Time for the diet - again

I have decided that I need to restart my diet. I keep saying that, I know. But now it is time. I am too ashamed to put my starting weight on here. I lost about 30 pounds two years ago on this diet and did really well until this past Christmas. I think I ate too many noodles, and cookies, and cakes, and, well, you get the idea. I actually don't have a scale at home, so I could not put an accurate starting weight on here. I think I will go ahead and put it out there. I weighed in at 190 at my last visit to the health department. That means I gained back everything that I lost the first time. I am going to spend some time today planning out my meals and get started tomorrow. I know that traditionally people start their diets on Monday's. Monday's don't work so well for me. I will try starting tomorrow and see where I go.

Any one out there interested in dieting together? We can either follow the same diet and I would gladly share my materials or try a different diet from mine and we can compare results. Let me know and we can hold ourselves accountable to one another and see if that helps us stick to it!

Challenge Update and My Weekend

I did not spend money on a hotel this weekend so that saved me about $65 dollars. Then we went to walmart and bought a gazeebo. Total spent was $76. About the cost of one night at a hotel. Fortunately I do not have to spend this money again. I had one last year as well, but I only paid about $25 for it and I totally got what I paid for. This new one is pretty nice and should hold up much better. We did also get some McDonalds after the ball game on Saturday because my son was starving. The game was almost 40 minutes late starting and although they did not play the whole game (the ump called the game cuz my son's team was slautering the other team), it was later than expected and so we grabbed some food on the way back to the campgrounds. I also got a burger and a milkshake on my way home. It was super hot (over 90-it's only April!), and since I try to not run the air conditioner in my van while I am driving in the mountains, I needed something to cool me off. I was just going to get the shake but figured I should eat some food as well. So all in all not terrible, but not really any savings this weekend. Next time there will be a whole lot more savings because I will be more prepared by having a gazeebo for some shade and shelter and having some sandwiches in the cooler premade.
I also got sunburned pretty bad on my forehead. My arms got burned a bit, but they did not really hurt and are already turning brown. My forehead already has that bumpy feel to it that tells me it is going to peel. EEEEEWWWWW! Peeling, and on my face! Groooosssss! Since it does not hurt I may try to help it along when it actually starts peeling. I am also going to get a hat from my dad! I used to have a straw hat, but between the girls and the cats, sadly it is no more. I also planned on being out in the sun before my next visit to help prevent sunburn. Except it is supposed to rain every day this week, and be cloudy this weekend. I want sun!!!
I have also discovered that while the games on Saturday are okay, I will not do any more practices on Sundays. It really felt like it cut into our day. All in all it was a good trip. We had a nice time playing together, just being together. It felt like it had been a long time since I had visited with my son since last time was only for one day. I am hoping this gets resolved soon, I have three visits this summer that get shortened to one day due to the holiday schedule. One in June, one in July and one that already happened in April. I don't like only one day. I want my whole weekend. I feel like I am pouting here, but I also feel like I have been cheated out of enough of my son's life, I should get all days for my visits. Not to metion how long I have to drive just to see him for a few hours. Of course, other than my son, no one down there really cares about that. My son cares and last time we had a short visit, he had lots of things to say about it. It obviously doesn't change anything, but does allow him to vent. I told him this weekend that we had a couple more short visits just to prepare him.
As far as the camping goes, I let my son pick whichever spot that he wanted and then reserved it through July to make sure that we would have a spot, especially Memorial Day weekend. They are usually filled to the brim with campers even in the parking lot, and tents just everywhere in the field next to the parking lot. It was crazy last year how many people were out there. I also get my son for Labor Day but I will wait a little longer for that reservation with the hope that he is already home.
I also restarted my diet today. I realized that the pool will be opening soon and my son will want to swim. They also have a water slide that he enjoys but does not like to go down it by himself. I am going to have to lose a few pounds before I put on a bathing suit! I plan to weigh myself tonight at my mom's. I am not even sure my suit would fit if I don't lose some weight. I will follow my diet that I used a couple of years ago that I did well on. It is supposed to be a change in eating habits when you are done with the actual diet. However, I like food, especially sugar-y chocolate-y tasty goodness. Really, just all treats. I am a junk food junkie. I really hope to fix that and be able to follow the changes the diet plan recommends long term. We will see.

Update

Wow, the hounds on the Grocery Challenge were busy pups this past weekend. I myself was again without a car. I took it in for an alignment and came away with more work to be done. Fortunately my dad was able to give me $200. He took it from his "bail money", although lately he has been bailing me out more than ever. I also got $200 from my mom. That bought the parts and paid for the labor, and I only paid about one third of what I would have paid for the original shop charges. I found a friend that was willing to give up his weekend for a little cash. Now it is back at the tire shop for the alignment. I also discovered that my antifreeze is still leaking. I do not have any puddles where I park at work or at home, so I am leaking while I am driving. I can't afford to fix that right now, so I will just buy some antifreeze in the morning and keep fillin' her up!

On a side note, I called a friend of mine last night figuring I would leave a message and she was actually home and available. (She has three kids and a full time job so she is almost always busy.) I was really excited to be able to catch up with her for a bit last night. She said the same and said that the phone call was not long enough and that I needed to come over for dinner. So I am going tonight. We are having spaghetti as I still cannot really chew since my tooth fell out. She asked me what we should have as she had spaghetti left over or she could make italian beef. I am not really a fan of beef (which she knew), plus she thought it was kind of funny when I told her I probably could not chew an Italian beef sandwich! I told her I could just have some baby food with the baby!
I still cannot afford to fix my tooth right now. I did come up with the grand idea of buying some of that stuff I have seen at CVS for tooth repairs. It says it is for loose fillings and caps and crowns. I followed the directions and "re-inserted" my tooth on Saturday morning, and it stayed in all the way until Sunday evening. I tried to "re-glue" it but it just would not stay in. Then this morning as I was sitting at my desk, another portion of the tooth that was still left fell out. I think this is probably why it would not stay glued in. I am going to give it another try tomorrow to see if it works. Here is keeping my fingers crossed. And hopefully my teeth in!
The plus side to not having a vehicle is that I stayed home all weekend. No hounding, but boy did I get a lot accomplished on my to-do list. I am almost completely done organizing and purging the downstairs (which was part of my new year's resolutions). I have one corner of stuff left, and most of it goes upstairs. I just need to sort it to decide how much of it is trash, and take the rest on up. Then I will finish the upstairs, which is my son's room and playroom. Then I will be able to mark that off my resolution list as complete!
I have also lost five pounds. Since I cannot chew food right now, I am not sure how that will affect my weight loss attempts. I will just have to wait and see (hopefully less of me to see!).
I also plan on continuing my saving time and money posts this week.

Resolutions-Weight Loss

I have been making good on my resolution to re-organize my home. Now it is time to make good on my weight loss resolution. I begin my journey today. I weighed myself this morning at my mom's ( I do not have a scale). I weighed 185 pounds dressed for work. I will make sure I wear comparable clothes each week to make certain I am not claiming a greater loss than actual because my clothes were lighter. I had my boots on which I probably should have taken off for the weight check as I know they are heavy. I will follow the same diet that I followed a couple of years ago when I lost 30 pounds. I have since gained about 20-25 pounds back. So off it will go again. For some of my other resolutions, I am still trying to work on them as well. Time to get off the couch and start getting things accomplished!