The Mission

So. I have been told by many many people since writing my Europe trip blog in August, that I should keep writing. My problem since is that I have had nothing to write about. The reason that blog worked so well for me was because it was about something specific. 
After many months of debating, bemoaning the fact that I couldn't write another blog because I couldn't think of anything to write about and that didn't really have the motivation to stick to something random, here's a new blog. Now I bet you're wondering what this is all about.


This blog is about keeping me on track. This blog is about keeping me motivated and accountable. This blog is going to help me be awesome for Burning Man in August. This blog is going to help me undo what college did. That's right, this blog is going to help me lose weight. 


Now before you all start telling me that I look fine and that I don't need to be doing anything of this sort, I'd like you all to go read this Cracked article. Please don't be any of those eight people. 


It's taken me a couple days to really start to figure out what I'm going to do and how I'm going to do it, and I'm hoping that because I'm actually planning it out this time, I will be more successful. 


I've been a serial diet-and-exercise plan starter, but never a finisher. The one time I really got anywhere was last summer, when I had little to no option BUT to be on a diet, since my parents were doing it too. I lost 15 lbs. I have gained 20 back. Clearly, I'm doing something wrong here. Admittedly it's the same thing that everybody else does wrong too, so I don't feel particularly bad about it. Since then, I'll have days where I'll decide to have a salad instead of pasta, where I'll think I'm going to start back on the diet and then only eat things that are "sort of" on diet, but were I being serious wouldn't count at all. I've had short periods of exercising when I'll decide: I'm going to do such and such a thing until this happens! It can even be the smallest thing, like doing as many sit ups as I can during my boyfriend's commute home, and I have still fallen off the wagon. So here I am, on the threshold of starting again and I know that I have to do something different.


I have to do something easy, something that lets me cheat and something that gives me results. I also need to make sure that I am motivated properly. I don't want something exercise heavy, because I know I won't do it. I don't want something with recipes, because I know I won't make them.


I spent a few days earlier this week poking around the FAQ on r/Loseit (the weight loss subreddit) and I came across The 4 Hour Body by Timothy Ferriss. It's a book. A New York Times Bestseller. It details a whole bunch of ways to make yourself better, including diet and exercise plans that sort of... cheat. The author literally spends his time trying to figure out the cheat codes to the human body, using himself as the guinea pig. He figured out how to eat like an obese person and still lose weight and gain muscle. The most intriguing rule of his diet: cheat days. You have to take them.


So, I've read some parts of the book (he forbids reading it cover to cover, and encourages reading what you need, when you need it) and almost all of the purely weight loss parts at this point. I'm intrigued, and I've decided to follow his rules, and see what happens.


The mission then, is as follows:


I need to lose 40 lbs. My goal is June 30th. 


I'm going to start small. Protein and veggie only breakfasts, prepped the night before, cooked and eaten upon arrival at work. I have a plan for carb free, delicious lunches that will fill me up. Along with this I will also start taking the recommended supplements once a day at the recommended time. Eventually I will work my way up to eliminating "white carbs" (bread, pasta, tortillas...basically anything with flour or sugar) completely but the breakfasts and lunches are the first important step. 
I am going to include cheat days from the beginning, because they will be a major part of my motivation. Whenever I get a craving for something, I will be able to say, "Not today, but on cheat day, yes."


I am going to take pictures of everything I eat. I am going to weigh myself every other day. I am going to do my measurements once a week, and a progress photo once a week. I'm saying these things and I hear myself forgetting, or finding myself in positions where I can't do whatever it is on whatever evening it is. But I'm not worried. I'm not giving them times of day (before bed being the only deadline) and now they have no homework to compete with. 


I will post here with updates (probably very frequently at first, but they'll dwindle to weekly after a while I'm sure) and if you don't hear from me here for a week and a half, know that something is wrong and I have stopped. Please harass me! I want to do this. I have wanted to do this. I'm just EXTREMELY LAZY and easily distracted by the internet. Get me back on track by being the interesting internet that wants me to get up off my ass and go make sure I have breakfast for tomorrow, or make me cook the diet food I have rather than ordering Chinese (unless it's cheat day). 


I start Monday. I am going to do a few experiments in photographing my food over the next couple days (to try and get in the habit) and I will post those. I will post starting measurements, weight and the "before" photo Sunday evening.


Please comment on this post if you're going to follow along. It will keep me accountable to know there are people watching.