The Weight Loss Plan

Weight: 333.4
Total loss: 16.6 pounds

So, let me tell you about how I plan to achieve my goals.

Before the new year hit, I decided that I was really, really sick of feeling like crap all the time, and that little things like tying my shoe or walking up a flight of stairs was more difficult than ever before, and especially that I was never sure if, when going out in public, that I'd fit into a chair or seat. Finally, I was really, really sick of having such a limited selection of clothes to wear. Though you'd never know it if you've only known me for the past few years, I love fashion and I love getting dressed up and really having fun with clothes. As any fat girl knows, it's a lot harder to do that when you're 300+ pounds (though certainly not impossible, I know -- just check out the awesome Fatshionista community on LiveJournal), even though the options we fatties have is a zillion times better than even just ten years ago, we still don't have the endless selection of styles that the "normal" sized folk have. I'm sorry, but I want back in.

Another factor that propelled me into finally dealing with my weight problem -- and yes, it's a problem for me -- was that I really don't think it was doing me any good health-wise, either. Yes, I know about HAES (Health at Every Size), and I believe in it, but I really don't think I was headed in the right direction with my mostly sedentary lifestyle and junk food, take-out approach to eating. For me, establishing a regimen that includes tangible goals like weight loss kills several birds with one stone: It makes me more conscious about the food choices I am making and how much food I am actually consuming (as opposed to my usual free-for-all), it gets me to ease into a more active lifestyle, and gets me to be more aware of my body and, funny enough, makes it easier for me to love my body NOW since I am actually doing some good for it. That's right. I LOVE my 333-pound body. What's the point of hating it? Really, though. It's easy to fall into that i-hate-myself mode when you're acting like you hate it.

What a minute -- I was going to talk about how I plan to lose 150-200 pounds, wasn't I?

OK. Well, the first thing I knew I wouldn't do is some stupid fad diet, or even join Weight Watchers. Been there, done that too many times to count, and besides, those meetings are frickin' annoying. And dude? Sorry, I've been on diets since I was nine. I know all the stuff they're teaching, and I hate sitting there listening to 60-year-olds (sorry, Mom) whine about their transgression with a candy bar, or wondering how they are going to possibly deal with the food they'll be faced with on their vacation next month?

I'm really so past whining about stuff like that after almost 30 years on this trip.

Instead, I signed up for a year's worth of gold account at The Daily Plate to track my daily calorie intake, and chart my weight loss and measurements. Previously, I had used the online tool Fitday (I had used it a few years ago to lose about 60 pounds), but I wanted to start totally fresh and new, plus I thought that TDP's interface was a little prettier and it seemed to have more features, including forums. Unfortunately, I haven't found any forums I really connected with, so I joined the 100pounds2lose community on LJ, a very active, supportive bunch of people who don't whine too much. ;) A few weeks in, I discovered the wonder that is the Hacker's Diet and its offshoot, The Physics Diet and its forums, where it is surprisingly and pleasantly male-dominated with a focus more on the process and statistics of weight loss, using formulas and things that I don't entirely understand the mechanics of but love for all its charts and graphs -- hey, I am a visual person, after all! (I'm an artist and graphic designer, btw.) It's a totally different approach to weight loss that takes a lot of the emotion out of what can be, to many people's detriment (read: my own), a very emotionally-charged process. Which for me is a good thing.

At seven weeks in now, I haven't included regular exercise in my program yet. I'm taking one step at a time, and I want to get very comfortable with one major lifestyle change before I take on another. At least on TDP you can track your exercise, too, and among the activities they list is grocery shopping, cooking, and house cleaning. I'm not sure I totally buy how many calories you burn doing those things according to the site, but it makes me feel like I am doing something more than lounging in the recliner watching film after film... That said, we do have a Wii and I often play Wii Sports and get a good workout that way, especially with boxing, tennis, and bowling. Hey, it's a start!

Eventually, I plan to add the Couch to 5K, as well as the Hacker's Diet Fitness Ladder to my program. Also, I used to be a big fan of the DVD Pilates for Dummies and will do that, too. That Pilates stuff really does wonders -- I remember how powerful it used to make me feel.

There are two last things that are really helping me to achieve my goals. My partner, The Guy, is always there to say, "What are you eating?" when my inner voice is taking a coffee break, and I'd like to make a nod to my friend water, who has taken the place of my former main man, Diet Pepsi. I still drink the fizzy elixir at dinnertime and a little on weekends, but nowhere near the amounts I would seemingly inhale. And I feel so much better for it, too. And I am not half as gassy as I used to be!

So, there you have it. My arsenal for the battle of the bulge. This blog is just another tool for me to keep myself going. I'd love to hear from you if you are reading this!

Coming up next: The Money Plan