CLICK HERE FOR BLOGGER TEMPLATES AND MYSPACE LAYOUTS »

Thursday, May 31, 2007

The Method and the Madness

It's not a really complex plan. That's good because I don't do well with rigid and complicated plans, anyway.
So what I'm doing is eating sensibly, trying to stay away from high-fat and high-sugar foods, and cutting out snacks and desserts. That's it for now.
I enter my meals into my Palm Pilot. The program keeps a tally of calories and charts whether I'm over or under a target calorie level for the day.
After I've been on this plan (I don't want to call it a diet--that feels too rigid) for a while, I'll add in some exercise. The blood pressure thing makes me reluctant to jump into an exercise program too fast. At least the medicine is reducing the swelling and the tinnitus.
What a drag it is, not being able to pull out all the stops and crank into a high-gear diet and exercise program right away!
On the other hand, I never stuck with those diet and exercise plans anyhow. Slow and steady will win this race. By July 1, 2008, I will be at a good fighting weight for me: 158 pounds. I'll take it one step at a time.

Wednesday, May 30, 2007

The Awful Truth


All right, here's the photo. It's important to post, I think, because it's so easy to forget what you looked like when you started. Somehow your mind erases the memory of how snug those huge jeans were, how short of breath you felt after walking up the stairs, how uncomfortable you felt.
I remember how it felt when I was at a good fighting weight, and how I looked at overweight people with amazement--how could they let themselves get that way?
It happens when you're not paying attention to these things.
Positive note: I've followed my plan very well today. Tomorrow I'll describe the method to the madness.

The first day

So far, so good.
I was going to have my DH take a picture of me to put on the site, but we'll just let that go for a while.
I've been good today--good for me, that is. A reasonable breakfast, a salad for lunch, and all food written down in my Palm Pilot's Diet and Exercise Assistant, which I got online from Handango.com.
The only bad part is having to figure out the nutritional values for the things I eat, which involves looking up dozens of ingredients, adding up the values for calories, carbs, protein, fat, and fiber, dividing into portion sizes, and finally saying "the hell with it" and making up a ballpark number in the different categories.
It helps to remember why I'm doing this.
I started this whole thing because I couldn't stand the swollen ankles, the tension headaches, the ringing in my ears, and the sweat oozing out of my pores every time I so much as moved. I couldn't stand the matronly clothing. I wanted to wear high heels again.
I'm making a promise that I will wear high heels on my 50th birthday.

This is it--I really mean it this time

My blood pressure was 162/120 a couple of days ago, and this morning my weight is a whopping 257.7 pounds. I am not quite 49 years old.
I'm telling you, this can't go on.
Even though I long ago gave up any visions of being model-thin (or any kind of thin), I really did have hopes of being healthy enough to live a normal life.
In this blog, I hope to record my journey as I lose 100 pounds by my 50th birthday. I'll put in links to weight loss sites, hints and tips and anything that helps me along the way.
Now I've thrown down the gauntlet and I can't back out. This time, I'm doing it.