Challenging Myself to Get Healthy -- for Real

Success!

Well, sort of.

Last week I had a pretty good few days of healthy eating. I even exercised a few times. I did my usual Tuesday morning weigh-in and found that I'd lost 3.8 pounds!

And then things started to slip away again. I started to forget to log my food. I started making poor food choices. And this week's weigh-in found me gaining 3.2 pounds.

Further proof that every day is a new day. Every minute is a new minute. (Tell me if this sounds familiar.) In a moment of weakness, I make a bad eating decision, maybe a doughnut at that early morning meeting. Then I kick myself for it a few hours later. Then lunch rolls around, and I think to myself, "Well, I've already messed up today -- might as well go all out." I then proceed to inhale anything and everything I can find, all because that one doughnut ruined my day.

Sounds stupid, right? Well, I've done it. And I bet you have, too.

So it's time to get serious. I'm tired of bouncing around on this. At the beginning of the year I made that decision. The decision to stop. Sometime around May or June, I lost track of that decision. So now I've got to get back on track.

Some people like to lose weight in a group. I'm not a big fan of that. I used to go to Weight Watchers meetings. Don't get me wrong; I like Weight Watchers. I think it's a solid program that works. For some people. But as much as they've tried to gear it toward men recently, it just didn't work in my stupid male brain. I think my last meeting may have been when one of the ladies in the class was excited because her bra fit better. She went into great detail. Yeah. I can't relate to that.

I've done other diets, too. Atkins. South Beach. My favorite was the Weigh Down Workshop. I liked it because she said, "Eat when you're hungry. Stop eating when you're full." Duh. Why haven't I thought of that?

Do you know how hard it is to tell when you're full? Or even when you're hungry, for that matter? I really struggled with that. Still do. I still think it makes a lot of sense, but it's a concept I haven't mastered yet. Plus, that lady was kind of scary. A Denise Austin/Rachael Ray kind of scary -- way too cheerful for her own good.

I've started up my SparkPeople.com page again and am logging my food. I have to be meticulous about this one. Because if I know that I have to write down that I ate a whole box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch, I'm less likely to eat it.

What I'm really excited about is working out. My wife and kids are starting to come to the gym with me after school. So, now I've got built-in workout buddies and accountability. I love it!

Another thing I just found today is a challenge by another blogger I read. He has challenged his readers to go a month without soft drinks. This is huge for me. While I choose only diet sodas, I drink a lot of them. I love the large $1 Diet Coke at McDonald's. But I know it's not good for me, so reading his challenge got me thinking that I should try that, too. Let me know if you want to try the challenge with me.

Now I realize and recognize my mentality. I'm an all-or-nothing kind of guy. So it's quite possible that I can overdo it with the goals and make it that much easier for me to fail. But this isn't too much, right? Just exercising, eating right, journaling and no more soft drinks. It's not like I'm trying to change my life or anything.

Oh, wait.

After decades of dieting only to gain it back, two That's Fit readers have decided to finally rethink their relationship with food and exercise over the next year to move toward a lifetime of fulfilling, healthy living. Come by every week as Ashley and Lee share their successes and challenges as they tip the scale.

Find out how Ashley tried to stay healthy during a time of sorrow.