My elliptical machine has arrived! This machine may only weigh 165 lbs, but getting it up the stairs was no picnic...

And after only a few minutes, my living room turned into this:

BUT, magically (all I had to do was snap my fingers)....

I don't want to start using it a whole lot just yet because I would like to put a mat or something underneath it first. This machine is really very quiet, especially for a large piece of gym equipment, but we live in a duplex and there are people who live downstairs from us. It's strange; from the outside, you would think it was a townhouse style duplex, but no, we have the top floor and they have the lower level. So I do worry that they can hear anything that vibrates the floor, etc. I know they can definitely hear when my son jumps or bumps the floor, so the thing with this machine is that the foot pedals are able to move back and forth with the help of these wheels that roll along the bars on the floor:

I do worry that this may be something that can be heard downstairs. I just want to make it clear that I'm not making excuses not to use it, I just need to keep it quiet first!

Now, as for my dieting / coffee & alcohol consumption / etc....

I won't lie, it has been a little tough, and that's why I've been working on this slowly, a little at a time rather than all at once.

First of all, even though I still drink coffee each morning, I have cut it down to a cup a day. I want to eliminate it, as I've said, and replace it with the tea I like, and maybe have a Dunkin' Donuts coffee on the weekends to treat myself. As for the beer, I have had two since I posted about it. Not too bad. :)

The hardest part of my diet, on the other hand (as always), is the "all-or-nothing" mentality I've had. I will wake up in the morning, have a healthy breakfast, and halfway through the day I will stop counting calories or have something that isn't good for me, and then think "oh well, I've already blown it for the day, so let's keep going with it." Portion control is also extremely difficult. This is something that is pretty much instilled in my mind, and it's going to take time (and I'm still working on the mental preparation; that also takes time).

I have also noticed that the stress of being a new litigation paralegal is starting to get to me quite a bit. Normally, I wouldn't react this strongly to the stress, but I am basically re-inventing the wheel here. I trained with my father's former paralegal for less than a month, and I didn't start to really pick up on things until she left. I am trying to do these interrogatories, other discovery procedures, arbitration statements, etc. etc. for the first time ever (and for multiple clients), all while trying to move my father into the new age of technology (he still has a computer that only takes floppy disks; I'm trying to get him online and onto his new laptop he just bought). This job is, hands-down, the most incredibly stressful job I've ever had, and I'm only a part-timer (for now). I'm sure things will start getting easier, but I am basically teaching myself everything. So my point is that while I'm driving in, I feel great, I am happy about the way the morning is going, and ready to take on the day. If I bring any food to work, I do not have any time to eat it. Seriously. It's that bad. I've had a grapefruit on my desk that has been sitting there a week; every day I will say "I'm going to eat this grapefruit today! :D"...it's no good anymore. I actually dream about work quite a bit....I leave the office at 2:00 so I can get my son off the bus, and the whole ride home, all I'm thinking is "I wonder if I should stop at Wendy's. Just this once. I haven't had lunch yet. Oh, maybe Taco Bell. Yes, and Dunkin' Donuts has a new _________." .......AND if that's not enough....school starts this week (full time)....

If there is anything I can say about this (hopefully final) attempt at losing weight, it is this: I can't help but think that this is going to be the most difficult attempt out of all of them.

Having said that, I am very well aware that exercise is going to help me with this a great deal. It's just a matter of getting into it that first couple of days. Those two or three days are by far the most difficult. My body gets tired easily, and I have to drag myself out of bed to use it. I know the routine, I've been there quite a few times. But once I am finally doing it, it will be the best stress reliever I could ask for, and in fact, it's the #1 thing I need right now. So I really need to find a mat or something to put under my machine, like, nowsville....