Been Awhile # 2014 Back on Track and Facebook Free

     Wow, time sure does seem to fly!  I didn't realize I hadn't blogged since 2012.  I'm back on track AGAIN with taking care of my health.  I never truly stopped over the past year and a half.  I just didn't write about it and the struggles.  I continued to run and eat healthy, but still feed my stress.  After the holidays and many outfits not fitting as well as they should and the pair of jean capris I could wear over the summer, but were now unable to even go over my hips, I decided it was time to concentrate on me again.  As my blog link states, chips-n-dip-hips!  This girl loves chips and it is my stress indulgence, which was every single day.  Over the holiday break I made the time to go to the gym almost every day, but with the same eating habits.  Therefore, I wasn't losing an inch of this muffin top.  I signed back up for WeightWatchers Online on Jan. 5 and have been on track ever since.  I've already lost pounds and inches.  Eating healthy really is key.  Plugging that food into the daily tracker really puts your portion sizes and choice of foods into perspective.  That is something I just need.  Has it been a struggle in the evening when I come home from work and on the weekends?  YES!  I go to bed hungry and unsatisfied, because my palate wasn't indulged in the bag of chips I really want to eat or those four slices of pizza.  On the bright side, I'm not bloated and my legs are not swelling every day from the massive amounts of sodium in the processed foods I was used to eating.  I force myself to the gym 5 days a week and those 3 days a week at 5 am are getting easier.  I was always getting up at 4 am anyway, but would just sit on the couch and drink coffee and read FB posts and scroll Pinterest.

     I decided 2014 was going to be the year I stepped away from being glued to my iPhone with that addictive little social media app # Facebook.  I loved it for the networking on craft pages and keeping in touch with family and a few close friends, but it has just turned to crap - or maybe I'm just tired of the negativity and a whole list of things I do not care to mention.  I started by removing the app from my phone before Christmas.  That way if I really wanted to check it, I had to hop on the computer.  I checked the first few days on the computer maybe 3 times a day.  Then it went to every few days, to a week, to nothing.  That last time I checked it after the New Year and read through the long list of posts, I decided I'm done with it and deactivated my account.  I had 142 friends and family on my "friends" list and started thinking, "Are they all really friends?  Do they really give a crap about my life?  Do I really care about the drama in theirs?"  The answer was "NO."  I have my own drama and issues.  If those so called friends and family really have something to share with me, they can pick up the phone or send a text.  Since that time, I've had one out of state friend reach out to me.  So, you really do see who are your friends and who really cares, besides the so called "friends" that just troll your FB page without leaving a comment or the ones that have 200 plus friends and probably never see anything you post anyway.  I just have to say, it has been invigorating!  Now, if I can just find a new position at work, because the place is sucking the soul out of me.

     I busted my ass for two years to finish up my BA and move into a different position.  Well, I did it!  But, I was mislead and the job description I applied for isn't even half of what I have been stuck doing and I'm flat out pissed.  And yes I do have a shitty and negative attitude about the whole thing.  I put on a smile at work and vent to my few close co-worker friends on my irritation, but I'm really bummed out.  Have I tried to do something about it?  Find a new position?  Yes on both.  Am I grateful to have a job?  Yes.  I'm a doer if I'm not happy with something, but in this city, jobs are sparse and with lay-offs, there are not many options within my company.  I'm trying to suck it up, but it is so unchallenging and demeaning to my hard work to obtain my degree.  Press on, move on…

     Now, back to #Belly Fat.  I swear with age, it is harder to get rid of the belly fat!  After I had my son when I was 28, my waistline slimmed and it looked as though I never had a kid.  Now that I'm 35 and for the past few years, no matter how thin I get, my waistline seems to have disappeared.  I put on that bikini (in the presence of my own backyard) and see pictures my husband takes and my stomach still looks like crap.  It isn't horrible by any means, but not the long and lean I'd like.  It doesn't help that I'm 4'11 - probably shorter at this point. :-)  However, I want to look in the mirror and look 25 again.  Hell, I see women in the gym older than me with a lean torso.  I know I can do it, so here is the start of my journey.