twentyten

I can already visualize reaching my first goal—-losing 10% of my weight for a total of 22 lbs.  I hope to reach my goal by March 21st or sooner.

MY PLAN

Week starting 1/11/10—exercise every other day for 30 minutes each time.

Week starting 1/18/10—exercise two consecutive days with one day of rest in between, 30 minutes each time.

Week starting 1/25/10—-exercise three consecutive days with one day of rest in between, 30 minutes each time.

I have been on this road one too many times to know what my strength and weaknesses are.

ICE-CREAM—weakness

LOVE OF EXERCISE—strength

I will continue to add exercise minutes in Feb. until I can work myself up to an hour of exercise, 6 days per week.

I am determined to reach my weight-loss goals in 2010.

I am giddy with excitement!

Down one pound with very little effort.

I can’t wait to see what happens next week when I return to the gym!

One lb. down—one step closer to my goal!

Today I am patting myself on the back for a small and yet, monumental accomplishment:

I had a late breakfast, at noon to be precise and then I went for a walk—I knew I would be hungry since I only had a breakfast panini (which was very small).  I knew I wasn’t going to have time to eat later in the day….so on my walk I stopped at McDonald’s. Here’s how it all went down:

Me:  I will have the crispy chicken combo, please!

Clerk:  Is that grilled or crispy?

Me:  Crispy…hmmm….wait, make that grilled instead!

Clerk:  One grilled chicken combo

Me:  And skip the fries!

Clerk:  So you don’t want the combo?

Me:  No, just the soda and the sandwhich!

WHO WAS THIS PERSON WHO TOOK OVER ME?

The mili-second I walked through the doors of the Golden Arches, I started savoring (in my mind of course) the french fries.  I visualized myself dipping the fries in mayo (oh yeah, no ketsup for me thank you)!

THANK YOU McD’s clerk for having the sense to offer me a healthier option—THANK YOU wonderful stranger who saved me 500+ calories and a $#!% load of regret! THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart!

I am celebrating every small victory!!

I must constantly remind myself that I cannot run without learning to crawl first….well, not without falling flat on my face!

Today was a great day, I consider it the first day of the rest of my life—it was just THAT important.  Nothing EXTRA-ordinary happened, today was exquisitely ordinary and for that, I am truly happy.

 So why would an ordinary day like this have such EXTRA-ordinary importance?  BECAUSE each and every single day is an ordinary day…one is the same as the other….events, different (we can even call them “special”) happen on days like these and if we stay focused on the fact that TODAY is just as any other day, then we or I least “I” (realized today) don’t set ourselves up for failure or disappointment.

Case in point:  New Year’s Day—the masses take off as January 1st marks the FIRST DAY of the year, the day in which we will challenge ourselves to be a better version of who we already are—-some people promise themselves, and others, that they will become more organized with the coming year, others, like many of us on the site, promise ourselves and our weight-loss buddies, that THIS YEAR, that THIS DAY is going to be THE YEAR, THE DAY when we commit to losing weight ONCE and FOR ALL.

It is this type of be all end all of mentality that breaks us…..some people may agree, but of course, I am speaking for myself–hence the title of my blog, “Note to SELF.”

I am GUILTY as charged for what I have described above, but today you see, on this very ordinary day, I had an AH-HA moment—sure, Oprah popularized the AH-HA moment mentality, but I swear, if I were a cartoon, a light bulb would flash and hover over my head!

I am not going to MAKE OR BREAK the rest of my year by the actions of one day—-I got to be this WEIGHT (hahaha, get it?–LOL) by the sum of all the ordinary days in which I had an extra scoop of ice-cream or that greasy burger because well, I would say “I will start my diet (or these days) my healthy life-style, tomorrow.”  BS!  (And not as in Buddyslim, BTW), if I had skipped the extra scoop of ice-cream or the greasy fries or the chicken enchiladas, well….maybe, just maybe, I wouldn’t have 76 lbs. to lose.

I am not going to go from 0 to 100 in 5 days….I could really…I could throw caution to the wind and become a cold-turkey vegetarian (pun TOTALLY intended), but why set myself up for failure when I could instead learn from every ordinary day, learn from every experience.

Today for example, I was reminded, that to have better control of what I fuel my body with, I must pack a lunch or make wiser choices when eating out….I was reminded that PLANNING is EXTRAORDINARILY IMPORTANT and because we learn something new every day, today I learned marvel in the fact that today is not any more special than tomorrow, but it sure is an OPPORTUNITY for self-growth!

Happy New Year!

2010–a new year, a new decade, a new opportunity to attain BALANCE in my life—that combination between health and fitness in all things—emotional, physical and psychological balance.

I have been in search of balance for far too long, I have been in search of a pie in the sky weight-loss goal that not only has not come, but it has brought much frustration and disappointment in my life.

I am wiping the slate clean and will not look back on the success or failures of the past.  The year is brand new and I have not yet organized my thoughts nor do I have a clear set of goals for the next 12 months.  I do have a skeleton, an outline of my plan for 2010.

On January 1^st, I got on the scale and weighed in at 226 lbs.  My goal for December 21^st, 2010 is to weigh 150 lbs.

I am dividing my weight-loss goals according to the change in seasons—with each season my goal is to lose 10% of my weight.

Spring  2010 (March 21) 22 lbs. loss, goal 204 lbs.

Summer  2010 (June 21) 20 lbs. loss, goal 184 lbs.

Fall 2010 (September 21) 18 lbs. loss, goal 166 lbs.

Winter  2010 (December 21) 16 lbs. loss, goal 150 lbs.

Of course, REWARDS are important and so I will reward myself every step of the way, specially as I reach each goal!

SUCCESS IS MINE IN 2010