From Fat to Fabulous!

I have decided that I am way too fat and I'm not taking it any longer. Twelve days ago, I turned 38. I've heard from dietians that if a woman, age 40, has a 40 inch waist, to her body, it's the same as if she were to have breast cancer. I want to be healthy by the time I'm 40. I'll have another niece or nephew to play with who will be looking up to me and I'll ha eto get my driver's license photo updated that year. That's plenty of motivation.

I tried cooking a healthy meal last night and H was disappointed that there wasn't any starchy food. Gotta say, it kind of hurt my feelings. I'm not gonna let that stop me, and I'm sure I'll have more posts that deal with this as I go along. That's ok. I'm not trying to change him in any way. I thought he wanted to get healthier as well, but he has to do it in his own way in his own time. I understand that completely.

I've been wanting to make a lifestyle change and eat healthier as well as add exercise to my life. In the game H and I play online (World of Warcraft), we've made quite a few friends. One of these friends also wants to make these changes. We have decided that we are going to be each others support system. We are going to email each other what we've eaten and what we did to exercise each day and update our weight each Friday. We're going to take our measurements each month and take digital pictures every now and then so we can see the changes. I'm so excited to have a female friend to do this with. No offense to H, but he has no clue about women's issues and I have a lot of emotional baggage that causes me to eat as well (been working on that, so I'm expecting that to be taken down at least a notch this year).

For my pictures, I'm going to wear the same clothes (or style at least) so the changes will be noticeable and real. I've got tank-tops that have spandex. I'm gonna wear one of these and a pair of bicycle shorts I own. Sadly (at the beginning), these will show my figure. As time goes, I will be glad that these clothes show my figure. J and I have decided to make our first goal 20 pounds and we want it off by March 15th. That gives us a little over 2 months. We want to lose weight at a healthly rate (about 1-2 pounds a week), so that is a VERY realistic goal for us to aim for.

So...here is eating my plan:

• eat 2-3 veggies a day
• eat 2-3 fruits a day
• eat 3-4 (4 oz.) servings of protein a day
• eat or drink 3-4 servings of dairy a day
• eat 2-3 servings of whole grain a day
• drink 8 glasses of water a day
• limit fats

This is not to say that we cannot eat sweets. We will just eat them in moderation. We do not want to say we can't eat something and put ourselves into a place where we crave junk food or put ourselves into a downward spiral we feel we are unable to climb out of.

Here is my exercise plan:

• 50 sit ups a day
• 50 push ups a day (even if they're just against a wall - still works out upper body)
• exercise on eliptical machine 2-3 times a day (for as long as I can - right now it's only a few minutes, but that's better than nothing and as my endurance gets better, I will be able to stay on longer).

So...wish us luck and I will keep you posted. Please feel free to join us in this endeavor. If you'd like to, just leave a message here and I will update ya'll each week on my weight and progress as we go along.