So, the lessons I have learned thus far are:
- I need a bedtime, particularly on the nights before my workouts. This should not be overly difficult to do as those nights are on days when I am either off work, or get off early. The kids are asleep by 9 at the *latest*, so my new bedtime will be 10:30 for those nights. This should give me plenty of time to finish up my chores for the evening. One thing I am going to use to help me is to set two alarms on my phone: one for 10:00 as my early warning, and one at 10:30. If you see me online after that and it is not a Saturday, please give me a swift kick in the ass!! 
- Workout clothes and other essentials need to be easy to grab. I took care of the clothes to an extent by buying some pants earlier this week. I still need to buy a lock for the gym (I will be going there for intervals and some yoga on off days). I will be doing that today. I will also eb buying a new backpack – I have been using a bag that is much less than ideal, and given that carrying my food and other accoutrements becomes very heavy, a decent bag is essential. I will also take time this weekend to reorganize my clothing so that workout clothes are separate and folding into ready-to-grab piles. I have to make it easy, or it won’t happen LOL – I know myself!
- I cannot allow my sister to keep candy treats for the kids in my kitchen. For my own sanity, she MUST keep those things in her own kitchen. Now, we don’t have many – the bag of large marshmallows she got so they could have hot cocoa on these past rainy days has been the first in about 2 months – but I just don’t want to deal with the extra stress.
- In a similar vein, on Thursday nights, my sister cooks dinner. She tends to get a bit elaborate (either in recipes or in number of dishes) and it is always very tasty and smells enticing. When Deme cooks, he has been making us both a large salad, and it is easy to avoid temptation. Since I don’t have an ally (Deme is not home Thursday nights) when my sister cooks, it has been a struggle. Therefore, I MUST have a plan in place to avoid caving. I am going to start preparing a more elaborate raw-food meal for myself for Thursday nights, so that it has a “treat” feel in my mind while still being goal-supportive food. (As I am inherently lazy, and like salads, I usually keep my dinner simple.) I will probably use a few of the recipes that I enjoyed on Thanksgiving, and use Gone Raw for more recipes. (Also, pssst! a birdy told me I am getting Everyday Raw for Mother’s Day) I think this will help me mentally a great deal.
- I need to keep a physical food log as well as putting things into fitday. This way, when I am not near a computer I am still easily accountable. Also, this means I would only have to visit fitday *once* a day, thus wasting less time. Plus I can then keep track of where I was when I was eatnig, how I felt at the time, etc., all the emotional stuff that can help in figuring out if certain things trigger binges, etc.
Now, except for yesterday (my sister’s burgers done did me in!), I have been pretty on point with my diet. And, though I haven’t worked out yet, I *have* incorporated some lifestyle/mindset changes relatively easily. For instance, I have been taking the stairs without exception – and when that means 4 flights followed by 3 flights 30 seconds later exiting the train, it’s quite a change! Even at work, when I go up to the cafeteria I take the stairs every time. And I walked to the ferry today, and will continue to do so (it didn’t hurt that it was a LOVELY morning). So I have made some progress there that I am pretty happy with, because it is not me “trudging” along – I am happy to be active.
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With that said, I’ve decided to start posting weekly goals and tracking them by color (inspired by a fellow TC participant!).
My current measurements are
Height: 5′2″
Weight: 136.6 lbs
Chest: 35.25″
Waist: 31.5″
Hips: 40.5″
Thigh: 22″
First off, my longterm goals, for the end of the contest:
Weight: 115 lbs
Waist: 29″
Hips: 38″
This is subject to change – what I am most interested in is bodyfat changes, but I have no measurements to go off of yet (more on that soon). I am not interested in being “skinny fat”, so weight as a measure is very subjective to me.
I am working on some fitness-measure goals which I will post this weekend. Pushups will surely be on it! 
So, for this week coming up:
5th Turbulence Training Transformation Contest Week 1
Sunday: Play with the kids at the park/gardening. Prepare food for the week (sprouts, nut pates, etc.) Update fitday/blog/TT Forum.
Monday: TT Intermediate workout A before breakfast. Walk to the ferry. Interval training at 1:00. Walk to the studio. Salsa classes/rehearsal. Start fast at 6pm. Update fitday/blog/TT Forum.
Tuesday: Walk to the ferry. Yoga/Pilates at 1:00. End fast at 6pm. Update fitday/blog/TT Forum.
Wednesday: TT Intermediate workout B before breakfast. Prep Thursday’s dinner. Walk to the ferry. Interval training at 1:00. Walk to the studio. Salsa classes/rehearsal. Start fast at 6pm. Update fitday/blog/TT Forum.
Thursday: Walk to the ferry. Yoga/Pilates at 1:00. End fast at 6pm. Update fitday/blog/TT Forum.
Friday: TT Intermediate workout A before breakfast. Walk to the ferry. Interval training at 1:00. Update fitday/blog/TT Forum.
Saturday: Play with the kids at the park/gardening. Update fitday/blog/TT Forum.
Done
Planned
Skipped
Other workout performed
For this weekend:
Buy lock.
Buy backpack.
Buy calipers.
Take bodyfat measurements.
Update fitness goals.
Hope everyone is having a happy and productive Friday!!
Apples are healthy!
