Problem is, the people around me aren‘t committed. And they are trying to pull me over to the dark side. I don’t think it’s really intentional. I definitely don’t think my friends want to see me fail at getting fit– but they just don’t get it.

I have a lot of extra time in the mornings now, so I have the luxury of spending a considerable amount of time working out. I’m also able to take my time to plan out great meals for my family. I acknowledge that time is a huge factor in all of our busy lives. Just like anything else, though, if you have a worthy goal, then it’s worth making a sacrifice.

For me, the sacrifices are all stemming around food right now. I love cream. And cheese. And salty potato chips. And wine. And fresh homemade bread. And pizza. Oh, pizza. But can I forgo that pizza today so I can have a flat belly and rocking body tomorrow? You betcha.

What’s your obstacle to fitness and a healthy lifestyle? Is it lack of culinary skill? Is it lack of motivation? Is it that you’re surrounded by people who don’t care enough about their bodies to sacrifice what’s good now for the long-term benefits of being in shape?

My advice is find an accountability partner. (Mine is my sister.) Find someone who will work out with you, cook with you, plan healthy meals with you, who will be your conscience when you are struggling the most. That partner doesn’t have to be close geographically. The Internet brings everyone together. Hop online and find someone and get started today!

Amazingly enough, I am actually looking forward to going to the gym today, too. I love the way my body feels after I work out. It doesn’t matter if we’re doing a stretching class, a yoga class or pure cardio on the Torture Chamber (a.k.a. the Elliptical) — I still actively want to exercise! Funny how your body lets you know when it appreciates the good things you’re doing for it.

For the Shakeology® update, I’ve found that it works best for me as a lunch replacement rather than a breakfast shake. I like to have something solid in the mornings. Lately, it’s been a cup of Cheerios with milk. I usually work out in the morning and feel pretty good until lunchtime, when I make my Shakeology into a frothy milkshake. If I’m pressed for time and don’t want to clean the blender, I use an immersion blender (by far one of the best kitchen gadgets ever) and 12 ounces of milk. Of course, if you’re really trying to really cut back on calories, you can make your Shakeology with water. I just like the extra calcium and flavor boost from the milk.

In the afternoon a good 100-calorie snack will keep me going until dinner. Tonight, I’m thinking about baking some fresh salmon fillets. They’re super healthy, nutrient-rich and very, very easy. Think brush with olive oil and bake for ten minutes easy. Love it!

Tomorrow I’m going to start posting about some of the ingredients in Shakeology that make it so awesome. Stay tuned!

p.s. Look how awesome this week’s nutrition tracker is compared to last week’s! And no, I’m not starving.

p.p.s. 1 pound down!!

Keep track of what you eat. Use a legal pad. Use a spreadsheet. Use the Beachbody® website. Whatever you use, note down everything you eat and drink. I promise that after a few weeks of inputting your favorite foods in a calorie calculator that you will think twice about that jelly doughnut. (307 calories.)

Even though I’m a Beachbody® coach, I use a different means of calorie-tracking, an app on my iPhone called Lose It. (And no, I haven’t been compensated to advertise this app. I just happen to like it.) Out of all the nutrition and diet trackers I’ve ever used, Lose It is the simplest. I set my goal (to lose about 20 pounds.) It lets you choose how much you want to lose each week, with 1.5 lb being the maximum. Then you enter in your weight, height and age, and the goal calculator lets you know what your calorie budget is each day.

My daily calorie budget hovers just under 1200 calories. Above, you’ll see a picture of my first week’s log summary. The sad thing? I thought I was doing really well. Tuesday’s red bump came courtesy of a calorie-laden salad and queso dip at a popular casual dining restaurant. Thursday’s overage was thanks to a slice of my Dad’s birthday cake. Saturday and Sunday I didn’t drink Shakeology® as a meal replacement. Ugh. Shame on me.

I’m not going to bore you with days on end of “what I ate today.” However, over the course of the next few weeks I’ll be happy to share some of my meal successes — and some of the failures. I’ve found that so far today, I’m very focused on not getting any of those red bars on this week’s calorie log. I’m also not planning on starving myself.

So far, after one week of Shakeology, exercising and watching what I’m eating, I’ve lost 0 pounds. Wow. That’s… disappointing. But, I feel better. I can get up at 6 a.m. and have energy throughout the day. I can make it through the midmorning drowsiness and the 3 p.m. energy slump. And I can do 20 minutes on the Elliptical at level 3. It’s not a lot, but it’s progress.

Part of getting fit and healthy is about self-discovery. You push yourself to see how far you can go. If necessary, I’ll do another Zumba class, but I much prefer yoga. I don’t mind moving around to get the cardio necessary for a healthy heart, but I almost prefer The Torture Chamber (the Elliptical) over the salsa dancing. Almost.

Sis and I have agreed to try all the different classes at the gym, just to see what they’re all about. So yes, that includes the line dancing, water aerobics and spin classes. It also includes the Holy Grail — the 5:30 a.m. Body Pump class where folks lift and flex at a ridiculous hour. Someone help me.

Sis and I decided that we needed to do some cardio today. We plan on starting the Slim in 6 program soon, but we both agree that I just need to get into the habit of working out each day first.

And so I hopped on the Elliptical. For 15 minutes. My legs are still on fire and I couldn’t breathe after one minute. I honestly didn’t think I would make it through. We did some weight machines after the cardio, but I can’t remember what I did or how much I lifted. My mind can’t wrap around anything but what happened in the torture chamber.

It’s just after 5:00, and I am ready for bed. Amazing how hard it is for the body to adjust!

To give a little background, before moving to SC, my husband and I both worked in the food service industry at dinner-only establishments. He managed a casual dining steakhouse, I served at a fine-dining steakhouse. He worked 65 hours a week and I worked… maybe 25.

Each morning one of us would drag ourselves out of bed, run our daughter, G,  to school around 8:30, and hang out at the house with our son, J. Around noon D would go to work, and I’d still be hanging around the house. At 3:00, I’d run to pick G up. We’d do homework, I’d cook dinner, and then leave for work around 5:30. I was home by 10:00 or 11:00. D would come home around 1:00 and we’d stay up til 2:00. Repeat.

Our abnormal schedule suited us, but wasn’t ideal. We didn’t really have any structure other than the parameters of school and work. I would float through the day, wander through the week, waste time… And now?

Now I get up at 6:00 every morning. Now I have two different carlines, with different drop-off and pick up times. Now I go to the gym in the morning. Now I don’t take naps. Now I have an accountability partner to make sure I stay on the straight and narrow. Now I’m starting to make changes in little, yet important ways every day.

My sis and I took a Body Flow class at the gym today. It combines Tai Chi, Yoga and Pilates. I feel like I’ve been stretched on a rack and run over by a train. Every muscle aches. I got out of breath doing Yoga. Seriously. Out. Of. Breath. Yuck. I wish I didn’t have to climb up the stairs to tuck the kids in bed. Ouch!

After lunch, my sister dragged me down to the local Gold’s Gym to sign up for membership. Okay, she didn’t drag me, but she convinced me it is something I need to do. I am newly dedicated to overall fitness. I have a typical mom’s body, squishy in places, jiggly in others. I’m not obese, but I haven’t really been happy with my body since my daughter was born (almost eight years ago.) Another pregnancy added extra padding, and I lackadaisically attempted home fitness videos.

A few weeks ago I also signed up to be a Beachbody Coach. My sis has been on Shakeology for a couple of months now. She uses it as a daily supplement/meal replacement. When coupled with some of Beachbody’s famous products (like P90X, Slim in 6 or TurboFire) Shakeology can make a real difference in your life. Much more on coaching, Shakeology, and P90X to follow.

So, I have a fitness plan. My goal isn’t really a specific weight number. I think I’ll know when I’m there, but let’s just say that ideally I’d like to lose 20 pounds of fat and gain some of it back in muscle. I want to go from a size 8 pants to a 4, and I want that poochy baby belly to be… flat.

My plan is to drink Shakeology once a day, use a calorie tracker (and be honest with the calorie tracker,) work out with the Slim in 6 DVD routine and to take some classes at the gym. It’s been a year and a half since I worked out seriously. Back then I lost about ten pounds doing Rodney Yee’s Yoga Burn and using the Ab-Lounge. Cardio, however, has never been my thing. I think it’s going to be a long few weeks before my body catches up!

To say the least, my interests are wide and varied and change easily from one season to the next. Unfortunately many blog posts have been lost and deleted due to circumstances outside my control. Namely, that some extremist group hacked into ‘Round the Carousel in the middle of an extended writing drought. One day I randomly pulled up the site and it was an Arabic ad for some kind of training camp. (Seriously, I thought NSA was going to storm my house any second!)

Later I got a notice from my web hosting company that one of my pages was suspected of being a phishing site that looked just like a French bank website. That was the last time I deleted the blog… (And yes, to all the techies out there, I’m sure there was some way to retrieve my posts, but at the time it seemed easier to just get rid of it all.)

But, like all things, we must begin again somewhere, and here is as good a place as any.

To get everyone up to speed, my husband lost his restaurant management job back in June. We were living in Jacksonville, FL at the time. After some serious on-your-face prayer, we decided to look for jobs both in Jax and in our home area of Aiken, SC. By July we thought he’d nailed a good opportunity in Jacksonville, and it looked like our future was in Florida. But funny things happen, sometimes, and that job fell through. After a few weeks, some more prayer and quite a few tears, he was offered a position in Aiken.

We still own a home in Aiken. It’s being rented by some awesome folks who go to my parents’ church. Their lease is up at the end of April, so we’ll be hanging out with my parents until then. It’s a good opportunity for us to get back on our feet and save some money. And it’ll be a good chance for me to decide what I want to be when I grow up. Wish us luck!