A Dose of Inspiration – #1

So this isn’t going to be easy.  I know it, you know it…it’s a daunting thing that’s somehow ridiculously exciting at the same time.  The thought of setting out to lose ten or twenty or fifty or more pounds is enough to scare me back under the covers with my pint of half-baked Ben & Jerry’s.  But it’s also invigorating, because I can only imagine how awesome it will feel to accomplish something that for so long has seemed barely a hair less than impossible.

Now, I suppose I’ve just rattled off the primary selling point for most of the infomercials that we see every day.  Ok, so “in the dead of night” is probably more appropriate…but you get it.  Those 30-day makeovers and 90-day transformations sell unbelievable bodies that come with the blood, sweat, and tears of their intense exercise and diet programs, and they’re great – but they seem to require that you be your best each and every time.  And that’s difficult.  As hard as we may try, we can’t always be “great”…at least based on how those infomercials tend to define the world.  We can have all the energy in the world one day, but on another, our best may not be THE best.

Unfortunately, this is one of those road blocks that can get in our way from continuing – or even just commencing – that weight-loss journey.  If we don’t think we can be amazing from the start, we think we can never get there.

Well, that’s absolutely WRONG.  I don’t mean to sound like a bumper sticker, but you CAN be amazing.  You ARE amazing!!  And this brings me to my first little inspirational gem of this journey:

“You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.”

~Zig Ziglar

Don’t knock yourself down for not being able to run a mile right away.  It’s going to take a little bit of effort, and a little bit of time.  But get excited about who you are, and who you’re going to be.  You don’t have to be great right away – just start and be your best, and you’ll get there.

Healthy Habit #1: Journal

Cold-turkey doesn’t work.  It doesn’t work for Thanksgiving, and it doesn’t work for getting through all of those habits that are everything but health-conscious.  Instead, I’m making a concerted effort to transition into a healthy mode of living through the slow but steady introduction of good habits.  Each week, I’ll be “featuring” and writing about each new habit that I take on.

So…ready for this week’s?  Here we go.

Healthy Habit #1: Daily Food Journal

Despite my writer’s calling, I have yet to successfully maintain a daily journal.  I won’t get into the details of my excuses here, as we all have them, but the main point is that I am consistently hearing about the benefits.  Magazines, trainers, and all the fitness programs I’ve ever seen on those late night infomercials while finishing my pint of Ben & Jerry’s proclaim the invaluable worth of keeping a daily journal of your progress.

WebMD features an article written by Miranda Hitti wherein she describes a 2008 study featured in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.  A group of more than 1,500 obese or overweight participants were encouraged to keep food diaries, which they shared at weekly meetings, as they pursued healthier eating and exercising habits.  Hitti quotes Victor Stevens, PhD, a senior investigator involved in the study, when she writes that after six months, “the most powerful predictor of [the participants’] weight loss was how many days per week they kept their food diary.”  She continues to acknowledge that upon evaluation of the results of the study, it was found that “those who kept food records six days a week… lost about twice as much weight as those who kept food records one day a week or less.”  Accountability is one of the major aspects here that Dr. Stevens stresses as crucial to the success.  Go figure.

There’s something to that, then, right?  So I’ll try it this time.

So I make my vow right here, right now, in the name of Chiquita Banana, to keep a daily food journal.  I shall at the very least jot down a list of whatever “nourishment” – healthy or otherwise – that I consume.  I vow that, come sickness or health, I will record all of this…and perhaps even my workout for the day, if I feel so inclined.  And if I break this vow, then chocolate becomes strictly contraband for a week.

So here’s my journal: small, portable, and semi-decorated (complete with cheesy name), because I’m a craft nerd like that.  Hey, if you’re going to carry something around with you all over the place, it might as well look a little spiffy, right?

If anyone is reading this and has any insights or experiences with keeping food or fitness journals, I’d love to hear from you.  How has it helped you?

Starting Point

Today is the day that I post some of the scariest information.  Today will bear witness to those “before” pictures, and all of the accompanying measurements that turn me lobster-red with shame every time I look at the tape measure.  But unpleasant though all of these are, I know that it’s going to make my success in future weeks and months that much sweeter, so I’ve resolved to put them up anyways.  Plus, it’s another way of ensuring I’m as open and honest about all this as I can be on here.

Deep breath…here we go.

 

As of this morning, July 11, 2013, here are my weight and measurements:

Starting weight: 195

Starting measurements*:

               -waist:                  36”

               -hips:                    46”

               -right bicep:        14.75”

               -right thigh:         25”

               -neck:                   14.5”

*note: I’ve taken some more extensive measurements (including forearms, calves, etc.), but I thought I’d spare all those extras for the sake of simplicity.  And no one needs to know THAT much about me…

 

And now for your viewing pleasure, here are my horrible selfie “before” pictures (and please excuse the poor quality and ambiance…I don’t have a professional portrait studio available at the moment).

Front:

Side:

 

My goals in achieving this weight loss aren’t all completely tied to those terrifying three digits on the scale, however important that part is to me as well.  There are a few milestones and lifestyle changes that I want to achieve through all of this, so I’m listing those here, and will track my progress on those as well.  In no particular order, these goals include:

               -goal weight*: 135

               -run a mile without stopping

               -wear a skirt without worrying about legs chafing

               -do a free pull-up (no rubber band assistance)

               -fit into black boots in my closet (currently too small around the calf area)

               -wear shorts in public without being self-conscious**

               -be able to cross legs comfortably

               -reach a size 6

               -run/walk (mostly run) a 5k

               -run/jog up the steep hill by my house

               -wear a bikini to the beach – WITHOUT wearing a cover-up the entire time**

*I don’t know the exact “ideal” weight for my height (5’5”), so this is something of a guesstimation.

**Also, I’m a huge supporter of loving yourself and loving your body for how beautiful it is, but as this has been a constant struggle for a long time, I can’t help being a little self-conscious.  But that’s part of the point of this whole thing – finding what’s right and comfortable for me.

 

So there you have it.  Here’s where I’m starting.  Stay tuned for the first monthly update, set for the week of August 4, where I shall have some milestones and/or [hopefully] smaller numbers to report.  Until then…lots of luck and willpower for all of us!

The Challenge

Have you struggled with your waistline since middle school?

Have you avoided the mall like the plague so you don’t have to pretend to ignore all those trendy stores that don’t carry your size?

Have you been looking for that miracle cure that will finally help you get rid of all that extra weight once and for all!!??

 

Well hell, so have I.

 

A glamorous supermodel I am not…but a walking cliché I unfortunately am.  For thirteen or so years, my less than ideal body shape has been something of an obstacle for me…to say the least.  I don’t plan on ever having the poise or waistline of Giselle (it’s just not in the tea leaves for me, and I’m fine with that) but I need to get down to that healthy weight, shape, and overall fitness level that is ideal for me.

I have common sense…or at least I like to think that I do.  I know the basic habits that lend themselves to healthy living.  Daily exercise, organic veggies and grass-fed carne, and a couple gallons of water a day…right?  Simple.  Basic.  Easy…in theory.

I’m pretty well equipped for this whole shebang too.  There are some lovely areas to walk (or God, legs, and lungs willing, to attempt to run) where I live, and I have quite a few workout DVDs and active “video” games that should negate any time- or weather-inspired excuse I might procure from the depths of my laziness.

So why haven’t I managed it yet?  Well, I’ve come to find that my will-power is about as firm as Frosty on a budding spring day.  I make exceptions and qualify all the time.  “It’s his birthday party, so it’s ok”; “I haven’t had that dish in such a long time – it’ll just be this once”; “What the hell, I’ll be bad today – and then I’ll start for sure tomorrow.”  You get the idea.  We’ve all done it.  It’s way too easy to make excuses, but there’s a point when I realized I was making excuses on a daily basis…and that’s a problem.

Ergo this blog.  I thought setting it up would be something worth trying, if for nothing else but accountability.  There’s something about the possibility of observers that just heightens the motivation; preferably they will be cheering and celebrating the challenge, but whether they are or not, there’s just something about their presence that intensifies the need to meet those goals.  So hopefully that will be the big key to what I’ve been trying to do for years.  The fact that everything I’m going to be tracking will be available for almost anyone to see is daunting, but I do think this will be one of those major elements that will help me keep myself in check.

In the coming weeks, I’ll be posting all kinds of tid-bits about my epic quest for weight-loss, whether it be some new habit I try to pick up or an inspirational gem that helps to fuel that fire.  Every month I will also post my weigh-in and measurement updates, along with those glorious images of my body in progress (scary though such an idea is at the moment), so as to keep as consistent a record of everything I’m doing as I can.

This is purely a personal challenge; it’s not meant to be some sort of profound manifesto for the secrets of weight loss, and I am not going to pretend to know anything about what I’m doing (or attempting).  It’s all an experiment, but through all the good and bad that is sure to come, if at least one other person can find inspiration in a single post, then I would be all the more elated.

So I wish tons of strong will to myself and everyone else with a similar undertaking.  Ready?  Seriously this time, are you ready?  All set?  Go!!