Thursday, December 27, 2012

2013 Plans...


Here it is, folks.  (And I warn you that this is a long one)

My health/diet/fitness plans for 2013!!!!!!!!!!! 

You know me and long term health plans... It's not a good fit for me right now.  I tend to say things like "I'm going to do Weight Watchers for the entire year!" or "I'm going to exercise every day for a month!" or "I'm going to do 30 days of blogging!" or "I'm going to lose 50 pounds in 50 weeks!"

These types of goals used to work for me.  In 2010, I actually DID lose 50 pounds in 50 weeks, and had several exercise months.  However, these very rarely work for me NOW.  I think that I'm just not in a place mentally to handle such long term goals. 

However, I do have a couple of plans for my health in 2013.

Sure, weight loss would be ideal.  I am really jonesing to lose the 40 pounds that I gained with grief-related binges between May and July of 2012.

I have a couple of hard-core ideas on how to lose that weight relatively quickly.  But I'm not sure whether or not I will stick to them. 

Here's the diet plan that I think could help me to lose the 40 pounds fast:

1) Follow Eat to Live (first 6 weeks strict phase) Monday through Friday and practice intuitive eating on the weekends.
2) Exercise 5 to 6 days a week, three of them being running days.  Two cross-training days, and one strength training day (optional).

However...  I'm not sure if this is something that I can stick with for too long. 

I do definitely want to work on eating a more whole foods and vegan diet through the week and I want to give myself some more options on the weekend.  This will work nicely for the first 5 months of the year, during which I will be living away from my live-in boyfriend Stacey because of an internship.  We will be spending weekends together, but I will be on my own (well, with roommates!) through the work week.  So having a stricter diet through the week could work for me.

One thing that is for sure about my health plans for 2013 is that I am signing up for a half marathon in October.  And I want to run it, or most of it, if possible.  And at this point I can run for 5 minutes only, and I have no idea how much distance that is.  It's way less than 1 mile...

So the bulk of my health plans will be focused on EXERCISE, in the form of training for a half marathon.

As much as I'd love to lose these 40 pounds of grief wait as fast as possible, I also would love to KEEP them off this time.  So I may end up going for a less extreme route, as far as the dieting goes.

But I really believe that if I'm training for a big run, I will begin to prefer to eat healthier, because it will benefit my running.

I have also begun to read Health at Every Size by Dr. Linda Bacon.  So that may change EVERYTHING for me, we'll see.  For now, I still really want to lose these 40 pounds ASAP, but in a healthy and sustainable way.

I don't know if I will follow a strict ETL diet through the week, but I will definitely be cooking more, and will be a more whole foods vegan.  If I do ETL, I will stop counting calories.  If I don't, I will continue to track via My Fitness Pal.

So... in summation, I'm not sure what my 2013 plans are quite yet.  But what I've mentioned here (training for a 1/2 marathon plus going back to a healthy vegan diet 5/7 days) is the plan for now.


my cousin shared this pic with me on FB, and I love it!
2013 has to be better than 2012 was.


7 comments:

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Leah: Not Otherwise Specified said...

Thanks for the comment! I do have a facebook page, you can find it under the same name as this blog- "Leah: The Kind Weight Watcher". Your anonymous comment seems spammy to me, so if you are not a spammer/virus person, please sign on next time to leave a comment as a real person.

Anonymous said...

Leah,
You've been an inspiration and I really enjoy your blogs. I'm basically in the same place you are and am having the same struggles. I'm so sorry about the loss of your mother. I'm sure she was a great lady to have a daughter that loved and admired her so much. Happy New Year!

B. said...

Love the idea of the blessing jar. such a simple thing to do but powerful. How many times do I forget the little things that happened that were so good!! Your weight loss journey is very inspirational! I am a lifetime WW with a few pounds to lose! Just went back to my first meeting in a year this morning at 7:15a. Had to make it hard on myself to know I was serious and mean business!! by the way.... I think the first comment is spam

Countrywoman said...

That is a wonderful idea and good luck on your goals

Sarah said...

That all sounds good! I find lately that I too can't do long term goals - I finally quit WW because if you always eat over your points, it won't help. My idea was this - in Veg News they reviewed a bunch of "cleanses" - crazy sexy diet, raw, brendan brazier's thrive - and they're all about a month. Maybe I do a new plan every month so it's never old. Maybe. I requit gluten too, so that should help. Also, I totally fell off the workout wagon and I am getting back on!

Brandon Pepper said...

What are you saying, Leah? If you won those challenges back then, then this 2013 workout plan would be just a piece of cake to you. You can do it! Just focus, focus, focus! :)