Week 2: Mornings are hard

Man, I am not a morning person.

I’ve tried to be. I’ve faked it, setting my alarm early enough to force me out of bed before the sun rises, but I hate it. I can do early mornings if I have someone or something else counting on me to be up early; an early flight or early start on a job, I can get out of bed at 4 am if I need to. However, if the only person who needs me out of bed early is me, I hit the snooze button. I can snooze for hours.

End of Week 1: Meh

This past week has been less than optimal. Oddly, the days I’ve worked have been the best as far as diet and exercise; when I’m not at home with all my options here, or when I don’t have the option to go run and get food somewhere else, I stick to my plan better.

Initial Measurements

Starting off, my measurements are:

Weight: 234.6 pounds
Waist: 38.5 inches
Hip: 49.5 inches
Chest: 39 inches
Neck: 14.75 inches
Thigh: 24.75 inches

Put all of that together, it translates to size 18 jeans and XL shirts, and overall starting out I look like this: 

 

Good to know where I’m starting. Now to do some work, and see what happens this week.

Week -1: Planning

This week has been one of mostly planning and preparation. I’ve been figuring out what my daily routine should be, what meals I’ll make throughout the week, and prepping for that. Tomorrow, I’ll put the plan in action and spend at least part of the day making ahead what I can so that the rest of the week goes smoothly.

Thankfully, I’m one of those people who can pretty much eat the same things every day and not get too sick of it. This is a very good thing since most of the recipes I have and use make at least 4 servings, and I hate letting food go to waste. Breakfasts are usually an egg and veggie scramble; I like onion, asparagus, and mushrooms scrambled with two whole eggs, though there’s certainly a lot of flexibility if I need to change things. For lunches this week, I’ll alternate between a tuna salad and low-carb sloppy joes. And dinners will be a cabbage and turkey soup, which I tried out last week and actually is pretty good with a few extra spices added in. Really, anything with cabbage is going to probably be a winning recipe for me.

I’m mostly using guidelines from the ridiculously named Unleash Your Thin program (good lord, I hate the names of diet books and programs), though I have a few other resources that I may draw on as well. I used this plan last summer and lost about 20 pounds before I hit a plateau, and then never really got through it. I’m hoping I can make necessary changes to keep everything moving along this time around.

I’m working on this post a little too late in the evening to do initial measurements, so I’ll do them in the morning instead and update then. In the meantime, I’ve distracted myself for long enough that I can’t go to Trader Joe’s for my personal kryptonite: triple chocolate mini bundt cakes with vanilla ice cream. Oh man. The craving I have for those things defies description. Anyway, now to make sure I have everything in order for the morning, and then I can get some sleep.

Well, that went well

Four years without an update. That’s amazing.

In the past four years, not a whole lot has changed. I mean, I’ve done stuff. I’ve changed jobs a bit, so my stress levels are down. I’ve altered my eating habits somewhat. I’ve intermittently increased the amount of exercise I’ve gotten. At my best, I had lost some weight and got down to about 220 pounds. That was about six months ago, before a new school year started and all of that scheduling and weirdness. After letting my diet and exercise plans go for the school year, I’ve gained 15 back.

So, once again, time to get serious. Serious serious. And perhaps update this damn thing so I feel some sense of accountability.