That's my new motto! This is going to be my healthy new year. It will not be another 365 days gone and nothing accomplished come 2011. I'm not making any weight loss resolutions. That's right! No weight loss-related resolutions. Mind you, I am making resolutions, but they won't be about weight loss or my health. No, my health is just going to be an everyday concern, an everyday thing. It shouldn't be a resolution...not for me.

I do have goals, but I don't like to think of those as resolutions. Mainly I say this because I had already started working on my health before the beginning of 2010. Anyway, I think people should always be thinking about their health and not just at the start of each new year. I know I haven't always thought about my health in a good way, but I have always thought about it.

OK, so in the last post, I had four goals:

1. Keep a daily food journal.

2. Cut out sodas and juices and sweet tea sweetened with anything other than splenda.

3. Plan ahead if I'm going to eat out.

4. Drink more water.

Well, so far I have been working on goal number four. I'm doing better than I expected with it, too. Sure, you might think I'm being a wuss by starting with possibly the easiest of the goals, but it's sometimes the hardest for a lot of people. Or so I have heard. I've yet to achieve goal number two, but I am slowly cutting back.

Tonight, when I stopped at McDonald's for the usual Bacon Ranch salad with crispy chicken (for which I am still getting an extra pack of ranch dressing - bad, bad!), I got a large Coke. However, I also ordered a bottled water. See! Improvement! Normally I would order a soft drink and then buy another one at work out of the vending machine halfway through my shift. By ordering my bottled water in advance, I saved myself from any temptations I could possibly have later while standing in front of that machine and debating soda or water.

Side note: I think the water buttons on drink machines should really be at the top of the choice list instead of at the bottom. I want my healthy choices to be easy to access! I know it won't hurt me to bend over and expel that extra bit of energy, but it's just like with vending machines - the worst goodies are always right in the middle and the healthiest stuff is always at the bottom. Most people are generally looking at the middle, aren't they? I mean I don't know about you, but that's where my eyeballs usually point first.

Back to the Coke thing. I know, I know - I shouldn't have ordered it, but it's hard going cold turkey! It isnt' the caffeine that I crave, it's the sugar! I don't eat sweets that often, but I thirst for sugary drinks all the time. Don't worry, I am not diabetic, and I've been tested several times. I just have an unhealthy appetite for unnaturally sweet liquids. I especially favor the icy cold ones in glass bottles. Oh gees, this is going to be a hard habit to break.

Let's move on before I drown in my mouth water.

I'm still working on all my goals simultaneously, but I'm going to do my best to really focus on goal number one. I have to be consistent about writing down what I eat every single day. That being said, I'll share with you a horrible truth. I ended the old year by eating almost three huge slices of Papa John's deep dish pizza and four half-size cheesy bread sticks along with about a liter of Coke, and I can't leave out the globs of garlic butter and marinara sauce I used for dipping. My friend, Ann, shared in this gluttonous act. She's tiny, and she can "afford it" in my opinion, but, of course, she doesn't think so. We heartily indulged in the pepperoni, beef and cheese pie, but after the fat (ha-ha), we felt just awful. We ate around eight o'clock on New Year's Eve, and our swollen bellies grumbled and hated us even through the ball dropping at midnight. Thanks to the phentermine, I didn't eat four pieces of pizza, three bread sticks and half a dozen BBQ chicken wings (that used to be my normal intake - wow, I know!), but phentermine doesn't make my stomach lining and colon immune to the destructive greases of deep dish pizza. I'll spare you details of the aftershock.

Ann, by the way, besides being my partner in crime when it comes to eating wonderfully delicious fatty foods (on holidays and special occasions only), is my number one cheerleader when it comes to this whole Lap Band plan. She has been my shoulder to cry on, my motivational speaker, my waiting room buddy at the doctor's office, my planner, and she's trying to be my exercise buddy (I'm still uncomfortable with the idea of other people seeing me jiggle and sweat). She's basically the strong arm of my support system. I don't think I'd be as gung ho about the Lap Band or weight loss at all if she wasn't always right there beside me holding my hand and, more often that not, behind me pushing me along. I never really wanted a constant someone to lean or fall back on, but now I gladly say that it's more than fantastic having a friend who doesn't mind helping me bear my heavy load while I'm we're on this journey.

Thank you, Ann!

And to those of you reading this and supporting me, thanks to you, too!!!

Happy New Year!!!