January weight goal, and plan of attack

Today's Weigh-In: 207.2

PhysicsDiet.com Average: 205.99

First off, I'd like to say welcome back to a few of the bloggers who've dropped off in recent months/years. Good to have you back, and good luck with reaching your goals in 2011. Remember, it's never too late to turn the ship around, as long as there's breath in your lungs.

I've been thinking about goals lately. I desperately want to set big, sweeping goals that lay out my fitness plan for the next 6 months, with the ultimate result being a strong, fast, chiseled me. But I have to fight that urge, because that kind of stuff doesn't really work for me. I'll be hardcore about something for a few weeks, then little things will come up that will vent the steam from my engines. Family issues, illness, work stress, etc. So I'm going to go back to focusing on smaller, more incremental goals, at least as far as weight loss goes. I figure a month at a time should do the trick, as that's what I did in the beginning and lost over 30 pounds.

Seeing as I have less than 3 weeks left in this month I'm going to have to be a bit conservative, so here it is: Be (consistently) under 203 lbs. by February 1st.

Since I'm averaging 206 right now that's just a pound a week. I think a nice, easy, reachable goal to start out the new year will allow me to regain some of that steam, that momentum, that has driven me to lose weight in the past.

Now, how to do it? Well, it's not going to be through exercise. That's one area where I've been pretty consistent for the past year and a half. Exercise has kept me from regaining weight, no doubt, but for me it's not effective for weight loss, in and of itself. No, it's diet. 100%. And while I eat pretty clean on a regular basis I do tend to eat enough to cover my daily energy needs. Which is the reason I've been stuck between 202 and 208 for the past year. It's not enough (for me) to simply eat high quality, natural foods ad libitum. I have to actively track how much I put in my face, and how often I go off the rails and indulge in a cheat.

Since I'm mostly going to be eating homemade food it's really hard to accurately track calorie intake, so I'm going to try something else. Eating by feeling. Instead of eating to full satiety at every meal, I'm going to try to eat to just about 80%, and then stop. I'm also going to start limiting my nut intake, as it's been pretty high lately, and try to focus my meals around lots of protein.

It's a simple plan, and one that holds some promise. I'll keep you posted on my progress as the weeks go by.