Fat mama

Last summer I lamented to someone that I was stress-eating like crazy while waiting for my LOSC/TA/CA. (These are acronyms for various stages of paperwork.) I can't remember who it was - I made that lament a lot - but they assured me that I'd lose the pounds quickly after AwesomeCloud came home, because I'd be chasing him around so much.

Didn't happen.

He didn't walk until January - that's five months after we adopted him. And then, he was cautious and timid. And I continued to stress-eat.

I'm not one of the unfortunate many who have an infuriatingly slow metabolism and can't lose weight no matter how little they eat. My metabolism is definitely in the 'manageable' range. It's quite responsive to the amount of eating and/or exercise I do. I have to work very hard to get results, but if I do the work, I get the results. And if I eat too much and exercise too little, I gain about as much weight as the experts predict I will.

So I know my weight gain is directly due to my habits. Have I changed my habits? Not much. I do a few things to mitigate the amount of weight I gain, like drink water, or add veggies to everything I cook. But then I eat a big heaping bowl of ice cream. So while I can mitigate the gain, I can't seem to stop it, or to actually lose any weight.

Likewise with the exercise. I try to dance a little every day, but it's hard. It's hot, I'm lethargic, and until now I accomplished little by chasing ol' Too-Timid AwesomeCloud five steps this way and three steps that way. More often I have to stop and wait on him.

That just changed.

Cloud has become enraptured with jogging. He's seen joggers jog by our house and he's so totally inspired by them. He even loves the word 'jog.' He wants to jog, and he expects me to jog alongside him saying "Jog jog jog jog" the whole way. And even though his little legs can only propel him at a speed that equals walking for me, he expects my knees to go up just like I'm really jogging.

I'm glad he goes slowly, though. I need to build myself back up again. I'm not as fit as I used to be.

Will this lead to weight loss? Well... it depends on how well I address the ice cream problem.

I bought ice cream sandwiches, figuring I could limit my portion sizes better if I only eat one a day (and none some days), but today I ate two of them. Ooops.

Hey. It was hot out.

I always do better starting in September anyway, when I can move again. But early mornings aren't so bad. Maybe Cloud and I can start jogging after breakfast.