My Plan for Success

I know in order for this weight loss journey to be successful I need to be realistic, so I've come up with a plan (I can almost hear my friends Lynda and Elma saying "You...come up with a plan...no surprise there!)  I LOVE my plans, they give me peace, help me stay structured and on task...and often go flying out the window when I get distracted by shiny things or when I drive past a carnival and absolutely HAVE to stop!

I digress...

I have a simple plan for success...Step 1 - Stop eating crap, Step 2 - Portion control, Step 3 - A weekly "cheat" day, Step 4 - Exercise.

But no...I'm so crazy about planning things out the Nth degree that even my plans have plans:

Step 1 - STOP EATING CRAP - No more McDonald's, Taco Bell or bakery stops. At least for a while. Make NOT eating fast food a habit...It takes 21 days to break or form a habit so for the first 30 days NO fast food.  If after sticking to my plan I decide I want a Angus mushroom and swiss burger from McDonald's (a whopping 770 calories, 40g of fat and 59g of carbs) I just need to remember to eat with my brain as well as my mouth. Instead of eating the entire sandwich I'll eat half of it...which brings me to...

Step 2 - PORTION CONTROL - I need to cut my food consumption by half..maybe even 2/3. I eat WAY too much food (as do most Americans.)  Part of my plan within a plan is sheer will power. I can no longer go back for a second helping. The next part of my plan (which I think is borderline genius) is to fool my mind into thinking it's getting more food than it is. I have a habit (as most emergency service workers do) of gobbling up my food as quickly as possible.  So I will eat slower, I will force myself to lay my fork down between bites (so I don't just shovel the food in), I will actually chew each mouth full at least ten times, and finally I'm going to use a smaller plate and a heavier fork.  Smaller helpings on a smaller plate will (I hope) trick my brain into thinking I'm still eating a full dinner plate and the heavier fork will fool my mind into thinking there's more in each bite. I will continue to allow myself 1 (and only one) Coke per day because life without Coke is unimaginable to me. I will, however, make sure to log my daily Coke fix into my meal planning and calorie counting.

Step 3 - WEEKLY CHEAT DAY - I have to be honest and realistic with myself. If I go on a eating plan that doesn't allow me any of my favorite foods I will fail miserably. So one day a week  I will allow myself a cheat day.  I still have to count the calories, I still have to log the food in my journal, but by golly if I want to go get a snow cone with Bella I won't feel guilty about it. I will simply get a small instead of a large and make sure to not go outside of my allotted calorie limit for the day.  Biscuits and gravy...HELL YEAH...but 1 instead of 4,  a small amount of pasta with a large salad instead of a large plate of pasta with a small salad.

And finally Step 4 - EXERCISE - Awe, exercise, my old nemesis...how you taunt me with your muscle tone and happy endorphins. 

I will exercise, but I'm going to start slow.  I know the first two weeks of the diet will be my most rapid weight loss, so for the first 2 weeks I don't plan on exercising..not so much as a jumping jack or leg lift.

Beginning week 3 I will start walking, 1/2 mile a day. No more, no less.  I love walking for exercise, but I've always tended to go too fast too soon which always ended up with my muscles being so sore I could barely move the next day (and once I even got a stress fracture in my foot.)  Not this time, this time I'm following the "slow and steady wins the race" theory. I will be a turtle to other's hare.  The first week I will walk 1/2 mile, the first couple days I will walk at a leisurely pace, then I will gradually increase my pace.  The second week I'll bump it up to a full mile, the third week 1 1/2 miles...gradually increasing each week so I don't hurt myself.

I will break out my old Sweating to the Oldies DVD and spend an hour with my old friend Richard Simmons several times a week.  After a few weeks I'll start intermixing my exercise videos and bring something with a bit more cardio into it. When I hit the 50 lb weight loss mark I'll start adding those annoying body sculpting videos that promise flat abs and an ass so tight that you can bounce quarters off of it.

Okay, I'll be honest, I don't expect to ever have that tight of a butt again, but it would be really nice to not have it look like a giant kettle of cottage cheese!

I will start toning my arms with 1 lb weights and gradually build up to heavier ones, and at some point I'm going to start doing sit ups and pushups.  I may only be able to do one each day, but with  perserverance that number will eventually increase.

So there you have it...my plan within a plan. The main thing I want to do is to set myself up to succeed, and I think (hope) that this plan gives me the tools to do it!