Accountability (And I Just Like Making Lists...)

Sahiti and I must be on the same brain wavelength because I decided to post about my current weight-loss update. Weight loss woes, if you will. So in my 7 1/2 weeks goal list seen here I posted that I plan to lose 10 pounds by December 31. A doable goal when you have 7 1/2 weeks. Throw in a bout of sickness, a vacation to Atlanta and Thanksgiving and you've got a setback of 4 pounds. 4 POUNDS!!! Ahhhhh!!!!! So 4 pounds gained + 5 full weeks before the end of the year... you do the math. After reading one random blog of an acquaintance doing some online research I found My Fitness Pal. I had been using Daily Mile when I was running less than regularly in Vermont but would get frustrated since it didn't really calculate/recognize anything other than mileage and time on workouts. It did show me how many donuts I burned (112.63), the number of times I traveled around the world (0.01), and the number of televisions I powered (712.07). My Fitness Pal is just more specific with a food diary, more workout recognition, progress charts (and who doesn't love a good chart?), etc.

So here's my challenge for the month of December (and the last few days of November):

1. Input meals into my food journal every day. I once lost 20 pounds a couple of years ago, and I had a food diary then. I was also buying my own groceries and cooking for myself at the time, plus I had gone vegetarian for Lent which pushed me to eat more veggies. My food journal looked pretty good then.

2. Actually work out 4x a week. Let's just say my discipline is less than par and we'll leave it at that.

3. Portion control Portion control. Portion control. There's not really much more that can be said with that.

4. Cut out bread. I know you're thinking I'm pretty much bat sh*t insane. I am, too. However, I have recently been eating more not-so-good-for-you bread lately. Plus, I really want to experiment with this and see if I could really do this (and to attempt to reach 5 goal items for the next 5 weeks). What's a blog if not for posting experiments and their potentially ludicrous results later?

5. Stop buying my milestone goal prizes early. Yes, I have already bought several "prizes" while saying to myself, "Oh, this is for that such-and-such milestone. It's here and I really want it so let's buy it." Just stop. I really can't keep doing that, especially if I keep getting sidetracked on my goals. The buying stops tonight. The looking and drooling will inevitably continue. Crap.