blah no more

I have been feeling kinda blah lately. I have gained a little weight recently, not sure of the cause - maybe stress, job hunting, my new found love of avocados? Mostly it must be the more calories in than calories burned in exercise. I get the simplicity of it, even if I cannot seem to make the numbers even out. Steadily losing or maintaining is best, this gaining thing has to stop. I have no desire to shop for clothes a size bigger.

So I have decided to step up my running. Normally I am a 2 to 3 mile runner 3 times a week. And that is a perfect week, one without hormones, volunteer obligations, or traveling. I have been working on the 30 day shred DVD as well. I did about 12 workouts, not every day but every 2 to 3 days. But since none of this has counteracted the weight gain, I guess I need to step it up. So my plan is to run 4 times a week, at least. Maybe just walking on my treadmill a few more times. I have the time, it is summer and I am still unemployed. It is the motivation I need. I have a ton of books to read, so I can just hop up there on the treadmill and walk and read and have some time to myself. The treadmill is in the basement now and the kids don't come down to bother me when I am down there. They are old enough to manage upstairs without much care for an hour. I would like to add the 30 day shred to this and actually do it every day like Jillian intended. Maybe I can get my husband to do it with me. He likes having a routine to follow and he will keep me doing it every day even when I don't want to. I am not internally motivated to keep up a routine. Not sure why, maybe I'm just lazy. Mostly though, every time I get involved in exercising I don't lose weight so I think, why bother?

I guess my problem is the food. I used to be a boredom eater. Nothing else to do? Might as well eat some junk food. I am not an emotional eater, food doesn't make me feel better, unless I was hungry:) I have discovered all kinds of foods in the last few years that I never knew I liked. Avocados, either plain on a sandwich or wrap, or in the form of guacamole is so yummy! Too bad I think Mexican fried chimichangas when I think guacamole. I need to reexamine my portion sizes too, because I have been trying to make healthier food for meals again. I have a plethora of Weight Watchers cookbooks from when I lost 35 pounds 5 years ago. I need to look through them again and see if I can find some recipes that my kids would eat (now that they actually eat what I make and not baby food like the last time around). I guess I could keep a food journal again to see where the calories are adding up. Not sure how much effort I want to put into this - see, right there is my main problem:)

O well, I guess I'll keep track of my food and exercise for the next month and see if any of these changes have made a difference. I'll keep you posted. It would be a nice birthday gift to myself to be 5 pounds lighter. On the bright side I have worked back up to 3 miles on the treadmill and I finally felt good today when I was done. It has been awhile since I have felt good after exercising, probably because I haven't been running hard enough or long enough, working back up to 4 miles for a race I do every September.