And so begins the holiday feeding frenzy...

Well, another Thanksgiving has come and gone. We had my family to our house again this year--- fun and good food but a lot of work. I think maybe next year we'll make someone else do all the cooking. We had the traditional menu: turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, green bean casserole, rolls (that were shaped like stars), pumpkin pie, and then my mom made a little bit of mashed sweet potatoes. Oh, and Jerry made sweet potato chips-- really good!

I can see that I'm getting heavier already. I know that I need to stop eating so much and choose better things to eat, but it's so hard. For example, I have 1/2 a pumpkin pie in the fridge that Jerry won't eat. So, either I throw the whole thing in the garbage or I'll wind up eating it on my own. I know I should just throw it but I really want to eat it!! It's just so frustrating and it's hard for me to fight the cravings! AGH!!

It was a really busy week so I didn't get to the gym as much as I would have liked... and now that it's holiday season there are going to be a billion more people at the gym. I'll have to be sure to go as early as possible and beat the others who get off of work between 4 and 6. I haven't started lifting weights yet... still just doing the elliptical and then leaving. Sometimes I'll do some crunches and stretches. Overall, I think I'm a pretty ineffective exerciser. Oh well. At least I try a little bit.

On another note, my thesis was accepted and all I have to do now is make final copies and turn them into the grad school! YAY!! I'll graduate on December 20 with my M.A. in communication. Now comes the challenge of finding a job. I've been looking different places but haven't found anything really amazing yet. I think young people nowadays (myself included) go through school thinking that after graduation the most perfect job will just fall into their laps. I've come to realize that the perfect job may be years away. As long as I can find something that I don't hate and that pays reasonably well, I'll be happy.

My goal for this next week is to work out on Monday, Wednesday and Friday; eat less and better foods; and submit my application materials to three different places. Oh, and to put the Christmas tree up! That will be the best part of the week, for sure!

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Lunch and 5Ks

I weighed myself the other day and I've gained 10 pounds since June. YUCK. I just feel gross and heavy and want to make it stop. I've been having such a bad sweet tooth lately. I always feel like I want to bake... and I LOVE baking so it's hard to NOT do something I really like. Normally when I bake I bring the goods to school and share with the office, but lately I've been keeping the goods at home and eating them myself. Well, this really only happened once but it was bad! I ate an entire Better Than Sex Cake by myself!!

Anyway, I'm trying to get back on track with my eating and activity. I've gone to the Y twice this week and will go again tomorrow (I think). I've started eating better breakfast foods but it's hard to get lunch and dinner under control. Jerry doesn't like to eat at home and I'm easily convinced to go to Zorbaz, Lakeside, or the Fireside. Even if it's just for lunch I find it hard to eat a lunch-sized meal. Today, for example, we went to Zorbaz and I ate almost an entire order of spaghetti plus half a pint of Blue Moon. I normally wouldn't have the beer but Jerry's doing this World Beer Tour thing and I help out sometimes.

When I was at the Y yesterday I saw Dakota and she asked me if I wanted to do the Jingle Bell Run with her and a couple other people. I think it would be fun and it would be something I've never done before but I really don't think I could do it. When it comes to running/jogging I'm so slow and tire so easily. I could go on the elliptical for hours but the treadmill just kills me. I've been around running and marathons and races my whole life (my mom is a marathon runner) but I've never been able to participate in them because I'm so slow. I was thinking I could just speed-walk it... but is that too embarrassing? Speed-walking? That's what moms and old people do. I can't speed-walk... can I? Maybe I could convince Jerry to do it with me...

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