Less of Me

So... Biggest Blogging Loser. I've heard of it before from Arwen, but I'd never signed up before this time. I guess I figured I'm... too old. Too fat. Too... something. 

Recently I saw a picture of a friend, who while never obese, had definitely lost a few pounds with a new exercise routine. And... quite frankly, I was shocked. She looked fabulous. Fit. Healthy. Younger than her years. And I know she's about my age. 

I could look like that.

Well, maybe not like that. But I could be fit. And healthy. And not be exhausted every time I chase down Robbie. 

When I saw the sign up this time, I jumped on it. It could be the kickstart I need to get myself moving, I thought. I could even lose a lot of weight. Or some. Or a few pounds. ANYTHING but this gradual climb into even bigger sizes that I am terrified of achieving.

I want to stand in a group and have my picture taken without thinking - oh, no, my face is so fat, my tummy is so fat, my... never mind that. 

I want to live life the way I want to LIVE.

I want to have less of me to drag around. To be quite blunt, I could lose half my body weight, and still lose a few lbs. Not many at that point but a few. I'm short - 5'2 1/2" tall. And I want to stop carrying myself around (think about it - how much energy would you have if you had to carry the equivalent mass of your ideal weight around on your back all the time?). 

I put off HOW I'm going to approach this until I got home from our Christmas travels, which was Wednesday night. Then I started reading all the tweets and blog posts from other participants. Many have PLANS. I didn't have a real plan yet, and I don't think I have one that is very detailed even now.  I did find myself curious about the Whole30 plan so I read up on it.  It looked good but not quite what I'm looking for at this point. I need easy changes that I can sustain for the long run, so I decided not to go with that. I'm not going to be running a 5K by April either - too much weight on me, too much of a change... this time. (Next time? maybe!)

Now that I've said what I'm not doing - what did I decide to do? Here's the "plan".

1) Diet

Follow K's diet (for the new to my blog - K is my husband of 24.6 years - another reason to lose weight since we're hoping to go on a trip for our 25th!).

K has diabetes and high blood pressure. He's not like me - he's very fit (runs 25+ miles/week), and it's just life that his pancreas decided to stop working so well. He controls his blood sugar with medication, exercise, and a very simple diet:

Half of the plate for each meal is vegetables. 1/4 is carbs, preferably healthier ones, and the other 1/4 is protein. He also gets 1-2 servings of fruit per day.

It's a good starting spot for me. I do well with routine, so I am planning breakfast/lunch meals for myself for the week, with 2-3 variations for each.  I am already off most dairy, thanks to becoming lactose intolerant over the past few years. I'm going to reduce cheese/yogurt though. 

2) Exercise.

Anything. 5  to 7 days a week. We have a family membership at the university gym and I like to walk there. I also used to like swimming laps. They have aqua zumba so I am going to see what that is about. And I'm going to try to do MORE each time than I think I can do. 

3) Water.

I am always a bit dehydrated. I have spent the Christmas break weaning myself off of diet coke and diet dew and caffeine. I'm not worried about the caffeine but I wanted off the fake sugar. And if I'm drinking diet soda, I'm not drinking water. I need a lot more of it too!

I think that's about it for now. I don't know what will happen and I truly doubt I will win the challenge. But I'm going to try!

 

 

Comments

[Allison O'Bryan]

Sounds like a great start! Good luck!

[Salome Ellen]

You go! Most calorie-counting diets are variations of the "old" diabetic diet, so the new one should work too. I'd be awed to know two consecutive winners. (And however much you lose, you win!)

[Tracy]

Thank you :-) I hope it will work!