January has showed up and that time of year where we all strive to do better has finally arrived. Looks as if I gave up on blogging back in March of last year. lol. I think mostly I just got busy and kept making excuses. I do recall taking a few progress photos in the late summer and then again in the fall in hopes to eventually start blogging again but just never quite got that far.
2017 has been a whirlwind year full of changes but all for the better in the long run I think. Work life was hectic to say at the very least. I loved my job as a preschool teacher but just after hitting the 4 year mark with the company I was with I ended up quitting as a new opportunity arose for me to become the lead Preschool teacher at a new school that carried far less work drama with other employees, particularly the owners and director. This has created a much more pleasant work environment for me and although is a bit of a strain financially, I am hopeful to view it as totally worth the change.
My new job pays the same, however since I am paid all of my hours on my check I am actually getting less money since I'm not being paid in cash for overtime and $2 in acquired raises over the years at my last job. New job does not give holiday pay when the center is closed for holidays either. Also, my new job is a 15-20 minute drive depending on traffic whereas my last job was a half mile away and I could walk there in 10 minutes. This now means that I need to use the car every day and spend much more in gas money. It also ties up the vehicle so when my husband needs to go anywhere, doctor or otherwise with the kids etc... we have to come up with a solution of either dropping me off or catching a ride with my parents or something.
I started my new job on November 16th, the very next day after I left my old one. Been there almost 2 months now and they have been super welcoming in all sorts of ways. My new center is actually run out of a church so the environment is a lot different, too. The ladies of the church spoiled all us staff with a fancy dinner one day for lunch just to say Thanks. They bought all of us gifts from bath and body works too. There are about 16 of us on staff at the moment, I think, and we did a Secret Santa gift exchange for a few weeks just before Christmas so that was really fun. We also had a company Christmas dinner out at Olive Garden paid for by our director. The parents of our kids have been really welcoming too and are also great gift givers. Parents appreciated the good job I did getting their kids to perform in a Christmas program. I have a lot more children in my classroom here but I also have a co-teacher which is a huge game changer for me as I've spent the last 4 years being the only teacher with no aides like.. ever. lol.
Well enough about work... I mean I could go on and on.. but more about my weightloss journey.
With things having finally started to improve in the rest of my life I feel like I can start to focus on my weight loss goals again. I recently saw a friend I admire and follow on Facebook who went through a similar journey as me back in 2011 where she lost a ton of weight but then put it back on and then took it back off and now she's just given birth and having to take a lot back off again. She posted some pictures about Keto something or other and so I started to google just what exactly that was. I had heard of it before but never been intrigued enough to actually look it up. Now I am starting to wonder why I hadn't looked sooner. I haven't done a ton of research yet but have been on Pinterest pinning away and am ready to try some things out.
Currently on one income, for a family of 4, I rely on government assistance to help purchase food so that I can afford rent, gas, water, electric,etc. Due to changing jobs and my renewal for assistance being up last month, I am having to jump through hoops to get them to update my information and approve me for money this month. So for the time being I don't have the means to do a large amount of grocery shopping so I can food prep, and be prepared to start on a new Keto based lifestyle diet change. So for the last several days now I've been eating whatever junk we've had here and not really changed any eating habits.
As far as working out goes. On January 1st I woke up intent on doing a workout routine and got myself dressed for it and then sat down on the couch to find a workout program on Amazon Prime. As I scrolled through several options I got really really cold and my body basically shut itself down and I decided I couldn't do anything but go get back under the covers. For the next 3 or 4 days the coldness here in Texas remained at an unreasonable level for me and all I felt like I could do when I got home from work was hide under blankets and keep my protective fat layer in place. Hah.
Today however the sunshine finally hit my face and it was actually 61 degrees outside when I clocked out from work at 4pm. I came home thinking I would ride bikes with my 9 year old son who just learned how to ride a bike in October and has been excited to do so ever since. Well I got here and found out my parents took him to Six Flags for the day. So there that idea went. I had to make a lot of phone calls after getting home, mostly having to do with checking on the assistance and getting that paperwork sorted out ASAP. By the time I finally got off the phone it was dark outside and dinner was ready. Now here I am on my ass in front of the computer but at least I am getting some blogging done to start the year off right. :D
I did see a comment on one of my old posts when I checked email after work today though and it totally brightened my mood. Part of the reason I thought I should go out bike riding with my son even. Thanks for the push! I'll try to post more often now so that I won't have this long wall of text each time.
I did take new pictures and measurements on New Years Day, by the way. I will post them in their own post tomorrow or something.
