Here we go again.

So, I'm on a health kick. Go ahead, I'll wait while you laugh. :)

Shawn's work is taking part in a city wide weight loss challenge that is sponsored by a hospital here. They put a team together and Shawn texted me from work a few weeks ago and asked if I wanted to be on their team. Do I WANT to? No, not particularly. Do I NEED to. Yes. So I'm doing it.

So basically people form teams and they go get officially weighed in at one of the participating businesses around town and then for the next five months we diet and exercises and we have to go weigh in again once a month and the team that loses the most weight by the first part of June wins money. And in the meantime they're offering free weeks at different gyms, free fitness classes, free nutrition classes and a bunch of other fun little incentives to keep the progress moving.

So we went last night and did our first weigh in. Ugh. That's all I have to say about that. Remember when I started riding my bike and running and I lost all that weight and I was so happy and then I crashed and burned? I'm still mad at myself for giving that up, and I dread starting over. I've tried to start over a few times and I just couldn't make a it stick.

But life has given me another opportunity to start over, so here I am. Will I be successful? I have no idea. I'm not even going to pretend that I'm super gung ho and ready to tackle this, but I am willing to give it a try. Just like going back to school, I'm going to take it one day at a time and do my best.

But one thing that is giving me motivation is a trip Shawn and I may be taking in June. Josh has his two big trips coming up. He's doing an American history tour of the East Coast at the beginning of June, and that trip ends in Washington DC and his France trip starts in DC four days later. So Shawn and I have been kicking around the idea of flying to DC to spend those four days with him and then getting him off on his France trip and then going to NYC for a few days. Shawn has never been do New York City and would love to see it and I have talked to my mentor (who lives in NYC) about the possibility of us meeting up for dinner while we're there, which I'm really excited about!

So we're tentitively planning a trip for June, which is right when this fitness challenge ends. It would kind of be a fun incentive for us to work really hard on diet and exercise for the next five months and then reward ourselves with a fun vacation. I'm still trying to decide if I can justify the expense when we have college tuition to pay for and some other things coming up this year, but I think it would be a fun adventure for us so I'm trying to budget and figure out the logistics and see if I can make it work. We would fly into DC, spend four days there with Josh, get him dropped off with his France group, take the train or the bus to NYC, spend a few days there and then fly home from there. I've been pricing flights and hotels and trying to figure it all out. I'm pretty sure it's going to happen, but I'm still researching it. It would be a fun weight loss incentive, and it would also be right before our 19th wedding anniversary, so it would be a fun little anniversary trip.

So that's what I'm working on right now. This is a terrible time for me to start my fitness goals, because it's January, and if you have followed my blog you know how much I hate January! We've reached the really bleak part of winter. It's cold, it's dark and it's grey. Trying to motivate myself to jump on the treadmill and eat right when I really just want to stay in bed and eat comfort food is a struggle for me. This would be easier if I was starting in the spring when the sun comes out and I'm a little more lively, but I'm going to give this a try. It helps that Shawn and I are doing it together. I texted him from the treadmill this morning and he cheered me on. Today has been a good diet and exercise day. I will strive for the same tomorrow.

So right now I'm taking a math class, I'm on a diet, I'm back on the treadmill and it's January. It's like the perfect storm of suckage, lol. That's pretty much a list of all the things I hate, all at once. But I'm hanging in there! I'm taking life one day at a time and I'll do my best. If I stick with it, things will be looking pretty good in a few months. I'll get there.