HAPPY NEW YOU!

That's not a typo!  Welcome to the first day of the new year and the first step toward a new you!

My name, if you didn't already know, is Melissa.  I'm 41.  I'm 5 ft 8, and I'm weighing in at 203.6 lbs.  My target weight by August 8 2011 is 140 lbs.  It's a long long way to go but considering where I started (269) it isn't impossible.  Btw: I'm your coach in this friendly little competition that starts today.

This year I'm adding cardio into my fitness routine.  Last year I amped up the weight loss by adding Pilates and Yoga for toning my slowly but surely slimming down body.  This year I take it a bit higher by adding cardio either by running on the days it's fit for humans to be out (read, not snowing or ice storm central) or recumbent biking. 

I already eat much better, today was an off day.  It was a holiday.  I enjoyed my last fatty, salty, sweet foods today.  That's not to say only bland crap from here on out, on the contrary!  I have a reputation for carrying brightly colored 'pretty' food and I intend to start doing that again.  I can enjoy whatever I want, as long as it's in strict moderation.  Raw fruits and vegetables with lean cuts of meat are the order of the day every day for the remainder of my life.

I don't do diets.  They're traps.  They set you up to fail.  You have to relearn to eat and how to take care of yourself.  You have to learn to pay attention to what you are putting in your mouth.  That is the only way to lose the weight for good.

You have to decide what your motivation is.  If you're losing weight to please someone else then you're going to fail.  If you're losing weight to  look younger, you're going to fail.

My motivation is to avoid the many health issues  associated with being overweight.  I'm also losing the weight because someone I love told me I was only third rate on a good day, then tried to take some of the hurt away by saying it was for my own good that that hateful comment was made.  We'll just see who's third rate by the time this is done!

So, what will happen once you get to your target wight?  For me, my goal is to run a 5K, then write a book, then  open my own weight loss center....teach women, and men, that they don't have to be overweight. I want to teach others that they can enjoy food without fear of gaining weight, but they have to want it first.  I can't make them want to lose it for good.  I can't make them eat right or exercise.  It has to be a conscious choice they make for themselves.  If you don't care that  you're overweight then all the dieting and exercise and goading in the world isn't going to change the overweight person. 

People have the knowledge of what is good for them and what isn't.  It's their decision what they do with that knowledge.  I  know there are those who would like to control what goes into our mouths, look at San Francisco and New York City.  You can't legislate good eating habits.  Remember the saying, Knowledge is power?  The same is true when it comes to weight loss.  Knowledge *is* power.  give people information they need to make good choices.  Note I didn't say FORCE information on people.  If you legislate or force someone into something they don't want to do or know, they're going to resist.  It's just human nature.

Live the lifestyle you want others to follow. Teach by being the example you want them to see. It takes time. It takes confidence.  It takes persistence.  It also takes courage.

There will be  those who do anything and everything in their power to derail your lifestyle change. They will do everything they can think of to make you feel bad about what you're doing. The best thing I can tell you is blinders on and disregard.  You're doing this for you and you alone. Hold your head up and put courage on full display.
That's why I listed my stats.  That's why I posted pictures of my fat self.  I own it.  I am fat.  It's my fault.  I made the conscious choice to disregard what I knew about food and eating right and taking care of myself in favor of letting depression and boredom rule ten years of my life.  I regret it.  I can't change the past, but what I can change is my future.  And that is exactly what I'm doing right here, right now. Phooey on anyone who thinks I can't do it.

I challenge  you, my readers, to join me.  I can't promise you I'll be perfect and that I won't backslide, but I will promise you that I won't hide my failures.  It's all part of it.

So what do you say?  Game on?