The Current Plan

I’m a firm believer that to accomplish anything of value, I need a thoroughly researched, well considered plan.  I am famous (or maybe infamous) for my itineraries and multi pronged strategies.  I love examining a situation fully, pulling together all the facts and determining the best way to forge forward.  Unfortunately, I also value freedom and flexibility and seldom follow any plan I develop.  So I have a very rudimentary plan for how I can make my way on the journey to become a woman who is strong and healthy in mind, body and soul.  My poor follow through is why I need to keep shouting my plans out to the void rather than keeping them as musings to myself.  I require some accountability, even if it’s imagined.

1. Eat more vegetables/fruits/things that photosynthesize..

    Currently, my diet consists of the triple B’s and C’s--butter, bread, booze, chocolate, coffee, cake.  I honestly don’t think I eat any plant matter most days.  It’s not that I don’t like vegetables; they’re just never my first, second or fifteenth choice.  So adding even one a day would be a vast improvement.  However, it is my plan to attempt to eat at least one thing that photosynthesizes per meal.

    I also intend to make better friends with fruits and veg by trying one new fruit/veg recipe each week.  I have already done this week...I’ll share the results at another time.  It’s was actually om nom nom good!

2.  Track calories on Lose it! ap.  

    I am trying to stay between 1300 and 1700 calories a day.  Thus far, this has not happened.  I am currently tracking without judgement, equipped with the knowledge that observer effect is a fundamental concept advanced by behavior therapists...even observing a behavior can influence an individual to make a change.  I do think that tracking what I eat is helping me lose weight.  I may not drop a thousand pounds an hour like Beyonce on her lemon juice cleanse but I think this will be more sustainable for me in the long run...

3.  Accept that losing one pound every week is good enough.  It may take me a few years to reach my goal but that long term process should only bring home the idea that this is about changing my approach for life.

4.  Focus on mindfulness by gradually cultivating a meditation practice.  My thoughts are always everywhere racing around and I am usually dwelling on the past as I simultaneously try to slay the imagined dragons in my future.  Usually, that means that I am often surprised that I have missed things that are directly before me, that I don't realize I've even eaten or seen a movie or read a chapter.  I want to bring my focus to the present and live there.  To taste the sweetness of life without being hindered by things that are far beyond my control at that moment.  Easier said than done, right?  But that's where my heart is right now.

That's all I've got at this point.  I may add more or modify the plan as I evaluate my progress.  I understand that New Year's is a fairly arbitrary construct.  I know that I could have committed to a change at any other time.  I fully recognize that I could be, as we speak, acting as the willing puppet of mainstream media, the diet industry, etc, etc.  But the Earth finished one more revolution and I have a January birthday and I just turned another year older so now feels like a good time to mark time and to think of my life and how it is meeting and not meeting my expectations.  But anytime you start to make a positive change in your life is the right time.  Two o'clock in the afternoon on March 3 is just as good as sometime after Christmas!