Before I decided to end my "relationship" with Facebook games (previous post), I made a much more monumental decision (for me).
On February 1st I chose to start losing weight in earnest. As anyone looking at me or my picture can tell, I am overweight. I have battled this issue most of my adult life. I have lost significant amounts of weight three times in my life, only to gain the weight and more back over ensuing years.
This is not about "excuses"... it is about making positive changes in my life moving forward. My "Goal" was, and still is, to lose 150 pounds. This will leave me at a weight lower than I was when I finished high school.
During my 15 year sabbatical from Real Estate, I became and A.S.Q. (American Society of Quality) CSSBB (Certified Six Sigma Black Belt) and consulted with many companies over the years in how to improve their profit by reducing costs, improving systems, improving process and reducing waste. I also was a member of PMI (Project Management Institute), and decided to tackle this "Goal" as a business project using skills and knowledge that I have previously acquired. Part of this required understanding the "human" element and understanding myself...
Over the years I have lost weight with temporary success using many different methods. This time, again, knowing myself, I chose to start making better choices and slowly increasing my physical activity as my weight decreased.
The "Plan":
- give up "white" - Bread, Pasta, Rice for "Brown"
- give up butter and added sugar
- severely restrict "empty" calories (choosing fruit instead of candy, juice instead of pop, fruit instead of juice, water instead of juice). I acknowledge special occasions will prevent me from doing this totally.. for now.
- increase my daily intake of fruit and vegatables
- eat fish twice a week (yes - sustainable fish whenever and wherever possible ;-)
- attempt to go vegetarian for 1 day a week (it's a start!!!)
- reduce the amount of "rewarding" or "treating" ourselves (my wife and I) with food, by choosing entertainment or activities instead.
For accountability, I decided to do this publicly, announcing the "project" and monthly milestones online. I chose to use Facebook for this =)
I broke down the larger goal into smaller monthly projects. My goals for February, March and April were to lose 15 pounds per month and then lose ten pounds per month for the next 10.5 months which would see me reach my goal by February 15th, 2011.
I decided not to carry over results from past months, but rather treat every month as a new start.
I wanted to journal all my food... this is very powerful, but must admit that to date, seven weeks in, I have not done this consistently. If I start to fail to meet goals this is the first area I will consider improving.
I also know that this is a marathon... but the rewards for me, will be worth it.
I ended up losing 17 pounds in February and have made several posts on Facebook. I did not blog about it because I didn't find I had the time due to my playing Facebook games ;-)
Giving up Facebook games is giving me extra hours in a day and I am back here on Active Rain, spending more time with my son and wife, and managing to do more while I am "working" ;-)
With 75% of March over, I find myself a little behind... I took my wife and son to Niagara Falls for three days during March Break (my wife is a teacher) and found my self slipping that whole week. That too, is part of life... I am back on track, and will try to finish the month strong.
I have been far, far from perfect... this is a marathon, it is important to keep moving forward and not give up.
History leads me not to get to excited about early success, I have done that many times before... I am hoping the online accountability will give me extra incentive to persevere when times get tougher...
I am doing this for me... for the quality of my life ... and realize that as long as I value my "reasons" and keep on trying, I will get to my Goal. This one, unlike Facebook games will not be "easy", not for me. I have never done this.
Again, if things get tough, I might lean on my friends for support.
Any support, advice or words of wisdom you can share will be greatly appreciated.
In advance, Thank You =)
... and I will keep you posted on challenges and my success...
Hope you see less and less of me ;-)
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