I'm just coming off of my birthday weekend, and it is now time to begin my year-long quest. I realize that, to hit my goal by this time next year, I am going to need to adjust both what I consume and how much I exert myself. For this first little while, I am focusing on the former. Exercise is, and will be, a very important part of this, but I want to get myself adjusted to new eating habits first.
For way too long, I have leaned on the convenience, both in terms of proximity and cost, of fast food. It's everywhere, it's cheap, and most of it tastes pretty good. The result is that I have been hemorrhaging money because it is simply easier to get food at these places than it is to cook for myself (the dinky size of my apartment's kitchen doesn't help). Not only was this habit unsustainable financially, but it also resulted in rampant overeating (after all, if it costs less than $5, it's not really that much, right?). So, the major transition here is from primarily eating out to primarily eating in. Not a huge change, but one with big ramifications.
The first part of this is limiting the extent to which I eat out. Of the 21 meals I eat a week, it wasn't uncommon for 14 or more of them to be eaten out. I would also supplement these meals with snacks (milkshakes, candy bars, etc.), just making things worse. As such, I am limiting myself to three meals out per week and one snack. The hope is that I can ultimately scale this back to two or one meals per week. This should drastically cut back on my tendency towards overeating, and save me a good chunk of change.
The second part is controlling what I eat while I'm at home. I worked my food supply down to pretty much nothing, and now I can build it back up as it should be. After grocery shopping the other day, my food supply now consists of a fridge full of yogurt (store brand, different flavors, all 100 calories or under), a tub of bulk granola (mixed with yogurt, a delicious and low impact breakfast), a loaf of honey whole wheat bread (I would have preferred honey whole grain, but they were out of it), some peanut butter and jelly (lunch), some light italian dressing, two bags of salad, and a bag of frozen chicken (this is a hold-over, and once it is gone, it will be fresh chicken from here on out). A daily routine of granola and yogurt in the morning, brown bagging a PB&J for lunch, and a salad with chicken and light italian dressing for dinner leaves some room for improvement, but it is a big step forward in terms of nutritional value, calorie content, and cost.
These are my new food rules. Even two days in, I can already feel my body transitioning to the new set-up (mostly by saying "Gimme a damn burrito!"), which bodes well. After a few weeks of this, I can mix in a new exercise regimen, and then things are off to the races. A small beginning so far, but this feels like the beginning of something big.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Thursday, February 10, 2011
7 days to go...
There are any number of blogs kicking around the internet about people who are trying to lose weight. What sets this blog apart from the rest of them? Well, honestly, not much. Unlike others, though, I am writing this more for me than I am for you. I've lost weight and yo-yoed before, and what was missing was someone holding my accountable for it. So, I bring my journey to you in hopes that knowing you are reading this will keep me honest.
I won't pretend that I just ended up where I am, that I woke up one morning with my current body and a look of surprise on my face. It has been a combination of consistent overconsumption and underexertion, and it has taken its toll. Things are made worse by being a doctoral student, which requires an unfortunate amount of sedentary time. It's basically a confluence of conditions that have led to a bad outcome.
There are any number of reasons why I'm picking now to tackle this project. There are the obvious ones, like health, comfort, clothing, etc. However, there is one that is really driving me. In about a year, I will be interviewing for faculty positions as a finish my degree. While it shouldn't be a factor, studies show that job offers are more plentiful for those who are closer to their medically ideal weight. My field is niche enough as is, so I need every leg up I can get. Selfish? Yup. Not the right reason? Probably. But I tend to not do things without a specific motivation, and this is the one I need.
My plan of action is to start this year-long journey next weekend, starting the day after my weekend. From that day to my birthday next year, my goal is, through cutting consumption, consuming the right things, and exercising, to shed 100 pounds. I'll be keeping you posted about what I'm eating, how I'm keeping active, weight lost, and anything else that comes up along the way. Heck, if I find some good recipes or fun exercise ideas along the way, I'll probably share them here, too. I may not post every day, but I'll try to keep it to at least two or three times a week.
In the week until I begin, I'm trying to get myself in position to succeed. I'm working on running down my food supply so that I can stock up on the sorts of things I should be eating instead. I'm also trying to run through my frequent buyer cards at the local restaurants so that they don't provide my with incentive to stray. I'm also going to be picking up some necessary supplies for home exercise so that, even on days where I don't want to venture out, I can still be productive. It's a lot to tackle in a week, but if I want to make this work, it'll have to get done.
So there you have it. One guy, one year, 100 pounds. It's a tall order, but with you holding me to it, I think it just might happen. In a week, we'll start seeing.
I won't pretend that I just ended up where I am, that I woke up one morning with my current body and a look of surprise on my face. It has been a combination of consistent overconsumption and underexertion, and it has taken its toll. Things are made worse by being a doctoral student, which requires an unfortunate amount of sedentary time. It's basically a confluence of conditions that have led to a bad outcome.
There are any number of reasons why I'm picking now to tackle this project. There are the obvious ones, like health, comfort, clothing, etc. However, there is one that is really driving me. In about a year, I will be interviewing for faculty positions as a finish my degree. While it shouldn't be a factor, studies show that job offers are more plentiful for those who are closer to their medically ideal weight. My field is niche enough as is, so I need every leg up I can get. Selfish? Yup. Not the right reason? Probably. But I tend to not do things without a specific motivation, and this is the one I need.
My plan of action is to start this year-long journey next weekend, starting the day after my weekend. From that day to my birthday next year, my goal is, through cutting consumption, consuming the right things, and exercising, to shed 100 pounds. I'll be keeping you posted about what I'm eating, how I'm keeping active, weight lost, and anything else that comes up along the way. Heck, if I find some good recipes or fun exercise ideas along the way, I'll probably share them here, too. I may not post every day, but I'll try to keep it to at least two or three times a week.
In the week until I begin, I'm trying to get myself in position to succeed. I'm working on running down my food supply so that I can stock up on the sorts of things I should be eating instead. I'm also trying to run through my frequent buyer cards at the local restaurants so that they don't provide my with incentive to stray. I'm also going to be picking up some necessary supplies for home exercise so that, even on days where I don't want to venture out, I can still be productive. It's a lot to tackle in a week, but if I want to make this work, it'll have to get done.
So there you have it. One guy, one year, 100 pounds. It's a tall order, but with you holding me to it, I think it just might happen. In a week, we'll start seeing.
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