73 Days to the Gown: Willpower

For starters, let me just say, a picture is worth a thousand words:

That's right! 136.4!  Even I was surprised to see this much movement two days in a row.  This means in the grand scheme of things I've lost 1.6 pounds in 2 days.  Not too shabby.  

Other pertinent stats:

Calories consumed: 1000 (a little low, I realize).

Minutes of Exercise:  115 (65 walking 2.0 mph; 30 walking 4.0 mph; and 20 walking 3.0 mph) 

Weight change since yesterday (-0.8) 

According to myfitnesspal, if everyday were like yesterday, I'd by 125 pounds in 5 weeks.  I am realistic though; I doubt that I will have time to do nearly 2 hours of exercise every single day.  But hopefully I can pack more punch into shorter workouts as C25K gets more intense.  

Another thousand words: 

Ta Da!!  Allow me to introduce my new kicks.  I shall call them Lucy and Ricky (left and right respectively). They are so extremely comfortable; I spent all day yesterday breaking them in.  I am sure that they will make all the difference in the jogging portions of C25K. 

And boy oh boy were they expensive.  Luckily my father offered to pay for them if I reach my goal weight by the deadline.  That sounds like a valid contractual offer to me, and I accept, Father.  I accept. 

Well that takes care of the basic housekeeping matters.  Now I would like to take a moment to discuss willpower. 

I am aware that I can have all the fancy iPhone apps, shoes, earphones (well, I still have to get those), and other gear that money can buy, but it all means diddly-squat unless I can summon the willpower to actually get moving and stop eating.

I've got to admit, even I was a little surprised by how little willpower it took to spend 6 hours at the parade route with nary a beer or a snack.  I managed to get by very easily.  It was kind of tough explaining my new lifestyle to the seemingly shocked crowd, but it's the only way to make the hard work I do during the week worth it.   

When I felt temptation creep up, I kept reminding myself of how much weight I would have lost since the proposal if I hadn't allowed myself to "splurge" on the weekends as a reward for hard work during the week.  It's actually infuriating looking back; why work so hard only to have it mean nothing in the end because of the bad diet choices I made on the weekends? 

Not this time.  

One last thing I'd like to address is this damn tasting that I am scheduled to attend today.   I have been trying to come up with a plan of attack, but I have to admit that this is extremely challenging.  It's a tasting.  The point is to taste a bunch of, by definition, rich party foods.  I can't simply bring my Lean Cuisine to avoid the food and call it a day.  

I wish I could call upon my willpower; that would be easy.  I would simply not go to the tasting.  But after harassing Bernadette for weeks to get on the RSVP list that might be considered bad form. 

So here is the plan: I've decided to arrive and scan all the foods being offered.  I will not try anything that has been served at other tastings or anything that has an obvious flavor (I am well aware what cheddar cheese tastes like, for example).  I will only try the things they serve that I have not had a chance to try and that I would seriously consider putting on the wedding menu.  I will have a tiny taste, fill up on Diet Cokes, and run away as soon as possible. 

The moral of this plan?  Sometimes when willpower can't do the job, or the food is unavoidable, it's best to run and hide.