Little Baby Ninja Steps

So I decided that Mondays will be the day of reflection,  penance and renewal.

Reflection of how I did the previous week.

Penance for the missteps made.

Renewal to trod forward… 

Since I just started Thursday, I don't have a full week under my tight belt, but I did take some little bitty baby Ninja steps in my "Ninja-No-Nonsense-Don't-Pass-the-Wedding Cake" weight loss challenge aka The Ninja Diet.

First I read some inspiring articles I found on Pinterest, and from what I gleaned, here are some of my baby Ninja steps:

Step 1… One article suggested an ap called Plant Nanny. I promptly downloaded it but then promptly deleted it and then downloaded it again. It was supposed to get me to drink more water, but I had some difficulty in figuring out how to change the drinking cut size so I deleted it. But I thought I really didn't give it a fair shake, so I'm going to try and go for a week. We shall see. (Drinking lots of water apparently is key, key, key in losing weight.)  

Step 2… I decided to start my own weight loss Pinterest board as a quick reference and perhaps some inspiration.

Step 3…I scrolled through a bunch of old photos of me on my iPhone and decided--as if I needed confirmation--that yep… I'm a bit portly and NO, I really don't like the way I look.

Step 4…I started verbal affirmations (which I consider to be rather silly). I figure it falls under the "Fake-It-Til-You-Make It" category and all that visualization hooey malooey. So I've been telling myself such things as: "I look better after that water aerobics class!" "I feel better after that water aerobics class." "I am not hungry!" "I can do this!" "I don't need that tasty square of chocolate." 

Silly? You betcha! But hey, this is The Ninja Diet. No one is here but me…

The "Ninja-No-Nonsense-Don't-Pass-the-Wedding Cake" weight loss challenge

Well this blog really was quite the epic fail since it's been almost four years since I've written anything.

Jeepers creepers! An awful lot has happened since then… And weight loss wise, let's just underscore the awful part. There's been some losing weight, and then gaining weight, and then losing and then gaining and then… well you get the drift.

Of my three blogs, this one (like my self of steam) suffers the most. It barely has any followers and not many page views. So why kick start it back up?  Well, Missy, it's quite simple: I have a wedding coming up. No, not mine, silly. One of my daughters is getting married, and well, I'd like to be thinner.

A lot thinner.

A lot less Rubenesque.

Svelte.

I'm not really sure sure how I'm going to accomplish all this except I know it has to involve more exercise, less food, probably less chocolate and more than a dash of determination.

And apparently, I'm going to do it ninja style because whatever readers I once had have fallen by the wayside. Oddly enough, I take some comfort in the anonymity, and yet, I still feel some accountability. Go figure.

Four years ago, I was in the midst of my "Frying-in-my-own-fat" weight loss challenge. Ya gotta love a clever title.

So just in case someone is out there, welcome to my "Ninja-No-Nonsense-Don't-Pass-the-Wedding Cake" weight loss challenge. Whew! That's a mouthful. I guess we could just call it the "Ninja Diet" for short.

Let the games begin, and the may the odds ever be in my favor… 

Fitness Update: Diet Excess Causes Weight Gain

[This article was first published as Meow the Fat Cat Fares Better on Diet on Technorati. Sadly, Meow died after this was written from respiratory complications due to his weight. I was not going to re-post, but since I haven't given a fitness update in two weeks, I thought I would go ahead and run it.]

It's a bit sad when a cat does better on his diet than I do.

Meow the Fat Cat from Santa Fe, New Mexico, has dropped about two pounds since he was dropped off at the Santa Fe animal shelter a few weeks ago where he weighed in at nearly 40 pounds.

Not only that, but he's become somewhat of a celebrity in the last two week traveling to the Big Apple for  guest appearances on the Anderson Cooper show and an appearance on the Today Show where he even met Hugh Grant.

Hmmmm, let's see how my last two weeks have gone–I traveled to Austin, Texas, with a group of high school students for a journalism convention, managed to completely blow my diet by eating Amy's ice cream, some rather excellent salt water taffy from an old timey candy store and topped all that off by some very tasty kolaches from the little Czech Bakery in West, Texas.

As you can see, no weight loss there. Instead, let's post a disappointing one pound weight gain.

I sort of feel like the character Dominick in the Dom DeLuise movie, Fatso when the Chubby Checkers arrive for a food intervention. Called to stop Dominick from blowing his diet, the Chubby Checkers and Dominick manage to go from drinking hot water to hot water with just a touch of honey to a full-fledged, five-alarm food binge.

I think I'm still trying to get all the sugar out of my system.

Perhaps I don't need to be too overly concerned. A recent New York Times article notes that sugar "is enjoying a second act, dressed up as a natural, healthful ingredient" since high-fructose corn syrup is now the new "devil."

OK… so  I figured that was a bit of good news until I finished reading the story that noted that experts found sugar and high-fructose corn syrup are equally bad in excess.

Somehow I think those experts would view the ice cream, taffy and kolaches as excess.

And, I suppose, they would be right since I have that extra pound back to prove them right. Maybe I need to check in to the shelter.