Carl over at Stainless Steel Droppings has offered his readers a healthy challenge (under the guise of sticking around longer=reading more books--who can argue with that?). Personally, I've been wanting my baby weight off ever since it came back on (yes, I lost it all within the first month after giving birth in August 2005, plus 10 pounds, and it ALL CAME BACK). Maybe I can get a little more encouragement than I do from the 43Things crowd. Cheering is nice, but I don't get enough real commentary for it to be motivating.
Here's the basic outline of my plan to lose 10 pounds by September 1st:
water intake--according to this calculator, I should be consuming 14 8-ounce glasses of water a day. That seems a bit much, but I'll work up to it (I don't need kidney poisoning, TYVM). According to various sources, that doesn't mean, literally, straight water over and above already consumed liquids (which I get via juice, milk, fruits/veggies, and pasta). In short, boost the liquids, and be regular about it.
exercise--I bought a treadmill via craigslist 3 weeks ago, and I've been on it 4 times, long enough to burn 80-90 calories each time. Not impressive. I should be on there daily, and I should be increasing my time/distance. I need to put my pedometer back on and start tracking my non-treadmill steps (10,000 is an ideal, but it's really hard to make that happen--I could probably reach that goal once a week if I went on a snarf fest, attended a street faire, or just went to the mall). To that end, I need to get off my butt more during the daytime and get the housework done, get the garden going, and work with the animals (especially Serenity, Persephone, and Boudreaux). I also want to find my hand-weights and do some upper-body work. My son's getting heavier, and I need to be able to pick him up without hurting myself. After a few months, I want to get a yoga routine going so I can add flexibility.
eating--I'm not balanced in content or regularity. I need more vegetables and fruits in my diet. I need to not skip meals. I need to not quadruple my chocolate intake during *ahem* certain critical weeks. I need more whole grains and less fats. I need to find healthy snacks and get my portions back down to "normal."
For other ideas, and other research, I'll be reading and dipping into:
You: On a Diet
The Athlete Within
Feel Good Naked
Diva
Well Being
Body For Life
8 Minutes in the Morning
In the Kitchen with Rosie
Healthy Cooking for Two
1000 Vegetarian Recipes
AMA Family Cookbook
Weight Watchers Quick and Easy Menu Cookbook
Weight Watchers Meals in Minutes Cookbook
Susanne Somers’ Eat, Cheat, and Melt the Fat Away
Mediterranean Diet Cookbook
I may or may not try to track my progress on FitDay; if I can keep up with it, I'll post weekly reports here.
Posts
1 comment:
On the water subject, there are some books that explain in detail about increasing water intake and the benefits. Some of the most interesting are by Dr F Batmanghelidj. And it does need to be water according to most of the sources I've read,not fruit teas or juice. But in conjunction with upping water intake, you also need to increase mineral intake (good pure salts - rock salt or sea salt) to balance.
Good luck with the weightloss - I'm hoping to do better with it myself!
Post a Comment