The Weight Management Plan

Hello all! I slated September 1st as my start day for the weight loss journey, although honestly I got a little ambitious and started the plan on August 31st (a Sunday).

I have created a binder, with dividers for each of the seven keys. I plan on working through all of the keys.

In the past, I have had great successes with using dry-erase marker boards for giving myself tasks and completing them. I have several of them at home (one at work), and honestly I do believe that there's no such thing as too many marker boards. Hell, if I could, my whole walls would be marker boards. I usually have a small magnetic one I have on my fridge, that most of the time I use for household To-Do lists.

Seeing as I have an app for that, I decided to change the marker board on the fridge to reflect my eating and working out checklists.

I have given myself a list of daily foods I must have on that list, in red marker, with black checkboxes beside for the quantity I must have. It would look something like this:

Protein: (3 checkboxes)

Dairy: (2 checkboxes)

Starches: (3 checkboxes)

Fruit: (2 checkboxes)

Vegetables: (4 checkboxes)

Fats: (1 checkbox)

Water: (8 checkboxes)

Every day, I check off what I have eaten and create new checkboxes either in the evening before I go to bed, or first thing in the morning for the new day. So far, it is helping me. I have also reduced my portions drastically, and am eating the 2 snacks.

I actually had a Bing! moment about food because of this checklist. Typically, I would eat a lot of bread products in the morning, with barely any protein, and have a regular healthy lunch (on the days I would actually make my lunch). I wouldn't have any snacks inbetween the meals. By the time I would get home, I would be starving and that would signal to me that I needed to eat a large portion of whatever I was eating (usually pasta). I would pile on the plate a huge helping of pasta (about 4 times what I should be eating) and smother it in cheese.

When adhering to this new plan, I realized that why I was eating such a large dinner was because I was super hungry. I didn't have the proper nutrition and I wasn't eating as much as I should during the day.

I have also realized that I do not have to eat myself to complete fullness either. With this new plan (which is amazingly simple; and that always works for me), I am eating what I should be eating, more frequently, and I don't even feel hungry. I don't feel full either. I am now eating for nourishment, not to fill a void.

The second part of my marker board is a weekly exercise plan. The sixth key has a directive to do cardio 6 days a week, and weights on 3 days. This did mean I had to change my 2 days off of exercising and also what my exercise schedule was in the first place. Usually on Fridays I go shopping, and also get home and feel exhausted so I don't feel like exercising. Sundays I liked to refer to my "lazy day" where I literally do nothing. So I had to choose between the 2 days. As I needed to do 3 days of strength training, I decided to use Sundays as my exercise day.

So the way this exercise plan works is I ride the exercise bike for 30 minutes every day (Fridays are optional). On Sundays, I do a complete strength training workout (which lasts about an hour), on Tuesdays I do the upper body workout (half of the complete workout), and Thursdays I do the lower body workout (other half of the complete workout). Saturdays I have also slated an additional block for either golfing (weather permitted) or walking (whether or not the weather is okay—I do live in a really good climate for walking).

So the checklist on my marker board on the fridge is written in green marker with black checkboxes, and looks like this:

Sunday: (2 checkboxes)

Monday: (1 checkbox)

Tuesday: (2 checkboxes)

Wednesday: (1 checkbox)

Thursday: (2 checkboxes)

Friday: (1 checkbox)

Saturday: (2 checkboxes)

Note: Even though I have slated Fridays as optional, I have still allocated a checkbox just in case I want to do it anyways.

So far, both the food plans and the exercise plans are working well.

I have also set up my iPhone calendar to alert me when I should be exercising. Everyday, the exercise bike will start at 7:00 p.m. The strength training on the weekend starts at 3:00, the strength training on Tuesdays and Thursdays start immediately after the bike at 7:30, and the golfing/walking will start around noon on Saturdays.

I am a very OCD type of person and need to have this as a routine I do every day, otherwise I won't do it. My only concern right now is the menstruation cycles, as I don't really feel like exercising while that is going on. I am thinking I will either just stick to the food plan and avoid the exercise, or I might try to go walking instead. I will have to find out when that happens this month and see how it goes.

The one key I seem to be avoiding is the second key, healing feelings. As I have a lot of unresolved emotional baggage, I need to find ways of dealing with my past and putting it behind me. I will admit I am finding it a bit of a struggle to determine what my minimal effective responses would be to some of these. I will be thinking about it now though, especially as I have some free time these days at work.

I will only be weighing myself once a month. September 1st weigh in was at 223 pounds. I am aiming to lose 5 pounds and get to 218 for October 1st.

I just thought I would give you an update on what my progress is so far.

Mell