I’m giving myself 3 years plus 100 days, AT THE OUTSIDE, to get down to a safe and maintainable weight. That’s my 50th birthday. 3 years to undo 30 years of biological damage? Sounds a bit unlikely, when you put it that way.
The first 90 days of 2012 will be concerted effort: serious activity, tracking and managing of food, controlling stress (of which there will be plenty), and so on. If I can lose 9 to 18 pounds in that time (probably won’t really kick in ’til the second half of the trial), then I can confirm I’m on the right track.
The plan in general:
– controlled calorie intake, 1800-2000 kCal daily. Might need to be adjusted depending on results (might be too low; might be too high).
– 50 minutes moderate aerobic activity or 25 minutes vigorous activity, 6x/week. Might need to be adjusted at intervals to sustain desired results.
– 10 minutes strength/flexibility activity, 6x/week, with progressive increase in reps/difficulty.
– 45 minutes/day of mindfulness meditation, for stress management and focus support.
– Take all prescribed medications and supplements appropriately.
And at the end of the 90 days … it’s my annual check-up with my primary physician. And we decide if I keep on with this plan, or start the process for bariatric surgery, which would cost us several thousand dollars.
I’m still looking for good logging/tracking tools. I’ve got SparkPeople.com, but the site is overcluttered with ads and features I don’t care about. USDA’s SuperTracker is, conversely, too simple.
Happy New Year.