New start

I feel like I haven't posted in a while. I almost gave up eating right and exercising a few days ago. It's hard! But I instead decided to take it up a notch and start P90X over again on the harder version. I'm on day 2 and I'm so glad I didn't give up!
I also gave myself some new motivational tools (thanks to Pinterest). One is a jar that has 35 rewards written on slips of paper, such as a bubble bath, no chores for a day, and two of them are piercings! When I lose a pound I randomly pick out a reward for myself. I also have two jars, and one has 35 gems in it. Every time I lose a pound, I move a gem over to the second jar. It's like a more tangible way to see my weight loss.
I also have a motivational page on Pinterest that I pin pictures on that inspire me in my weight loss goals. Mostly women that look like how I want to look. I've definitely got a new focus! And it feels great.

Short Term Goals

I decided last night that I need to create some short term goals. I want to lose ten pounds by the end of August, followed by ten pounds every month and a half after that until the new year. If I stick to these mini goals, I will reach my goal by then. I'm just tired of halfway doing this. I need to put a fire under me so that I can stay focused. I have definitely plateaued and I know it's because of my eating. It's not out of control or anything but I do eat more than my points allowance most of the time. So it's time to really focus on some short term, attainable goals. 

On Shaky Ground

This weekend has been weird. On Friday my husband and I went to a lake and I ate Dorito's for the first time in months; then we went kayaking for two and a half hours. On Sunday I had Baked Lay's chips and too much cereal, but I did my P90x cardio. Then tonight I ate 3 slices of french toast and 5 strips of bacon...then went running for 20 minutes in hot weather. It's like I'm torn. I'm so used to this healthy lifestyle, yet my body still craves the old food. The only thing I can think to do is choose to not have the unhealthy stuff. I threw out the Baked Lay's bag (which was almost half full). What's wrong with Baked Lay's? Nothing...except I can eat the whole bag in one sitting!
The book Weight Loss Boss by the president and CEO of Weight Watchers talks about managing your environment. He says that willpower is HIGHLY overrated. If you manage your environment (ie. throwing out the chips, not frequenting fast food places, keeping lots of fresh fruits and veggies in the house), then it is much, much easier to maintain a healthy lifestyle. I suppose that's what I have to do, which is what I've been doing except for this weekend. I need to get back to the "no junk food" thing, put on motivation every day, and do my exercises in a timely manner (I have a habit of skipping them if I wait too late in the day). Just refocusing.