Week 1: Choices

Week One's weigh-in is upon us and last week I said that proper planning was going to be critical to success. Well I took my own advice and stocked up at work with choices so I would not fall prey to the temptation of the honor bar full of snacks.

I picked up a bunch of the Healthy Choice Cafe Steamers and Lean Pockets and put them in the freezer at work.  I also picked up some pretzel rods, sourdough pretzel nuggets, apples and pears.  My first week wasn't a picture of healthy eating but I did manage to stay away from the snacks at work and it was my first week without eating at a fast food joint in a long time.

So how did I do? I lost 3.2 lbs.

Next week I'll talk in a little more detail about my plan and how I track what I eat.

Planning to Fail?

Today is my initial weigh-in to start my weight loss journey.  I'll be tracking my progression on my Weight Loss Progress page.  The starting number is 280.2 lbs.  It occurs to me that 180 lbs is just inside the normal weight for my height and I haven't been there since 1979.  So my goal is to lose 100 lbs.  Or in my case I choose to lose 10 lbs, ten times.

I have a weight thermometer in the sidebar to graphically track my progress and you can see that there are 10 gradients each representing 10 lbs of weight loss.  It seems simple enough I just have to lose 10 lbs.  Ok, I have to do it ten times... Still I'm sure many of us could look at the goal of losing 10 lbs and know in our hearts that this is something we could do.

Even a 10 lb weight loss goal requires planning. Here is some background. My job is mostly behind a desk for 12 hours at a time. During this 12 hours I am faced with a well stocked honor bar similar to the one pictured, but much more elaborate with the prices being dirt cheap because it is run by volunteers and everything is purchased in bulk.

This means I have to have a plan to keep these tempting items at bay. Fortunately I do have access to a refrigerator/freezer here also. This means that I can either bring items with me from home or use the frig and purchase an assortment of frozen dinners, healthy snacks and fresh produce to keep this monster at bay. I'll let you know next week what I tried and see if it worked.

Welcome to the New Year!

And welcome to the second life of this blog.  The new year is typically a time for new beginnings and this year my wife and I signed up to take control of our finances by attending Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University sponsored by a local church.  We've been married almost 30 years and we have never created or stuck to a budget.  Consequently we are seriously in debt.  Not so much that we can't dig our way out so participating in the course is the first step toward getting our finances in order.

I anticipate learning proper budgeting of our funds in this class and a plan on how to get out from under our debt.  It got me thinking if a lack of a budget and ignoring a problem led to our indebtedness then a lack of a plan for my weight and ignoring the obvious has led to my current weight situation.  If I can attack the home budget it seems the opportune time to attack the caloric budget too.

This is why I am posting today.  Apparently 9 years ago I created this blog and had every intention of losing weight.  It was an interesting read and the weight loss attempt ended abruptly with no explanation.  The truth is my heart wasn't in it and the main tool I was using to track my food (my palm pilot) broke.  Thus the end of what reads to me to have been a halfhearted attempt.

I turned 55 last month and in order to attack the caloric budget I have to come face to face with the truth, I'm fat.  This is a truth that is sometimes hard to see.  It is amazing how when I look down at myself I don't see a fat person.  But the scale doesn't lie.  So here I am 9 years later and about 25 lbs heavier then where I left off.

Tonight is the introductory meeting for the Financial Peace University class, next week is the first real class.  So I have scheduled my initial weigh-in for this Saturday Jan 18th.

Wish me well.