more than just talking about it

If you look at 2011, starting Feb 28 (when I started my final journey), I weighed in every week.  My first 18 weeks I had a loss.  Then I had a zero lost week, which should still count.  3 more weeks of a loss.  Then my first .4 gain.  And then 4 more weeks with losses.  So 27 weeks, all weeks I lost, with 1 zero and 1 .4 gain.  That's almost 7 months of pure dedication.  I lost 71 lbs in those 27 weeks.  You can see the consistency.  I weighed every week.  And of course I did...who wouldn't want to see the loss on the scale.

2012...not so much.  By July of 2012 I had managed to take off another 23 lbs.  But it was 10 months of really hit or miss.  You didn't have to look any further than my weigh in log to see all the pluses and minus.  But what really tells the truth is all the weeks that I didn't weigh in at all.  Why get on the scale if you haven't been good. 

So what has happened between July 2012 and now.  Truth is that I have put some (*cough* a lot) of my weight back on.  I have mentioned the new job and really that is what started the whole downward spiral.  I loved my job at CEI and hated to leave my family.  But it was a move that I just had to make.  I was stressed over leaving, I was stressed over if I was going to get the job, I was stressed over having a new job.  And then, the new job...well, my new boss is not so great.  More stress.  How did I deal with all that stress?  Ate more, exercised less.  By the Holidays I was determined to get the weight back off by the end of the year, but what I really did was sit back and eat my way through the holidays.

That bring us to 2013.  What is done is done.  Get back on plan and get the weight off.  You have done it before you can do it again.  I have tried a lot so far this year, I have also cheated a lot.  I am down some, but not because I am doing awesome.  I have tried everything I can think of to get myself motivated to get back to it 100%.  I have joined a 12 week online class by Pete Thomas.  I have made those jars with the ponds to lose, ponds lost stones in them.  Rallied friends.  And I do good at the start of the week and somewhere around Friday it all goes to hell.

So what's the problem?  In my class he has us look at what has worked in the past and why?  Feb 2011 is the only time it really ever worked for me.  The question is why?  What was different?  I kept it simple.  This is what I wrote back then.  I started a 1 year commitment on plan. I am committing to stay between 1500 and 1800 calories for 365 days. I will also be working on getting more active, eating better, staying away from the sugar. But the 1500 - 1800 calories is the commitment, all the rest is gravy.  At some point I got away from the simple.  I was working with DeWayne and started to worry a lot about keeping my carbs low and my protein high.  But by that time I wasn't following my simple plan any more so it seemed logical to try his way.  Truth is I have never stuck to his way for more than a few weeks at a time.  I followed my way for 7 months.

Starting tomorrow, it's back to basics.  1500-1800 calories every day. That's the commitment.  I still work out with DeWayne and I plan on 5-6 days of cardio and 2-3 days of weights.  But the calories is the thing that will lose the weight.  Every stinking day.  I know I can do this.  I know how to do this.  And I know it's really not all that hard.  I just need to step back, keep it simple and follow my plan.