my most fabulous diet

Here’s how this is going to go down: I’m going to list what I ate today day and you can go ahead and tell me how terrible I was. I’m going to preface this by saying that my diet is designed for me by a certain online food tracking program and I sit down at a computer all day long. I’ll include the time I ate it and the (calories).

7:00     – coffee with skim milk (30)
9:20     – Kashi cherry dark chocolate chip granola bar (170)
12:00 – Jocolat bar by Larabar (190)
3:00     – Wheat thins 100 pack (100)
4:00     – single serve pre-bagged light popcorn (60)
6:00     – a lovely pasta / chicken medley that Erin made for me (345)

- 1/3 cup white, macaroni-type pasta (80)
- 1/2 cup homemade tomato sauce (50)
- 2/3 chicken breast – 4. 0z (150)
- green bean, asparagus, shallot, and onion mix (25)
- 1 tsp olive oil for the sauté (40)

9:00 one serving of No Pudge brownies (120)

Grand total = 1015 calories.

Now I know what you may be thinking – that’s not very many.  But that’s what the machine has been telling me to do, and so far it’s worked.  I must also add that the machine gives me a little bit of flexibility, so I don’t have to eat this way every day of the week, but it’s recommended.  Also I do not exercise right now.  I pretty much wake up, sit at my computer for a while, then I go to work and sit and the computer, and then I come home, eat dinner, and sit at the computer or in front of the TV.  And then I go to sleep.

But – that’s why I’m here.  And this morning I did 20 push-ups in two sets of ten.  It’s a start.

The Pilot Episode, or, The Deal

I want to get jacked. I’m 23. I’m 5’2”. I’m going to do it. You should come.

Here’s the back story – it’s the last time that I’m going to say it. I know that this is a fresh blog and that you probably don’t care about my past, but I’m going to put it out there because I want to move forward from here. Honestly, I’ve been a little bit of a chunk my whole life. I’ve weighed in at everything from 130 to 185 during my teens. Most of the time I fell around the heavier end of that spectrum, but there was a period toward the end school of high where I got to be semi-fit by playing lacrosse. Of course, I undid all of this progress in college. I went to a swanky private college on full federal aid, and after 4 years of beer and thrice-daily all-you-can-eat buffets, I graduated 50 pounds heavier and $50,000 poorer.

So there I was. Unemployed in the heavyweight division. I had stopped weighing myself during that time, but I’m going to guess that I was pushing 185 pounds. Definitely not good for a girl of my height.

Outside of the collegiate playpen and forced to fund my own food supply, I lost a little bit of weight just because of the change in food availability. I also moved in with Erin, who is really skinny and into organics & raw soybeans. Her habits started to rub off a little – I stopped drinking soda and tried to start watch my sugar intake – and I lost a little bit more weight.

I was eventually able to land a sedentary office job and the weight loss stopped. I waited for it to come back. And waited. And waited. I began to realize that it wasn’t getting any better by itself so, in a moment of motivation, I joined a gym last summer.

The gym I choose was very close to my apartment and offered a couple of personal training session as part of the startup package. They gave me a discount on the intro fee and I took them up on it. Part of the train sessions included a weigh-in and bodyfat analysis: I weighed in at 173 pounds on July 17th of 2007. They designed a fitness plan for me and it worked while I followed it. I lost 10 pounds the first month, and I got down to 155 by the end of the summer.

The gym had one problem though: I had to actually go. Not only did I have to go, I also had to do cardio. Which I hate, always have. I let the gym activity wean off until I could no longer justify the expense, but I was able to keep my weight hovering around the low to mid 150s for the next several months. After a while I started to miss seeing the scale fall and I went in search of another plan.

I found an online food & exercise tracking program that I’ve been using since. I’ve been on their plan for about 6 weeks and I’ve lost another 10 or so pounds, which takes me down to a much better 138. Still more than I’d like to be, but better. And that’s what brings me here. I want this to become a permanent part of my life. I want to take the good that I feel about going from 185 to 138 and keep it going. I want to become very muscular and very lean, and I don’t ever want to be the person described above again.

This blog will share my journey.