About Fogdog's Weight Loss

Don't Focus on the Goal...

If you've followed this blog you know that I've struggled for many years with improving my health. I've finally reached a point where I've managed to maintain a small amount of success. Now it's time to take the next step, but I believe it requires a new way of thinking.

Instead of trying to get healthy, why not shift focus toward learning how to build healthy habits instead. Follow me as I try to teach myself how to Engineer healthy habits that will allow me to take my health to the next level. Let's see where this experiment goes!

Sunday, August 24, 2014

My Weight Loss Plan

 
"A journey of 1000 miles begins with a single step" - Laozi

And so it begins…

I woke this morning with a smile on my face.  It’s time!  My transformation begins today; I got up this morning and jumped on the scale…

August 24, 2014 – 347.8 Pounds
 
Wow!  I knew I was close to 350.  On one hand I recognize that I’m about one pound shy of my heaviest weight ever, but on the other hand I thought “could be worse”.  Time to get busy!

So now that I’ve started I’m going to share my plan.  It’s a work in progress since I just recently decided to accelerate my start date. 

I recently read Chris Powell’s Book – Choose More Lose More.  I’ve read a lot of books about weight loss; but not many have resonated with me as much as this one.  I think what I liked about it was the majority of discussion was devoted toward the mental aspects of transformation.  The rest of his book, including the plan really was a little vague and open to interpretation.  Exactly what I need! 

I’m going to give carb cycling a try.  I’m committing to doing it for 3 months and then I will evaluate.  I’m following Chris Powell’s “Turbo” plan for the first month an I’m also making some tweaks here and there to suit me and my style. 

Some Key Points about My Plan

Eating

  1. I will be eating 5 meals each day of roughly equal calorie count spaced out evenly
  2. I am targeting each meal to be about 300 calories on low carb days and 400 calories on high carb days
  3. Low carb days will be on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday
  4. High carb days will be on Wednesday, and Saturday
  5. Sunday is a free day to eat any way I choose
  6. Every 3 weeks I will spend the 4th week doing all high carb days
  7. I will try to drink a gallon of water every day

Exercising

  1. I am committing 15 minutes each day to exercising and I will add 5 minutes each week until I get to 1 hour
  2. Exercise will consist of both cardio and strength training
  3. No matter how much I don't want to exercise, I will always complete at least 10 minutes each day
Mental
  1. I will meditate 10 minutes each day in the morning
  2. Each morning I will remind myself that I can do this
  3. At the end of each day I will rate my performance (for the day only) and hold myself accountable
  4. I will continue to blog and seek support from my family and friends
  5. I will continue to make small promises to myself that support my new lifestyle; I will keep those promises
  6. I will limit my goals and limit how much I track progress and instead I will focus on taking it one day at a time
That’s about it, not too impressive huh?  Exactly what I want; I tend to make things incredibly complicated (see my old plans), but if you are truly motivated (there’s that mental part again), why do you need a complex plan?  Commit to something that’s simple and easy to live with and then do it!

Now, I will set some goals and I will talk about tracking results and calorie counting in future blogs, but for now what more do I need?  I’m motivated and I’ve made the commitment; I’ve taken my first step; I'll see you in a 1000 Miles!
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6 comments:

  1. LuckyMamaAugust 24, 2014 at 10:23 PM

    So Day 1 is down. Now on to Day 2! Best of luck in your journey!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Shane G.August 26, 2014 at 12:07 PM

    I am a huge fan of the KISS method! I like the tone of this post! I love exuberance and excitement! I can feel it in this post for sure!

    ReplyDelete
  3. KyraAugust 26, 2014 at 7:28 PM

    I need to keep things simple too. Good for you starting a plan that resonates with you! I wanted to share that the best plan I ever did (and I'm getting back to) involved 5-6 small, higher protein (it was really a 40/40/20 P/C/F goal for the day, but I guess that's considered high protein, especially with no real processed carbs) and a day off every week as well. It sounds very similar, although you're cycling so I'll be interested to see how that works for you.

    What I wanted to say was that in my plan EVERYONE talked about hitting this weird, sleepy/exhausted, mental foggy low around week 3-4, and it stayed until weeks 5-6. One day, it was just magically GONE and you suddenly had all this energy and amazing clarity, even though nothing had changed. I only mention this because it sounds like you are on a similar plan, and if you suddenly hit the wall during those weeks, it may be because of whatever is shifting with your system and to not give up.

    :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. FogDogAugust 27, 2014 at 8:25 AM

      Thanks for the advice. I've always done well with eating a lot of smaller meals spread out and then shooting for some balance. I'm interested in seeing what adding the element of cycling carbs does; from what I read it should accelerate weight loss as long as I don't go too far and put my body into starvation mode. We'll see and I'm ok with adjusting if needed. Thanks fro the comment!

      Delete
  4. FogDogAugust 27, 2014 at 8:26 AM

    Thanks for the support Shane, and thanks for reading.

    ReplyDelete

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