::final week of personal remodel::

One month flew by and my personal remodel month is over.  It went so well.

Financially -
I tried to work over time over this last month.  I didn't get any, and that didn't make me cry.  I feel like I was working too much overtime.  I was letting chasing money get too high on my priority list.  I am glad we have gone through all this with out overtime, just so we could get an idea of how our budget works with out extra cash in it.  Our written budget is finished.  It is wonderful, we use it as a guide all the time.  It is so nice to have a road map to our money.  I never did audit our spending in January.  It felt like that was looking back too much, I am focused on moving forward.   I did not set up a Christmas account yet.  That is just going to have to be filled with over time money when the chance presents its self.  Josh and I have been making an effort to discuss our money each payday and this communication is working wonderful. 

Weight Goals -
First of all - I am down 12 pounds.  That is a wonderful start.  But more importantly - I have really changed the way that I feel about food.  A little hungry is not going to kill me.  I have to make myself eat a preset small portion and then wait 20 minutes before I decide if I am still hungry.  Almost all the time I am no longer hungry if I give myself that wait time.  My meal that I used to eat at Qdoba was 1400 calories.  That is more than I am currently allowing myself to eat in an entire day.  Calories counting is working really well for me.  It speaks to my nurse side that screams that I must chart everything that happens.  I have not been to Qdoba in over one month, but I have cheated a little bit and had a few bites of some fried food.  But very little.  I have been terrible about working out.  I feel like I still need to grab on to that to really make this transformation complete.  I can't do it with just food changes alone.  On the success side - my nonprocessed food intake has sky rocketed.  I am eating a great deal of fruits and vegetables and enjoying it.  I have added protein smoothies to my breakfast routine and those beat the grab out of my usual breakfast peanut butter and jelly.        

I have loved this process and I can't wait to keep it going.