I'm going to add to the list of goals "a conference with a dietician" to see if I can get some more solid numbers. I do know that as my weight goes down, my calorie intake and expenditures will also be reduced. So I have to still work to evolve my diet into a healthier lifestyle. Portion control, dedication, and food choices all factor into that. Also I'll be losing muscle throughout this journey as well. As the weight comes off, the body sheds the extra muscle because it doesn't need to be bulked up to support a smaller frame. This means that I will need to make hitting the gym a priority because I learned the best way to boost metabolism is to add muscle. More muscle needs more calories to stave off starvation. Sounds pretty easy, right?
Are you wondering why I keep ending my paragraphs with "It's easy, right?" I don't want it to seem like I'm being sarcastic or patronizing to myself, I'm just trying to keep grounded. You are now a window into my mind and how it works. (You'll see these sprinkled about throughout my posts.) Already I've begun to start planning beyond the short term goals I'm setting and I am not even close to being at that level yet. There is a thin line between confidence and cockiness. I always try to project confidence in everything that I do, but sometimes I pump myself up so much from perception that I don't realize the size of the hole that I've dug. Then the slap in the face is when I realize what I'm up against and I end up abandoning it. I need to find a happy medium between confident and cocky. I also need to remember; 80's music montages only apply to movies. To achieve my goals I will need to WORK over time!
Speaking of work, what have I been doing to get healthy? Glad you asked! I'm walking! A lot. Yesterday I walked 2.3 miles and burned 533 calories doing so. Today I've walked 1.3 so far, and my car is parked about .7 miles away. What I've done to initiate the change is this. I'm not working. I figured that I have plenty of time to get where I need to be. So when Chris goes into work, I park close to his location and from there I walk to where I need to go. It saves on gas and also helps me get my head wrapped around exercise on a daily basis. *Double Positive* Yesterday I had to go to the store and back then I went and grabbed a quick bite to eat. Today I walked to the store then came here to the library. When I ate today I put away my phone and turned my iPod down to barely audible and I focused on eating. It was a 1/4 lb hot dog. What I did differently is I sat and actually thought about how the food tasted and slowed down. When I was a kid my dad would always tell me "Slow down! Nobody's taking the food away from you." The full meaning of that phrase never hit me until today. Too often we- or maybe just I- get so hungry that we sit down and let auto pilot take over. We don't think about how much or how fast we are eating, we just do it. That leads to overeating. I also paused and drank most of a cup of water at the halfway point to help fill my stomach. It's funny that by just taking an extra two minutes eating, I left the table feeling almost full rather than still hungry! In either scenario, auto pilot or eating slowly I end up full a few minutes later. By having the satisfaction of being almost full this time along with the knowledge of enjoying what I ate, I could tell myself that I would be full and believe it. And by eating slower I was full much sooner after I finished eating! Increased walking is not that bad. I'm in no hurry to get where I'm going. My pace pushes around 2 MPH. Eventually I'll start pushing the tempo bit by bit, but right now I'm happy with just getting out and moving! No cockiness here when I say it's pretty easy, right? :-D
BUT WAIT!
THERE'S MORE!!!
I ask that anybody that reads any of my blogs to comment. If you have any questions or suggestions for me as far as FrankBox Achievements or workout tips or recipes then comment. If it's more direct, head over to the contact me page and shoot me an email! This is all for now! Stay tuned for more! :-D