Sloppy to Skinny in Three Weeks

IT'S FAT TO FIT BLOG HOP TIME COURTESY OF THE LOVELY LUCY!

My step-dad told me something once and it's never gone out of my head.  It's like a bad jingle that I can't forget and it always plays at my weakest, most self-loathing, moments.

"High Ideals, But Sloppy Habits"

He analyzed my handwriting once when I was a teenager and said my handwriting revealed that I had high ideals, but sloppy habits.  He apparently acquired his graphology skills while planted on his barstool at the Horseshoe Casino because that was what my mom referred to as his "office."  Guess he had lots of experience reading names and phone numbers off cocktail napkins and just naturally picked up the skill.

Regardless of the validity of his pronouncement, it stayed with me.

The worst thing is...that sometimes...it's true.  Not all the time, and not with all things...but when it comes to dieting - it's very, very, true.

Case in point, I was all fired up to lose weight last Summer.  I blogged about it here and here and here.  But when I began to just post comics about dieting, like I did here, well, you can tell I kind of lost my steam.

It  really does come down to sloppy habits.  Sloppy habits, like not stopping to think first about what it is I really need in that moment when I'm reaching for the bag of Doritos.  

Sloppy habits, like having seconds of my brother's killer mashed potatoes and peas without even waiting a few minutes to see if I was really still hungry.

Sloppy habits, like bagging out of getting on the eliptical for even a few minutes.

I can't reach my ideal weight, or my ideals, if I don't break the sloppy habits.

So, that's what I'm going to work on.  Breaking sloppy habits and making skinny ones.  They say it takes 3 weeks to develop a habit.  So for the next 3 weeks, these are my goals:

1.  Drink less booze.  It's a diet killer, I know.  I just love my evening cocktails cocktail.  I'm going to wait until 8PM to have one, and only two nights of the work week and then on the weekend.  Does that make me a lush?  Nevermind, don't answer that.

2.  I'm going to get on my eliptical on my lunch hour.  I live close enough to work that I can go home for lunch, so there's no reason I can't hop on the eliptical for 10 minutes.  I did it today, in fact, and it felt pretty darn good.

3.  I'm getting a food logging chart or calorie counter app for my phone so I can keep track of what I stuff in my mug.  I have a Blackberry and haven't had a chance to search for a weight loss app, but I will do that this week.  They say keeping a food journal helps, so I'm going to try that.  With technology now, counting calories isn't the chore it used to be. 

Well, that's it for now.  My three skinny habits to replace some sloppy ones.

Oh, and you know what I found out today is?  National Chocolate Cake day.  If that isn't an excuse to cheat on a diet, I don't know what is.  Fortunately, we have no chocolate cake.  I already ate it.