Why we overeat.

Simple Simple. 

                                                       I DID IT! I FINALLY DID IT!

After extensive research, deliberation, and  buyer anxiety I pulled the trigger and got this treadmill.  The Precor 2.3 !  I have a lot of plans for this baby, mainly watching tv and walking/running.  Also I got around the $200 delivery charge because I  bought through Amazon.com! Now in the next 5-7 days I will pull my back out by bringing this hunk of love in my living room and setting it up myself!

I am proud of myself for finally buying this, however I will miss you cash money. You served me well.

Veggie Enchiladas!

Click on the image, I dare you.

Also this. Is. Good.

celebration

I am now at my lowest weight for as long as I can remember.  I think I weighed less at my wedding in 2008, but I don't have any record of it.

So as of today, I weigh 216.6!

Normally I celebrate with food (stupid thing to do because I tend to celebrate a lot,) but I don't want to do that today.  I think since I'm only 16 pounds away from another milestone, I'm going to just celebrate it by being full of pure joy today.  In 16 pounds, I'll celebrate in a larger way.

Cheese or no Cheese?

Thoughts?

Balancing Life

In case you haven't read it, go read Megan's awesome post about playing to your advantages.  It's really inspiring, and I feel it fits well with what I'm going to talk about today, which is priorities and balance.

Ironically, I started this post about two weeks ago, and I didn't finish it.  I didn't prioritize it over other things.  Looking back at the draft, it was sounding kind of negative, so I'm glad I didn't publish it for you to read.  It's amazing how when you don't have your balance right, it can spill into other things.

But onto the meat of the matter.

If I had to pick a specific title for my spirituality, I have to say that I'm Buddhist.  However, I'm not a very good one.  I don't practice as often as I should (practicing in general isn't a trait I've been able to pick up yet), and I know that I have so much more to learn before I feel like I honestly could say I am a Buddhist.  Nonetheless, the teachings of the Buddha are good for everyone, no matter your faith, and I feel that they help in particularly difficult times.

Chances are, you are in difficult times.  Weight gain does not come out of nothing.  You have a larger problem you need to deal with beside the difficulty of getting the balance of calories in vs. calories out.  I'm not saying that you were necessarily traumatized as a child or that you even necessarily have poor self esteem.  The reason we gain weight can be as simple as not following the right path.

The Right Path is one of the founding tenants of Buddhism; in English, it is often called the Noble Eightfold Path.  In simplest terms, it is a checklist for balance.  Balance is what we all need.  With balance, things fall into place.  For health, it means you will eat correctly and get the fitness you need.

We all live busy lives.  We all crave for more time, more inspiration, more motivation.  This craving, however, brings suffering.  Whether it is emotional or in the form of fat, craving brings suffering.

Yet, while we do not want to suffer, it is hard to shake cravings.  As fat people, we know that it is hard to listen to your head when your body craves.  This is why the Buddha teaches how to create balance.

And balance starts with correct priorities.

We all have different things to juggle, and these are my balls, in no particular order (yet):

1. work
2. sleep
3. driving to/from work
4. eating
5. eating well
6. cooking
7. working out at the gym
8. working out at home
9. watching tv
10. hanging out with friends
11. cleaning my house
12. washing dishes
13. washing laundry
14. folding laundry
15. showering
16. maintaining my house/yardwork
17. grocery shopping
18. other shopping

I probably forgot some, but those are the major ones.  EIGHTEEN!  No one can juggle that many balls without letting some drop.  Heck, the world record for literal juggling is 13.  So, we have to prioritize.

When I started this post a couple of weeks ago, I was a wreck.  I was working 45-50 hours a week, plus I don't know if you noticed, but I also included "driving to/from work" as a ball I have to juggle.  For some it's not much of a ball, but for me, it equaled about 3 hours of my life every day.  It was taking away things that my heart said I should be prioritizing over money.

So, I took the plunge and quit my job last week.  I have to say that since last Tuesday, I haven't felt better.  I decided to give the Right Effort.  I am now prioritizing life over money.

But that is my choice.  I am not encouraging any of you to go quit your job.  It is a serious matter that takes much consideration.  I couldn't do it without having a partner with a job because unlike Buddhist nuns and monks, I could not live without material things.  I could not ask my neighbors for food.

Yet, I must be honest: it feels great to have the golden handcuffs off.  Now I feel like I can truly prioritize my health and the health of those around me before money and all the stress that comes with making money.

But what about you?  You probably have a job with its stressful demands.  You may have people depending on you to provide shelter, clothing, and food for them.  So you have to make money.  However, I want to ask you: are you working harder than you should be?  American society is driven by always bettering your career so that you can make more money to buy more stuff.  But what if you're already making enough money?  I'm going to say something that bosses would hate to hear: you should only do enough to keep your job, not any more.

It is my personal belief that you should not need to check work email at home.  Home time is for yourself and your family.  Not work.  You should not need to think about that report your boss wants done.  You should not need to think about how that presentation went yesterday.  Putting yourself in the Right View will help you see what is important so that you can start to balance.


This post is already too long, so I'm going to end it here.  I know there are thoughts dangling all over the place, but sometimes there's beauty in stray grey hairs.

Katie

P.S.  One grey hair I want to pluck, though: I want to make it clear that I will one day return to work. Later this year, I'm going to re-enroll in school so that I can get more training for a career, but in the meantime, I'm prioritizing health over money.  I will one day have to figure out how to balance health with work again, but I have confidence that it will seem like less of a mountain when I am maintaining health, not making it.

Learning to Play to my Advantage.

I relearned the fact I love to play competitively.   For instance the other day I was on the treadmill with my incline set at 10 going 3 miles an hour.   After about twenty minutes in to my workout, a girl came up  to the treadmill next to me at put her incline at 13 and was walking 3.5 miles an hour. You better believe I put my incline at 13.5 and went 3.6 miles an hour!

There is a girl in my biggest loser group that has lost 36 lbs in less time it took me to lose 8lbs. She looks great and I am completely happy for her. Still, I want what she has! So now I am completely determined to win this session, mainly to beat her. I know that being competitive is on the brink of superficial. Still, I decided that anything that gets me going is to my advantage.

This is what this post is about: Playing to your advantage.

I find this to be pretty obvious. If you are an internet person, find a community or blog that you enjoy.  If you have a dog, and you have already walked it today, chances are it wants to go again.  Do you get inspired by reading books about spirituality? There are hundreds on the subject, but how about writing your own? Start a journal.

So often we play things to our disadvantage. "I'm a carb person,  chocolate person, beer person, couch person" and we create an identity by our weaknesses and it make default excuses.   I am not an example of excellence on this subject my any means. "I'd go completely vegan except I dont want to give up [yogurt, cheese, fish]."    I am too busy, I work too hard, I don't want to work any harder.

In reality, there is no limits to our potential. Don't we all know this? We do.

My strengths include Katie, my own inner drive, and having a competitive spirit. I know this because deep down I feel confident and I deserve it.

Besides, I am going to kick that girls ass!

Okay, now that I have slept on it, I feel significantly better about those pictures. I have a long journey and that's been no secret. These pictures are just a reflection of how much more work I have to do and how my attitude needs to be more committed. I am not going to lie, I haven't made too much of an effort the last two weeks of January.  Day to day, I felt unable to work out and ate on the go from my busy busy schedule. Now that the play is over, I have no excuses!

Katie! That was such an inspiring post. You look great already and you are going to look even better if you keep up the hard work.

I am not happy with these photos. I feel an extreme disconnect between what I see in the pictures and what I think I see in the mirror. Yikes.  Yiiiiiiikes. I must admit, I kind of hate these pictures but it will give me fuel to work that much harder.  I need to work harder. I need to track my eating more. I need to snack less. With all my work outs it feels as if I am only maintaining this weight which is slightly disappointing.  What's hard is breaking old habits.  I find myself 'munching' too much because I eat pretty healthy during the day and I ruin the progress around ten at night.

UGHHHH.

A Tortoise Journey

Like an increasing number of people, I have struggled with my weight for as long as I can remember--far into my childhood.  Without any sort of guidance as a child, I did not know what a healthy weight was, and so I was convinced I was fat.  It become particularly bad that fateful year when the school nurse came to weigh us all, and I was over 100 pounds.  I knew I must be a whale.  Chances are, I was just growing like any normal child, but society had made me think that 100 pounds was not the right weight for a girl.  I was still years away from being an adult, and didn't adults only weigh something like 105 pounds?

Soon I also went into puberty, and unlike many of my other female classmates, I grew breasts--large ones.  My friends started making fun of them.  It fueled my growing depression about my looks.  I probably would have gained an eating disorder if it hadn't been for thorough education about how anorexia is not healthy.  If only they had taught us about what is healthy!

When junior high came along, I started having more access to poor food choices, and I started gaining the weight I thought I had.  By my late teens, I was overweight, but not by much.  Yet, the depression still loomed.  I wasn't rail thin, and I did not have the knowledge of how to lose the few pounds that would have classified me as healthy, so I continued to eat poorly.  When I went to college, I also started exercising less.  So the weight bloomed.

As an adult with a job, I had enough money to choose time over health--meaning I ate out a lot.  My weight continued to go up.  At least now I knew that I was definitely needing help, and so I started learning about nutrition and fitness.

Yet, knowledge is only step one.

My mom and me in June 2011.  I'm around 231 pounds.

Step two is actually acting upon that knowledge.  I started step two last April when I hit my highest weight of 242 pounds.  I had the (mis)fortune of losing my job then, and with all this time on my hands, I knew I should take advantage of it to get healthy.  By June, I was down to 231.  By November--220.

Then I got my job back.  Since then, my weight has stayed the same.  Thankfully it hasn't gone up.

Next Friday is my last day at work again (I'll talk about that in another post), and so this is another beginning--hopefully the last for losing the weight so I can focus on other beginnings.

It's been a long journey so far, and it still isn't close to over.  I am definitely a tortoise, but that's a good thing.  I'm likely to keep it off.

To mark this rededication to losing the weight and getting healthier, I've taken some "before" pictures and made some measurements. 

February 4, 2012. 219.4 pounds.

Height: 5'6"
Weight: 219.4 pounds
Waist: 40"
Hips: 48.5"
Thigh: 29"
Upper arm: 16"
Pant size: 18 short

Photos are deceiving, though, so I'm including a picture of my outline below.  That really hits home, if you want to try it.

NEVER AGAIN.

So here we go again, one stubby tortoise leg at a time.  It was a nice break, but I'm not going to get to the top of the mountain by sitting in the same place.

Lots of love,
Katie

What I've been eating lately

Hot Cereal with apples, cinnamon and agave

Coconut Curry Red Lentil Soup 

Strawberries!

La Croix, sparkling water. 

Oranges! 

Strawberry Salad with candied walnuts, cranberry, chicken, spinach, romaine and raspberry vinaigrette.

Pretty delicious stuff.  

Megan Food and God

Buhhhhh. My diet has significantly improved over the last month and I am pretty proud of myself. However I have seen little change in the scale. I keep bouncing around the same 5 lbs. I am starting to think that the biggest battle isn't going to what I eat but rather the amount I consume.   Last week I remember feeling totally full, stuffed, and I kept eating.  I have gone to bed bulging with discomfort from my gorging.    If I have a loaf of sourdough in the house, its over, I 'll have three slices while cooking a meal I about to eat.   Without a doubt I eat too much of both the right and the wrong thing.  This has been a problem for me since I was so young. I over ate because of trauma, comfort, bordem, and a need to feel better while my life was difficult.   With me, eating and emotions are so infused together I hardly dont know where to begin to separate them.   I also had trouble with many other substances for years but have sense recovered completely. While recovering, I gained 50 ++ lbs. UGH.    On the bright side, my eating issues are the final behavioral intervention I have left!

I have been trying to drink more water and eat less.  I do really really well somedays and completely terrible, usually around the evening time. Going more than four or five days in a row without over eating is pretty rare these days. I am pretty concerned for the most part and I have even considered attending Overeaters Anonymous but I have a time conflict with a current class I am taking for the only meeting in the area.   Maybe there are some online resources I can utilize.  I am thinking about measuring out my meals in one or two sized measuring cups,  I have a food scale so that might help.  This whole food journey has been real telling. Mainly that I do have a problem with over eating, coupled with being a passionate food explorer, it feels weird to complain about overeating while watching the Cooking Channel.   I don't see a problem with being involved in my diet,  and my food choices have been pretty excellent.

To my benefit, I do work out often. I have been busting my ass in the gym and I plan on signing up with my fitness group for another session this week.  I saw one of my workout buddies from my fitness group and she lost over thirty pounds. She looks great and I can't deny that I was a little bit jealous of her progress. It was only a few month ago when I was encouraging her to run further with me. Now she is showing me up!

I have a copy of Woman Food and God by Geneen Roth on my iPad.   This is Oprah's overeating help bible and I hope to read it and begin the work that I need to do to gain control of this area of my life.   Right now I feel cool and comfortable about this topic because at this very moment I am acknowledging it. Still, when I am in the kitchen, stuffing my face beyond need, I feel disconnected from this strength.   I think for the next week I will post the amount of food I eat. This will help me get out of my slump. Maybe not having any drinks either. I've been doing pretty good on that front, but I want to seal this deal! I am pretty desperate for progress of any kind.  So here's to the hope that I will get better, with Katie's help, I know I will.

Two things.

One: When in doubt, always eat your vegetables. I think we need to post about veggie love everyday.  I've been making some killer stir-frys lately and I find myself craving it. I try to make a big batch for lunch so Jason can have some or I can have it again for din din.

I think making stir fry is completely self explanatory. I just try not to over cook it so I can get crispy vegetables. Also I add grated ginger, Hoisin sauce, curry, cumin and Scriacha sauce.

Ingredients I like to add:
Sweet Potato
Snap Peas
Broccoli
Cauliflower.
Carrots
Mushrooms
Boc Choy
Kidney Beans

Stir-frys are a perfect way to get rid of aging vegetables before they perish.

Also, I feel strange about posting about stir-fry in a vegan blog because duuuuuuhh vegans eat stir-fry.  I love other vegan blogs that invent dishes and take amazing photos. Which brings me to something the second thing.

The Post Punk Kitchen posted 100 things/highlights  they liked in 2011 and I love the list!
If you are wanting some food inspiration/are craving a roast beef sub with cheese check these links out before you splurge. Eating healthy is the best online fantasy ever.

Here is my new favorite vegan blog: The Vegan Stoner! 

Pointless post here-- I ate terribly this weekend because I was celebrating Jason's sister's wedding in Atlanta.  I do so much better when I am able to cook/prepare my own food for every meal. I ate a donut, a quesadilla, mac and cheese, pizza, grilled cheese, and tons of drinks. I  feel the side effects instantly when I eat poorly.

I start another semester tomorrow and I am scanning through Michael Pollen's Food Rules before bed to inspire me once again.

I am not mad at myself for eating unhealthy but I do feel physically terrible. I've learned a lot from this "mistake".  It's starting to set doubt in my head if I can actually do this or not. Dairy and meat, fried foods, alcohol. What a waste.

Alton Brown's Good Eats  "Live and Let Diet" is the perfect episode to inspire you to start making healthier entrees. You can see a before and after picture of his success plus learn some basic recipes and 'rules'.  The best thing about this episode is that you can learn the perfect way to make a smoothie, which I made this morning and enjoying now.

Tri Colored Southwestern Chili

Dun! DUN! It's my first ever food post!

Last night I made Megan's Tri Colored Southwestern chili! Or Megan's Three Beans Corn Green Chili New Mexico Chili.

I was born in the Southwest and I crave authentic New Mexican food now that I live in the South.  Green chili enchiladas, corn tortillas, and peppers peppers peppers!

Two nights ago, our power went out because of the heavy winds in our area. It has been unbearably cold in our home. We heat our house with space heaters and since we got power went out, our house has slowly been warming up.  The only way to survive is chili!

Posting a recipe for chili is kind of silly (ha) since making your own recipe is half the fun!

Ingredients:
1 tbs olive oil
One diced Scallion
One small sweet potato, cubed
One diced garlic clove
1/2 cup of fresh diced mushrooms
One package of fake ground meat ( I used Lightlife's Smart Grounds Mexican)
One can each of reduced sodium kidney beans, pinto, and butter beans, drained*
One can of corn
One can of no salt added diced tomatos.
One can of green chili!
1/4 cup of water

For the seasoning:
Instead of those chili packets you see at the grocery store, use chili powder since it has no sodium.  Season to taste, though I used 4 tbs.
1/2 tbs Cayenne pepper
optional 3 tbs of Sriracha Sauce

  You can find can make your own Sriacha sauce, also here is the photo credit

First, cook your sweet potatoes, garlic, and scallion on medium heat until the potato becomes tender. I didn't saute the mushroom with the potato, garlic and scallion because the mushrooms become more tender and 'meaty' if cooked with the rest of the chili.  Add the rest of the ingredients incrementally starting with the packet of Smart Grounds.  Spice as desired. Reduce heat to low.  Once you combine ingredients, let simmer for about an hour.   While simmering, you can make cornbread, which I used a box variety mix but added almond milk and flax seed egg replacer instead. It turned out delicious!

*I hope this post inspires you to make your own chili. However, when buying canned vegetables, always look at the sodium content.  If you bought a regular chili seasoning packet, and added three cans of beans plus one can of corn, you are eating well over your daily sodium recommendation. Most brands have reduced or no sodium which is what I used. I usually drain all the canned beans/corn in a colander and wash the beans/corn before adding them. Dont rinse the canned tomato! :D

Happy Eating!

Yellow

Katie- You rock. I love that picture of us from your wedding. We both look great!

Today I went to the doctor because I've been feeling sick for over a week. Turns out I only have allergies which was better than expected. I am happy to report my blood pressure was 110/74, which is such a relief because it was 20 points lower than when I got it tested last month. I think why my numbers are much lower than last time is because they used a blood pressure machine on me and the arm cuff was pretty tight. Anyway, I am very happy about that number. I weighed myself today and the scale said 276 which is also good since I didn't gain too much weight from the holidays. Actually I didn't gain anything.

I walked on a treadmill for thirty minutes and lifted weights for about another twenty. I plan on going back tomorrow. I love walking on treadmills and watching tv.  Right now I am making stir-fry and listing to Jason play Skyrim in the other room.

I hope to make a list of internet sources I have found that inspire me. Mainly food website and other weight loss blogs that are worth reading/watching.

Antishay's Youtube
This girl is so incredible. She has lost over 70 lbs and has vlogged the entire way to her goal. You can can actually see the transformation through a series of videos. My favorite video she does is her grocery hauls so you can see what she's been eating. Plus, she is vegan that makes her awesome.

Veganyumyum
I love this food blog! Too bad she is making a cookbook because she hasn't been posting as much, but look at this food! LOOK AT IT!

hipsterfood This tumblr is probably the more healthy approach to veganism with hearty dishes that do the trick if you are craving something sinful. Also they show you how to make almond milk. This tumblr features great photographs which inspires me to incorporate their methods.

My Pillars

Over the years, I have learned a lot about healthy living.  Yet, like many people, knowledge does not mean power.  This is one of the things that I hope to shift in the coming year.  In other words, put my money where my mouth is.  To help this, I am going to write down and share some things that I see as vital to gaining the healthy life we all deserve.  They are my pillars (and more may be added in the future).

Number 1.  Knowledge may be power, but only if you use it.

I have to put my brain before my stomach.  A lot of my bad eating comes from eating what I crave instead of what I should eat.  I eat out a lot, and despite how I know I shouldn’t eat the fried food or have that third drink, I do it anyway.

Number 2. We do not need to eat animals or animal products in order to be healthy.

Personally, this ties in with Number 1.  For years now, I have wanted to eat vegan.  I know many of the benefits (e.g. health, environment, animal/human suffering), yet despite what my brain and soul screams when I take a bite, I still eat animal products nearly every day.  As part of my new life, I will be making a vegan diet much more of a priority.  If I know it has animal products in it, I will not eat it.  However, as a caveat, I must say, I take the stance that Carpe Vegan promotes and is summed up as such that all birthday cake and alcohol is vegan.  I am not going to be one of those whiney vegans that everyone hates.  If that means I eat stuff with animals in it, then so be it because I also hold Number 3 to be very true…

Number Three.  We all make mistakes…plan for them.

Personally, it is impossible for me to eat “perfectly” every day.  I’m a traditional foodie, and so that means I love stuff that has a lot of fat and sugar.  If I never got that, I’d end up binging, so I feel that it’s okay to cheat once a week.  To be able to let go those nights you’re out with friends or sit down for a holiday meal makes the craziness of the rest of the week worth it.  I have to warn you, though; it’s a slippery slope, so you need to watch yourself.  If you find yourself cheating more than once a week, you may want to give yourself some tough love while reviewing why you want to eat healthy.

Also, just because I hope to eat vegan, that doesn’t mean I won’t accidently eat something that isn’t vegan.  It happens.  If you consider yourself vegan, don’t go off the deep end because Aunt Sue didn’t know mayonnaise had eggs in it or what you thought was red pepper flakes on those green beans ended up being bacon!  Mistakes happen.  Get over it.

Number Four. Food isn’t just about nutrition or whether it is vegan or not.

In the United States, we have an abundant selection of food available at any time of the year.  However, that does not mean we should eat anything we like, and just because it seems healthy, it doesn’t mean it is.  Healthy eating also means eating local and in season (and it’s pretty impossible to eat local and not eat in season!)  So that means Megan and I probably won’t be eating the same things every week.  She lives in Georgia and I live in Washington, so our seasons are totally different!  For one thing, she can eat peaches a lot more than I can, but I get to eat lots of apples, hence the name of our blog.

Now, one other thing that goes under this pillar is that just because it is vegan, that doesn’t mean it is healthy, no matter what Skinny Bitches may say.  To be healthy, you have to eat certain things while avoiding others.  This means eating non-processed foods (like avoiding frozen fake meats) and foods packed with a nutritional punch (such as quinoa, lentils, kale, and berries.) 

Number Five. Healthy eating doesn’t equal health.

You gotta sweat!  You gotta get that heart beating!  Even if it is only walking 30 minutes a few times a week.

Number Six. Goals are vital.

You need to write them down.  You need to share them with others.  This one is so important, I’m going to dedicate my next post to it.

So until then, happy eating!

Katie

Greetings

I am Katie, and I am the other person writing on this blog.  Like Megan already said, we met in college, back in 2004.  Despite our distance, we’ve been through a lot together.  We probably would even live together now if I hadn’t gone and gotten married in 2008 or western Washington’s persistent clouds didn’t depress her.

Megan and me at my wedding, July 2008

To get to the gritty stuff, I’ve been overweight … I think… all of my teen/adult life.  I say “I think” because back in 2002-2003, I think I was pretty thin but I had no access to a scale to tell you and society had brainwashed me into believing that because I ate, I was super fat and needed to lose weight.  Chances are I was still overweight because my family has always been overweight and I was wearing size 12 jeans.  But then again, I think I was never healthier.  I lived on a farm in Iowa at that time, and we grew our own food.  My dad baked wheat bread every day, and most of our protein came in the form of free range chickens and their eggs.   Eating doesn’t really get any more local than that, which is one of the pillars of my healthy eating belief system.

However, that was the food we had available.  Once I moved away to go to college, I didn’t have that available.  Instead, I went off the deep end.  Our college has an amazing chef that serves unlimited portions, and so there is a joke there that you don’t gain the freshmen 15.  Rather, you gain the freshmen 50.  Mid freshmen year, I weighed 175.  By the time I got married in 2008, I was around 210.  Granted, some of that came from gaining employment in the sit-on-your-ass-all-day sector, but still, I knew I wasn’t doing things I should have been doing.

Since then I’ve educated myself a lot about nutrition.  A LOT.  I look back to the food they offered at the cafeteria, and I think about how I could have made much better decisions.  I could still make better decisions.  Despite my knowledge of nutrition, as of this morning, I weigh 220, which is actually down 25 pounds from my highest weight of 245.  And I don’t have Megan’s height to excuse me at all.  I’m 5’6”.  So, I’m very much obese.  Ultimately, according to charts, my goal is to be in the 150s, and I’d like my pant size to be in the single digits.

But a number on the scale isn’t my—or Megan’s—ultimate goals here.  Instead, we want to live a healthy life.  For me, that means gaining strength, endurance, and nutritive eating habits.  This post is already long, so I’ll go into detail more about these in my next post.

With love,

Katie

Month One Goals by Yellow.

Ah, what a fresh start! Oh, the psychology of New Years.  I find it no coincidence that I am beginning a health/weight loss blog at the beginning of a new year.   Apples/little red shoes/ Katie (I dont know what you want me to refer to you on here!) and I have been discussing and fantasizing about this blog and our changes for the upcoming year.   We're pretty excited. Katie might not adopt a monthly goals but I think it would be more fun to be thematic! For the month of January I hope to celebrate New Beginnings:  getting started! 

I have three goals I want to attempt this month.

1. Limit my alcohol consumption to one drink a day.  Basically follow what the majority of health professionals recommend as "moderate drinking." Two drinks for males and one drink for females.   Granted, I am fairly certain I won't drink everyday which makes me tempted to drink more than one alcoholic beverage when I do. It makes no sense to count calories, work out, and then drink excessive amounts of beer at the end of the day. *sigh* It's a cruel world people, cruel.  My favorite beer has 180 calories. :`(

2. Do my best to start tracking my calories. I don't think you need to track calories to lose weight, in fact you might be happier to not track them.  Still, I have a self diagnosed eating problem and if I don't give myself the best information possible, I will use my ignorance to my advantage.  I love to eat large amounts. I love to drink large amounts.  I need structure because I am still such a novice at losing weight. Tracking will no doubt help me.

3. Keep moving! My student gym opens up tomorrow and I am eager to start again. I hope to get a treadmill this month, but I am not sure yet since it's pretty expensive. It would be completely handy though.  I should get a used one off craigslist but I dont want to buy a hunk of junk that doesn't work and be stuck hauling it.  Still, exercise equipment is the least used item you can buy off craigslist.  

I have about a million other goals I want to achieve.   I'd like to completely follow Michael Pollen's Food Rules. I'd like to make my own almond milk.  I'd like to find a way bake without using white/ whole wheat flour.

My first weight loss goal is 5%. That means 13.75 lbs. Here we go, January 2012. Let's kick some ass.