Today, I find myself heavier than my original starting weight of 323lbs. The last time I weighed myself, I was 327lbs, 4lbs heavier than my starting weight almost 2 years ago. That was about a month ago. Since then, I’m sure I’ve only gotten worse. Clothes that at one point I found to be slightly baggy are now getting stretched to the point where I really need to go up a size – something I absolutely refuse to do. It was a few nights ago when I dressed up in one of my favorite outfits, and found myself to be so uncomfortable, it scared even me. There’s only one way this can go – I need to lose the weight, now moreso than ever.

The first month of my original diet worked the best – it’s when I did nothing but eat low calorie, watching what I ate and not worrying about any methods or processes. It’s when I started experimenting, eating more calories or trying different diet plans that things started getting a little haywire. Lately I’ve had friends starting new diet regiments, some with supplements, others just cutting back the calories. After careful thinking and planning, I came up with the plan for my next phase -

The Plan

The original diet wasn’t based around counting calories, or doing anything truly diet related. The idea was that by eating better, healthier foods, in turn I would lose weight and get healthier as well. That quickly changed and went to a very strict calorie regiment – one that worked very well. The original diet did have a few flaws though, and those flaws I’m hoping to stay away from in this go around. So, here are the ground rules:

1. No Free Days – Giving myself free days and treats were a bad idea to begin with. I’ll have days when I eat slightly worse than others, but by no means will there be days when I go crazy on junk food or whatnot. My goal is to stay within a specified calorie range – no more.
2. Calorie Range: 1200 – 1500 per day – Not a guideline – that’s it.   I will only be allowed to eat within this range on a day by day basis.  In the original diet, there were days where I was well within this limit, but forced myself to have more because I didn’t feel I was eating enough.  No more.
3. Holidays – So, everyone else is eating fun festive food, and I’m stuck eating light and healthy?   Too bad!  Every day will be treated the same as every other day.  Holidays will be no exception.  Thanksgiving will mean turkey instead of chicken, and perhaps a few veggies.  No stuffing – no sweet potatoes – no spaghetti and meatballs!
4. One failure is not a complete failure – Sure, there might be some times where I’ll eat the wrong thing, or where my willpower will not be strong.   One failure is not an excuse to throw everything else off.   I fell off the wagon, and I will now pull myself back on!

Unlike the original diet, I’ll not be doing daily calorie tracking here on the blog. From time to time, I’ll give updates on meals and such through Twitter, but every single meal will not be reported. I will be tracking calories, but that will be for my own purposes.

It’s time I took my life and my health seriously.   My goal is to not only meet my original results, but to exceed them!   Tomorrow, I’ll post information about my goals.  They’ll be very difficult, but anything worth doing will be.   My utlimate goal is to be down at least 120 lbs by the time I get back to New Orleans for Christmas this year.   That gives me a little more than 9 months to get there.   That’s roughly 14lbs/month – it can, and will be done!    So, follow my journey – see how I do.  I’ll post at least once a week with my weigh-in and progress report.   Between those posts, I’ll discuss how I’m feeling and what’s going in my life.   I’ll try to keep things fresh and interesting, but there won’t be daily food diary posts.  So, come back tomorrow to see how I do for the weigh-in.  Hopefully my scale can even register my current weight. :-/

Thanks again for following – this time, I will not fail!

The “Office Space” diet is the name I’ve given to the current diet plan that I’m using.  It’s my own concoction and leaves quite some room for me to adjust and modify as needed.   Eventually, I’ll move onto something more permanent and will from time to time, try out some of the BIG NAME diets to see if they work for me.  For now, it’s the “Office Space” diet.   If you’ve never seen the movie, you’ll probably not fully understand the point, but in the movie, there’s a huge banner that hangs in the middle of the office.  It states “Is this good for the company?”  The idea is to ask yourself, whatever you are doing, “Is this good for the company?”.  I’ve taken that idea, and run with it for dieting.  The new motto is:

You should ask yourself…for every meal you eat, is this good for your body? Am I helping with my body’s strategic plan?

The idea is to eat decent food.  When you sit down to a meal, look at what you are about to eat.  Think about it for a few minutes before you start munching down.  Ask yourself, “Is this good for my body?”

To start things off, I’m going to go with a lot of veggies and lean meats: poultry and fish.  I’m going to try to have breakfast each morning.  That will usually consist of a piece of fruit, and possibly some yogurt.  (Details are still being worked out.)  For lunch, almost ALWAYS a salad.  I’ll try to keep it to the plain and simple and on most days I’ll bring in tuna with romaine, mixed with a little low fat dressing.  That way I’ll get some protein, some carbs, but still keep it very healthy.   For dinner, it will be more of the same, meat portion with a veggie.  Possible combination are chicken and spinach, fish and broccoli.  And I might add some additional salad to help fill me up.  For a snack before bed, another piece of fruit.   If I need to deviate, I’ll stick with the rule, “Is this good for my body?”

Free Day

One day, each week, I’m allowing myself a “Free Day”.  This will happen either Friday or Saturday, usually the one I spend with friends.  I’m a strong believer in allowing yourself a treat when you’ve been good all week.  This one day, I’m allowed to have whatever I want, as long as it is NOT in excess.  No multiple burgers, no Super Sized Fries, no 1/2 a pizza.  I can have what I want, but it must be decent.  On this day, I’ll have a decent breakfast, eggs and toast, but nothing crazy.   For lunch, I might have a chicken sandwich, or a small burger.   For dinner, I might have a full meal with friends.  This will be the closest I might come to my old eating style.

Not Allowed (Not Even on Free Day)

There are several items that I’m listing that are FORBIDDEN.  Even on Free Day, these are considered enemies of the body, and will be strictly avoided!

• Non Diet Soda
• Cakes
• Doughnuts
• Cookies

It’s a short list for now, but I’ll add on as new ideas come on board.  I just want to avoid things that are REALLY bad for me, and things I can replace with alternatives.  Non-Diet Soda is my biggest vice, and can easily be replaced with diet soda, iced tea, or water.   Everything else, I just feel is an excess.  The “Free Day” is a day to treat myself, but anything high in sugar is just going overboard, and will ruin everything I’ve worked for.

Well, that’s it.  Feel free to comment if you’ve got other suggestions, or just want to tell me that it’s all wrong.   I’d also be interested in hearing any ideas you might have for changes or modifications.

Now, it’s off to the grocery, then it’s dinner time!  I’ll post once I’ve made it through that.