The impossible dream

Dear heavens it's been a month and a half. Where the heck did the time go? For a while there it all went to my waist. And my hips. And my ass. Of course, not my boobs. First to go, last to come back... But I digress...

Do you remember that dream I had? That dream that I thought had been realized? I dreamed a simple dream - working at home. Able to eat healthy. No drive through or "home baked" temptations. Saving gas and being good to the environment. More time at home since I wouldn't be driving so I could take more time to make dinners and go to the gym. It was a beautiful dream. Then, I got the job that allowed me to work from home. Everything seemed so beautiful. At least, for the first week.

Since then it's been an endless cycle of hell. I worked an average of 14 hours a day. That doesn't include the late night calls I might get until about 12:30am Eastern Time. My "short" days, of which I think I've gotten maybe 4 in the last 4 months, were 12 hour days. Working by 3:30am on Monday and 4am every other day of the week means going to sleep by 9:30pm which pretty much kills all chances of a decent social life - especially since I'm working until 7pm and haven't gotten to shower yet that day. Whew.... In with the good air... out with the bad....

Last week I accepted a position at a new company. I'll be driving to and from work about 45 min to an hour each way. Good for the environment? Not really. But ya know what, I think this one is going to be SO much healthier for ME! Sorry Earth - it's time to be a little bit selfish if you want me to make it through to encourage folks to recycle for another day!

Now, as to a weight update. When last we left I was at 194 Pre-Travels. Well, after a week in Atlanta and their awesome southern cooking (and mandatory dinners with the clients), I came home at 198. I was pissed with myself. I let myself be angry, then I tried to clean it up. But tracking my food on TDP seemed like the BIGGEST chore! It wasn't really - but I was so stressed with work, anything not 100% required was too, too much. I've been slowly bringing it back in August even without tracking, but I knew that to "take it to the next level" I needed to start tracking. Today is my 3rd day of tracking with TDP again and I'm back at 191 - my prior low number. I'm glad to be there, and focused for what is to come.

You see, with this new job I'll be doing some traveling in the next month. I'll be in the Philippines for a few weeks. How much luck do you think I'll have in finding the calorie content of the hotel food to track it? Or some street vendor? How about the translation issues of having to ask those "is this healthy" kind of questions? Well, it will be tough, but I know I want to balance being healthy with giving in to try a few special things as they may present themselves. After all, weight loss is a goal - but enjoying the journey is mandatory!

So, my short term goal is to be in the 180's by the time I leave for the trip. This isn't much of course - just 2 lbs would get me there. May not seem like much, but I haven't been in the 180's since I was in my early 20's. And yes, that WAS a long time ago.

Next I have a new happy hurdle! I realized today that once I am at 185 lbs, just 7 lbs from today, I will have lost 50 lbs. in total. How HUGE is that? Seems insane to me! ME? Lose 50 lbs? Are you kidding? NOPE!

New job. New goal. New motivation. And most importantly - new post to talk about it!

It won't be a month and a half until you hear from me again. I'll have too many good things going on to not share them with the world! Or at least the 2-3 folks who read this from time to time.... :)