Week Two: "I give myself very good advice, but I very seldom follow it."

As for the title... It's from my very favorite story of Alice in Wonderland. I love Alice. I identify with her so well. This quote is so true. I tell myself what to do ALL. THE. TIME. But, of course, I very seldom follow it. 

Case in point for today... Restarting my weight loss journey and blogging about it.

Okay, so with Labor Day weekend and all, I skipped last week. There really wasn't a Monday since the last Monday was technically just another Sunday... (I am great at rationalizing, aren't I!?). So, last week (two weeks ago) I was supposed to actually do something. And I did. I started Shakeology. Have I stuck to it? Mostly. Okay, honestly, have I stuck to it? Kinda,but not really. I have the shake every day, but I haven't added in the necessary exercise or watched my calories on all my other meals. So, it pretty much completely defeats the purpose of doing the whole Shakeology program. So, as punishment, and as a fresh start, (and because I have a seriously sore throat and am all stuffed up, so I can't really enjoy eating or tasting things as much as I usually would) I decided to do the Shakeology Cleanse. It's 3 days, and I pretty much just drink (nutritional) shakes and green tea, and am treated with a small piece of grilled fish or chicken at the end of the day. 

I'm trying to get myself kicked into gear because this past weekend I went to a bridal show with my mom. I, being the expert rationalizer, figured you only had to order your dress 6-8 months before your wedding (honestly, I really did hear that from people, or a website, or something. I heard it. That's what counts). I figured I'd push it to the extreme and order it six months ahead of time (doing my shopping in February or March), and that leaves me six months to get to a weight acceptable for trying on my dream gowns. So, while at the show, they had promotions like book an appointment and get $100 off your purchase. Well, me being a sucker for coupons and a good deal, I booked an appointment. My (approximate) conversation... 

Me: "How far out do you book?"

Shop Owner: "Only until December."

Me: *silent*

*My thought: Dang... I just missed a great deal.

Shop Owner: "When are you getting married?"

Me: "Oh, not for a long time. October 20th of next year"

Shop Owner: "Well, you know really with designers now, we like at least 8 months allowance to get the dress delivered, and at least 2 months for alterations. So, you really should be looking at dresses 10 - 12 months before your wedding."

*My thought: Oh my. Oh my. How am I going to do this? What happened to those other 4 - 6 months I had!?

Me: "Oh! Okay, well then let's schedule an appointment for mid-December"

So, basically, instead of feeling like I had all this time to prepare the miniature version of my current self for my wedding, I'm going to have to down-size as quickly as possible, but as safely as possible so that I don't suddenly balloon out as soon as I take my first bite of pizza after a year (yes, that's an exaggeration - I will not be giving up pizza for a year; that is just plain ridiculous). The point is, I don't want any super crazy crash diets where I only eat like 200 calories a day, or I don't eat any carbs at all, or I just plain don't eat, or I do, but I take crack or cocaine to minimize how much I need to eat and boost my energy level for exercise. So, I'm doing this cleanse for 3 days only (which is how long they tell you to do it). I figure, if I'm going to stick to eating right and exercising until my wedding day, I should at least be able to stick to a cleansing program for three measly days. Right!? RIGHT!?! (<--- That right there is me motivating myself). 

I'll check in on Thursday and let you all know how it went. Perhaps I will all of the sudden have dropped all of the weight I wanted to lose in three days! (Though I have a feeling that dropping a hundred pounds or more in three days is EXTREMELY unhealthy). Next week, hopefully I'll have something a little more fun to do.