One week down

In retrospect, the week of Thanksgiving might not have been the best week to start changing things!

All things considered I didn't do too bad.  I managed to work out 3x last week and stuck to my calorie count on 5 days.  For the first week I'm pretty pleased.  See, I have a theory about diets in general.  People get fired up about starting one, empty all their favorite foods from the fridge and cupboards and start eating grilled chicken, cottage cheese and rice crackers.  After a week or two of this, they go bat-shit-crazy and order one of everything from the drive-thru menu.  Then they get discouraged and go back to their old eating habits.  The same thing with exercise.  People will join a gym, start an exercise class or buy a dvd and go full bore through their first routine in months or years.  Then they spend the next 3 days in agony because their bodies aren't used to any activity beyond a walk.  When they can again move without pain, the last thing they want to do is try again.  I don't blame them.  I've been there, it sucks.

I now try to take a more laid back approach.  Consider all the changes that need to be made.

First, in order to cut back on calories, I have to know how many calories that I'm eating.  That  means that I have to start reading labels, looking up nutritional information and recording what I eat.  I also need to pay attention to portion size and start planning my day.  Am I going out to dinner?  Should I have a lighter lunch?

Second, I have to exercise.  To exercise, I have to find an hour or so of free time in my day.  From past history, I know that I do better if I exercise first thing in the morning.  That means that I have to get up earlier.  Since my old routine would be to roll out of bed, shower, dress and leave for work, I'll have to allow a little extra time and get up about 90 minutes early.  On average, I tend to stay up until midnight so I'll have to start going to bed around 10:00 pm. 

These are all big changes to my routine and doesn't even consider the physical aspect of preparing healthier foods and exercising.  When you look at all these changes, it is easy to get overwhelmed and quit.  The thing to remember is that there ain't no rule no where that says I gotta do it all at once!  I didn't get fat overnight and I'm not going to get skinny overnight.  I can take some baby steps and that's what I plan to do the first couple of weeks.  Eventually, I'll be exercising every day.  Eventually, a healthy diet will be intuitive.

So last week, I worked out with weights twice, using light weights trying to get my muscles accustomed to being used again.  I walked on the treadmill three times at a slow speed, trying to get my legs used to moving again.  I tracked my calories for 5 days.  I got up early 2 days.  I also got up and exercised Thanksgiving morning.  I weighed myself Thursday morning and weighed 360.8.  I lost 1.2 pounds.  I probably put some of that back on again Thursday and Friday.  However, this week is a new week and I'll do a little more exercise and keep counting calories and I'll lose a little more.

End of week 1:  360.8
Total loss: 1.2 lbs