Pleasantly Surprised

Now, I understand this is week 3 and that it always seems easy at first but this dieting/exercising shit is way easier than I anticipated. The reason I'm still optimistic about it even though it's in its infancy is because I am a creature of habit a little more so than the average person. Many people keep on a routine because something motivates them. I do not have this thing which we call "motivation". I get spurts of it and I have to use those spurts to get me into a routine or I'm fucked once the motivation wears off. In the first week I successfully used my motivation to buy a gym membership, refill my scripts, GO to the gym, get used to eating better/less and feel comfortable, not restricted, by my new routine. That's one hell of an accomplishment, I think.

So I'm enjoying the gym. Quite a lot actually. I joined in Jan 2009 and I loved it but stopped because I was demotivated (sabotaged!) by the situations at hand at that point in time. But I did enjoy exercising. Because of those situations, I had a LOT of frustration and downright ANGER to work out and I found that going nuts on an elliptical did wonders for my mental health as well as my physical health. I also found out that I get used to working out a lot faster than I anticipated. So in all, I really enjoyed it and thank god, that is still the case. Now I don't really have the plethora of anger or frustration but it's still just as satisfying. I had to give up the elliptical for cycling because I put on about 40lbs since my previous gym tenure and I'm in much worse shape because of it but I'm getting used to that pretty quickly too so I'm hoping to move back up to the elliptical this week.

In a nutshell, this is my starter plan. It may not be "right" but it's right for me and that's what matters right now. I'll tweek it as I move along.

Gym 3x/wk (cardio) - add 5mins every visit
Use my calorie tracker to keep myself within range
Try to eat throughout the day but if I can't stomach it, at least drink a Slimfast.
Eat foods high in good fats, fiber, OMEGA 3s & vitamins/minerals.
Eat more raw food
Learn to love fish :)

That's pretty much it. The key factor that makes this a successful plan is that it's 1) Better than what I was doing, 2) It's not too painful so I'll actually stick to it.

I also need to purchase a scale. I used the one at my parents' house and then I used the one at Bruce's house (which might be mine...I can't remember) and if those are to be believed, I have lost 20lbs. I'm just really skeptical and I think it would be best to use just one scale.