Weight Maintenance

I've started a couple of exercise classes in the hopes of losing some weight. This weekend we got a scale so that I can take my weight each day. I'll keep track of my progress here. I'd really like to lose 30 pounds to get down around 200. That's a lot of weight loss, and it will mean a big change in my habits. I really don't exercise much. It's going to take more than just exercising a couple of times a week to change that too. I'll need to change my eating habits as well. Crunchy stuff seems to be my downfall. If there is an open bag of chips, or a can of nuts, or some other crunchy snack food, I'm all over it. My usual routine is to have a SlimFast shake for breakfast, and then a cup of coffee when I get to work. Sometimes two cups, depending on how tired I'm feeling. I load up my coffee with sugar and cream (either 2% milk or CoffeMate). For lunch, if there were leftovers from the previous night's dinner I'll have those. Sometimes I'll have a bowl of oatmeal. The rest of the time it's off to a fast food joint. Usually Wendy's or Taco Bell, and lately QDoba. For lent this year, I gave up drinking carbonated beverages at lunch. The first Mountain Dew I had afterwards tasted way too sweet. Since then, I still usually have a glass of water with lunch, although sometims I'll have a Diet Vanilla Coke. I'll drink a couple of glasses of water throughout the afternoon, and eat a couple of mints to fight off the horrid coffee breathe that I've developed throughout the day. When I get home is when I really start to eat poorly. I immediately look for the first snack food(s) in the pantry and scarf them down. If a bag is any less than half empty I'll finish it. At dinner, I eat everything on my plate. If I've overloaded my plate, I'll eat too much. It's a habit I've been in for the longest time. I don't usually go for seconds, but I won't leave anything on the plate either. Throughout the night I'm pretty good about snacking. If I have anything, it will be popcorn or a little bit of ice cream.

Jenn tells me that I should have a bigger breakfast and a smaller dinner. It makes sense. I get most of my activity during the day, so having a small meal at night when I am most inactive seems like a good plan. I get up really late as it is, though, and to make myself wake up early enough to have a larger breakfast would be hard. In addition, we take our lunch at work at 11:30. So I would have eaten only 4 hours earlier. Then there is a 6 hour span from lunch to dinner. So I'm pretty hungry at that point. I think this is why I raid the pantry. Another thing I could try would be to snack more throughout the day. I like peanuts and crackers and lots of other fairly healthy snacks. I am terrible at eating fruits and vegetables though. That could be another reason why I'm in the shape I'm in. I'll have veggies at dinner, but I absolutely will not touch fruit. I'll have all the (pulpless) orange juice in the world. In fact, I'll drink just about any fruit juice. But forget about the fruit. I don't care for grapes, never liked strawberries, don't fancy apples, nor do am I fond of pears. I've tried them all, to be sure, but I've not found one that I crave.

So I'll keep track of my weight here, and may be monitor my meals as well. Hopefully I'll start seeing some results after a month or so.

Breakfast: SlimFast
Lunch: Two slices of Papa John's Pizza w/ Pepperoni and Mushroom. Three cheese sticks. A diet vanilla Coke.
Snack: Snack Bag of Fritos. Handful of peanuts
Dinner: Lasagna, Garlic Toast, Salad with cheese, parmesan, and Caesar dressing.
Current Weight: 230

[Listening to: Fatboy Slim - Live on Brighton Beach - Jack It Up]