Having a plan

I think one of the key things to being successful at this is having a plan. This forces you to focus and keeps you accountable.

For me, this is something I have been lacking since I got off the wagon. I still work out occasionally, but I am just arbitrarily deciding what to do on a day-to-day basis. This has kept me from being outrageously unhealthy, but it hasn't allowed me to get where I need to be.

I have decided to make a few changes that will help me stay healthy, and have fun doing it! I am going to start doing active things with friends. Right now, most of my time spent with friends involves eating and/or drinking, the two things that are deadly to getting healthy. I have started to plan morning/weekend surfing outings, and other more active things to do with friends.

In terms of keeping myself accountable, I have started working towards completing another half marathon. The last one I did was about 6 years ago, and it did wonders for me. I am enjoying getting up a little early during the week to run or walk, and taking some time to stretch and actually have a good breakfast.

I also plan to continue weight lifting twice a week, though I'm not going to track myself too much or focus on it as much as the running.

Food-wise, the last few days I have really started to think every time I eat. I recently read that the main difference between skinny people and fat people is that before eating, skinny people picture how they will feel after eating (bloated and sluggish vs. energized) and fat people picture how eating the food will be (boring vs. delicious). That's a generalization, and obviously healthy food can be delicious too, but by picturing the enjoyment during eating, there's no reason to stop. By picturing the enjoyment afterwards, it's easy to avoid the bad foods. So, my plan going forward is to have a happy balance of enjoying the food, but staying in control. I will never fully have the mentality that food is just for sustenance. I enjoy eating, I enjoy cooking, and that's not going to change.

Let me know if you have any thoughts on this!

Beginning again..

So, it's obviously been awhile since I posted here. I need to get back into it. I have a new job, new apartment, new city, living with my girlfriend, and things are just going great. Except for the weight.

Yup, you guessed it, with all the changes and the lack of time, I haven't gotten into a good healthy routine. I've gained about 25 pounds from my lowest point, and about 20 from where I was feeling good about myself and comfortable. I've begun feeling just gross and unhealthy.

It didn't all come on at once, though the last 5 months saw the bulk of it. It started slow, with less working out, less paying attention.

Recently I've been noticing I am out of shape, and doing less about it. I am eating some healthy food and some unhealthy food. I'm going to the gym a few days a week. Overall, it seems like a decent compromise. But, I've just been cramming food in my face a few nights a week. That is my biggest problem.

I eat fine during the day, big healthy breakfast and reasonable lunch. Then I get home, I'm not really that hungry, but I stuff my face. And then I finish, and I realize there are more snacks in the kitchen, and I stuff my face some more.

It's a lot more difficult because I'm living with my girlfriend so all of our food is communal. I can't just ignore all of the candy in the pantry and all of the chips. I end up gorging on it, like, every night.

So anyway, I think the first step is accepting what I've done to myself. Like it or not, I weigh 205 lbs now, not 195 like I key in to the cardio machines. And I'm feeling more and more gross and unable to move the same way I used to.

I want to start tracking again, start being present in my eating, and get back to enjoying eating healthy and not stuffing my face for no reason.