California 5-0

Since I began attempting to be less of a fatass in June, I have lost approximately 50 pounds.  Or, as one of my friends put it, I have shed one of these:

While I'm unbelievably proud of myself for having lost that amount of excess weight, it's important to remember that, when I started, I was 230 pounds.  Unless I'm doing math wrong (which is a distinct possibility), I am now at roughly 180 pounds.  That's still fat.  What those 50 pounds have done is move me out of the sketchy Obese neighborhood and into the slightly less trashy suburb of Overweightville.  It's a gigantic accomplishment, but I have so far to go before I get to live in the fancy gated community of Paloma Del Attractive People.  To that end, I have made my diet a tad more specific than "stop shoveling so much goddamn food down your throat, Madigan." 

First things first... the word diet is stupid.  It implies something temporary.  What I've done is permanently change what and how much I eat.  What I haven't done is deprived myself of anything I love because, and I believe this requires some emphasis, THAT DOESN'T FUCKING WORK.  I love food that's bad for me.  I love pizza and beer and cake.

This is a picture of happiness.

My rule is only cut it out completely if you won't miss it.  I accidentally gave up soda.  I realized one day that I hadn't had soda in over a year, so I clearly don't need to drink it.  I stopped eating at McDonald's or Jack in the Box or Carl's Jr or any of their brethren quite some time ago because I realized there was a direct correlation between eating that food (I use that term very loosely) and feeling like there are tiny civilizations declaring war on one another throughout my digestive system.  Those things were easy and I gave them up long before I actively started losing weight.  But when it comes to things I love, it's a bit harder.  I started simply.  Instead of eating pizza or a peanut butter & jelly sandwich for lunch at work, I switched to fruit or salad.  Instead of having a beer or two with dinner every night, I switched to water or juice.  Real juice, by the way, from actual fruit.  Not fruit-flavored liquid whose first ingredient is high fructose corn syrup.  That being said, I still do enjoy the occasional pizza and beer.  "Occasional" being the operative word.  And it's the same with everything I eat.  I eat less of it, less often.  At this point, I'm down to about 1200 calories per day.  I say about 1200 because I'm not obsessively counting.

1200 calories.  Definitely, definitely 1200 calories.

There's a super easy trick to get started on eating less.  It's purely psychological, but it works.  Use smaller plates.  That's all.  When I have dinner with my family, they all have dinner plates and I use a wee salad plate.  I eat the exact same thing as them, but at least 50% less.  Having a full time job is tremendously helpful as well.  If I'm busying myself for 8 hours a day (ten, actually, given my hour commute to and from), I don't really have time to stuff my face.  But, more than anything, it's just awareness.  I'm finding it easier and easier to remove certain things from my diet simply by making myself aware of their ingredients and their caloric content.  It's incredibly easy to decide not to eat something when you know what kind of atrocious things are in it.

And knowing is half the battle!

In other news, some of my friends have taken up running along the beach.  I joined them last night and I found that I'll push myself a bit harder when I'm with people instead of alone on my treadmill or running around my neighborhood.  And I thoroughly enjoy running along the beach.  I'm going to gush about California for a moment.  I've lived in Southern California my entire life.  I love it here.  I love that I go over a hill and see the ocean every day on my way to work.  I love that I can drive for two hours in the other direction and play in the snow on the mountains.  But I really love the water.  I love being near it, being in it, being on it, and I love the creatures who dwell in it and are so delicious wrapped in rice and seaweed, dipped in soy sauce. 

Hey look... I found Nemo.

I intend to join my beach running buddies as frequently as possible.  And, on nights when that isn't feasible, it's back to my abusive relationship with Jillian Michaels. 

Assuming I continue to do what I'm doing (and really, I see no reason why I'll stop), I see an iconic golden bikini in my not-too-distant future.