A new day has dawned

OK, so here it dawned dark and rainy. On the bright side, I woke up and that's always a good thing!

Today brings the first day of my next 30 day challenge. I've thought a lot about what I want it to entail and I think I've finalized it. I'm going with the old adage of 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it', so I'm keeping last month's 3 items, and I'm going to add 2 new ones for this month.

So, drum roll if you please! Debby's 30 day challenge to herself is as follows!

1. Stay OP for 6 days a week
2. Exercise a minimum of 5 days a week, a minimum of 30 minutes each time
3. Plan food ahead
4. Do not eat in my recliner
5. Do not eat after 9PM (8PM on nights I don't play cards)

Sounds simple you say? Well, I think it's going to be very challenging.

I haven't eaten at the table since 2005. That's a lot of 'eating in my recliner' habit to break! I believe that when I want to eat at night (please notice that I didn't say 'When I'm hungry at night'), it's because I'm in the chair I eat in. I associate my recliner with food. OH SHIT! I JUST REALIZED I ATE MY BREAKFAST IN MY RECLINER! Talk about habit!!!!! OK, since I hadn't officially put my challenge in writing, I'm NOT counting that breach! Good grief, I told you this is going to be hard!

I love the park I live in. I play cards nearly every night. That means I have to eat dinner at 5PM so I always want, and really do need, a snack afterwards. I really want to get out of the habit of eating late at night and then going right to bed. So, this month, my snack will be consumed the minute I get home from cards and then that's it. I'm also going to try to keep it healthy and not comfort food. I'll save a fruit for at night. That should keep my tummy satisfied for the rest of the evening. If I want ice cream or popcorn etc. , I'll have it earlier in the day. What a concept, night time snacks in the afternoon when I'll have time to work them off! As it is now, I save several points for my night time snacking routine. It should make my food planning easier to not have to do that for sure!

Wish me luck people. If I complete this 30 day challenge, it'll definitely be the first time in my life I went 2 months being 'good'. I really want to do this for myself. It should let me see patterns in my weight loss and or gains. I tend to gain one certain week each month...well I think I do. This should show me if that's true or not. If I do find that's true, maybe I can start working on a way to help that week. Eat more points, eat less points, exercise more, exercise less....whatever.

Knowledge is power.