March 2019 means it has officially been 5 months since I gave birth to our second daughter. I am still 20+ lbs overweight. Yuck. But don’t worry, I have an excuse for each month so far.

Jackie was born in early October, and I lost about 15 lbs right off the bat. Thank you breastfeeding! November and December were holiday months so I went ahead and gave up on myself just like everyone else does that time of year. January was supposed to be my “get back in shape!” “New Year – New Me!” month; but I got sick for the ENTIRE month. Like, coughing so bad I went to urgent care twice and I did some serious damage to my ribs sick. February I no longer had the Goddamn Devil’s cough, but my ribs were still killing me and I was super cranky about it so I binge ate all the chocolate and pastry I could get my hands on. Hello, pity party for one you’re table’s ready. We have a whole lot of cheese to go with that whine (I should probably mention that I also binge eat expensive cheese when I’m sad. Thank God my husband works so hard and is a saint.)! Oh, and in February it snowed here in the greater Seattle area. A LOT. For two weeks straight! So yeah, I couldn’t have gone running or to the gym if I wanted too. And I got really depressed about everything. So now, here I am, SUPER ready for a fresh start and NO MORE EXCUSES! Here is the plan:

  • Smoothie for breakfast every day
  • Soup for lunch every day
  • Rigorous exercise at least 15 minutes per day (walking and gardening doesn’t count)
  • No refined sugars, can’t eat anything with more than 5 ingredients (unless it’s homemade, as in Soup or bread)
  • No alcohol

. . . Fastforward to the end of March and here we see a primary example of why I need to have a blog and to actually publish what I write. Accountability people!!! Not only did I not publish (or even finish!) this post, but I also most definitely did NOT stick to this plan. Super sad face.

My March Madness is now officially facing the fact that I have a hard time completing anything. I have lots of great ideas, and sooooo many projects that are in various stages of incompleteness. It is literally maddening. So this title still fits. I will go ahead and publish this as a virtual slap on my wrist and plan on starting this diet and exercise regime back up in April and maybe even try to have weekly updates. With photos. And specific examples on where I broke down and why. Accountability! Yay!! Maybe I will even buy a scale. The weather is finally nice here and I really don’t like feeling so uncomfortable in my own skin. I need to do whatever it takes to snap myself into action.

Writing about this is mostly for myself (let’s be honest, nobody is reading this blog, so the entire thing is pretty much an exercise for myself) so it’s important for me to remind myself of the main reasons I wanted to start this in the first place. I am trying to hold myself accountable in my quest to lead a better life. A life that is better for myself, for my family and for the planet. Since I am no longer bringing income into this house, I need to figure out how to spend less money. When I review my credit card statements, most of the money I spend is at grocery stores. Very sad but true. A lot of what I buy goes to waste too. Technically, since I’m composting it will enrich our soil eventually so it’s not a total waste, but you know what I mean. If I eat less food, especially expensive desserts, cheeses an alcohol, we will save more money. And I will likely be healthier and look and feel better because of it.

It’s time to stop complaining and start doing. No more cheese. No more whine. No more pity party.