Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Day 31 - One Ninety Two

192! Lost 7lbs thus far, and I’ll take it. The night before I kept dreaming of the weigh-in. Each time I stepped on the scale in my dream I was always exactly the same weight or even above 200lbs!! Eeks, I guess I was more concerned about it subconsciously than I thought. Perhaps it was because of the added pressure of doing this publicly.

Is it the 10-15 I was suspecting? No, but if you consider what I did during the 30 days (almost nothing), it’s pretty encouraging. Also, there were several parties and all day gatherings with a week long vacation thrown in there. I’m pretty sure if I wasn’t so social during this period, I’d be better off. Regardless, it is what it is, and it’s not the big point anyway. It’s a point in time that gives me an indication if this plan really works or not, and it does! It’s a step in the right direction. A data point on a long term trend.

Does it sound magical to say 7lbs in 30 days? No, but we all know that magic diet and exercise plans don’t work. How many people do you know that yo-yo back and forth, bouncing from magic pills to carb diets, never really getting anywhere, except anxious and discouraged? With diet and exercise, slow and steady wins the race. Long lasting self-discipline is better than doing things in spurts that ultimately don’t stick. I proved out that you don’t have to be an expert dietician or an exercise guru to accomplish some weight loss. I had only some common sense and advice from others on my side. That’s all anyone should really need.

I did something for 30 days straight! This is a discipline that I’ve never had before. If you followed along, congratulate yourself. To put your accomplishment into perspective, take the amount of pounds that you lost, and find something that weighs the exact same amount. It can be a collection of items. Now pick it up a few times. Heavier than you thought eh? Gone! My 7lbs was equivalent to a medium size porcelain serving dish, a D size battery, a porcelain coffee mug full with coffee, and a container of sidewalk chalk. It disappeared because of my mind. I lived consciously for 30 days, more consciously than I ever have.

Will the discipline stick? Will I continue? The reason I chose 30 days, is because many studies suggest a period of longer than 20 days is required for change to become habit forming. Committing to a daily activity without a day off is more likely to become a habit than a plan that offers a few days off a week. The days of rest and relaxation hurt the conditioning of the mind that is necessary to pull you through the tough days. It’s easy to give yourself a day off, like the day before, when you’re not really “in” to it. Then you try to play games with make up days. “I’ll just double up on the weekends” you say to yourself. Then the plan starts to crumble. When I woke up today, without even thinking about it, I pondered doing my activities before my shower, or at some point later in the day. Then I realized what had just happened, pretty cool, maybe my mind is conditioned. The first page of my new notebook for my daily logs which has “Day 1 – 192!” on top of the page might be a clue.

Am I healthier? One could argue. I doubt it when you consider all the imbibing that occurred. But because I monitored everything, I now have full awareness. The last several days, I made a conscious attempt to limit the harmful liquid intake because of my awareness, and I’ll continue to do so. This plan wasn’t about quitting drinking after all but I’ll start making small incremental improvement on a daily basis. I have enough problems as it is, I don’t need another more damaging one.

However, I’ve heard from three people now that losing weight slowly over a long period of time is more healthy for you than rapid weight loss. This must be why everyone that I know who was on the Atkins Plan, has bounced back to their start weight or worse. I think they all hit their floor weight right around the time that Dr. Atkins died. Maybe a carb or two isn’t that bad after all eh? Breadcrumbs anyone?

Let’s consider how easy this plan really is. Writing everything down in a notepad, what you eat and what you do, and reviewing it out loud daily. Your mind takes over, and suddenly you’re making better choices. You have full awareness and are living consciously. You commit to 30 days, and as each day passes you are less likely to give up, despite the tough days. In my first attempt, I had to stop after 11 days. I was too hard on my body, and I had muscle soreness, but I kept trying to bull through it until my doctor told me to stop and rest. Of course, I did happen to be sick at the time as well. Regardless, I was disappointed and felt like I failed. How pathetic am I that I can’t do something for 30 days in a row? No big deal, just pick up and do it again. I didn’t want that to happen on this attempt, so no strenuous exercises, just small activities that take no time at all. When you consider how simple this plan is, the results are encouraging.

No need to continue with the daily blog entries, but I’ll continue to write and weigh myself in different increments. Maybe every 5, 10, or 15 days. I think I’ll give my daily logs to my doctor or a dietician and ask for some feedback. 30 days of hard truthful data is better than my answer to a question in a small stale room about my diet and how I feel. Although, I understand dieticians are pretty anal about counting calories, salt, fiber, and other garbage. They are trained to think that way, but I’m not interested in reading labels, life should be more simple and common sensicle than that. Plus they have a tendency to tell you what you should eat and how much (6 glasses of water a day, 2 pieces of fruit, a serving of a green vegetable). Give me a break! Only the most anal non fun people in the world could do that. I need more flexibility than that. When you consider what I accomplished with what I did, I’ve proven that out. Exercise experts tell you that you need to sweat and get your heart rate at certain levels to lose weight. Well apparently not. I only remember sweating one day cutting the neighbors lawn, and I certainly didn’t measure any heart rates or count how many minutes I was aerobic. Way too anal for me, and apparently, completely unnecessary. As my activities change and grow in duration, I’ll continue with the simple and easiest form of monitoring. Why bother with anything else? I’m not training for a marathon, spending money on gadgets that measure crap is a waste of money for me. Maybe I should call this, “Your Grandma’s Diet.” She didn’t have any tools like that either. My Grandma lived to almost 90, she was Italian. A day didn’t pass without carbs. Interesting.

And so, this wraps up the big 30 day experiment. 30 days of small, daily, incremental improvement and conscious living, resulting in weight loss, and arguably a healthier state. The other metrics, lasting self-discipline, additional weight loss, and the ability to keep it off will determine how successful this can be in the long run. For now, it’s working and I’m heading in the right direction. You don’t have to be an expert to lose weight, in fact you don’t have to really know anything about diet and exercise. No counting calories, reading labels, listening to Oprah, or avoiding noodles. Everyone already has all of the skills and tools they need. Wrap it up in this easy 5 step system that incorporates your mind, and you’re gold. And that’s all I have to say about that.

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