welcome to the next evolution

new goal: lose 20 pounds by my friend mary's christmas party.

i have 16 weeks, so i think i can do it.

i have sworn off eating out more than twice a week. this weekend i planned a menu, went to the grocery store, got some healthy food, and spent a lot of time cooking and food prepping for this week. i made a big pot of vegetable soup and salads for lunch. i roasted a chicken. i cooked a lot of veggies. all good. i also made some cookies that are not too bad as cookies go (they are oatmeal and peanut butter based, have less fat than most cookies, and use all brown sugar instead of white), and i am allowing myself a couple of those per day.

i got up on saturday morning and took myself on a moderate 2.75-mile hike, which was awesome and definitely somehting i want to do more often. and this morning i got out of bed early and did a 20-minute pilates workout at home. i have a dance class tonight, and then i am planning to go for a walk. today at work, i took the stairs.

baby steps, all, but i am trying to just alter things in my daily routine into something more active that i can live with. tomorrow morning, i will weigh--meant to do it today, but i totally forgot. then we'll see where i am.