I'm a yo-yo dieter. I've yo'd so much, in fact, that I'm probably a yo-yo-yo dieter.
But I've been medically uninsured for almost a year now because of my weight. I simply can't get any kind of realistically-priced health insurance without dropping 60 lbs, to get below the cutoff over which I get rejected for even crappy short-term insurance. (My employer offers no healthcare, or indeed benefits of any kind above a straight hourly salary.)
This is it. We've got a new day dawning in the country, my enthusiasm for the possibility of a better day for the country and the world in the face of horrible challenges is high, and it's time to be part of the change in another way.
So, I'm presenting the 2009 Get Fit DKos Challenge!
Join me in starting a new regime of fitness in your life. As AA has shown hundreds of thousands, working towards goals is easier when you feel that you're in it with other people. Let's form a virtual fitness club, share our trials and tribulations, our goals and aspirations, our recipes, exercise routines, and the tips and tricks that will let us all drop shed the unneeded burden of excess weight and/or lack of muscle tone that's holding us back from doing everthing we want to.
I'll post a once a weekend mothership diary in which you can post your starting data, you goals, your movement to or away from your goals, and the steps you've found helpful in achieving them. You show up and log your progress. Then we all basically give group encouragement to show we're not in this alone, and that other people are rooting for us all to succeed.
Some tips and tricks to start it off:
Get a small notebook and track everything you eat or drink.
Don't check your weight daily, do check it weekly.
Muscle weighs more than fat, so don't assume weight gain is bad.
Fruits are good, vegetables are better, and start the New Year with cabbage - it is filling and will give you nutrients without a lot of calories.
Eat smaller portions of high fat or high protein items, don't cut them entirely from your diet. If you cut fat from your diet entirely, your body will mutiny and you're that much more likely to start the yo-ing.
Drink before meals. A glass of water, iced tea, hot tea, milk, but not carbonated sweetened beverages. Even the diet sweet beverages kick your body into 'store more calories' metabolism mode.
UPDATE: Week 1 is here.. Someone had mentioned subscribing, and I'm not sure how that works, since I'm going to be posting a different diary every week.