Ok, I haven’t blogged here for a while, so here’s an update.

I have been doing lousy on the weight loss front. I am back to 206 pounds, only 1 pound below where I started.

Also, I measured my blood sugar this morning (for the first time in months) and it was 109 - not good. It should be 100 or less. I’m not at the diabetic point yet, but I don’t want to get there.

Exercise: nonexistent.

So what’s my excuse? Well, I’m trying to do too much. Working full time, a long commute, trying to start another business in my spare time, taking an advanced feng shui course… And on top of all that, a boyfriend (someone I dated before - we got back together - the breakup was kind of my fault). He lives about an hour from me, so I rarely see him during the week. But he spends almost all weekend with me - not that I’m complaining, but when am I supposed to exercise?

We are going on a little trip to New Mexico. I feel kind of bad for being out of shape now. I read that altitude sickness is worse when you are out of shape.

Last time I was in New Mexico, 5 years ago, I went up into the mountains my first day, and got altitude sickness pretty bad (felt so nauseous that it was hard to drive). This time, we are planning to be in Albuquerque the first day, and the mountains on day 2. I hope the extra day will help. But last time, I was in a lot better shape.

That is the lesson from this - you have to get in shape now, because you don’t know when you suddenly will wish you were in shape. I mean really wish it.

So what am I doing, now that I have learned this? This week has been hectic, trying to get everything done for the trip and other things. My place was a mess. I really felt depressed. That was yesterday.

So this is what I did (my feng shui training kicked iin). I cleaned up the house. Got rid of all the newspapers and magazines laying around. Cleaned off the dining room table. Cleaned up my office. My boyfriend had put together my new cabinets from Ikea, so I finally filled them up last night, and got all the clutter in my office put away.

Whew. I felt so much better and more in control after that. I really have to recommend it, if you are feeling overwhelmed. A good straightening up of your space will help more than you think, and it doesn’t take as long as you think it will either.

You might not think this is related to weight loss, but it really is. I eat when I feel out of control. If I had not cleaned up, I probably would have spent the evening sitting on the couch eating and stressing out about all that I have to do. (In fact, that’s what I was doing before I decided to clean up.)

I will get more of my stuff done tonight and tomorrow. Saturday morning we are leaving on our trip. I think the vacation will really do me good.

Hopefully I can get into a healthier lifestyle when I get back.

Well, I gave up chocolate for Lent. Not for health reasons - I would feel kind of guilty using Lent for that - I did it for spiritual reasons.

But still, I am noticing some definite health effects! First of all, it was a lot harder than I thought it would be (and it still is). I thought it would be easy to give up chocolate, because I can still eat other sweets.

It is not the same, though. Nothing else satisfies that chocolate craving. I did not realize how addicted I was to chocolate. I still crave it a lot, although the first days were the hardest.

I wonder what it is about chocolate. Is it the caffeine? Or the fat? But I can eat other fatty foods and drink tea for the caffeine. I still crave the chocolate.

On the plus side, I am not as tempted to eat sweets. Maybe my craving for sweets was really just a craving for chocolate? I have been eating a lot of sweets anyway, just to try and quiet that chocolate craving. But it doesn’t help.

I think I will just have to give up trying to satisfy the craving. Nothing works anyway. I might as well eat healthy.

What a concept!