Well. Here I am, sitting at home at 9:00 a.m. on a workday. Why? you may ask...because it's SUMMER, baby! Yesterday was the last day of "out-service" work we had to do at school, and now we're done. Whoo hoo! No more pencils, no more books, no more students' dirty looks... Sorry, got a little giddy there.

Actually, summer is an awkward time for me. Despite what people think, most teachers did not go into the education field for the summer vacations. Sure, the time off is nice, but we feel a little useless when we aren't participating in our chosen profession. Weird, I know, but still true. A day or week off here or there is nice, but the whole two and a half months makes us feel sort of adrift with no direction.

On top of that, the free time scares me a little. Being at home alone is when I get in the most trouble, food-wise. I have a bad habit of snacking throughout the day. Last summer I worked out a lot. I swam up to four miles every morning, I gerbiled and lifted weights, and yet I didn't lose any weight. My self-control when it comes to food is not great, and I would eat a big breakfast, come home after working out and eat a big lunch, snack all afternoon, and eat a big dinner at night. When you are burning 1500 calories a day it's great, unless you are consuming 4000 calories a day, which is probably what I was doing. I would eat something small, which would whet my appetite, so I'd eat something else small. And something else. And something else. I just wouldn't stop myself. My personality lends itself to binging. I can't have one Oreo out of the bag; I have an entire row. I have one granola bar, which is tasty, so I have two more. I have one piece of string cheese and it's great, so I have another one. This has always been a problem with me. I remember as a little kid buying a box of Girl Scout cookies for myself and eating an entire bag of the Thin Mints (there are two bags in the box) [Note: that many Thin Mints does horrible things to your digestive system]. So I know that all of this time by myself at home is not necessarily a good thing. It isn't that I don't have things to do at home to keep me busy, but all of the things I should do at home can easily be done while snacking. So I need a plan. I need a daily schedule. And I need to make sure there is not enough food in the house to let myself get out of control.

So here's what I need to do. I need to plan multiple workouts. I will get up in the mornings (either with my husband so he can work out with me, or at the same time as he gets up to go to work), eat a small breakfast, and go to the gym. I will swim at that time (that way there won't be many people in the pool at the gym). I will take a snack with me to the gym so I can eat something reasonable after the workout. When I get home, I will start with my housework. I've never been very good at keeping my house clean; maybe this is a good time to start. I need to plan my lunches out and prepare them in advance so I don't get carried away when I'm hungry. In the afternoon I'll work on my school work (I'm taking an online class this summer, and I have lesson plans to work on for my summer classes and for the fall, since I'm doing some new books in class) and try picking the guitar up again. The afternoon is when I'll have to watch out for the snacks. Then I'll go back to the gym and meet up with my husband to work out again in the evening. When we get home, I'll have to be really careful about dinner. We will need to plan those out at the beginning of the week so we aren't as tempted to just pick up something on the way home or go out to eat. Here is where portion control often gets me. I need to try to stick with small portions. Does anyone have any suggestions, like eating off a smaller plate or using a particular serving utensil to control portion size? I've never really experimented with any of those things. Lastly, I need to write everything down. I hate being obsessive about it, but I guess this is the only way to make sure I'm controlling myself.

Well. Now begins the experiment. I haven't lost any weight in several months, so I feel like I'm starting over. My weight right now is about 185. My goal for the beginning of school (Aug. 10) is 170 lbs. So I have fifteen pounds to lose in about 10 weeks. Let's see what happens from here...