Day #1 - A Good Start

The hardest part of any journey is having the courage to take that first step.  Today I did just that!  I made a commitment to myself that I would dedicate 2015 to making my health a priority; today I finished day one.  Like most days, today wasn’t perfect, but I can honestly say I gave it my all. 

I followed my eating plan well and drank my gallon of water.  I did end up eating a couple extra cheese cubes later in the day because I felt really hungry, but still I managed to do very well with the diet.  I also managed to get a 30 minute walk in at lunchtime.  I knew that I would be exhausted by the end of the day so I went out at lunchtime and just walked.  Nothing super fast; I’m just trying to move around a little more.  Sadly, I could feel it in my back after just 30 minutes I was already feeling a little tired out.  Man I’m really out of shape.

Normally I don’t try to fix multiple things at once, but I made a commitment to focus on my health so today I also went smoke free.  It definitely made the day very tough.  If you ever quit smoking you probably know that those first few days are just physically exhausting.  I barely got any work done in the office and I ended up leaving early and went home to rest.  I wish I could have been a little more active today, but for the next week I expect that I will be quite tired without the cigarettes as a boost.

I’m off to bed early and I am excited to have made it through the day.  On to tomorrow.

-Stay Strong!

New Year, New Title, New Me

It’s been a while since I posted.  Simply put, I fell apart again.  I got on the scale this morning and I’m right back where I started… 346 pounds.  I don’t feel guilty about it and I’m not depressed, it is what it is.  I am responsible for my actions and I am responsible for getting myself out of this unhealthy trend. 

I’ve been on vacation since Christmas Eve; that’s a lot of time to think.  I feel like 2014 was a bit of a turning point for me in terms of my mental state.  I made significant progress with being in tune with how I feel and I’ve learned to forgive myself for not being perfect instead of carrying around a bunch of guilt.  With that said, my physical health has not improved at all.  In fact at 42 I’m starting to feel the toll of being unhealthy.  I’m tired all the time!  On weekends I can’t make it through a day without getting some kind of a nap or rest period.  When we go somewhere that requires any amount of walking I get tired out within the first hour and then spend the rest of the time walking from rest spot to rest spot.  This is not what I expected to feel like in my 40s and I shudder at the thought of how I will feel in my 50s.

With my new mindset I’m ready to take my next step.  I’m dedicating this entire year towards making my health my #1 priority.  I changed my blog title to match my new commitment.  Over the next 360 days I’m going to do a 180 and turn my health around.  It’s going to be tough and there will be plenty of failures along the way, but with each failure I will pick myself up as fast as possible and get right back on track.  I’m setting 3 basic goals for the year:

1. Quit Smoking
2. Give up Alcohol
3. Lose 100 pounds

My plan is fairly simple:

• Go back to carb cycling – I’ve had a lot of success with this eating style so I’m going back to it.  I get carbs every day at breakfast and then it’s carb free the rest of the day for 2 days.  Every third day I’ll have carbs and Sundays will be an unrestricted day.  I’m targeting 1500-1800 calories each day, but I won’t be counting; I know what 1500-1800 calories per day looks like
• Target 1 gallon of water each day – I’ve had plenty of success with this, so no need to change that formula
• Walk, Walk, and Walk – I’m in my 40’s, I weigh almost 350 pounds, and my lifestyle is very sedentary.  Right now my focus is on moving around as much as possible and walking whenever I get the chance.  When I get a little more stamina I’ll move to cardio and strength training but right now walking is probably all I can handle
• Weigh-in once a week – If you’ve read my blog before you know I’m not a big fan of weighing in.  However, as much as I don’t like pinning my goals to a number on a scale, I know that right now I’m not mentally strong enough to forgo this ritual; I need it to stay accountable.  I’ll weigh-in and post my results on Saturdays
• Post a blog entry every day – I’ve never been much of a daily blogger, but I want to try this out because I think it will help me to establish a regular routine.  They might not be long, but I want to post something each day to help me keep my commitment.
• Quit Smoking… Cold Turkey – Smoking is 90% mental and 10% physical.  With the right mindset I can get through the first week and then it gets a whole lot easier.  The challenge for me will come after the first few months when you start to let your guard down.  If I slip up, I need to get right back up and remember my commitment to my health
• No more alcohol – Mrs. FogDog is with me on this so I have support
• Fail properly – It’s inevitable; If I go into this thinking there will not be hard times and that I won’t slip up once in a while then I fail before I even start.  What’s important for me is to accept that I will have failures.  When they happen I need to do the following:

1. Acknowledge the failure
2. Identify the cause
3. Forgive myself
4. Move on

• Take it day by day – I have my goals for the year, but this journey is a day-by-day battle.  I’m not going to focus on the end result as much as I’m going to focus on what I need to do today.  I focus on each day the results will come on their own.  The final result can’t be known until the end of the year; no point in dwelling on it.

Sounds so simple right?  Anyone who’s had any kind of success with improving their health knows that this will be anything but simple.  It’s going to be one of the toughest years I’ve had to go through, but it beats the alternative of sitting around on December 31^st thinking about how I wasted another year and how my health has deteriorated that much further.  I’ve made a promise to myself that 2015 will be the year that I make my health a priority.  It’s a promise that I intend to keep.  I’m going to do a 180 in the next 360!  Day #1 is tomorrow; wish me luck!