Taking on a new challenge.

[labelleizzy]

Based on a friend's friend's post, I'll be attempting to blog 100 things about my health and fitness progress between now and December 31. There's no deadline, actually, for this challenge, but I want to see what I do between now and the new year, for myself.

Going to talk about going to the gym, how stuff feels physically and emotionally, what kinds of changes I'll be making in dietwhat I eat and how I exercise. Planning to change my food intake a bit, away from the generally high-fat (high quality) food I've been eating.

Going to do more of what I already do, more reliably: physical therapy (slooooowly and with good form), bicycling, and light weightlifting to start with.

Going to try new things. Swimming on a regular basis, for instance. Running (with the knee brace at first). Pilates. Rock climbing (!!). More hiking. More geocaching.

and. and. I will go back to dancing. I will. I will. I will.

Comments

[tara-bella.livejournal.com]

That sounds fabulous. Please remember that it's not the amount of fat that matters, but the type. When I'm eating well, I tend to eat about 35% of my calories from healthy fats. And no matter how hard I try, I can't get my protein above 20%. Those aren't the numbers most experts recommend, but they're good enough and they work for me. Find what makes you feel good, and go with it.

[kareina.livejournal.com]

Yay, dancing!

[dotarvi.livejournal.com]

I've been counting calories for about three weeks now. It's making a tremendous difference in how I eat. I've always eaten healthy whole foods (not processed stuff), but I'm finding that when I consider calories I make different decisions.

I've been using a clothes shopping metaphor in my own head when making food choices. The way I used to eat would be like buying whatever I thought was cute without ever looking at the price tag, just put it on the credit card and worry later. What I'm doing now is more like rating how cute the outfit is against the price and sticking to a budget I can afford (and pay off the previous debt).

It's a lot easier to stick to the budget than I thought it would be, and I am already feeling better (and losing weight).

There are tons of free apps and sites that help with this kind of thing. I use MyFitnessPal. It has apps for any of the major phone platforms and their website it also pretty easy to use.

Counting calories is a hassle at first, but it gets easier. You can pre-program things you eat frequently so they only take a few seconds to add. I use it to meal plan a lot, too. And it also tracks carbs, fats and protein, if you worry about that. I can also track my exercise and balance exercise against food so that my net stays under a certain bar.

Good luck! :)