this road is anything but simple

Our plan for Sunday included the late morning church service, grabbing sandwiches for lunch, and then spending the majority of the day at home cleaning and preparing for the week. When 10:00am rolled around, we found ourselves still in pajamas and not yet ready to face the day.

We then spent the day together - running errands, talking about the upcoming week, discussing our future,  and mentally preparing for the week. It was nowhere close to the day we had planned, but even the planner in me understands that sometimes you need to completely do away with plans.

And I did well all day. I chose a grilled chicken sandwich, no mayonnaise or cheese, with avocado and mustard for lunch with a side salad, no cheese or croutons, with dressing on the side instead of my beloved french fries. I would have much rather ordered a cheeseburger, or at least stolen a few of my husband's fried onions, but I stuck to what I knew would work for my body.

I felt rather satisfied after lunch, though the hunger set in after a day full of shopping at the Outlet Mall as well as Kohl's and Target.

Shopping is one of the things I love most. But I know I have to be careful because I need to not work 60-70 hours a week in order to shop. I need to work 60-70 hours a week to save money and occasionally purchase a few things for myself.

I stuck to the more essential items on this specific shopping trip. Like new running shoes. A pair of completely comfortable Reebok Zigs. They weren't my first choice because they make my already large feet look even bigger. But the comfort I felt when I slipped them on was enough to push aside my own personal issues with having large feet.

It feels good to have two pairs of comfortable shoes - even if they are competing brands, and I still love the Nike Cross Trainers I bought several months ago. Having new shoes, a little something to keep me going, increases my excitement of heading to the gym early in the morning. The fact that they were on sale and that we got my husband a pair of shoes for 50% off helped as well.

When we first went into the store, I joked that I could purchase two pairs of shoes as it was buy one, get one 50% off. And I did try on different Reeboks but none were worth the extra purchase. My husband decided he is interested in running, and will hopefully join me at the gym in the future. He isn't on a weight loss journey but is interested in becoming more fit and healthy. If we can spend quality time sweating together, I'm all for it.

My other purchases were of food and a Bobble Filtered Water Bottle. It's no secret - to anyone who reads the blog or knows me in real life - that my two biggest struggles during this journey have been eating and drinking water. Add in a hectic, busy work schedule and not having access to water all the time, and those struggles are amplified.

So, to go along with my commitment, I bought groceries for the week. I may still eat most of my lunches out due to constantly being on the road, but now I have dinners that I can toss in my purse before leaving the house and not worry about them going bad.

There's a mixture of items - tuna fish with crackers, ravioli, and a couple kinds of soup. I'm hopeful that the small variety will help from boredom setting in and me turning to the foods that will do nothing to aid my weight loss (like Chik-Fil-A's waffle fries).

And, amazingly enough, it's quite a bit cheaper to purchase food at the grocery store rather than at the drive-thru. Plus - if today is any indication - I'll be feeling even better the less fast food I eat. Amazingly enough.

And the Bobble Filtered Water Bottle is something I'm excited about because now I don't have to lug several water bottles to work each morning. I can simply put it under the tap anywhere I am at and then enjoy filtered water. My hope is that by drinking so much water I can rid myself (once again) of my diet coke and diet dr. pepper addiction.

I've seen so many people take the 100 oz. water challenge, but I haven't allowed myself to attempt the challenge because I knew that I would fail. Now, though, I might just have to take the challenge. Having the Bobble gets rid of every single excuse I could make regarding why I haven't included water in my daily diet.

With a small dent in our checking account, and a husband who was more than ready to finish shopping, we headed home and I enjoyed a quick 200-calorie snack of pita bread and spinach artichoke dip. Dinner followed just a few hours, and we enjoyed flat bread, kalmata olive tapenade, roasted artichokes, red pepper hummus, and finally a few pieces of delicious pizza (a piece of margherita and a piece of the truffle shuffle {truffle oil, sage, crimini mushrooms, spinach, roasted chicken, parmesan, mozzarella}) for me  from The Wedge.

It was a perfect Sunday. I didn't make it to the gym, but I stayed under my allotted calories for the day. And I'm all set for an early morning work-out in the morning as well as for keeping my commitment to myself and moving forward on my journey.

(title from "lift me up" by kate voegele)