Tomorrow is a NEW ME Day

There is a part of me that wonders...should I change the name of the blog?  Then I realize that no, I shouldn't.  I'm still the same Southern Girl living up in North Country.  I am still learning to adjust, trying to adapt, and handle the multitude of life changes that have happened in the last 7 1/2 weeks.  Yes, I am counting...  We moved in our new apartment on February 1st.  We viewed a total of 6 properties before we chose this one.  We are still happy with our choice.  I do think we may have chosen a different section of town, if that had been a feasable opportunity.  We have quite a bit of space considering it is only the two of us.  I can clean the place from top to bottom, and I mean an OCD kind of clean that involves wiping baseboards and walls, in the space of about 4 hours.  Mind you, that is including laundry, floors, baseboards, and walls.  I only have to do the deep clean every other week and even that is pushing it as again, it is only the two of us.  The river is about one block away and I look forward to being able to walk there soon.  Right now, my body is still protesting the cold!

The point of today's post...is implementing the life style changes we have planned since the kids decided not to join us on this venture.  As some one who is VERY lactose intolerant, I have often struggled with the meals we made.  Almost every recipe out there calls for butter, milk, cream, or cheese.  Don't get me wrong....I love all of those.  The problem is, my body makes me pay for eating these things.  Even in small amounts I get the bloating, even if I take a Lactaid supplement.  Feeding a large household is expensive and to do so on a budget requires ingredients that are not always healthy.  Now that I am cooking for two on a consistent basis, we have made the decision to change what we eat.  We just went grocery shopping today and I must say, what we purchased was almost all fruits, veggies, and lean meats.  I have a cache of recipes that I can't wait to try and the dinner meals are all under 500 calories each.  This is going to be combined with getting more physical.  We both have a gym membership now and it's less than 10 minutes from the apartment.  Andy's work schedule is flexible enough to allow us to go to the gym either before or after dinner.  The ultimate goal, for me, is weight loss and being able to run again.  After my mouth surgery, I wanted to be more active.  We were active over the summer by hiking.  However, somewhere along the way, we fell off the wagon.  Both of us are unhappy with not only our level of activity, but by knowing the food we eat is NOT healthy.  We have been much better since moving in to the apartment, but not as much as we would like.

Tomorrow is a new day...and so it will begin.  We bought a wall hanging today that we both loved and it hangs above our dresser.  It's what we will see first thing in the morning and hopefully motivate us through the day.

We also bought a scale and that is a necessary evil, unfortunately.  For me, the weight is my biggest concern.  I want to be healthy and fit.  I want, more than anything, to be able to run again.  Right now, I'm not sure I could without building up to that slowly.  So, here goes nothing.  I have nothing to lose and everything to gain.  It's knowing that I'm healthy enough to still be around many years from now.

Let it be known though...tonight we are going to eat at one of our favorite spots and I plan to have something completely unhealthy!  You only live once right?!

~trish