To buy or to wait, that is the question...

Ok, I feel it’s only fair to warn you, this is going to be a ranting post...

I am stuck in a quandary. I, like so many other women, am somewhat dissatisfied with my body. I’m right on the line between normal and overweight BMI-wise, and I want to bring that down a bit, not a huge amount, just 15-20 lbs. tops.

I recently acquired a Wii Fit Plus setup, and I’ve been working at daily exercise for over a week now (a first for me, I’ve never had anything like a regular exercise routine before in my life) and, as is to be expected, my weight hasn’t really changed at all yet, but I’m hoping that with a slightly more restricted diet (no more cupcakes, damn it!) and daily exercise to work my way down that scale in a slow, healthy, maintainable way.

And then there’s my wardrobe. I have only very recently taken a slight interest in fashion, although I like to think of it more as style than fashion. I have no inclination to buy and wear things just because they’re ‘in’, but I have attained a greater appreciation for coordinating things and wearing outfits that make me look and feel good. I am currently in that awkward post-grad phase where most of my clothing is super casual and not very office-appropriate. Add to that the fact that the majority of items that I own are either thrifted, hand-me-downs, or things I’ve had for a very, very long time (seriously, the only shorts I own I bought in 8th grade, etc.) because I’ve seen no need to get rid of things that are still in good condition and fit relatively well. All of this makes for a very strange, random, and difficult-t0-maneuver wardrobe. Add to this my fairly recent climate change due to a cross-state move, and I think you’ll agree that it’s time for some wardrobe upgrades.

So what’s the problem, you might ask? Well, I’m having trouble reconciling myself to these two dissimilar ideas. Do I put off buying new things and getting rid of things that are too small until I’ve (hopefully) reached my weight-loss goal? Or do I go out and buy things to fit me now and try to be happy and contented with my body the way it is?

Both of these options have pros and cons. Waiting ‘till I’ve lost the weight means not wasting money and being able to pull things out of retirement to wear again. However, I find that I am less inclined to follow my own rules when I feel frumpy (I only have 2 pairs of pants at the moment. Who can live like that?) which stunts my weight loss progression.

Or option two, I go out and buy a bunch of stuff which makes me feel fabulous and raises my spirits, and my determination to look even better (and halts the stressed and sad eating) and suddenly all of those fabulous new clothes don’t fit anymore! Of course, for some items, this would mean a few simple alterations (at least once I get a decent sewing machine), but for others (PANTS) it would probably mean having to buy things all over again.

Of course there is the possible middle path of only buying a few supplementary items to bridge the gap between now and skinny, things which I know I can alter easily, etc. This is what I’ve been trying to do, but every time I find myself at a store, I’m paralyzed by the same thought: Why should I buy more fat clothes? I should be spending this time and energy exercising! 

Of course this could be partially solved by the presence of a sewing machine (I recently gave the one I was borrowing from my step mom up as a bad job, it was destroying everything I tried to make with it) which would mean being able to buy things that didn’t fit perfectly and make them work for me. 

Hmm, maybe that’s my answer! I’ll buy a decent sewing machine, and then I’ll be too busy making awesome things to do any stress-eating whatsoever!

Thoughts, anyone?

Presented Without Comment of the Day - The Daily What

Yet another reason to love Obama:

Presented Without Comment of the Day - The Daily What

A Bit of a Slow Start...

Alrighty, so, there have been a few things recently which have stopped me from really launching this project here, namely:

• I graduated! Yep, as of last Saturday I am no longer a student. Now I just have to figure out what to do with a BA in English Lit. and a Rhetoric minor...
• I had immense amounts of family visiting, which was awesome but certainly left no time for writing.
• 1/2 of my grand scheme has not arrived yet - My big graduation present, a Wii Fit setup, has yet to be delivered, which has put a bit of a damper on the whole start a regular exercise and diet plan.
• I spent yesterday helping my friend turn her disaster area of a room into a gorgeously organized zen haven. Seriously, I have way too much fun doing things like that and I think I'm pretty good at it. If the whole English thing doesn't work out I could totally be a organizational specialist.
• I have just a few days I'm taking for myself before I start working full-time (to celebrate the culmination of 16 years of schooling) to have fun and get my apartment in complete order post-move.

So, I'll let you know what I've been doing with the small bits of time I've had. 

First and foremost, I re-organized my organizer. This is her:

Don't ask me why she's a woman, but she is. Isn't she gorgeous?!

So, to set her up post-grad I needed to switch things around and add some new things. I used these nifty little tab stickies, and the section titles are currently in pencil, but once I've decided I like them the way they are I'll write over them with nice pen so they stop smudging. Here's the inside:

I removed all but 3 months of the calendar (I never seem to have to plan anything further ahead than that). Then I decided what sections I needed. In addition to the calendar, I have To Do, Work, Blog, Notes, Budget, Grocery List, Meal Plans/Recipes, Reminders (to read, to watch, to look up), and Personal. I made my own pages to fit my needs in each of these sections. Feel free to download and use as you please! Here are a couple of those pages:

I also made a new pen holder to put in the front and I took my old plastic pencil pouch and put it in the back to hold coupons and such:

So, now that I've got this wonderful new set-up, I've started helping a few of my friends get theirs organized and personalized. S. over at Going Frugal is making wonderful use of a different organizer I had lying around (I really don't need more than one :) and I hope she'll keep you updated as she personalizes it to meet her frugally minded needs. Maybe she'll make some improvements I can implement myself.

Food Plan

So, I recently met with a dietitian and got some really good information about the correct percentages of the different food groups that we should be eating every day. The information was somewhat surprising, especially given that stupid pyramid they made us learn in elementary school (I blame them for my carb addiction). Here’s what I found out:

Grains/Starches - 4-6 servings (1oz = 30g = 1 serving)

Fruit - 2 servings

Dairy - 3 servings

Vegetables - 3 cups

Protein/Meat - 5-7 oz. (Should include about ½ cup beans and ¼ cup nuts)

So, basically, just under half of our daily intake should be fruits and vegetables, around a quarter should be grains, and dairy and protein fill out there rest. Or, it comes down to a total of about 16 servings per day.

So, to get myself back into the small-meals-all-day mode, I’m going to write out a very specific menu for myself, and I’m going to eat every  2 hours, which means that I need to have around 2 servings at each meal.

My Foods:

Grains/Starches: Cereal, Pasta, Potato, Bagel, Crackers, Pretzels, Corn

Fruit: Grapefruit, Pear, Apple, Grapes, Orange (basically anything)

Dairy: Milk, Yogurt, Cottage Cheese, Cheese

Vegetable: Celery, Carrots, Green Peppers, Broccoli, Cauliflower, V8

Protein: Chicken, Almonds, Pistachios, Peanut Butter, Hummus, Eggs

So, here’s an example of what I propose to be eating every day:

Hour	Food	Category	Portion
8 am	Cereal Milk or Yogurt	Grain Dairy	2 1
10 am	Celery Peanut Butter	Vegetable Protein	1 1
12 pm	Hummus Crackers	Protein Grain	1 1
2 pm	Cottage Cheese Banana	Dairy Fruit	1 1
4 pm	Green peppers Almonds	Vegetable Nut	1 1
6 pm	Chicken Rice Veggie	Protein Grain Vegetable	1 1 1
8 pm	Yogurt Fruit	Dairy Fruit	1 1

The biggest challenge I foresee with this system is switching my snacks around to accommodate dinner, when I also cook for my boyfriend. I don’t want to be continually making two different meals, so I think I’ll have to focus mainly on portion size to keep myself on track. I think that, in order to get the correct number of servings of each category, I might have to start counting as of dinner one night and balance things out the next day until dinner, that way I can rearrange things according to the dinner I’ve already had, which leaves more wiggle room in the boyfriend-included meal. However, I’m going to try to plan meals a week in advance, and do all of the shopping for the week at once, something I have yet to master.

There are a few things which I anticipate being useful for achieving my goal, namely proper measuring equipment. Ideally I’d like to get a scale, but for now I’m going to try to actually use my measuring cups and use smaller dishes to keep an accurate image of portion size in my mind.

Once I get a full week planned out (starting with dinners and working the rest to fit around it) I'll share that with anyone who might be interested.

Wish me luck!