January 10

Ok, I actually started this diary a couple weeks ago. Since I just recently (as in today) opened my blog, I think I should basically copy and paste what I've already done.  Here goes:

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Day One – January 10

Today was the first day of class.  We discussed our diary assignment.  I have decided to being mine tonight, seeing as it will be a continuation of a behavior change I have been consistently working on for 2 years now.  Since the health risk assessment hasn’t been preformed yet, I cannot choose something based off the assessment.  I know that I am going to do something involving my weight and pain management.  I am not obese, but I am overweight according to my BMI.  I also suffer from fibromyalgia, a condition in which, as studies have shown, the more weight a person has, the more pain the person will experience.

My ultimate goal for this project is to lose approximately 40 pounds; although, I am not concerned about how much I weigh, per se, as much as I am concerned about my fitness.  Ideally, I would like to be between 110-120 lbs.  I understand this is not a realistic objective in 8 weeks.  I don’t think it is even possible to lose 5 pounds per week, and still be healthy.  I want to consistently lose weight each week, no matter what the total number of pounds lost is.  By the end of this project, I feel I should have lost between 8 and 10 pounds.

The smaller steps I will use to implement this change are as follows:

-          Set aside a designated workout time

-          Monitor my food intake (amount and type)

-          Stop late night snacking

I feel that these steps should be vague just because I know my personality.  I obsess over things and can become fanatic about weight lose.  I do not want to be unhealthy in the way I go about this.  Previously attempts as losing weight have been along the lines of this:  I would run daily, if I didn’t run far enough/fast enough, then I didn’t let myself eat. I would weigh myself daily and if I didn’t meet my goal weight for the day, I didn’t eat. Et cetera

Here is the summary for food/activity that I did today:

Food:

-          Breakfast -> nothing to eat, flavored water to drink

-          Lunch -> 4 peanut butter cups, 2 bags of peanut butter M&Ms, flavored water to drink (at 5 pm)

-          Dinner -> 4 fun sized Milky Ways, 3 pieces of licorice, 4 handfuls of cheezits, 2 handfuls of peanut butter M&Ms, 1 20 ox Mellow Yellow (between 10 pm and 3 am)

Activity:

-          Walked to class, took stairs instead of elevator

By the end of this week, my goal is to eat better and do some sort of physical activity each day.  By the end of this project, I should have a more balanced diet and I should be able to do at least 1 hour per day of cardio exercise.

I think I may add sleep to the list of things I need to deal with.  It may or may not become a goal this semester, but it is 4 am and I am awake.  Typically, this is due to the pain I am in, but because I have class at night, I don’t have a regular bed time.  Ideally, working out and eating right will have a positive effect on my sleep, which in turn will give me more energy to workout.