad to say a LOVE one right now!) and figuring out a way to stick to her plan.  The last few months for her at times has been tough but she's so honest that while reading one of her posts it made me think last week "Why can I talk about food all the time in my blog but not the stuff that is really important in my life right now?".  

So the cat is out of the bag, I'm trying to lose about 12 pounds from what I am currently at today.  I have lost about 8 pounds from when I was at the photo below but I still have a long ways to go and the hardest part hasn't even begun.

Having SO much fun at a close friend's wedding but not feeling great about how I'm looking for feeling inside and outside

While I know that some of you are probably rolling your eyes thinking "she's not big so she needs to get a reality check".  Well this isn't some kind of deal where I'm setting unrealistic goals and I want people to see that just because I don't have 50 or 100 pounds to lose, that doesn't mean that my goal of keeping my weight in check before things get out of hand should be any less important.


I want to fit back into my black little shorts by next summer, fit into my favorite faded pair of Guess jeans in the photo below that have been sitting in my closet the last two winters and for my arms to look fabulous in my wedding dress this summer.  These goals shouldn't be any less important than that of a person that wants to lose 100 pounds.  They are goals and I want to meet them!

All and all it's about feeling good about me being comfortable in my skin and it's time to stop making excuses as to why I feel mad at myself every time that I see those jeans in my closet and I want to be successful much like my sisters have been.  All three of my sisters have done extremely well in their weight loss journey and I am hoping that I can find the will power and self discipline that they have over the years.  They are truly an inspiration.


So as Ann from Twelve-in-Twelve quotes on her blog "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail".  So what is my plan?  My plan is predetermined decision making.  Making decisions about tough situations before I even get into them.  Here's the run down:


Tracking Foods

My friend Amber told me about a great website, www.myfitnesspal.com.  I have been using this for about a month and it is a free website that helps you to track calories, nutritional value, exercise, journal your thoughts, track your current weight and share as much as little as you want to with friends.


I'm going to keep logging and spilling my guts and am opening up to all of you with the passcode "fridge".  So if you want to see if I'm being lazy, check it out people.  I'm putting this out to the world!  Here is the link to see how I'm doing and I encourage you all to keep me honest! http://www.myfitnesspal.com/food/diary/AnnMariesCupOfTea

My current flame.  It's a complicated situation.

Planning Meals

Any of you that have moved in with your boyfriend/fiance/husband can probably agree with me on this one.  Cooking for two people with different food preferences is SO tough, even more so than I thought it would be.  It causes uneasiness, sometimes even arguments and it leads to making bad food decisions by caving and eventually saying "yes" to quick fix meals or going out to eat when we can't agree on what to eat.  

So while it will be tough, it's time for me to be selfish and let the fiance fend for himself on meals unless he wants to eat what I am making.  He figured out how to eat for the first 28 years of his life and I need to stop catering and just make myself a weekly menu for lunch and dinner in advance, let him decide if he wants to eat that and stick to it since that is what I used to do and it worked.  This is not me blaming anyone else, it's me admitting that I can't keep doing this and knowing that this is the direction that I need to head in order to be successful.

Here are some sites that I will be pulling healthy meals from:

• My Recipes, Calorie Count Recipes
• Eating Well, Recipes and Menus (lists calories per serving) 
• Food Gawker, Searched by Healthy Foods 
• Best Fast Food Meals Under 500 Calories (just in case) 
• My "Cooking Light" magazine subscription online and in paper

My Blog

I know that you're probably wondering what will happen to my blog.  Yeah, you know, the one about the occasionally unhealthy recipes and naughty things to eat at yummy places.  SIDERANT: Which by the way there will be a VERY naughty restaurant that I went to before Christmas that for all intensive purposes we will coin "the ghost of Christmas past" which is NOT a part of my new lifestyle.

For eating out, I am challenging myself this year to no matter where I go to take a 500 calorie challenge.  I challenge myself to figure out a way to stay under 500 calories for the whole meal.  No matter if it's in my small hometown, the bar down the street from where I work or the nicest restaurant in town.  Let's just say this should be interesting and I'm excited to tell my coworkers or other people that go out to eat with me and make it a challenge for them as well as me.  

For the recipes, I challenge myself to the same standards.  To blog about meals under 500 total calories and snacks to be right around 100.  And for the servings to be reasonable for a human being and not portioned to feed a Polly Pocket.  

The Gym
The gym in the wintertime totally sucks.  There is just no way around it.  I work out at a nice place that gets LOTS of new members that make New Year's resolutions to lose weight and the place turns into a zoo.  So to avoid having to stalk people back to their cars for a parking spot, driving around for 15 minutes looking for parking place and going absolutely bat-sh*t insane...my goal is to go to work a little bit earlier than normal in the morning and then hit up the gym right around 5:00 to avoid the crowd.  Thus far it's been working great and I'm going to continue to do this!


For the number of times per week my goal is to find something to do at least 5 days a week at the gym.  I don't care if it's running, spending time on the elliptical, taking a Zumba or yoga class or even walking for 45 minutes on the treadmill at an incline listening to an audiobook.  It's about getting in there and doing it!


In closing, I know that this isn't usually something that I write about but I'm excited to have everyone there for me through this mini-journey to earn myself a new fridge!  


Would also love to hear your tips or things that have helped you along the way!