Change May Require a Little Help

Help comes in all forms. Like I said in the last post, paperwork is key. It is also helpful!
Today I found a new food and exercise journal. I opted to not go with the Biggest Loser (BL) journal this year because I wanted something that took meds and body inches into account. I will be tracking everything from here on out!
No matter how long it takes me, I will get to my goal weight of 160 pounds! I will post my goals for 2013 in the next few days. I encourage everyone to let go of the idea of resolutions and embrace goals! It is less stressful! Healthy life, here I come!

Sometimes Change Means Paperwork!

I have struggled with my weight since elementary school. It sucks! The most successful I have ever been with my weight loss was actually nearly 2 years ago when I lost 22 pounds in 4 months. I attribute that success to exercising regularly and keeping a food journal so I could see how many calories I was consuming.
When I slacked off on keeping the food journal, I started to gain weight again. When I was injured and couldn't run for 6 weeks, I got very depressed and quit using the food journal all together and as a result, my weight skyrocketed.
I have managed to keep myself under 250 pounds, but to me, that is heart wrenching. I was down to 202 at my lowest. I was ready to break through that 200 pound mark and for some reason, I couldn't. It was SO frustrating! That was when I started slacking.
This time it won't happen. I may not do it for the rest of my life, but I will do it for as long as it takes for me to understand how many calories are in different foods so that I know how much exercise I will need to do to burn them off. To further this effort I am going to find a nutrition class at the local college to take as well as some kind of fitness course so I can lose all the weight I need to in a healthy way and know how to keep it off!
Knowledge truly is power!

Procrastination is Not Change

So the initial idea was to use this blog to track my activity and weight loss in the New Year.
I thought about that last night as I watched old episodes of The Biggest Loser and one contestant said something that really stuck with me. He said, "if you keep saying, I'll start next Monday, I'll start next Monday. Next Monday never comes." I was going to wait until the 1st to do a weigh in and post before pictures, but why? Waiting for a day in the future is just another form of procrastination and procrastination is just one more excuse! NO MORE EXCUSES!!!
I am also not resolving to do anything. Everyone that knows me knows that I don't do New Years Resolutions, I make goals. This year I am going to initially start with 5 goals and the difference this year is that I am going to give these goals to the Lord and let Him help me achieve them because it is not all on me when I can rely on Him!
My starting weight is 246 lbs, that is disgusting. I am so ashamed of that number. My end goal is to get down to 160 and I don't know how long it will take me, but I know with the support of my family and friends and the faith I have in my Heavenly Father to give me the strength I need, I will achieve my goals!

Plan of Attack

People always think that when you want to lose weight and be more active you have to have a plan of attack. Guess what? I don't. My only hint of a plan is to do something active everyday for at least 30 minutes and to decrease my portion sizes when I eat.
So there's my plan. Got a better idea? Let's hear it!

...and change starts now!

2013 will probably be a year like any other. I will start out determined to do my best to exercise & lose weight, but in the end, I will probably end the year heavier than I start it. Will the knowledge of that being what's happened every year in the past stop me from trying? No. I look at it this way, I may be slowly killing myself, but with every time I exercise, I slow it down just a little bit more! In all seriousness, I know that I have fallen short in the past and I may do it again in the new year, but if ever there was a time to finally buckle down and DO something, its now. What do I have to lose? I have two & a half years until I plan to move to Chicago and in that time I would like to get healthy, cure my Diabetes and HBP and High Cholesterol. Maybe have the inner age of my biological self for once in my life! I know it's unusual to start a BLOG this close to the end of the year, but I figured, why wait? Why put that tag on it that says, I procrastinated instead of getting to work! So here is to getting better, buckling down and finally being the woman I want to be!