Back in the game

Back in 2006 I wrote about my fitness struggles – the 60 pounds on and off (in various quantities) over the last six years. Well, it’s now 2008 and I’m still in the same situation, despite my resolution to make major lifestyle changes that would prevent the on and off weight gain (which is hard on my body). This is the year it stops.

When I sat down to write out my theme/goals for the year, I took a long look at how I wanted to treat myself and what I needed to do in order to be happy. I realized that in order to get there, I first have to make some lifestyle changes that don’t center around physical health – mainly, I have to stop being such a friggin’ perfectionist. I am an excellent dieter. I can focus and lose weight very quickly; however, I’m no so great at maintaining anything (eating or exercising) over the long haul. Usually what happens is that whenever I reach whatever particular goal, I give up the routine and go back to eating the way I was/not exercising much within a few months. Once I see gains, I completely give up. I have to let go of that extreme attitude (one setback does not equal a complete failure) if I’m truly going to make lifestyle changes. I turned 30 last October – I really don’t want to spend my thirties dealing with the same 60 lbs that plagued me during the latter half of my twenties.

My fitness goal for the year is to lose 50 lbs, which averages out to a little over 4 lbs per month. I would like to lose 10 more than that, but I don’t want to be unrealistic. Looking at what I’ve done in the past, I definitely think losing 4ish lbs a month is doable if I stay consistent. I’m already off to a good start – I have a decent teaching schedule this term that allows me to schedule a five day a week workout routine. I started the routine last week, along with my new classes; I purposely started at the same time so that I could establish my time perimeters from the very beginning. As I mentioned before, as long as I’m exercising regularly, I will eat well (because I can’t dissociate how much time I’ll have to spend exercising in order to burn off whatever random bad food I eat). Really, the key for me is making regular exercise a part of my life no matter what schedule changes happen.

I’m off to a great start – I worked out five times last week, ate well, and didn’t have any caffeine.* Since the beginning of the month, I’ve already lost five pounds and I’ve slept through the night every night for the past week! Yay!

To keep myself accountable, I plan to check in here at least two or three times a month with updates (or setbacks – hopefully, these posts will be few). If you don’t hear from me every month, please email me at comebacknikki [at] gmail.com and threaten to kick my butt (seriously, please do!).

Here’s to healthy and happy 2008! :)

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*I’m cutting off caffeine for the time being because I’ve been having major sleeping problems since September (my four month bout with bronchitis started it all). From September to December, I literally was only sleeping between 2-4 hours a night. Needless to say, I was living on caffeine.