Rules of Enagement

Healthy, fun activity, *not* just hitting
the gym. This zipline was a blast!

OK, let's establish some ground rules up front.  I've got to have the right approach for this journey to be successful.  When I was much (much, much) younger, I had very poor, unhealthy habits toward food and my body.  Frankly, I abused my body pretty badly in the name of staying thin.  It worked, except I looked like the Ghost of Bulimics Past or something.  It was obvious I wasn't healthy.

But if I go back further, my earlier teenage years, I remember just being athletic.  I was a little hardbody because I worked out a-l-l-l-l-l the time.  I ate whatever I wanted because I never worried about putting on a pound, and I was all muscle and energy.  That's where I want to be again -- healthy, strong, fit, active.

So, just to make sure I keep this journey an appropriate, healthy one, some ground rules:

• No unhealthy habits, like starving myself (or worse), and no skipping meals regularly.
• No pills (unless the doctor says so).
• No weird "fad" diet things.  This means I will be eating neither copious amounts of grapefruit nor cabbage soup nor bacon and eggs, nor pre-packaged frozen meals from some weight loss center or other.  Healthy, balanced eating only.  Period.
• No obsessively weighing myself.  My "official" weigh-in will be every Wednesday, and I will allow myself to weigh at home, but only once a day, not every time I pass by the scale or consume a morsel of food.
• Healthy, fun activity.  I can use the gym, but I can't *just* use the gym.  I have to find ways to be active that are more enjoyable than walking in place.  (I'm a thrill-seeker, too, so let's be honest here; I can find something to do that's not just hitting the treadmill, right?)
• No negative self-talk.  That doesn't mean I won't joke about this process once in a while, but that self-loathing "I-am-so-fat" kind of self-talk is truly destructive.  I want to affirm my progress as this goes along instead of lamenting the road that got me here.
• Complete honesty with myself and this blog. That means if I gain a pound or two I don't get to quit, and I don't get to sink into denial about the whole thing.  Eyes open, full speed ahead!
• I'm doing the Weight Watchers system for tracking points each day instead of counting calories and the like.  I know many folks who have achieved long-term success using their healthy eating and fitness program, so I'm giving it a shot.
• The challenge began when I stepped on that scale -- I shall call it "Devil Scale" -- and it showed me that inconceivable number.  That was June 1, 2011.  I have one year to lose 101 pounds.  That's less than two pounds per week (1.92 lbs/week) to reach this goal by June 1, 2012.

OK, fair enough?  Let's do it!

Actually, a tiny bit of progress to report already.  It's Saturday, June 4 today, and I've already lost the first pound.  One down, a few to go, all the while remembering this:  Healthy. Strong. Fit. Active.