Happy Birthday to Me!

I am 34 years old today! So I guess it’s poetic that I start writing this now. I’m not sure what this is going to turn out to be exactly, but I am excited to start the long list of things I have been putting off doing. I guess this is my cattle prod.

Speaking of cattle, one of my first priorities is related to my diet. To put it bluntly, I eat crap. Yes, I keep my calories low so I don’t gain weight, but I don’t eat “real” food. Don’t believe me? Take a look at a typical day:

Breakfast:
Instant oatmeal
2 pieces of low cal bread, toasted with honey

Snack 1:
Granola bar

Lunch:
Lowfat turkey sandwich
100 cal popcorn
Granola bar

Snack 2
100 cal snack pack

Dinner:
Lean cuisine dinner
Low fat ice cream sandwich

I told you…crap. But my crappy eating really doesn’t bother me. The excessive amount of exercising that I have to do in culmination with this crap diet is what bothers me. I currently do over an hour of cardio a day with alternating days of weight/resistance training. I rarely take a day off. And this is just to maintain my weight. And I have finally decided this is bullshit. There has to be a better way.

So I have been doing some research and with the help of a book by Jillian Michaels (yes, that Jillian), I have come up with a plan. It is time to eliminate fake food and start eating the real stuff. Sounds like a no-brainer for most people. But most people don’t hate fruits, vegetables, and fish. So this is going to be a challenge, to say the least. I am also supposed to eliminate soda…but that isn’t going to happen right away. I don’t think the state of Washington is prepared for that.

I usually don’t believe diet books or anything like that. I preach calorie in vs. calorie out. And for the most part, that is true. But when that stopped working, I knew there had to be more. So I am going to give this a try and see if it works and better yet, if I can do it. I don’t know if I can, but I go to the grocery store tomorrow to get my provisions and I start on Tuesday.