My "Plan"

If you are reading this, then thank you. From the bottom of my heart. I have tried to answer every message that I've received on Facebook and I've tried to privately thank everyone who has left me an encouraging post, but in case I have missed you, then thank you and please know that I have read every comment and message that I've gotten.  Thanks to all my peeps on FB, I feel very encouraged, loved, and knowing that I have people following me is helps me stay accountable!

There are a few questions that I've gotten from a lot of people and the main one that sticks out and is hardest for me to answer is: "What is your plan?" Great question, to which I have no solid answer. I've started this journey much like I started a road trip with a friend right after high school graduation; with nothing more than a tank full of gas and a plan to hit the road with a map if we needed it. We eventually got to our destination, with many stops along the way. I think my journey to wellness may be very similar to that road trip. I don't have a solid plan just yet, but I have a road map...and of course I know where I'm headed.

I have received many ideas and suggestions and I really appreciate all the feedback. I've also tried many of these suggested weight loss methods in the past. It's not as though I don't know HOW to lose weight and get healthy; I do. The problem lies with which route I should take to get there. Do I want to: cut carbs? follow Weight Watchers? do the 17 Day Diet? get meds from the doctor? get gastric bypass surgery? do the green smoothy diet? slim fast? south beach?....the list goes on....but my answer to all of those is simply no. I want to make a lifestyle change that includes healthy eating and moderation and daily (or almost daily) exercise.

My "plan," for now, looks something like this:
*Exercise at least 4 days a week
*Use Lose It app on my phone to track calories and weight loss
*Stay within my recommended caloric intake as prescribed by Lose It.
*Stay off the f'ing scale except for once a week (like an ant to an apple, I am drawn to it)
*Weigh myself on MONDAYS so that I am held accountable for my actions over the weekend
*Drink at least 64 ounces of water a day
*Cut back on the booze

My plan is simple for now and may need to be adjusted along the way, but it's as far ahead as I can think for a "plan." I know what I don't want to do...I don't want to have surgery or have to take meds (although I considered both these options briefly and I've taken meds before that clearly haven't worked). I don't want to pay money outside of my gym membership for someone to tell me what to do, because I KNOW what to do - it's just the motivation and the self control that I lack. I don't want to go on a "diet" because diets don't work in the long run. I am simply making a lifestyle change.

About the Lose It app...it's free, which I like. It tells me how many calories I can have each day based on my weight and some other info...Anyway,  it will graph my weight loss once I actually start losing weight and it syncs with my iPad and my phone so I can stay on track when I'm out of the house (is it "the cloud" that syncs these things???). It's simple and I like it, so that's my "plan" for the time being.  A friend of mine and her husband both had success with using this app, and although I've had it on my phone for some time, I just haven't been "honest" about using it.

When I lost a lot of weight a few years ago and was probably the healthiest I've ever been, I did it by daily (almost daily) exercise and I counted my calories. It was that simple. If I wanted pizza for dinner and I didn't have enough calories for pizza, then I chose something else and told myself that I could have pizza tomorrow as long as I saved the calories. I tried to plan ahead for nights out and I didn't freak out when I went out on Friday nights...that was usually my "free" night. But I still wrote everything down. Every last Miller Lite that I chugged down, I wrote down (unless of course I lost count, because that was always a possibility).  For whatever reason, calorie counting works well for me. I think it's because I don't feel as though I'm on any kind of diet - I can have what I want as long as I have the calories for it.

Day 2 Summary (from tuesday):
Exercise: Swimming laps at a leisurely rate for 1 hour
Calories Burned: 762
*Calories Consumed: 2, 379 (I will not consume that many today)
Net Calories: 1,617

*I had very little to eat yesterday during the day and was exhausted and starving after my hour long swim, so dinner was not what I had planned. However, I was under by 485, due to how calories are calculated after exercise/consumption. That said, despite how many calories I'm "allowed" to have based on my weight/height formula, I feel that a max of 1800 a day is a good number, not the recommended 2100 (before exercise).  The formula on Lose It is based on me wanting to lose 2 lbs a week (you can set it for .5, 1, 1.5, or 2...I chose 2) and then incorporates calories consumed and calories burned, the "Net Calories."

I hope that answered some people's questions as far as what my plan is and how the Lose It app works. If not, feel free to ask me another question and I'll be happy to answer.

Goals for Today (day 3): Stay below recommended caloric intake, swim laps for at least 1 hour, and be proud of myself for making healthy food choices and working out. Oh - and stay off the scale. Even though it's only been 2 days I'd like to check it, but I won't. As in the pic above, it just ruins my enthusiasm and my momentum.