It's Sunday evening. Tomorrow is the big day. I have to admit, I'm both excited and terrified. I'm excited about the challenge that lays ahead, about how healthy I'm going to be, about how good I'm going to feel, and how much more energy I am going to have. I'm terrified about cravings, being hungry, failing, and not being able to maintain the momentum...and not losing weight.
This last week has been somewhat of a week of food debauchery for myself. I've been trying to get in the last of all the things I normally crave - to try to get it out of my system (the craving/desire), and to essentially give myself as much of it as possible to hopefully break my desire and cravings for INSERT FOOD HERE from this point forward. I think it's working. I told Josh the other night that I really just wanted a salad. Good sign - that I'm craving real and actual food.
I think to be successful on this lifestyle change, I have to have a perspective change. My body does not need very much food to survive - definitely not as much as I would like to consume. My body is a machine and it needs nutrients to thrive and work efficiently. And those nutrients come compacted in whole foods like vegetables, fruits, and lean meats. I am a tiny girl (height-wise, definitely NOT girth-wise). I'm only 5'2" (and a quarter if you ask the nurse who measured me at my physical last week). The thing about being short is that I don't have a lot of body to feed. So, I really don't need that much food. I think once I can accept that it might be easier for me to eat less.
My tongue, taste buds, and fat cells are screaming "NOOOOO!!!!" right now because of my above statement. They disagree and would like more food, please and thank you - and none of that healthy stuff, please and thank you.
I think they will have to have a perspective change as well.
So, here we are...on the eve of the big change. Tomorrow morning Josh and I will both weigh in. And tomorrow, after work, I will take my measurements (not doing it in the morning b/c I am at Josh's and he doesn't have tape measure so I'll have to wait to get home to do this). I will also take a "BEFORE" photo when I get home (I forgot my camera at home and my cell phone sucks to take photos). So the BEFORE photo will be the first day of the change.
So, what's on the menu for tomorrow?
For breakfast, I have a kefir strawberry smoothie planned. Have beautiful yummy strawberries that smell so good and are a wonderful bright red. Also having iced coffee (unsweetened) with acidophilus milk. For lunch, I have a large salad made of greens (about 3-4 cups), yellow and red bell pepper (about half of each), 2 carrots, and slices of cucumber. My dressing is olive oil and vinegar. And I have grilled 2 chicken breasts (although I will only be eating one for lunch - the other is to keep at work for when I get hungry). Two hard boiled eggs for a snack, along with veggies to crunch and munch on. Dinner is going to be taco style lettuce wraps with ground low fat turkey, veggies, and butter lettuce. Green tea is to be consumed with every meal and the mornings is to start with a glass of warm water and lemon.
The challenge is getting my exercise in! I am going to work on getting back into running, I think. It burns a lot of calories, and is a challenge for me. I'm going to try to keep myself focused on little goals (instead of going all out and training for a large event like a half or full marathon, and then crapping out afterwards b/c I'm so sick of running at that point). So, I'm going to work on little things like a) improving my 5K time; b) working towards improving my speed; c) maybe graduate from the Galloway walk/run program to a full run program (still deciding on this one). Since I've been out of the running loop since November (over SIX months ago!), I'm going to start with a 30/30 combo for 20 minutes every day - that means alternating running and walking, every 30 seconds, for 20 minutes. Then in two weeks, I may kick it up to 30 minutes, and so on...(right in time for Phase 2 of the plan).
The weather has been exceptionally warm lately (like upper 80s/lower 90s) - exceptionally warm for Portland, OR, that is. So, getting my exercise in tomorrow is going to be quite challenging b/c it's going to be brutally hot. Also, I have an acupuncture appointment after work, so I'll be running around like a crazy person - work, traffic, acupuncture, traffic, home, running, dinner...it'll probably be around 8 before I finally sit down to eat. So, I'm going to be grumpy, and famished. And hot. But I will persevere because I will feel SO good after I complete day one!
I will post tomorrow, after I eat dinner and sit down, to let you know how the first day went.
So, dear friends, here's to the first day of the rest of my life!
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