The Streak is About to End

A couple of my college buddies are coming into town tomorrow for a weekend of moderate debauchery. So that means that calories from liquor alone will probably be the same this weekend as I consume in food for an entire day. I'm going to try to be good, but I am not going to let dieting get in the way of having a rocking good time this weekend. Tomorrow will probably be okay, but Sunday is ::hopefully:: going to be off the charts. Of course, my tolerance is so low these days that I might only make it up to three beers before I check out on the whole drinking thing. Either way, I know that I am about to take a two day mental break.

I am going to keep track of everything and enter it into fitday. I won't be doing it all day long, probably one or two logs when its over to see what the damage is.

I am really proud of myself for making it 37 days in a row without going over. That's 10% of 2008 that I have kept my goal! And it will be 40 total days. That's a lot of days of eating right. Not enough to knock out 23 years of doing it wrong, but a damn good start. I like keeping the streak in the sidebar. There have been a few days that I wanted to go over, but I didn't because I knew I wanted to get to at least 36 days before I had an off day. If I can go about 36 days between one or two off days, that would mean I'd be on goal about 94% of 2008. Now that would be a 2000% increase over 2007. Holla.

After this weekend, there are two challenging events in the nearing future. Valentine's Day date with the BF, and spring break in March. I think spring break will be the tougher of the two. Going home usually means filling up on Mexican food. And no family eats like my family. After this weekend, it's back to one day at a time.

My Plan

So here's my plan in writing.

Food:
Eat about 2000 calories aiming for 30% fat, 40% carbs, and 30% protein. Eat breakfast, a mid-morning snack, lunch, and snacks and dinner throughout the day. Enter everything into fitday so I can see what I still need to eat and balance hunger versus calorie intake.

Cardio:
Minimum three times a week for 30 minutes. Four if I am feeling ambitious.

Resistance:
Every other day...minimum of three days a week...for twenty to thirty minutes.

Backsliding...Sort Of

So I ate 700 calories of Lorna Doone cookies. No, scratch that. I am eating 700 calories of Lorna Doone cookies. This is a diet dilemma. For the day I've had 1305 calories. So these cookies put me at 2005 (I already put them in fitday). Now I need to eat more calories today. My goal is 2000-2100 a day to lose about 1.5 lbs a week. So, the cookies are not a good snack food. Binging on cookies is terrible. But it doesn't feel bad because technically its withing my goal range and they are like my heroin. Trans fat, bad. No fiber, no protein, bad. But I'm at my goal for fiber and protein. So I know its stupid, but right now I just don't want to eat 500 calories of broccoli and yogurt. I don't even know where I'd put all that food. But 700 calories of cookies takes up no room at all. I wish I'd eaten more throughout the day, but I haven't and now all I want is cookies.

Plan: eat and enjoy the hell out of them. Don't buy them again (or at least buy the individual packs so they're not so avaliable).

Lesson? I cannot be trusted with shortbread.

Working out has been going in two different directions. Resistance training is awesome. I love it! I'm doing it every other day for twenty minutes. I have a exercise band pilates video which is really peaceful, and there's a workout on exercise tv on demand that's a little more cardio-ish. Actual cardio has been hit or miss. Last week walking on my treadmill was fun, but I can't hear my tv over it. I'm not complaining, I got it for free on craigslist. But I can't watch tv, so I just have my iPod. Walking around the neighborhood has been really fun, but I tend to walk really slow on my own. Jumping rope was my favorite, but two 10 minute sets ended up hurting my calf, so that's on the shelf til I'm in better shape and lose more weight. I'm going to use the recommendations from Laura of Starling Fitness and walk a half mile 5 days next week.

All of these tiny problems have one thing in common: the first two weeks seemed easy. Now that there's some dilemmas and road blocks, I feel like more of a warrior charging through. This is going to be hard. The more I overcome, the more natural it will be to continue to overcome. It's been two and a half weeks, and I haven't been through a drive-thru once. Baby steps, people. Baby steps.

A Three-Pronged Attack

So I've been eating healthy for two weeks now. Not a lifetime exactly, but a long time for someone who used to order out takeout every night. I've got a house of healthy food, a BF who has decided to do it with me, and a newfound love of the baby carrot.

I've started working out, too. I'm definitely not as good at keeping that up. So far I've walked four days a week for at least thirty minutes, but it hasn't really been cardio. I'm ready to step it up, though.

Today, I unveiled part three. Weight and resistance training. I picked up a set of elastic bands at the Target, and I did the video when I got home. They are a kick in the ass. I also got a set of 3 and 5 lbs dumbells as well, but I still have to figure out exactly how to use them. The goal tonight is to research the right way to work out with them.

Tomorrow I'm going to jump rope for thirty minutes. I'm loving this whole being healthy gig; it's way more fulfilling than Chinese takeout and a evening long food coma.

Grocery Shopping

Had a big setback yesterday calorie-wise. I was good all day, then I went to dinner at a restaurant. I tried to order healthy, but I made the amatuer mistake of ordering a salad and not getting the dressing on the side. So I ended up at about 3000 calories. Yuck. I'm not beating myself up about it though...I can't change overnight. I will make mistakes. I just can't let them cause me to get depressed and make more on purpose.

Today I've been really good. I actually need to eat another 400 calories before bed to hit my target.

The major step today though was grocery shopping. I know a lot of people who go decide to eat healthy have to overcome all the junk they already own. I do not have this problem. I have been such a lazy person that I order out almost every day. The only food in my house before today was leftover take-out, a can of cranberries, and some pasta. I can easily avoid eating this without any guilt. The cranberries are from last year. I now have a fridge and pantry stocked with healthy stuff. Hopefully, the large stock will keep me going when I'm too lazy to want to eat right but too lazy to not eat what's avaliable. I bought a lot of stuff from recommendations on IateApie.com. I'm very excited.

A Strange Way to Begin

So I've been pondering trying to lose weight as my goal for 2008. I've been fat my whole life, but I've never seriously tried it. You know those people who say they've tried everything and nothing works? Well I am not one of those people. I have lived as hedonistically as possible since forever, and each year I seem to add one more bad habit. Well, I'm 23, and I'm sick of it. I need my private life to match the level of responsibility and health that my public life has. I need to get it together.

Today wasn't really about starting a weight loss plan, so much as getting all the numbers and research together so that I will be able to start: I started a Fit Day account and tracked my activities and calories for the day. I researched healthy eating plans, though I'm not sure what my actual plan of action will be.

Goal for tomorrow: 2000 calories. Buy a bathroom scale.