The Plan

So, in order to get my motivation up to par I have decided that I must make a plan. The key to the plan will be to eat more and eat healthier.

I usually eat twice a day: lunch and dinner. I know, I know, you're supposed to eat breakfast; it helps to recharge the brain, yada yada, yada. I have also read that if you eat 5 small meals a day it will help to recharge the body thus burning more calories.

Goal 1 - Come up with a reasonable amount of weight loss that I intend to lose. I think I'm going to start with 30 pounds. When making goals, you should make sure that they aren't out of reach. Because of my serious lack of movtivation, if I tell myself to lose 60 pounds, I will easily fall off track if I don't see that the weight isn't falling off fast enough. So, 30 it is.

Goal 2 - How do I get there from here? The question remains, do I count calories? Grams of fat? Sugar? All of the above? I think I'm going to go with the weight watchers plan and be vigilant of everything. Added to this page is a widget that will decide on number of points to be assigned to the particular food you are eating. Because of my weight, I'm going to allow myself 28 points per day until I lose 30 pounds.

Goal 3 - Losing the weight without losing the pleasure. I am a junk food junkie, no doubt. I'd rather shovel in the french fries than the chocolate. I like soda, pasta, chips, burgers, cheesesteaks, just about anything fried in grease.

What to drink - From dieting before, I know that a good choice in soda is Diet Rite. If I can recall there are no sugars, no sodium, no calories and definitely no fat. I drink a lot of water during the day, so we'll keep to that as well. I have made it a habit to drink milk with dinner, so I'll go back to buying Skim Milk instead. Juices, in my opinion, have too much sugar. So for now, I'll cut that out completely.

What to eat - I've thought about it and cutting carbohydrates shouldn't be too difficult. I can still eat my burger - just no bread. I'll have to invest in buying a leaner cut of meat at the grocery store though. Pasta - switch to wheat pasta. Bread - switch to wheat bread. Tuna - use mustard instead of mayonaise (or use a tablespoon of mayonaise to one can of tuna). I intend to use real butter and not margarine. I'm just not ready to give that up yet. Chips - There are fat free chips out there made by Ruffles. The cheddar cheese ones, as I recall, aren't too bad. And I suppose the 'dreaded lettuce,' a.k.a. salads, could be okay.

I'll be sure to update with my shopping list and I prepare for the diet this weekend.

Goal 4 - When am I going to 'get errr done'? Monday. May 4, 2009. This will be the start of a new 'me' and a goodbye to my 'salty' friends, my 'greasy' friends and of course, my best friend, the cheesesteak.

Goal 5 - I need support. My support system will definitely be my immediate family. Although three of them are under the age of 7, and it would seem likely that they won't have much pull when I try to shove a slice of pizza in my mouth, all I really have to do is look at them and remind myself that I wouldn't want them, especially my daughters, to ever feel the way I do about myself. My boyfriend will be key. While my success won't be in his hands ultimately, he can be the voice of reason when I feel like I'm going to fall. It looks as though a family meeting might take presedence tonight.

Today Thursday and I have until Monday morning to eat what I want and enjoy every last bite. This will also give me enough time to mentally prepare myself for the withdrawl period and prepare and plan to meet Goal 3 as cited above.

Wish me luck.

Points Calculator :
http://www.webmilhouse.com/pointcalc.php

Don't have a Nutrition Label, check this out:
http://www.peertrainer.com/default.aspx?c=54&s=ground+beef

Just an FYI - I checked out my roast beef sandwhich and it totaled 11 points.

2 slices white bread ; 4 points
1 slice american cheese; 2 points
1 tbsp mayo ; 2 points
small portion roast beef ; 3 points
1/2 roma tomato ; 0 points

11 Points Total --- that (and water) is the only thing I've had to eat today, and I would still have 17 points for the remainder of the day... Well dinner.

Looks like I'm going to be doing my own version of WW. We'll call it FGW. ;)