The Plan

All right, so the first of the month seems like a good time to start a new lifestyle. It's not totally new, I used to be better at this whole eating right and exercising thing. I used to be skinny. I used to be fit. I used to be a size ten (hey, that's pretty thin on us taller girls!) I used to be able to run a mile in ten minutes or less. I used to love shopping because things FIT without migrating over into the "Women's" (read: plus-sized) section of the store.

I AM SICK OF ALL THE "USED TO BE"!

I want to be all of those things again. I've been there before, so I should be able to get back, right? The only question... how in the hell do I get there again? Well, here's my idea. Got a better idea? I'm willing to listen.

DIET:
Rule #1 - Eat full number of servings of fruits, veggies, and dairy each day
Rule #2 - Eat most of my daily carbs before 1pm each day. Stick to vegetables and protein after that.
Rule #3 - The majority of my carb intake needs to be whole grains and natural (not added) sugars.
Rule #4 - Meal plan to avoid processed foods and take-out. (Gross fact - I learned that your poop won't smell if you cut out processed foods. Not sure how true that is, but interesting side effect of eating healthy!)
Rule #5 - Don't deprive myself of the yummies! I learned a loooong time ago that when I deprive myself 100% of the things I love to eat, I will just fall hard off the healthy diet wagon.

FITNESS:
Rule #1 - Walk Athena (my lab) 1 mile or more at least 4 times a week. (She's a big dog and I just can't handle her while pushing a stroller too. Since I need someone to go with me or to stay with the baby, I don't get the chance to go every day.) Besides, I love walking with her, so it's like my "me time" also.
Rule #2 - Go to the gym at least 4 times a week. (Again, the combination of work hours and baby kind of limit how often I get to go.)
Rule #3 - Do more strength training! I'm soooo uncomfortable with weights. Even when I had a trainer, I hated strength training. I always feel so awkward on the machines and especially with free weights.
Rule #4 - Get over being so self conscious about it and do AB WORKOUTS!!! There's only one way to really tone up those abs again and that's to work them out!!


TRACKING MY PROGRESS:
I'll be using this blog, of course, to track my progress. I'm not sure yet how I'll do it, though. Most likely, it will change each time I post. I plan on posting my diet/workout information everyday. I'm thinking that to really track my results, I need solid goals. Goal 1 - I want to lose 40lbs and get back down to 160lbs. (Less than that and I become anemic.) Goal 2 - Run a mile (again) in 10 minutes or less.

So... Tomorrow it begins! I hope I'm ready for this!