Hello and welcome to Crankytown! I"ve been weighing myself every morning and writing it down on my calendar and I am officially on a Plateau from Hell.

I've been journaling all my food and exercise -- even completed a week of ChaLean Extreme plus a couple extra days of walking. And nothing to show for it on the scale.

But!

My midsection does seem firmer so maybe the fluff is shifting itself around. And there was that week of ChaLean Extreme that I completed.

But damn, scale. Cut me a little slack!

OK, first rant over.

Training for the Weight Watchers Walk It Day 5K on June 6 is going along just fine. I'm sure that walking a 5K will be easy as pie a piece of cake (aren't there any figures of speech that don't involve baked goods?).

Second rant

Got a grocery ad in the mail advertising a Make-a-Meal special.

I'll let the advertisement speak for itself.

(OK, I can't do that.)

Are you kidding me? Frozen pizza, frozen bread sticks, frozen pizza rolls (the appetizer, I guess), ice cream and soda is a meal? In what floury, greasy  oversugared universe?

Oh yeah, this one.

Lost a pound from last week and I stepped up the exercise.

(Co-inkydink? I think not.)

But this week, in addition to walking, I'm starting Beachbody's ChaLean Extreme program, led by the awesome Chalene Johnson (at right). I really haven't been doing too much strength training and the scale has been pretty stagnant so I thought it was time to bring in the big guns.

Day 1 went well. I did the entire workout -- even the pushups (and I hate me some pushups).

I can keep up with the workout because the premise behind it is slow movements and pushing the muscles to exhaustion. It's up to me how much weight to use or which color resistance band to use. 

I'm often far too easy on myself, and that kind of coddling doesn't produce results. So I'm psyched about the ChaLean Extreme program because it's something that I can do and that should produce good results.

By the time the Weight Watchers Walk-It Day 5K comes around on June 6 I'll be more than ready.

 Just to let y'all know, Shrinking Sisters weighed in on Werther's Original Sugar-Free candies over on our review site, Shrinking Sisters Reviews.

We just started the review site, and that's where we'll be posting reviews that are part of the BlogHer Reviewer program, as well as BzzAgent and MyBlogSpark.

I was a newspaper journalist for a couple decades, and I still believe in having a firewall of sorts between editorial and advertising (and many PR companies and marketing firms do, too, thank goodness).

As I've stated on the left-hand side of this blog, I do get review copies of books and DVDs, just like I did in the "old days" of working at the newspaper. But unlike newspapers, us bloggers have to make it a point to be crystal clear about where and how we get our stuff.

So anyway, check out the Werther's review -- they were truly good and we chomped through the samples in record time.

And if you'd like to check out the week of cookbook reviews I did at Examiner.com, you can check them out HERE.

That's what I tell myself every time I freeze up when I can't decide what workout to do or which nutritional advice to follow or what perfect meal to prepare.

It's a problem common to perfectionists.  I reload the dishwasher, I refold the laundry, and worst of all, I do nothing if I can't do it perfectly.

(Just looked at a list of characteristics of perfectionists. Apparently I am an imperfect perfectionist because while I can procrastinate like a son of a gun, I'm not indecisive, miserly or possess excessive self-discipline.)

This is why I sometimes go days without working out. True, I did workout for 2 hours last week, which was above and beyond the first week of the Weight Watchers Walk-It Challenge training plan, but I only did that on two days instead of spreading it out over the entire week. What did I do the other days? Waffled. Should I go to the gym, the park, the track? Do a boot camp DVD, yoga, walking workout? I don't know? Which would be the most time efficient? Which would burn the most calories?

So I do laundry in my workout clothes.

Same thing often happens with my eating. Are we cutting down on breakfast carbs or are we front-loading carbs for the day? Didn't we read that study on women who eat eggs for breakfast? Or was whole grain the perfect breakfast food? Are we counting Points, calories or fiber grams? (For the record, we're doing Weight Watchers Points.) Red meat or no? Fat-free dairy or low fat? Or no dairy? Real sugar or Splenda, or maybe stevia? Is coconut oil good for you or not? 

So I eat a protein bar for lunch in frustration.

There are so many voices telling us about the perfect diet, the best workout, the ideal time to workout, when to stop eating for the day, the miracle balance of carbs, protein and fat. 

What's the perfect plan?

It's one I'll stick with. One that I can lose weight on.

This week I didn't lose any weight, even though I chronicled everything I ate, good and bad. I worked out, but probably not enough.  Frustrating, yes, but not discouraging. I'm fighting on and trying to fight the urge to workout perfectly and instead Just Do It.

As for food, the less I eat "diet food" the less stressed out I am. Haven't bought a frozen meal or packaged side dish in months, and it feels good to just buy and prepare "food food."

I'm turning around, basically, a lifetime of a diet mentality, so I shouldn't expect this process will be an overnight thing.

 This week, Weight Watchers kicks off its Walk-It Challenge, a 6-week plan to get people off their duffs and train for a 5K (3.1-mile) walk by June 6.

I've been off my own duff for some time, but I like the idea of training for something, so I'm up for the Challenge. To kick things off on Sunday, I bounded out of the house at 8 a.m., before it got too sweltering, to walk over to the park and hit the walking trail.

I had my iPod tuned to a Dr. Fitness and the Fat Guy podcast, which can always make the time fly, and before I knew it, 45 minutes had flown by. The goal on the Walk-It Challenge training plan page for today was a mere 10 minutes. 

Weight Watchers members and subscribers to Weightwatchers.com have access to the full training guide and other articles, tips and tools. But if you aren't a member, you'll still have access to tips and encouragement to get more active.

I'll be training for the June 6 Walk-It 5K in Boca Raton, FL. To see whether there's a 5K near you, check the Walk It Day page HERE at the Road Runners Club of America. If there isn't one near you, you can find other 5K events in your area HERE.

I'll be checking in every Monday on my 5K training and hope you'll join me on the journey. C'mon, 5K is only 3.1 miles. You can do it!