Feeling Good. Really. :)

Lately, I've been putting a lot of thought into leading a more healthy lifestyle.

I'd say about a third of my "mental energy" goes towards thoughts of wanting to be healthy for ME. The future- I don't want to experience all the health issues my mom and grandma have. I want to live to be a funny old lady. For now, I want to be able to walk up the stairs or chase my kids without getting winded. I want to be able to plan things without wondering if I CAN - building something... hiking somewhere... fit in the seat on planes or roller coasters... etc. I want to LIVE life, not just watch it pass me by.

Another third goes to wanting this for Chas, too. I want him to be healthy, to live for a long time, to be able to DO without worrying, to LIVE LIFE.

And the last third... or maybe more than a third- this part may take from the other two at times- goes to my kids. I want them to have healthy role models. I did not see healthy living as a kid. Seems like it was either feast or famine at my house. Celebrations centered around food, then diets would be all too common and obvious. There was no activity for the sake of moving, having fun, and feeling good- there was only exercise as a means for weight loss. I know that these things impacted my outlook - I became them! I do not want this for my children. I want them to know how to live a healthy life- to know because they see a positive example: their parents doing so. I do not want my son to be "the big boy", but even more I don't want my daughter to have worse-than-average body issues because of what I've done or how *I* look. More than anything, I want her to grow up and remain the HEALTHY, HAPPY girl she is now, know what I mean?

Through this reflection, and some life experience, I have come to the realization that I have a food addiction. I came across a list of questions online that tell if you might be a "Food Addict"... Yeah, 16 out of 20 for me. Scary and sad to think of what I've done. I think it also bears noting because this is how I am. It's not just "Geez, Tina, then don't buy oreos"... It's much deeper than that. I don't think that Overeater's Annonymous or Food Addicts Annonymous are for me- they both have a religious base, and it would take much MORE work for me to get to "that place", I think. So, for the time being, I'm working through it on my own.

I'm using SparkPeople.com to track my calories in and out. It helps me track my progress and even tells me where I "should" be. Makes that part much easier. I love it. My name on there is "TinaMarieWelch"- I'd love more people to help keep me accountable. :) I've even gone in and started entering the SPECIFIC nutrition content for items I eat often- food from the school cafeteria, soups I make from recipes, etc. Before I would choose something "close" and I realized today that my entry of "Pizza Hut Veggie Lovers Pizza, 1 slice" was ONE HUNDRED calories less than the actual pizza I ate! OOPS! No more! I'm going to be as specific as I can. In this vain, I also got out my new "kitchen scale" last night. It was an eye opening experience to see how small that 3 oz portion of chicken was. Wow. Portion size is my downfall- even when eating healthy foods, I just eat TOO MUCH of them! No more guestimating or eyeballing portions- real measurement from here on out.

To top it off, I started the year with two exercise games for the Wii- Wii Fit Plus and Wii Active. I like them both, but made excuses every night after work. Truly, by the end of the day, I'm exhausted. The only minutes I've had without the kids are the time I'm physically AT work and the 3 minutes it takes to drive from Abby's school to mine in the morning. It's draining! Exercise isn't the first thing on my mind when they fall asleep at night, to be honest. SO- I started a group at work! A group of ladies is staying after school three days a week to exercise together! Mondays and Thursdays, we meet in my classroom and do an aerobics DVD with the projector and the big screen (it's cool, really! LOL). Wednesdays we are going to walk on the track. I did three days of REAL workouts this week (not the lazy kind I can get away with when I'm alone at home!) and it feels GREAT!