Slow start...

Well, I don't really have a whole lot of progress to report. But I haven't really been trying my hardest either. So far I've worked out a few times, got some "Fitness Fruits" whole grain cereal to eat for breakfasts (instead of whatever pastry looks best at the store on the way to the train), and cut back to getting cookies with coffee after lunch only 2 or 3 times during the week. And the result? 2 pounds. Woohoo! I can't say that I expected more, given my sweet tooth and the cold and decreasing hours of daylight. But it's a step in the right direction. Hopefully I will get moving a little faster...

One thing that tends to get me motivated is I love watching the show "The Biggest Loser". It goes against my usual dislike of "reality" shows, but probably because while there is some of the "game play" involved of course, more by some players than others, for most of the season that isn't the main goal. It's nice to see people making a change in their lives to better themselves. And it makes me feel guilty for sitting around doing nothing...

I'm hoping to make some significant progress before I head home at Christmas time. Partly so that when I get off the plane everyone will go "wow!" but also because I plan to do a lot of shopping for clothes while I am home. They are SO expensive here, so I have to take advantage of cheapness when I get the chance! And I definitely want to be buying SMALLER clothes.

Of course tonight I am off to a Halloween party.....probably not so good for this goal of mine!

New Focus

My blog has been without focus since I started it, which makes it very easy to neglect. But this morning I was thinking about that while at the same time thinking about things I want to do to better myself. And I thought that maybe I could use this blog to help myself accomplish them. And the first thing on my list of things to improve is my health. Which means getting serious about my eating habits, losing the rest of this weight I put on in college, and being more active. So my intent is to chronicle this journey on here, hoping it will inspire me to stick with it instead of give it up after a few days.

It's especially hard right now, with the weather turning colder and the days getting shorter. I know myself pretty well, and I realize that if I don't exercise first thing in the morning its not likely that I will exercise at all that day, unless I have some sort of sports activity planned with other people. But now that its still dark even at 7am, getting up 30-45 minutes earlier to get in some exercise is not so appealing. Plus, it is too cold in the mornings now to go outside for exercise, and there is an apartment under me; so my exercise options become limited if I don't want to disturb other people. And on top of that, who wants to eat light things like salads when it is 40 degrees outside? I want warm hearty meals!

So here goes. Today I failed on the eating well aspect, but as I had to walk back and forth across the river at PSI today a few times I got a little more activity than usual. My cell phone has a pedometer on it, so I keep it in my pocket to keep track of how much I walk each day. Today I walked 5 miles.

I will consider my weight today as my "starting weight." I am starting at 190 pounds (yikes!). My goal is to get to 150 pounds, but really I just want to get in shape and be healthy. I started college at 140, then got all the way up to 210. In the time I was at KU I started getting serious about losing weight and got down to 180. But moving to the land of cheese and chocolate was not so good for my weight and those 10 pounds have slowly crept back over the course of the last 9 months.

I am tired of being winded when I walk up the hill to my apartment. I'm tired of not being able to go hiking with others in the mountains. Swiss are very active people and I want to keep up!

Whirlwind

It's hard to concentrate on my work when there are so many conflicting thoughts swirling around in my head. I sure hope that I find a way to sort this all out soon. I am not and have never been any good at these "leap of faith" type things.

In the meantime, if anyone knows anything about determining the flavor of a Monte Carlo generated jet in CMSSW, I'd love some help..........

Inconsistency

I am not very good at keeping a blog. I've never been good at journaling or writing in a diary or anything along those lines. And it always seems that I turn to it only when things are not going so hunky-dorey. (Also, what is the correct spelling for hunky-dorey?) But I will try to be a little less negative in my blogging from now on.

I have now been living in Switzerland for 9 months. It seems crazy that it has already been that long! I am slowly making new friends, but it's not easy. I mean it's never been easy for me. But I am really trying to just go out and enjoy my time here. 3 years seems like a long time right now, but it will pass quickly. I would hate to get to the end of it and realize that there are so many things I haven't done.

One of those things that I want to do is learn some wintersports. I feel like it would just be wrong if I live here and don't at least attempt to learn to ski and/or snowboard. So to that end this past weekend I went and bought some snow clothes. ~$350 on a pair of pants and jacket, but I think it will be well worth it when I spend the majority of the time on the ground in the snow. I will be very happy to have warm, waterproof clothing! I would guess that in the next month of so the snow will start coming in the mountains. I am really looking forward to it!

But until then I will enjoy the cooler weather and continue my attempts not to gorge myself on chocolate...