First of all, how are we already almost a week into February?! I swear, if I had a super power, it would definitely be the ability to stop time! (Or grant myself infinite wishes, and then one of those wishes would be to have the ability to stop time.)

I've been feeling pretty overwhelmed lately. Between grad school, two jobs, and working with a creative writing coach, I'm feeling like I'm behind all the time. It's a lot, but it's all stuff I want and/or need to be doing, so I simply have to figure it out.

So, I've been giving some thought to what I'd like to concentrate on for the next few weeks. Here's what I've come up with:

I need to re-commit to my "Lean Cuisine diet" (Six days per week)
* Healthy breakfast
* LC for lunch (w/ additional veggies)
* LC for dinner (w/ additional veggies)
* Healthy snacks
* Low calorie drinks, like Diet Snapple, VitaminWater Zero water, plain water

Pack my meals on school days!
I have a cooler than can live in the car, no problem.

Track EVERYTHING!
I'm usually pretty good about this, but had a few days towards the end of January (seriously, just a few!) that were kind of a disaster so this slipped a bit. And not planning my meals on school days has also been an issue when it comes to how to track them. So, it's back on my radar.

Stay within my calorie range every day.
This is also a struggle for me sometimes, and I need to just buckle down. If it's the end of the day and I've already had my calories for the day, then too bad. I need to drink water or some other beverage with zero calories. I suppose if I'm absolutely STARVING, then I could allow myself some baby carrots, or something that keeps me within 50 calories of my range, but only to be used in emergencies.

Create a detailed schedule for each day, and stick to it!
I look at everything I need to do and get overwhelmed, and then ignore it all like it will somehow magically get done. This has to stop, so I think I need to map it all out beforehand.
I also just realized that one of the reasons I struggle with the LC diet is because I don't have set meal times, so I'll have a snack when I should have dinner (because that's what I'm in the mood for), and then I'm not hungry or have used all my calories for the day. Putting meal times on the schedule will help, I'm sure.

Exercise...
I have to figure out some exercise things too, but that feels like more than I can handle right now, so the above are what I'm going to worry about for February. If I spend then next 23 days getting all of this down, I'll be way ahead!



Courtney