The Game Plan

Weight loss for me, like for so many other people, has just been a wonderful dream I've kept in the back of my head. I wish I could say I've been to the gym countless times with little or no success, or I've tried this or that diet only to instantly gain back what little I lost. But to be honest, I've never really given weight loss a good effort. I've always found my couch too comfortable, or fast food was just too tasty, or the gym was just too far away. But what really held a firm grip on my physical condition was WHO CARES!

Let me explain myself. Up until recently, I've never done tons of dating or many activities that would cause one to be concerned about his/her appearance. Though I do enjoy water sports (which require a certain amount of physical exposure), there is little to no modivation to look sexy when a person is surrounded by people who expect to see nothing impressive when he takes his shirt off. It sounds depressing, but understand I am totally NOT sensitive about my weight, so I think the previous idea is kinda funny.

Everything changed when I got engaged. Over the past few weeks I've seen my future bride exercise to get in shape in preparation for our wedding. And I don't understand it, but I somehow have a burning desire to do the same thing. :)

Here is how things will go down. Instead of going on some radical diet that will put me through mood swings until I get sick of it and give up, I'm going to follow the guidelines of a book I recently read. It talks about eating good, healthy, natural foods in balanced proportions, and eating 5-6 smaller meals everyday (instead of 2 meals a day like I normally did, one of which was a Totinos pizza).

As far as exercising goes, I have a wellness center at work with everything I need. Because I work in the afternoon, I'm planning on getting there about an hour early so I can exercise, clean up, and then start my shift. I found in the same book that doing straight cardio is not the best way to lose weight, but to do total body workouts with multijoint exercises is far more effective. I plan on doing 4 workouts per week, and we'll see how it goes.

In addition to working out and eating healthily, I'll be tracking my weight progress daily via my Wii Fit, and posting my current weight and stories on this blog. Though Day 1 is technically Sunday, Jan 10, I've already adjusted my diet and have seen some weight loss. So I'm counting those couple shed pounds and considering them to be "preconditioning" before the start time on Sunday. If I lose one to two pounds a week--a healthy and achievable weight loss--I will achieve my goal of 195 pounds by May 15. (Yes, according to the BMI, 195 pounds for someone my height is still considered overweight. But it's a very good start.)

That's the game plan.

The only problem is i normally begin these things with a good enthusiastic--even explosively impressive--start and then peter out a couple weeks into it. Let's hope that doesn't happen.

Wish me luck!