Motivation

Let me just say that there is no better motivation to lose weight than going to try on bridesmaid dresses with 4 people who are all smaller than a size 8 dress! I have not made "lose weight" a resolution because I am smart enough to know that that just does not work for me. I'm trying really hard to make several smaller resolutions and changes and stick to them that I think will result in weight loss, but after today, I feel like I really need to step it up. My brother is getting married to one of my very best friends in September and I am the matron of honor. There is NO WAY that I want to see myself at my current weight in their wedding pictures. That in and of itself is wonderful motivation.

I feel like I need to add a weight loss counter on the side of my blog or something. I don't want to post how much I weigh, but my goal is to lose 2 lbs a week until I reach the "normal" range for my BMI. For me, right now, that is 42 lbs away. For my health, I think that is a good first weight loss goal.

I've already stopped drinking soda and majorly cut back on eating out and started taking my metformin (which I step up to two 500 mg. pills/day starting tomorrow... yuck!) but I KNOW my body and I know how stubborn it is to lose weight. I know that what I really have to do is cut the simple carbs and the sweets. I really really like bread. I really really like brownies. This is a problem since I really really want to fit into a bridesmaid dress that is 4 sizes smaller than I tried on today!

I'm not looking forward to this. AT ALL. But, I'm really hoping that if I can power through the first few weeks and see results that it will motivate me to keep going. That's been the case with everything else so far, so here's to hoping that trend continues!

Today I had to pick something short and sweet on my list, so my husband and I sat down and worked out maintenance schedules for our two rental properties. Well, not so much maintenance schedules, but more of a list of 6-8 small projects that we would like to complete at each property over the course of this calendar year. They are definitely reasonable and I have no doubt we can accomplish them over the next 11 months. The reason I felt like I had to make this a resolution is because I felt like we were becoming a little complacent with our rentals. When we first moved to Charleston, we were still in the process of renovating the house in NC to get it ready to rent. So, we would drive 4 hours up and 4 hours back every weekend to work on it. Then, I got pregnant... and we still made that drive every weekend. Eventually, I stopped, but my husband went EVERY WEEKEND. We made our deadline (barely), got the house rented, and then 1 week before I was due, a pipe burst in the attic, totally flooding the whole right side of our house, upstairs and down. I seriously thought I was going to go into early labor when I got that phone call (no joke! My uterus was having the equivalent of a panic attack!) When I say it did a LOT of damage, I'm not exaggerating in the least! Thankfully our insurance company was awesome, but when it was all said and done, the damages were over thirty thousand dollars. Paying our deductible was worth every penny, but it was just so stressful. I actually gave my future sister-in-law a sheet of paper when we went into the hospital to deliver Andy with instructions on what to say or do if any of the contractors or tenants called WHILE I WAS GIVING BIRTH! So... needless to say... after that whole fiasco I was so over doing any projects at that house!

But... I'm better now! And starting to MAJORLY get the itch to keep going on our improvements. We have thought about selling that house in NC, but I guess we are still just too attached. We have great tenants that want to renew their lease in August, so we are going to stick with it. I feel better now that we have a list though. Now, we have something to work towards!