As Promised...My Plan of Attack!
This is just a general overview of what
my plan for success was; I promise I'll go into detail more in future
entries.
The Food End
I started out tracking what I ate. I
went through a series of food diary trackers that had different
advantages and disadvantages until I found one that worked best for
me. (Teaser: future installment!) I did restrict my calories, but at a reasonable level (between 1300 -1500, starting out at 1500, but eventually going down to between 1300 - 1350) where I wouldn't want to eat everything in sight. I had a looong way to go, no need to go into crash diet mode.
Eric (the husband) and I started
planning out our meals and snacks in advance and shopping our menus.
A big part of the changes we decided to
make (for both health and financial reasons) was to cut out the
processed stuff/eating out and shop at the discount farmer's market.
This meant a lot more work in the kitchen, but he was willing to do
half the prep and cooking (we are a partnership after all...). To
circumvent my desire to binge, I planned to follow an 80/20 rule: 80%
of calories of the day were to be lean protein, low fat dairy, whole
grains and lots and lots of fruits and veggies, while 20% of my daily
calories were whatever I wanted ( delicious bite of a yummy dessert,
chocolate bar, whatever!). The biggest thing: no “diet” foods! I'll post a few of the menus and recipes at a later date.
The Fitness End
I was planning on running the
Peachtree Road Race again in July and I really wanted a time that I
was not ashamed to announce. That required a training program, and
that required me to stick with it. If it also helped me make my
health goal, that was kind of an extra bonus. On my Runkeeper app
there was a free training plan to run a 10k in under 60 minutes. It
was quite the ambitious goal (considering my last 10k time was
30minutes longer than that!), but it would allow me to really
challenge myself and it provided needed structure to train with. I
wasn't able to make most of the training pace times, but it allowed
me to really key in and listen to my bodies' cues. I also included
stretching and strength training to prevent injuries.
The Mental End/ Motivation
The most difficult end of making any
significant life change is the will to change. How do you keep
motivated to completely change your lifestyle? You have to have a
great support system. You have to have a concrete goal and a strong
visceral connection to your why. Finally, you have to constantly
surround yourself by things that motivate you to stick with it.
I
also decided to journal the struggles (emotional and mental) I was
working through.
I'll do a few more posts in the future going into greater detail and try to go back and link to them here.
