Oohh, my aching...WAIT. It doesn't hurt?

I cannot believe the month of February is almost over!

I mean, I know it's the shortest month and all, but WOW.

Since it is the shortest month, I had made that goal to use my elliptical for at least 20 intense minutes for every weekday this month. And I think I just might make it.

*HOLD FOR APPLAUSE*

Four more days to go. This past weekend, I've even added in some strength training with handweights. To make it all more effective, I've joined Sparkpeople.com and am now tracking my nutrition as well. Last month, I cut back on my carb intake. BIG TIME. While it works well, it only works when you take it to the extreme. Then, when you decided to rejoin the human race and eat REAL FOOD, all the weight just comes back. Sometimes, those original pounds bring a few friends too!

And I was really starting to miss toast.

It took me two weeks of staring at the 'My Nutrition' page. I would click around a little bit, then move to another page. After all, I didn't need that, right? It all just seemed so complicated. Then, my scale stopped moving. Things had come up and I had days where I would be stuck at a birthday party somewhere and there would be nothing for me to eat but junk food. I wouldn't overdo it, but it would totally mess with the whole low carb thing I had going on. So, I started plugging in some foods that I almost always eat into the little database on the page. I saved them to 'My Favorites' and added them into the meals when they were eaten. I just ate in a way that I thought was healthy. And then I looked at my page at the end of the day. I wasn't eating enough calories or carbs and I had eaten too much fat. Even though it still seemed like I was eating pretty well, it wasn't well enough to make a difference. It seemed that my low carb tendencies were rearing their ugly heads.

So, I now try to plan out my meals at the beginning of each day. I log everything I plan to/did eat into my meals for the day. At the end of each day, I know exactly how many grams of carbs, protein, fat, fiber and calories that I am eating. I aim to hit the goal that the site sets for me for all of those counts. And you know what? I'm doing it! I'm eating real food, too! The more fruits and veggies I add into my diet, the more easily I hit those goals. But, I can ultimately eat whatever I want. I just modify the rest of what I'm eating for that day. And if I eat too much? Well...tomorrow's another day, right? In the meantime, my clothes are fitting better and I have more energy than I ever thought possible. The scale still isn't moving too quickly, but I'm not sure that it should. I'm just glad to know that I'm not depriving myself of any nutrients to lose weight. I guess I could call this losing it the 'right way.'

Whoodathunkit? I KNOW!

Slow and steady wins the race. And I no longer think that my elliptical machine is trying to kill me. We've been getting along pretty well lately and I no longer curse its name under my breath. As a matter of fact, I'm starting to look forward to getting all red-faced and gasping for air each day. The sense of accomplishment I get is totally worth it!