I’ve written before about my struggles with my weight and stuff I’ve tried to do to take action. There are plenty of reasons why I’ve failed miserably at this task on numerous occasions:

• I get busy with other things and “don’t have time” to work out - I’m sick of that excuse for myself.
• I can’t find a program that works for me - Truth is, I can’t work on a program long enough to MAKE it work for me.
• My incessant Chipotle craving - Let’s face it…I don’t see this one ending anytime soon. I’ll have to just work harder I guess.
• I like to sleep in, thus cutting down on the time it takes to prepare healthy meals - I guess I need to get up earlier then.
• I can’t seem to find the motivation - Living longer should be motivation enough.

I could go on, but that’s not the point. The point is that last week, I started back on the Power 90 program, a Beach Body, Inc., program that we bought a long time ago that promised to re-shape your body in 90 days. Considering that our departure date for Italy is about 90 days away, I finally found some motivation. And with the pending nuptials of my little brother and his beautiful fiancee (likely on some island), I need to get control of my weight…and FAST.

I’ve worked out every weekday for the last two weeks, doing the Sweat! cardio tape on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and doing the Sculpt! lifting tape on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I haven’t yet worked out on a Saturday, but the plan is to either go to the gym or just figure out something active to do on the weekend, then rest on Sundays.

So far, so good. I’ve lost 3 pounds, but I’m still a really long way from my goal weight. I don’t like being this heavy and I don’t like my clothes not fitting. I’ve been better with my eating habits, but I still need to work on portion control, and if I’m going to have Chipotle, I need to steer clear of the guacamole (so good!) and any other extras like chips that would just add on more calories to my already scale-tipping burrito bol. If you want to find out what your burrito, check out this awesome Chipotle fan site. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Anyway, wish me luck. I’m going to need it to keep on my path to healthier living.

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Reading my SparkPeople Mailer this morning, I came across these statistics:

From 1977 to 1997, hamburgers expanded by 23%; a plate of Mexican food got 27% bigger; soft drinks increased by 52%; snacks (potato chips, pretzels, crackers) grew 60%. We’re now entering the second generation of overeaters who can’t believe that a fast food soft drink used to come in 10 ounce cups. There’s actually a frozen entree that proudly sells itself as “1 Pound of Food,” as if its total mass was a benefit.

I remember something similar to that being in the movie Super Size Me…it’s just weird to see it in print. It’s kind of gross.

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I’ve joined the web site, SparkPeople.com, a free online diet tracking web site complete with resources for nutrition, fitness, and self-motivation.

I’m pretty excited about it. The web site has a lot of material and allows you to track all your progress along the way.

I’ve always been one of those people who really struggles with their weight. I go in spurts where I’m really good about it, but there are a lot of times (like the last few months) where I really get derailed. I’m hoping that this web site will help me to get back on track. One thing’s for sure: I’m glad to have a nice grocery store close finally so that it isn’t always such a chore to go get stuff for lunches or to make at home.

If you are interested in learning more about SparkPeople.com or want to join, click the button below:

Wish me luck. I hope that I am able to get some momentum. My goal is 65 pounds by next July 1. I think it is definitely possible. What do you think?

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I ate about half a large bucket of chicken today. I have been craving fried chicken for about two weeks.

Here’s the aftermath:

That’s a lot of chicken. I won’t be eating it again for about two years. It was that awesome.

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Me and 3 of my buddies are currently competing in our own little version of The Biggest Loser. We have until March 11 to lose as much weight as possible. The person who has lost the largest percentage of their body weight wins a round of golf from the other 3.

It’s a nice little piece of motivation that I have, considering I was planning on losing weight anyway. Right now, I’m tipping the scales considerably higher than I was, well…ANYTIME IN MY LIFE…and I’m really looking forward to getting rid of this excess poundage that I’ve been carrying around for God knows too long. I’ll probably complain about it plenty on here, but for now, I’m just frustrated.

I thought that the last two days were probably my best day of eating & working out all around, but I didn’t lose a single pound. Why is that? What’s up with that?

I guess if it were easy, EVERYONE would be at their ideal weight.

Must press on though.

I’m shooting for 10% body weight loss. That would likely put me in front and well on my way to the 20% that I need to lose.

IMAGINE THAT. 20% of body weight…GONE. That’s one-fifth of me. Crazy. So if you see me reaching for a candy or drinking a soda or doing anything that wouldn’t be considered “HEALTHY”, please, SMACK ME and tell me to suck it up.

Now, where did I put my water?

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New Year’s Resolutions always seemed a little silly to me. Why do we need a new year to start bettering ourselves? That being said, it is still a good time to figure out what you want to do with the next year.

My Resolutions:

1. Watch less TV (this excludes ALIAS, which starts its fourth season in a short 52 hours!!!!)
2. Read more (I have tons of books that I have bought in the past couple of years but have never gotten around to reading them…must read those)
3. Build stuff (this will start with a desk for my home office…I have the plan figured out…just need to buy the materials and get my drill fixed)
4. Improve my design skills (this means finally finishing reading the QuickPro guide to Flash MX 2004 as well as the other design books I have to read)
5. Lose weight (cliche, I know, but hey…I gotta do it)

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