Let's Do Some Numbers

Alright. Math is about the most concrete-for-sure-not-gonna-change thing out there. Science is very much at the heart of weight loss, and math goes hand in hand with that. So, here are some numbers:

• 240 - my current weight
• 160 - my goal weight
• 2 - the number of pounds I want to lose per week, or,
• 8 - the number of pounds I want to lose per month
  
• 1500 - daily intake calories allowed
• 2500 - daily calories needed to burn

That's not so scary, right? Right? I'm in the process of breaking down my daily calories into each of my 5 meals - breakfast, lunch, dinner, and 2 snacks. So, how about a further breakdown of each meal?

• Breakfast, receiving 250 calories
• Morning Snack, receiving 80 calories
• Lunch, receiving 420 calories
• Afternoon Snack, receiving 80 calories
• Dinner, receiving 670 calories

Each of those meals may be broken up like this:

• Breakfast (250): turkey bacon (35), whole-wheat toast (87), margarin (50), and 1 banana (100) @ 272 calories

• Morning Snack (80): mozzarella stick (74) @ 74 calories
  

• Lunch (420): Salad (324) [lettuce (20), onions (64), half an avocado (144), sunflower seeds (16), walnut oil (80) red wine vinegar (0)], half grilled chicken breast (126) @ 450 calories
  

• Afternoon Snack (80): carrots (5), mozz stick (74) @ 79 calories
  

• Dinner (670): steamed rice (205), rump steak (139), steamed brocolli (87) with garlic (93) @ 437 calories

• Total planned calories: 1500
• Total consumed calories: 1312

I made a few tweaks: I would normally use olive oil on a salad, but changed it out for walnut oil. I would normally eat sirloin, but just discovered how many calories are in it, so substituted that for rump (filet would also have been a good choice). For breakfast, margarin in place of butter (even though I'm a good Southern girl who was raised to believe that margarin is the spawn of the devil), and turkey bacon in place of pork. Aside from that, everything else is relatively close to what I already like to eat!

I did a lot of reading today, most of which gave me the following pieces of information:

1. Don't freak out if you misscount, overcount, or just plain say "SCREW COUNTING!" to counting (every now and then)
   
2. Don't let the counting rule this whole process - counting is done for only a few weeks, and only then so you can gather a good idea about what you are consuming. For instance, I now know that steamed rice (a staple in my diet) contains about 200 calories, and that 1 lemon wedge ads a mere 1 calorie to that cup of rice. Awesome.
3. Drink like a fish. A saintly fish. I bought a 32 oz Nalgene today. I plan on refilling it at least 4 times a day. This should be simple, considering I used to drink about a gallon of water a day anyway.

This just gets less and less intimidating by the day. Now, to work in an exercise plan :)

Oh, btw - hey /r/fitness!

Week One, Month One

Here's my gargantuan body before I start losing tons of weight and looking super super hot on my wedding day:






And here's how I plan on doing it:

1) A change in diet. While I already have fairly good eating habits, there are some changes that need to be made. The first, and formost, is no more fast food. Not even a little bite of something on the way home. No. More. Another similar change: limit eating out to only a few times a month, and when it's done, do it intelligently. I'm also cutting out certain breeds of foods: no more fried anything, limited white foods (potatoes, breads, starches in general), and very limited sugars.

2) A change in exercise. I plan on working out at least 5 times a week, alternating days between swimming and biking. Weekends are for resting my body, and exploring the wild state I live in. There are hundreds of parks and recreational areas around me, just waiting to be explored and enjoyed. I plan on doing so with as many as possible.

3) A change in attitude. I already have not-so-awesome thoughts about myself, and I need to work hard to eliminate them all together. A big part of this is just telling myself (repeatedly) that this isn't just so when I look back on my wedding pictures in 30 years, I'll think "Damn I looked good" (although I must admit: that is an incredibly motivating image) - it's so when I have kids, I can run and play with them. It's so I can be the best possible person I can, because I'll be healthy. It's so I can feel good about my body, and use those good feelings to change the world around me, and my entire life.

4) Setting goals. A big part of losing weight is the goals. I don't have a ton, and I don't intend do, but the goals I do have, and the ones I want to try hard to meet, are as follows:

• Have a jawline, and fewer love handles
• Fit into a size 12 or smaller
• Be able to swim a mile without stopping
• Be able to hike a mile without breaks
  (except, of course, to appreciate nature)
• Be proud of myself for what I will have accomplished
• Be able to completely give away
  every article of clothing in my wardrobe
  

Part of this is, for me, envisioning what "future me" will look / feel like when I have reached my goal. It's thinking about getting to throw away all the gigantic pairs of jeans I own; of finding my own teensy weeny yellow polka dot bikini; of being able to try on clothes that I actually like, not just because they will fit me, and not having a sob-attack in the dressing room. I like the idea of being complimented on my body. I like the idea of turning heads, of making myself an alluring and attractive female.

It's going to take some seriously hard work, and I intend to sweat for every second of it.

Beginings

"Ok now, unlike every other picture you've ever taken of yourself, you need to make yourself look really, really fat."

These are the words of motivation and inspiration that my fiancé is telling me, right before we take my first "before" photo. I am dressed in an illfitting sports bra, and old gym shorts. I look, and feel hideous. But at the same time, I can feel something inside me. A spark of hope, a glimmer of confidence.

I am planning on marrying this sarcastic man in approximately 8 months. I plan to lose a good 80 pounds before that happens.

Before I can really start this though, I have to submit a little honesty. How this happened, how I came to decide I needed to change, and what I plan on doing to get my big butt in shape (irony: I have no butt. None. My ass has more muscle in it than a fat, juicy steak from your local Texan grill. It is quite possibly the only part of my body with no fat on it, save for my feet).

I can very easily say that every ounce of fat on body is here by my own damn laziness. I know I eat well (not amazingly well, but well), but I don't move if I don't have to. I work in a place where I run around like crazy for about an hour every day, but that's it. I get home, I change into yoga pants, and proceed to do everything completely un-yoga related for the next several hours until bedtime.

My main purpose for this is to really keep tabs on myself. I could write in a cute little journal, or I could document everything digitally. By the power of the Blog, I plan on documenting as much as this experience as I can - for me, for you (if you're there), and for my fiancé.

So hey - let's get this whole life changing thing started!