Project Me is Underway

Hello world.

If you have been reading this blog for a while you should know by now that I have embraced the idea of "project me". I'm constantly in search of ways to better myself, to better my life, and to better my taste buds! These things collide in lovely and magnificent ways most of the time. Some of the time the result is an extra 5 pounds that I'm not too fond of. Which is why today I started a new project.

In the past I've accomplished weight loss by making life changes, not by dieting or embarking on some crazy exercise routine (because, let's face it-- my exercise mainly consists of toning my arms while I raise and lower my TV remote). I hardly ever drink sodas anymore, and when I do it's often a Coke Zero or diet version. I don't really do fast food except for when I'm home, mostly because it's inconvenient here in Chicago and I don't have much of a taste for it anymore. And I've been eating vegetables and NOT feeling like I deserve a gold star, because it's finally just a regular part of my diet.

However, this has not been enough. I'm very happy with these changes and I love that I can enjoy my meals and lifestyle with less crap in my system, but my weight loss goals just haven't quite been accomplished. So as I searched for ideas and solutions over the last month, I stumbled across an announcement that Eric's sister Emily made-- she'd just lost 5 pounds after starting the Atkins diet and cutting way back on her carbs.

It was like a freakin' football field's lightbulbs went off over my head. I need to pay attention to my carbs.

I love carbs. I love eating them, I love anticipating eating them, and I'm happy to resort to relying on them for my happiness if I outlive Eric. But that's part of the problem. I eat way too many carbs with each meal, and I'm not talking about the carbs I get from veggies and fruits. I'm talking pasta, crackers, bread (Oh, how I love bread), cereal, grains, you name it. This is not going to be easy.

However, today I decided to finally quit thinking about how to cut out carbs and I took my first step towards making a plan. First of all, I decided I'm not going to go on any diets. I'm going to keep doing what has worked; I'm going to address carbs in a way that works for my lifestyle, in a way I can adopt as "normal" so that I don't just gain all that weight back.

Today I took a notebook and wrote out a page for every day for the rest of the month. I'm going to track what I eat, noting the calorie content (I am currently trying to jumpstart my weight loss by sticking to 1500 a day) and the carb content. Starting tomorrow, I'm going to work to cut that carb number in half. Every day I will write down what I eat and make sure I'm on target for my calorie count (I also use an app for this, called "Lose It!"), and I'll also be able to make sure I'm on target for my carb count. At the end of each week I will think about how easy/difficult it was to meet that carb goal and either cut it down further, or spend another week focusing on sticking to it.

By March I hope to be eating 1/2 the carbs I do now, without struggling. I figure that if I manage to meet that goal, or even go beyond it, I'll be thrilled! March 1st I will decide what my next goal will be. From what I've heard Atkins dieters do something like 20 carbs a day-- I'm not sure that that number fits my lifestyle. In fact, I'm not really sure of what my end goal will be! But that's what this journey is all about. I want to find a number that works and stick to it.

I'll be posting here about my progress, as well as what changes I make to achieve that progress. So stay tuned and get excited! Project Me is underway!

(BTW, Project Me is universal-- anyone can have a self-bettering project. What's yours?)