This time I will reach my goal.

[WhollyHeretic]

I'm writing this to partly to track my progress and share what's working, or hopefully will work, for me but also to give myself a little more accountability. Accountability definitely is a key for me.

I've always struggled with my weight. About 5 years ago after reaching a new weight high I lost 50 pounds. I didn't get all the way to my goal but I was feeling much better. Things started to creep up after that until I was back at my starting weight last year. The past year was extraordinarily stressful and I put another 20 pounds on top of my previous high. A couple of things have happened in the past year that really have me needing to change my lifestyle. I went to the doctor a few months ago and found out my bad cholesterol was too high and my good was too low. That's not a good thing with my family history. My wife almost died last fall from blood clots and had to have open heart and lung surgery. That didn't have anything to do with her weight but it made us appreciate our health all the more. We have both lost some weight this year already. I'm down about 20 pounds but have stalled on that for a while. We've agreed we need to make a change and have come up with a couple of things.

We started doing Once a Month Cooking a couple weeks ago. I originally started doing that to try and save time and money but I think it's actually a very good weight loss tool. Once a Month Cooking is where you cook all your meals for the month in a day or two and freeze them. The food has all frozen well and it's nice having good home cooked food for lunch and dinner no matter how tired you are. It helps with portion control since we portion it before we freeze it. Your not tempted to have more than you should since it means you'd have to go back and defrost more. I also baked big batches of cookies and wrapped two at a time. We've got nice homemade cookies without the temptation of eating to many. Everything we've tried has tasted just as good after it was frozen. It has saved us a lot of money especially since we buy all the stuff at BJ's.

Staring yesterday we each set a six month goal for weight loss. We discussed several ways to keep ourselves motivated but were having trouble coming up with something. I finally came up with a bit of a crazy idea last week and we started our six month contest yesterday. We each set a goal for ourselves and if we meet that goal we each get $500 to spend on whatever they want for themselves. It will probably be a month or two after the six month mark until we have enough cash for that but I think it's worth it. Here is where it gets a little crazy. If either of us does not hit our goal then that person has to donate the money to the leading republican presidential candidate. We couldn't think of anything more motivating than that. There is no way either of us is letting a penny of our money go to one of those nutbags.

I also made up spreadsheets on Google Docs for each of us to track our progress. 49 pounds to go.

[PeaceNikki]

1. Best of luck to you!!

:hug:

[Broken_Hero]

2. Good luck,

:thumbsup:

[MaineDem]

3. How are you doing?

Hope things are going well.

[noel711]

4. I like your planning...

In essence, that's how getting healthy works: planning.

I tell people: when you get serious, it's like having another job:

You have to keep your plans on the front burner, and keep the fired stoked.
It's not something you do as an afterthought.

Keep on keepin' on, as they say.

Planning, and keeping ahead of the wind is what it is.

And keep moving... if you get a little too comfortable,
somethings not working.