Inches Out, Happiness In: My Goal Blog

Today is February 5th, 2010. My goal for now and hopefully forever, is to be healthy and happy. I will use this blog to not only be responsible for my eating and exercise habits, but also to track my progress and use it as motivation for a healthier, happier life.

As of today, here are my measurements using the standards on this website plus a "belly" measurement as they don't have one and I'd like to see that progress:
http://www.gain-weight-muscle-fast.com/body-tape-measurements.html


Neck: 13''
Shoulder: 22''
Bicep: 11.5''
Chest: 34''
Waist: 30''
Hips: 37''
Thigh: 24.5''
Calf: 15.5''

I am, by the way, female, 5'4'' and around 145lbs. I say around because I don't have a scale, and am more concerned with my inches than my weight. According to BMI and the Healthy Body Calculator (http://www.dietitian.com/calcbody.php) I am on the verge of being overweight. My BMI is 24.9, while the cap for being healthy at my height is 25. I have in the past had a BMI of 22.5, which is basically what I would like to achieve again.

My end result is to just be happier with my own body. I am an extremely outgoing and confident person, but waking up in the morning dreading putting on my jeans because I'm worried they might feel tighter than yesterday gets me in a depressed mood to even start with. I know to make this change in lifestyle, I need to depend on my own strengths, because I know I can do this. I need to not allow stress to get in my way as it has been a HUGE source of weight-loss failure in the past. I know I need to eat healthier and exercise more.

As far as exercise goes, I play pick-up soccer with friends once a week, hula hoop while I read/watch TV, and running (usually 1 or 2 miles on the treadmill) and doing ab work 1-3 times a week. I am also about to start week 2 of the 100 pushup challenge and am super excited to see that I've already progressed from being able to do only about 17 pushups to over 40 in just a week!! My goal for exercising is to really motivate myself to just get going because once I do, I always come out refreshed and energized.

In general, I eat above average on the healthy scale. I eat a ton of fruit, drink more water than I can keep track of (I have a 1L water bottle with me at all times, as well as usually carrying a 16oz thermos of hot green tea..and I also pee hourly) and I enjoy vegetables and whole grains. My biggest problems nutritionally are desserts and overeating.

I am a strong believer that every meal should end on a sweet note and it gets me into some serious trouble. While it's not always a decadently rich dessert, it leaves me craving even more sugar afterward. Additionally, I tend to get into moods where I binge slightly for absolutely no reason. It's not fueled by anything in particular, but rather I see food, I want to eat it, and I don't stop until I guilt myself into doing so. I know that in order to become the healthier, happier person I want to be that I MUST stop doing this. I often go an entire day eating extremely well and doing exercise, only to reverse it all by consuming 800 calories of special k cereal while watching tv. I need to keep away from bringing things to eat while I do mindless things like sit at the computer or watch tv.

Additionally, as far as diet goes, I have a goal to cut out all processed foods until further notice. I know that processed foods are filled with preservatives, and tons of fake junk that fills my body with crap. Also, they do nothing for me and truly don't taste as good as fresh foods. I am in college and live in a dorm and have an extremely small meal plan at my cafeteria. I have access to fresh foods there, though dessert is often tempting! What I do need to do is get myself away from the areas where I keep food in my home. The problem with this is my home is literally one big room so it's not like I can shove them in a closet somewhere (We don't even have real closets haha) But I will get back to that when I have more ideas.

Well, this was a shitload of information but I think I really needed to get some of it out. It's embarrassing to admit I have eating problems and I've never truly told anyone about it. While no one may be reading, this is still a form of liberation for my secrets and I hope it does enough to keep me going :)