Back to the grind

As our summer break comes to an end – rather quickly I might add – it is very obvious to me that the kids’ break from school equals Mom’s break from the day-to-day grind.  No, I don’t work full-time.  My grind during the past school year has been getting healthy and losing this weight! 

There is nothing cozier than having the kids home with NO schedules, NO homework, NO obligations that require me to drive them here there and everywhere by a set time.  And cozy is what got me to here in the first place: in need of getting the weight off.  When I’m cozy, I like something yummy to eat to go along with that cozy feeling.  The kids are home on break? Well we’re going to enjoy ice cream, frozen yogurt, sub sandwiches – don’t forget the chips!, eggs/bacon/toast/fruit for breakfast, and easy-breezy dinners because really, who wants to cook come 5:00 on a sweltering summer evening? All this coziness and a side of “it’s way too hot to be outside doing much of ANYTHING”! And there you have it. Time for Mama to get back on the boat if the goal is to be reached!

It has occurred to me that if I want to lose this last 15 pounds, and honestly, not rediscover any of the 26 pounds I lost in the past year, I need a new mindset about “cozy”!! It’s why new couples pack on the pounds, new brides tend to put on some newlywed weight, and I myself did ALL that and then some.  Spending time on the couch in front of the idiot box, relaxing with the man does not mean I need to stuff my face with crappy cozy treats!! On movie nights when the fam is all piled in on a chilly fall night, which we are so overdue for (chilly nights I mean), does not mean a free-for-all!!! Pop, candy, popcorn drenched in fake butter? As Bethenny Frankel has written, “you can have it all, just not all at once”.

New rules must be implemented to be successful on the “Phase 2” of my weight-loss journey, because 26 pounds ain’t gon’ cut it for this girl.  I have a very specific look in mind for my body and even if it takes me another full year to get there, I’m going to get there.  Maybe there are more good reasons than just a clean house for the kids going back to school: Mama’s gotta get her groove back! And an “empty nest” for six hours is just what I need to make it happen.