An Invitation to Get in Shape [Lose Weight]

Light Up The Night [Click the image to view larger]

One of the things that I mentioned was that I wanted needed to get in better physical shape.

I decided to wait a few weeks to actually start. And now the time has come for me to start a diet and work on getting in better shape.

Yesterday was indeed the first day of “The Diet.”

I thought I might tell you a little bit about this “journey.” It begins today and I’ll probably give a bit of an update each week.

The Diet

I’ve tried diets before. I know you have too.

For me to follow a diet a couple things need to be in place. The diet has to actually taste good [at least most of the time]. It also has to be really simple. Maybe the biggest thing though is that I need some kind of thing to get me to do it. [You know… do this or else.]

So let’s start by talking about what exactly the diet is. The guide lines I am going to try to follow and things like that.

Like I said, I’ve tried a lot of different diets. From my favorite and the least effective [the see food diet… see food, eat it] to the ones that didn’t last [eat a lot of salad all the time] to the one that did work [I’m scared of everyone around me so I will barely eat for 6 weeks – Bible School].

Here are the basic guidelines of my “diet plan.” It is a “slow carb” type diet.

• Avoid carbs. Like the plague.
• Avoid white stuff. [bread, pasta, etc]
• Avoid Dairy.
• Avoid fruits. [exception of tomatoes and avacadoes.]
• Eat things like eggs. Cooked spinach. Collard greens. Meat.
•  Take a day off every week. Eat whatever.

Basically it means Monday through Saturday I will be eating a lot of the same meals over and over.

Breakfast will usually consist of two eggs, cooked spinach [or some kind of greens], some salsa and a cup of coffee.

Lunch will be whatever I can find in Mom’s fridge that fits the criteria above.

Supper will usually include more cooked greens [or cabbage] and some meat.

Sunday’s I’ll eat whatever I feel like eating. Chips. Desert. Pluckets. Cereal. Cinnamon rolls.

I will also be keeping track of all this stuff. I’ll tell you a bit more about that towards the end of the post.

Now if losing weight was all I was worried about, that would pretty much be it. I am of the opinion that weight is [mostly] a decision, one that we make all the time.

The Work Out

I don’t however just want to lose weight. I’d also like to get in some kind of better shape. I won’t be running marathons [at least I have no plans of doing that yet], but it would be nice to be able to hike up a hill without feeling like I am going to pass out.

The details of my work out plan are much less set in stone than the diet plans. I plan to mostly just be more active. Take a walk in real life or maybe on the treadmill. Play basketball with the guys from church. Whatever form it takes, the idea is to get out of my chair and spend more time moving my limbs.

Keeping Track of All of This

Now. Part of any good “program” is tracking “all the things.” For tracking what I eat and how I exercise I am going to use an app on my phone. No you don’t have to have an app, you can also use an internet browser. My Fitness Pal.

Basically what the app allows me to do is log each meal, weight gained or lost and my activities.

It doesn’t stop there though. There is a “social aspect” to the app as well. When I finish updating a day’s worth of food and activity the people who are “following” me get a notification in their feed. When I fail to complete an entry for a few days those who are following me get a notification that they should post something to my wall.

At any rate. If you want to follow me within the app [it’s a great option for you if you are on a diet too] simply go to the friends page and use this email eymyfitnesspal@outlook.com. That should pull my profile up. Follow me and I’ll follow you.

Why Do this Publicly?

The question might come up, “Why would you be this public about such a thing as losing weight and getting in shape?”

The answer that I’ve come to within my mind is pretty simple.

First off… the pressure isn’t a bad thing in this case. If I ever feel like I want to quit, knowing that I have to write the blog post explaining why I’ve quit or that the people who are following me within the app will bug me about quitting, might just be enough to keep me from quitting.

Second off… I don’t want to do this alone. I can do it by myself and I will if need be. However it would be great to have a couple of people join me. Whether that be by using the app or simply following along with these posts here on my blog. If I can help just one person lose just one pound or go for one walk, it will be totally worth it [ok… that is a flippant use of a line].

That’s pretty much it for today. Although I should tell you a bit about the picture at the top of the post.

Light Up The Night – Maine Light House

One thing that I was really looking forwards to photographing in Maine was the lighthouses. I had the idea in my head [via searching for them] that they were pretty simple to find. You just drive along and they would be there, easy access, boom the picture can be taken. I didn’t find it that way.

In fact this one showed up on the second day [I believe] of our trip. It seemed to give credence to my idea that light houses wouldn’t be too hard to find. I don’t think I saw one the rest of the trip. Partially because of my ignorance. Partially because of my laziness. Partially because we went inland fairly quickly.

But I did get to shoot this light house and I’m glad I did. I like it.

At any rate, I’ve been wanting to post this picture for a while. Not because it’s so great, but rather because I couldn’t seem to find a post that it was “related to.” Now I’ve decided that I don’t really care whether it is really tied to what this post is about or not.