Feeling Overwhelmed?

I should've listed to Bill Martin... He TOLD me the best way to avoid losing a blog entry is to type it in someplace else, and cut and paste it into the article when I'm sure I have a complete entry.

Well, I didn't, and I couldn't, and now I can't. Oh, yeah, and this isn't the first time I've ignored perfectly good advice and lost a total entry. Dang it!

So, here goes:

Starting Weight: 213.6 lbs

Current Weight: 203 lbs.

Weight Lost: 10.6 lbs.

Did you have a good week? Did you do everything perfectly, every day, in every way? Yeah, me neither. I did well ENOUGH, I guess, since I lost almost 11 pounds, but I could've done more. However, I always do pretty well on that first weigh-in, it's Week 2 that will be tough. Oh, well, its time to get going!

I'm always really gung-ho the first week or two, but then the old ADD kind of checks in to see what's going on. I get bored easily. I can stay really concentrated on something, but let a distraction creep in, like the "Wonderpets" theme song, and I'm gone!

Just try and work on one good habit at a time. Exercise a few times a week, or concentrate on keeping your food journal, or drinking 8 8-ounce glasses of water every day. Maybe concentrate on bringing down that sugary-soda intake - make a plan! Kind of like getting up in the morning. Do you have to really THINK about what happens once you get out of bed? Unless Carl's home in the morning to interrupt my routine, I'm on autopilot with showering, brushing my teeth, putting on makeup, and heading out to the kitchen for coffee. That's how you have to treat living healthy, too. It isn't a habit (good OR bad) until you've done it so much or so many times that it becomes automatic.

I'm all for living consciously, or deliberately, but there are so many things I do everyday that are on auto-pilot. Like (and this is REALLY bad), most days I couldn't tell you HOW I got to work, unless something happens that is out of the ordinary, like a wreck, or a traffic jam, or even less traffic, for that matter (Spring break for Hillsborough students this week).

Anyway, concentrate on one habit you'd like to change, and take a couple of weeks to become the master of it. I'm concentrating on logging in my food diary, and being deliberate about blogging on the website.

My prayer for you this week is that you find the good habit you'd like to gain domination over, and all I ask is that for me, that you pray the same!

Let's Go - Getting Started

Current Weight: 213.6 lbs

Are you ready? I am! Let's get going!

First things first: Of course, weigh yourself. Take a picutre, too. You'd be amazed at how much different you're going to look when you take off a couple of pounds... this is what I looked like in June 2009 before I started losing weight and being very public about it as The Joy FM's Biggest Loser on The Morning Cruise:

Here's what I look like today, Easter Sunday, kind of the same pose:

Carl says I look very much different to his eye; to be honest, I don't see it. I know I'm better; I have more energy, I feel so much healthier, and I have a better outlook ("IN-look") on myself and life in general. But DO take some pictures. If you don't want to look at them right now, that's fine. I didn't, either. But you WILL want to look at them later on, when you've lost a little weight, and you're feeling better about yourself.

Also, take a couple of measurements. This is what I measured:

Chest: 38 inches (this is just below the armpits and above "the girls")

Waist: 36 inches (narrowest part of the torso)

Hips: 46 inches (widest part)

Upper arm: 16 inches

Current sizes: 16 pant, "Large" shirt

The measuring tape doesn't have to be accurately placed, but be sure to measure in the same place each time. I will try to do this about once a month, because I'm curious myself as to how I'm going to progress.

Record everything you eat or drink, or do for exercise. I use the website at http://www.sparkpeople.com/ for all that - sometimes it helps to look back at what you've done in the past to see where you've done well, and where you need improvement. In the nutrition section, at the end of the day you can see where you've done well... and where you haven't done so well, too. The main thing is to be accountable; to yourself, if to no one else. Also, if you're keeping a food and exercise diary, you are more conscious of what you're doing; you might not "count" a mouthful of pie of a handful of peanut M&Ms if you're keeping a tally only in your head. Plus which, everyone needs a minimum of caloric intake, or your body goes into starvation mode; it hangs onto every single calorie you take in, and you won't lose any weight.

Try to get a handle on what you eat each day. Again, www.sparkpeople.com is free, and gives you all the tools you need for learning how much, how often, and so on, that you shoud be eating every day to lose weight at a healthy rate.

Good luck! I'm praying for you... please pray for me!