The Diet 2011

Today is December 27th. This morning I weighed myself at 241 pounds. I am just a bit over 5 feet, 9 inches tall. I am just over a month away from turning 42 years of age (on February 1st). My lifestyle is mostly sedentary. I take numerous medications for various health issues, including (but not limited to) asthma and blood pressure.

I need to change something, before it’s too late.

So I‘ve decided to join Colin Devroe in his goal, called “The Diet 2011”. Each week I will update this site (along with Twitter and Facebook) with my progress in the goals of weight loss. Additionally, there will be a blog post each month as I review my progress and feelings over how this ends up going.

The Weight-Loss Goal

My goal (over the entire year) is to lose 60 pounds. This will give me a target weight of 181 pounds (hopefully less) by this time next year. This averages out to a mere 5 pounds a month.

I began gaining most of my weight before the age of 30, so I haven‘t seen the lower side of 200 pounds for possibly 15 years or more, which also means that my kids have never seen me thin.

Here‘s how I‘m looking at accomplishing this: Lose 5 pounds, then do that again 11 times. I’m pretty sure I can manage that.

The Plan

Getting there sounds much easier said than done. But if I stick with the following items and try to avoid both weaknesses and plateaus, I should be able to be right where I want by this time next year.

• No alcohol. I’ve already started this. Drinking adult beverages is a direct connection to my emotional downturns, over-eating, and snacking. Getting rid of this has already improved how I feel about myself, and I am snacking less (although the holidays have not helped me here).
• Cut back on soda drinks. This will be very difficult. Although I stick to diet drinks, I know that they still aren’t good for me. I would love to give these up for good, but let’s not get too crazy here. As a side note: I do drink a lot of water already during the day. I’m a high-fluid intake kind of guy.
• Prohibit snacking. I munch on a lot of small things, from candies to chips. This is probably linked to an emotional thing, but snacking is still the biggest reason that I am obese. I have to quit doing this to myself.
• Closed kitchen hours. All eating will be stopped at 8:00pm. No exceptions!
• Increased exercise. I sit at a desk all day, and I take care of two kids at night. So, there’s not a lot of room in my schedule for working out. Plus, it’s not very fun. I do need a starting point though, so I’m going to begin with this, a game for my new XBox Kinect called “Your Shape Fitness Evolved”.

Please follow along with me as I attempt to change my life for the better. Join me, if you would like to do the same. Either way, the coming year should be an interesting adventure!

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