Okay maybe not right now. I mean, I know it is going to take some time, but I'm going to start right now. This may seem like an oddly personal and possibly embarrassing topic for a post but bear with me.
Over the last few years most parts of my life have been working out really really well. However, I've been unable to get to a healthy weight.
You see, I'm severely overweight, actually obese, and that brings up a lot of powerful feelings. Its not that I'm lazy, because I'm not. Nor that I don't know about nutrition, because I do. I truly believe that what has stopped me from succeeding in the past are bad mental (thought) habits.
There are several, and they primarily result in eating poorly when under real or imaginary stress. When I'm worried about something, I often forget all about nutrition, a healthy diet and long term goals and eat in an attempt to address a more real and pressing need. That is, to feel better.
Somewhere along the way I learned that food is comfort. Now, I'm going to unlearn it. So starting now, I'm re-engineering this part of my life. I'm starting with the obvious
- Weight training - every 3-4 days
- Aerobic exercise - swimming on days between weights
- Nutrition - focus on vegetables and legumes. Moderate meat, carb and fat intake
And with the less obvious
- Daily yoga - to reconnect with my body
- Daily meditation - to deal with stress and visualize myself as a healthy person with a temporary problem that I will overcome
- These posts - a public and symbolic ritual
I never intended to start writing about banal personal stuff but I believe these posts will really help me. They may even help someone else with an issue they may be struggling with.
According to my scale this morning I'm starting this out at 235.6 lbs and 35.5% body fat. I'm not proud of that but those are the facts. My goal is to get to a healthier 15% body fat.
If my math is right, I had to take calculus 3 times before I finally passed, my goal weight is around 180 lbs. Which means losing around 55 lbs. If one pound a week is a sustainable rate then I'm looking at around a year before I get to my goal.
I say around, because I know that a single weight measurement may be precise but won't be accurate and that my scale's body fat reading is at best an estimate. So I'll adjust those numbers as I get more measurements and as I get closer to my goal.
I'll write weekly for the next few months to publicly state my progress. Let me know if you have any comments or suggestions.
I'm off to the gym now.
