Consumed

To say that I am consumed by this weight-loss/fitness project is an understatement. And it's what I've always hated about "dieting." I think about what I've eaten, what I'm going to eat and how much I weigh all the time. [To be fair, my weight is a constant cloud hovering over my shoulder. I didn't, however, used to spend this much time and effort on my food.]

I'm treating this project as an opportunity to experiment. I've never followed a glycemic index [GI] plan before, because I thought it was too complicated to always have to combine certain foods. And because you can't have watermelon. I'm waiting until summer and then I will try the Great Watermelon Experiment. At any rate, the GI plan appears to be what I needed at this time to shake things up. I've certainly proven to myself that I don't need and can't handle sugar.

I'm slowly increasing the intensity and duration of my daily intentional exercise, upping the minutes this week by an average of 18 per day [to 87 min/day]. I'm going to stay at or around 90 minutes daily for the month of March and see what happens.

I'm also only weighing myself on Monday mornings. I've always been a daily weigher, and I've always let the number rule my day. If it was the same or lower, I had a good day. If it was higher, the day was crappy, no matter what else was going on. Weighing myself once a week has worked well.

Last night I dreamed about this aspect of the experiment. I thought I'd try weighing myself only once a month. The rationale was that it would force me to continue to eat healthfully and exercise regularly with no regard for results. Just do it for the sake of good health.

Truthfully, though, the number is important. Looking good is just as important to me as being healthy. Sounds vain, I know, but there's no point in being less than truthful about it. And I'm not ill in any way, so it's pretty easy to say.