The first thing you are going to do is set up the mental part of this journey. If you truly want to effect a change, you have to take ownership of your present condition. We got ourselves this chunky, so it is up to us and us alone to dechunkify ourselves.
So one of the hardest things to do is the first step: Go into the bathroom and strip down to your underwear (and bra if you are a woman, men I really don't want to know...). Take two full body pictures in the mirror - one frontal view and one side view. Do not suck it in. Let it all hang out. This is you. This is how you look TODAY. It is not how you will look in February.
Now print off each of those shots and tape them to your bathroom mirror, so you will see them every morning when you get up and every night before you think about having a bedtime snack. If you are even more daring (and perhaps live alone), you can put the pictures on your refrigerator instead.
You can do the pics right now or sometime tonight before bed. The next part is for the morning. When you get up (and after you go to the bathroom), weigh in. Record this number somewhere, so you will not lose it; however, if you are like I was this morning, this number will be seared into your brain like a hot cattle brand. When you have weighed in, come back to this posting and make the comment: "I have officially weighed in." Commenting during this process will help us establish a sense of community and support.
At this point, remove your scales from the bathroom and hide them away in a closet somewhere. DO NOT weigh in again until I tell you. You have to resist the temptation to do this. You have to trust me on this.
Next, DO NOT exercise. At least this week anyway. I know, sounds crazy for a weight loss plan, right? Again, just trust me. We will add in exercise later when our metabolisms begin to get adjusted to our diet plan and we start to lose weight less rapidly.
Tomorrow's diet plan:
Breakfast (even if you are not a breakast person, do not skip!)
- two boiled eggs
- coffee (Optional but only use artificial sweetener if you drink it. A zero carb/calorie soda is also ok. You guys know I have to get my Diet Mt. Dew on first thing each morning!)
- one bottle of water (You can use a zero carb drink mix like Crystal Light for flavor if you want. Don't sip it. Drink it fairly rapidly, so you fill full for a while.)
- a large sized garden salad (Go easy on the tomatoes and absolutely no croutons or other carbish toppings. Shredded cheese is fine. A moderate amount of dressing is fine, but try to choose your dressings for lower carbs. Some of them are way higher than others, and low calorie does not necessarily mean low carb, so get in the habit of reading labels.)
- water or diet soda or artificially sweetened tea
- String cheese
- Bottled water or diet soda
- a large helping (as in a whole can if you want) of green beans (I season mine with beef bouillon. Try not to use fatback or other fatty cuts of meat for seasonings on this diet.)
- a large, boneless, skinless, baked or pan grilled (no deep frying allowed) chicken breast (You can use whatever dry seasonings you want, but try not to use sauces unless it's something low/zero carb like hot sauce. Again check your labels.)
- a medium size wedge of cheese
Ok that is enough info for one day. I don't want to scare anyone off. Go take those pics as soon as you can, and happy losing!