Fancy

So I'm kind of starting at the beginning with this weight loss thing.  I realized that in January I'll go to the doctor for my annual appointment and she'll weigh me, and as it is right now I'll have gained nearly ten pounds this year while I was apparently trying to lose fifty.  I'm not really sure what happened along the way, but I think it was likely in the planning stages.  So I'm going to try again in the hopes I can at least break even with last year's weight by my birthday in early January.  I'm doing all the research again - what to eat, how much to eat, when to eat, how to exercise, when to exercise, etc.  I'm gathering up all the knowledge I can so when I do this again I do it right and for good.  I want to be a strong, confident, healthy woman and I have the power to make that happen, with the right choices.

Here's a neat little tool I've found helpful that gives you a personal food pyramid:
Mayo Clinic Food Pyramid

I think sometimes we get so hung up on seeing what the "experts" say about which foods we should eat and how we should structure our weight loss plans.  I think it's important to first consult sources of information on our health and base our plans upon becoming healthier all around, versus just thinner or some vague idea of "active". 

A Wasted Month

I wasted the past month on the couch, constantly eating, and making feeble attempts at working out.  But I'm slowly getting my head into the right place to attack this problem again.  I've had to make some decisions lately about where my life is going next year, and I have a plan.  Even though I'll be spending a year at home, something I thought I would hate to do, I'm accepting it as an opportunity to become a healthier me, and not just physically.  I expect I'll be growing more as an adult until I leave for grad school, and I'd like to get myself financially figured out.  I'll be making my health a top priority, since I will have a year without school to give me time to focus. 

Later today, I'm going to sit down and create a new fitness plan that I'll be starting on after Thanksgiving.  This plan is going to help me figure out what works for me in terms of becoming healthy and fit, and I'm leaving plenty of room for mistakes.  I'm starting now in the hopes that I will give myself some time to stumble around and find my favorite activities, foods, etc.  The goal here isn't necessarily weight loss, but to find that fit, healthy, happy person buried inside me.  However, I do expect to lose weight, and I'm going to report weigh-ins again to make sure I'm losing.  I'm not setting a pounds lost per week goal as I need a little flexibility in my continuing education about how to live a healthy lifestyle.  Once I've graduated and moved back home, I hope to be the master of how to be healthy, haha.  Then I will tweak my fitness plan to adjust to what I've learned since Thanksgiving and will kick ass for the next year.  Then I plan on finding ways to adjust my new healthy lifestyle to the stresses of being in grad school and in a different country.  I'm looking long-term now, instead of short term.  Although once I have my fitness plan set out, I will likely intersperse some short-term goals as well. 

For now, here's some pages I'm finding helpful right now, and that you might as well:

Target Heart Rate Calculator (to help create a beneficial fitness plan)


5 Elements of a Rounded Fitness Routine  (to make sure we're getting all the benefits we can)


7 Benefits of Regular Activity  (for when we're down about weight loss, we can remind ourselves of what other good we're doing to our bodies)

4 Low-Cost Ways to Shape Up (because the economy still sucks)


Until next time,

Erika