Preparing to Take the Plunge

As anyone in the position of starting a new eating and exercising regime, I have the temptation to binge before it starts. I start thinking of all the things I'm not going to be able to have and that logically leads to the thought: "you better enjoy it now!" Knowing that this idea is foolish and counterproductive doesn't seem to bother me while I'm scarfing down that "whatever" I think I'm going to miss out on later. However, gaining 10 pounds in the week before I start only to lose it again later, leaves foolish in the dust and speeds on to idiotic.

So in this, the week before the start of my challenge, I must not only prepare myself mentally but also prep my body for the lose of some of my favorites. For instance, this week I will restrict myself to 1 coffee a day and 1 pop a day (was formerly up to 3 a day each) in preparation for the exciting world of no coffee, no pop and no alcohol. Booze is the least of my worries as I've never really care much about it either way. Also, I'm playing tennis a couple times this week so that I'm not going for zero exercise to 3 times a week. A common mistake is to overdue the exercise until injury so the (conveniently) you are forced to sit around on your ass. I will also go about the sanitizing of the kitchen this week. This is by no means a guarantee that you won't cheat, but it's a lot harder to eat what isn't immediately in front of you.

The mental preparation is perhaps the most important. I have been talking about it a lot with friends...this helps you not back out. Also, one of the purposes of keeping this blog is to keep me accountable and tracking my progress. Also, I went out last night and I was just frustrated by how much focus there is on woman's bodies. I just felt like, this is the reality, this is the world I live in. It's all well and good to have a great personality and be smart and funny, but it needs to be wrapped up in a tight ass and svelte physique or no one sticks around to find out about your amazing attributes. Vancouver is apparently one of the fittest cities in the North America and sadly has more woman than men. I know I'm supposed to say I'm doing it for myself, for my health and all that BS but while that is a factor, competing in this market is also a factor. That's the reality.