Biggest Loser

So, one of my 2011 resolutions was to make myself a priority and become  FABulous again.   I signed up for Zumba and setup some tools to help me with my diet.

First: Zumba – FUN! FUN! FUN!

I thought to myself  “I have rhythm.  I can dance.  This should be easy to transition into getting more active”.  That’s what I thought.   Then I went to my first class and felt like I had one  left foot on an old lady’s body.  I say one because I could do most of the moves and didn’t twist an ankle.  I did go the wrong way then the rest of the class.  I did bump into the fan that was behind me.  I did laugh my head off at how funny I looked in the front mirror.   Oh what a sight: red faced, going the wrong way, and laughing like I was high.  Good times.

Second: Diet – Game ON!

So, to help motivate me to stay on this diet I engaged my oldest brother into a Biggest Loser type competition.  We will have a weigh-in at our weekly family dinners and the winner of the $5 from the other person will be the person who loses the largest percentage of body weight from the previous week.  We’ll have a 3 and 6 month BIG weigh in:  who ever has lost the highest percentage of weight change from the original start weight.  We agreed $20 for that one.  Yes, we could have agreed to bigger money, i.e. $100, but the reality is my brother and I are uber competitive.  It’s not the money, but the personal honour of being able to shamelessly emotionally abuse the chubb chubb that motivates us.  I can’t weight! (not a spelling mistake, but bad pun)

Now that Franklin has many more ‘good’ days than before, I see us getting out more.  Why better now compared to before?  I’ll save that for another day of reflection.

The ‘uber’ (aka unhealthy) competition conversation:

Brother:  I will die before I lose

Me: You just might old man.  Be careful.  I joined Zumba!  (note to reader: I realize I have to do more that one measly class a week, but gotta start somewhere, so spppfft )

Brother:  Well, I’ve got hockey.

Me:  Men do lose weight faster than woman, but I am younger and breastfeeding!

Brother:  ewwwww

Me: ha ha ha.  Breastfeeding!!  Breastfeeding!!

For those who need the math: example – (start at 200 pounds and lose 10 pounds and you have lost 5%)

[(Start weight - Finish Weight) X 100 / Start weight = percentage lost.].

Second again – Tracking what I put in my belly

I’m using MyFitnessPal.com to track what I put into my mouth.  It’s pretty good.  You enter your starting weight and target weight by when and it will tell you how much calories you need to eat to reach your goal.   They have a database of food that I can search.  I select what I ate and the portion.  The site will calculate the calories, carbs, fat, protein.  It’s not so much I’m counting, but just to be aware of what I’m eating.

I got rid of all the chips and cookies.  I know the family would like to have one and when company comes over who doesn’t want to have a snacker handy.  But, if it’s in the house I’ll eat it.  I don’t have the self-control part down yet.  For food and for many other things for that matter. lol  For some of my friends is alcohol, smoking, shopping, etc.  YOU know who you are.  You can relate.

Diet is not the politically correct term anymore.  Life style change is the buzz word now.  Well, it’s a diet now until it becomes second nature to turn down a second portion of delicious lasagna, choose fish instead of steak since I’ve already eaten red meat twice this week, pass on the chocolate fudge cake and have fruit.  I’m still getting a handle on portion control so I could eat a sliver of cake or only two cookies.

I WILL get there.