Time for a…

Time for a dieting/exercise check-in. I had something of a rough week last week; Friday was emotionally difficult, with personality conflicts with several people and a lot of accompanying frustration and stress. I came home that day to an empty house -- Kev was out having dinner with a new candidate for his department -- and ended up eating essentially two dinners' worth of curry and hoppers. I *knew* I shouldn't go back for that second plate, and I did it anyway. And I didn't do so much better yesterday -- spent much of the day out, and ate too much in the process.

But nonetheless, I've been exercising almost daily (yesterday was the first day I missed in almost two weeks, and the only reason I missed it was because I read the clock wrong and thought I had an hour more than I had), and the diet/exercise thing seems to be working. I started on January 9th at 145 pounds and 35% body fat; today I'm at 143 and 34.5. Progress, good progress, in fact.

My goals for the year are pretty ambitious. I want to continue to exercise daily, and I want to actually get to a point where I'm not overweight. I've been overweight my entire adult life, and frankly, I'm tired of it. I'm five feet tall, so I should weigh between 100 - 120 pounds. I'm going to aim for 115 by the end of the year.

That means losing thirty pounds, which is a lot. I lost about ten two years ago when I went from 152 to 142 in three months, and lost more (maybe fifteen pounds?) in early 2002, when I had been creeping up close to 160. So trying to lose thirty pounds -- well, that's a big commitment.

But on the other hand, they say you can safely lose two pounds/week. And I'm just trying to lose a half-pound/week this year. So that should be, medically speaking, a reasonable and healthy goal. Now it's just a matter of seeing whether my willpower is up to it. Lots of small meals. Counting calories. Packing my lunch/dinner for school. Green vegetables and lots of water daily. Avoiding eating out too often. Exercising daily.

Wish me luck!