Lose 20 pounds

Wow, I just read my entry from August ‘06. What a difference a year and a half makes. At that time I had about 20 lbs to lose… I worked out, signed up for a martial arts class, ate right, and even hiked 26 miles in Peru to see Machu Picchu. After that it was all downhill. I got motivated last year and really worked my tail off in the spring, running and taking hapkido. Then I tore my inner thigh muscle and was out of commission for a few months. I got discouraged and my good eating habits went down the drain. After the muscle healed I began running again… and managed two stress fractures in my right foot in August. By the time that was over, I was out of commission for about three more months and I stepped on the scale 15 lbs heavier than I had been in January.

So this year it stops. I checked out the Nutrisystem website and it seemed like something that would help to get me pointed in the right direction so I placed an order and began the program the second week of January. My goal was to lose 33 lbs. So far I have lost ten, and my short range goal is to lose ten more over the next month before my trip to Cozumel.

Things are progressing slowly (I lost 8 lbs the first week and have fought with the other two lbs for the last three), but surely and I know if I stick with it and work out consistently I can do it. I’ve decided that I need to sacrifice my social life for a while in order to do this once and for all, and it SUCKS but I keep envisioning how much better I will feel about things when summer rolls around and I am in shape and healthy and can go out with my friends again.

I think I can, I think I can…

I have struggled with my weight since college. Up, down, up down. And of course, the older I get, the harder the “down” part gets, almost to the point that it has begun to seem like an impossible dream. And so, I gave up. I decided that if I couldn’t lose weight by working out and eating like a rabbit (I wasn’t stupid about it… I made sure I was getting enough calories to sustain myself, but still create a deficit), then I just wasn’t going to do it. Well, of course as soon as I started eating like a “normal” person, I gained even more weight… and more and more. I just looked at some pictures of myself from this past weekend, and I look huge. I am within ten pounds of the heaviest I have ever been… a weight I swore I would never see again after losing 45 pounds right out of college.

And so, I’ve got to get serious. I’ve got to:
1)Work out more. Much more. This means both cardio and weights. I plan to begin taking martial arts, in addition to working with a personal trainer to try to get some motivation back. Yes, I want it, but I’ve found that when I have someone to answer to aside from myself, I am much more successful when it comes to physical endeavors.
2)Count calories and get focused on my eating habits. More fruit and veggies, fewer and smarter carbs (whole wheat primarily), and minimal meat.
3)Drink less. This is huge. I’m consuming way too many empty calories in the form of wine, liquor and beer.

A journey of 1,000 miles begins with a single step, so I am starting here. I went running tonight, had a dinner of grilled salmon, and made a smoothie to take on the train for breakfast in the morning. Ugh… this is going to be rough.