Hello World - 30 August 2009

This is the beginning of my weight-loss journey. I don't plan to use a pay-for-it program like Weight Watchers® or NutriSystem® or even HMR®; I will blog my progress and, I hope, accomplish my goals, holding myself accountable to me and to anyone who wants to read and follow my progress and my thoughts on my progress (or lack thereof).

I just weighed myself. I'm 5'9" tall and 250 pounds. Yuck. My goal is 160 lbs. 90 pounds to go. Well, the longest journey begins with a single step, and this is a long journey coming up. I'll weigh myself again in a week.

This gives me a BMI of 36.9. A NORMAL BMI is 18.5-24.9. An OVERWEIGHT BMI is 25-29.9. OBESE is 30 or more. My goal weight of 160 will give me a BMI of 23.6, which is well within normal limits. It may be that I'll decide to get down to 145, which would give me a BMI of 21.4, but that's a decision I'll make later. Right now, 160 is a nice, round number; if I get obsessed with weight loss, I'll diet down to 145 (hey, that would be the first time I've been closer to 100 than to 200 lbs since I was in high school; that's probably not realistic...).

I am obese. I hate those words, but there they are. I am obese. Fat. Dripping with excess adipose tissue. Funny, I don't see myself as fat, but that's because I avoid looking at myself in a profile view in a mirror. When I look at the profile, yes, I am indeed very apple-shaped. Not a good shape for lots of reasons.

I'm doing this because I don't like my current shape. Forget the health issues associated with obesity, of which, yes, I am aware: I just plain don't like being fat. There are lots of reasons why I am fat, most of them having to do with self-defense in bad life situations, but those bad life situations are done. They don't exist anymore except in my own head. My head is killing me: how sick is that?

My first mini-goal is to lose 20 pounds by Christmas, and Christmas is in 16 weeks. That's 1.25 pounds per week, which is a dramatic amount. Think of it: 3,600 calories go into one pound, so that's 4,500 calories per week that I'm talking about not replacing as I burn them off. Hey, I like 4,500 way better than 1.25, so I think I'll do this by talking about calories at least along with pounds.

If all goes well, I should be down to 230 pounds by Christmas. That will give me a BMI of 34, which is still "obese," but is better than my current 36.9.

How will I do this, you ask? Well, there are several modifications I can make to my life.

• The first is to exercise more than I do. Right now, I sit behind my desk and clack on my computer for exercise. Walking would be good. Swimming would be better.

• The second is to write down absolutely every morsel that enters my mouth. That will tell me what I can change and what needs to be tweaked and what's actually good.

• The third is to write this blog, where I will record my progress and discharge my emotions (for yes, I am indeed an emotional eater).

• The fourth is to not match my significant other, Jim, mouthful for mouthful. If he eats 10 mouthfuls, I will eat 8. He tells me that before Christmas is not the time to start losing weight, but I disagree: I think that before Christmas is the best time to do this. I'm doing this for me and me alone, and don't want to be distracted or derailed (and it's very, very easy to distract or derail me from eating healthfully).
  

• The fifth, and most painful, is to cut out all processed sugar from my diet. I love processed sugar. I can dine on ice cream. Make a delightful meal from a king-sized package of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. Stopping that will be tough. I have three quarts of ice cream in the freezer at this moment.

It's unreasonable to start all these at one time. This week I'll concentrate on upping my exercise level and writing down all the food I eat.

So. Join me on my quest for the healthy body. The output won't be the perfect body, but that's ok; I'm 53 years old and have learned not to expect perfection. The output will be much healthier than is the input. And that's the goal.

-Nancy