When Life Hands You Pounds You Don't Need

I stepped on the scale Monday morning and I saw a number that I had never seen before in my life. Actually, if you subtracted 10 from the number showing on my scale, I'd never seen that number before either. What have I done? 30 pounds. I've gained 30 pounds since I moved to Dallas. Ok, so that confession didn't feel very good at all. 

When I saw that number staring back at me I hit the bathroom floor in tears. What have I done?! 

Living in Knoxville and working out 3 or more days per week, to now living in Dallas and have been to the gym a total of 3 TIMES. Not 3 times per week, just 3 times. Moving to a new city all by yourself is not easy. Making friends is insanely difficult. I don't want to say I've been depressed since I moved to Dallas, that isn't the case, but there have been times where I've been so sad it hurts. I tell myself, "I don't have anyone here to impress, who cares if I order this large stuffed crust pizza all for myself?" 

I won't say that I turn to food for comfort, I don't think that is accurate. I turn to food for entertainment. I turn to shopping for entertainment. I turn to a bottle of wine and take out for entertainment when I don't have Friday night plans. Saturday night plans. Sunday night plans. Monday night plans... you get the picture. 

The point of this post is not for people to start thinking I'm depressed. I'm fine! I love Dallas and I'm slowly but surely making new friends. Thank God for blog land sending me Helene! I'm just missing my best friend in Knoxville, Lisa who was always my gym buddy forcing me to go to the gym with her. I'm missing my sorority sisters and roommates being across the hall. Why is there no match.com for friendships? Riddle me that? 

I know I'm getting off topic, but you guys said you wanted more of my "face" and I want to do this post right, even if no one reads it. For the first time on this blog, I truly feel like I'm writing a post for no one else but myself.  I want to do a weight loss post. I want to find motivation to lose weight. I've lost my motivation mojo. 

I'm not changing to a weight loss blog. I'm not going to blog about qunioa. You won't see any recipes for skinny lasagna on here. I won't be posting pictures of the treadmill readout, nor will I be offering tips on the proper form for a lunge. What I am going to do though is start posting monthly progress reports on various Sundays. Maybe even a linkup if anyone would want to join! I know myself, I won't stick to it on my own, but I will stick to it if I put it out there. I will stick to it if I know that everyone in blog land knows I'm trying to lose weight. I'm way too competitive, publicly failing at something is a personal form of embarrassment up there with peeing in your pants on the first day of school. 

Last night I went to a weight watchers meeting. I wanted to ask the teacher if I could leave early the minute I stepped in the class because it was all old people discussing the number of points in cranberry sauce. How is this relevant to me? Where was J.Hud? It would be so cool if weight watchers did age based meetings *suggestion cup!*. I don't have the same temptations that a 73 year old woman has. I travel for work with all men, I party, I drink, I get hungover sometimes and want to eat all the things. Just the thought of Cranberry sauce makes me wanna vom. I think weight watchers, the program itself will work and I'm pumped to get started, but the meetings, I just don't know about these meetings. I had to think of something more motivating....

Here is how I am going to accomplish my weight loss goals by combining my love of shopping and my desire to be skinny! I'm not an expert, I'm not pretending to be an expert. I'm just a girl with a blog, photoshop skills and a sense of what works and what doesn't work for me. 

Step One: Admit your Weaknesses

My name is Sarah and I'm addicted to eating, drinking and spending money.

Step Two: You are now officially on a shopping freeze.

(Excluded from MY shopping freeze are the following items: bills, booze, small ticket entertainment like going to the movies, dining out, grocery store, anything the pups need, misc supplies) 

So anything else (i.e. clothes, purses, sports tickets) you can't buy, you gotta earn it! 

Step Three: Make yourself a wish list. These are items you really want and these items will be your reward for when you accomplish different milestone goals. 

Step Four: You are going to start saving for items on your wish list! Each time you accomplish a task on your list, you drop the appropriate dollar amount in the piggy bank. You can either use an actual piggy bank, or if you don't ever have cash, like me, you can use the Smarty Pig app.

So now you need to determine how much expendable income you have and can dedicate. I'm not Dave Ramsey, I'm not going to recommend dollar amounts for your budget, but what I will do is show you what my point system looks like!

Step Four: Determine what your goals are. Each time you hit one of those goals, you can use the money in the piggy bank to purchase something off your wish list!

My first 5 goals for the 5 items on my wish list:

10 Pounds Lost

12 straight weeks at the gym (Tracked via Four Square)

10% body weight lost

7 straight days without a single cheat meal

15% body weight lost

Has anyone else hit the wall, like me?
 Do you want to play along?