Project Weight Loss - Introduction
January 1st, 2008 by Andrew BolisProject Weight Loss Defined
Project Weight Loss is my plan for building healthy eating and exercising habits for the month of January. If I can make it a habit to eat healthy and regularly exercise for 31 days, I should be able to turn that into a lifelong habit. I have been putting on extra pounds in the fall and winter. I’m noticing that many of my clothing are starting to feel tighter. My purpose of sharing this weight loss project is to encourage others who would like to lose weight, eat healthier or get fitter. I also would appreciate everyone’s support and feedback.
My Weight Loss Background
Growing up I was always overweight. I reached my highest weight when I was 18 weighing 225 pounds, at the time I was 5′10″ tall. I didn’t play any sports growing up so all of that extra weight was fat. I remember throughout elementary school, junior high and high school getting picked on as the fat kid whether it was in the locker room or when I was walking down the hall going to class. Over the next 12 months (between ages 18 and 19) I improved my eating habits and started regularly exercising. I ended up dropping 50 pounds weighing 175. Losing the weight certainly made me feel great and improved my self esteem. However over the next months and years I started developing the bad habit of resorting to food for dealing with stressful situations. This developed some bad overeating habits. I have since been learning to control my emotional overeating.
Weight and Fitness Goals to achieve by January 31st
My current weight is 201 Pounds, with 23% body fat, at 6′0″ tall. Here are my goals:
- Exercise 5 days a week for at least 45 minutes each day
- Eat healthier more nutritious meals throughout the week, with an allowance of 2 cheat meals each week. More specifics about my meals is included in the following paragraphs.
- Lose 2.5 pounds per week for a total of 10-11 pounds in a 31 day period
- Drop my body fat percentage to 19%
Slow Weight Loss is Very Important
I can certainly lose more than 2.5 pounds per week, however I’ve noticed in the past that the slower I lose the weight, the longer I keep it off. Losing the weight slower helps me develop healthier eating and exercising habits for life. When I have went on extreme diets in the past, I did end up losing weight quickly however after the diet was over I always gained the weight back. Slow weight loss also insures that my body will mostly burn body fat instead of muscle mass.
Eating Guidelines
I will be aiming for the following nutrition intake 40% protein, 40% carbohydrates, and 20% fat. That means that I’ll try to formulate my meals such that 40% of the calories come from protein, 40% come from carbs, and 20% from from fat. To achieve this my meals will generally be made up of lean meats, eggs, veggies, fruits, beans, and other healthy carbs. I will be minimizing my intake of white carbohydrates such as bread, pasta, rice, fried foods etc.
Calories wise I will be aiming for about 2000-2500 calories per day. I could restrict my caloric intake more, however this would increase the chances of my body burning more muscle mass instead of just burning fat. I will be eating 4-6 small meals throughout the day to insure that my body is constantly burning food, maintaining a high metabolic rate, and a steady levels of energy.
I will also have two cheat meals per weak where I’ll just eat something I crave that might not be the healthiest. Cheat meals are also good because they insure that my metabolism will not slow down because of the decrease in my caloric intake.
Exercising Guidelines
I will be Performing a combination of cardio and strength training exercises. The cardio will help my body burn fat, while the strength training will insure that my body maintains most of its muscle mass
Leverage to Stay on Track
Simply defined, leverage is circumstances and systems that one sets up to insure that if they are tempted to slack off or fall off track, it will be much harder. A great form of leverage for any goal is letting all of your friends, family and coworker know about the goal. This way if you are tempted to slack off, not only will you be letting yourself down, but also everyone else that you’ve told. As you can see leverage makes it easier to stay on track. My forms of leverage:
- Publicizing this weight goal on here, and writing regular progress reports
- Signing up and paying for a few personal training sessions
- I will also add additional forms of leverage on here as I implement them
I Need Your Support
I really would appreciate everyone’s support, questions and feedback. As you know losing weight can be a tough goal, and the more support one has the easier it is. You can support me in two ways:
- Leave a comment at the bottom of this blog post, this will keep me conscious of my public commitment to accomplish this goal
- If you are currently trying to lose weight, or increase your fitness please share your current weight, your goals, and any eating or exercising recommendations. You can share by leaving a comment at the bottom of this post. This will encourage everyone who reads this post who also wants to lose weight and will create some leverage for your weight loss goals since by sharing you are making them a bigger public commitment.
Thanks in advance for your support 
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January 2nd, 2008 at 4:05 am
Found your site by accident but it is very nice
January 2nd, 2008 at 4:28 am
[…] Here’s another interesting post I read today by >> Personal Hack […]
January 2nd, 2008 at 4:36 am
[…] Here’s another interesting post I read today by >> Personal Hack […]
January 2nd, 2008 at 5:54 am
Good luck. Hope to hear the good news by the end of JAN.
I’m not trying to lose weight. But i’ve always kept putting off eating the right kind of foods. (That is healthy foods.)Should try to eat a lot of vegetables and fruits instead of the junk i consume everyday. I’m gonna try to do that.
Reading ur post made me think about starting it.
January 2nd, 2008 at 9:47 am
Chikoos, Thank you for sharing your weight loss goals. If you do end up recording some of the changes in your eating habits, please provide me with a link or a summary and I will add that to the post, Thanks once again for your support, I really appreciate it
January 2nd, 2008 at 9:58 am
Samantha, thanks for your support
January 2nd, 2008 at 4:13 pm
Came across an excellent book that might be of help. It’s called, “The Simple Plan for Automatic Weight Loss - Ultrametabolism” by Mark Hyman, M.D. My husband and I followed this and it really works. The weight just melted off after we went through the 3 weeks of strictly following the diet of eliminating white flour, sugar, caffeine and all processed foods. It allowed our bodies to readjust and metabolize naturally and we felt so much better. Then we could reintroduce regular foods back into our diets. Check it out. It’s the best thing I’ve found to work and it’s natural.
January 3rd, 2008 at 12:35 pm
What a great goal. It sounds like you have really thought through how to achieve your goals too. I am going to be focusing on eating healthy carbs and cutting out “white” foods (white flour, white sugar, white rice, white bread, etc).
January 3rd, 2008 at 3:08 pm
I also wanted to share with you that Steve Pavlina has also started a raw food diet. It’s something he has been on before so it’s not new to him. You might like to see how he’s posting his progress on his blog along with pictures. The link is http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/ (He’s on day 2.)
Good luck and thank you for sharing this with us.
January 3rd, 2008 at 4:03 pm
@ Pat R - Thanks for all of the helpful feedback and recommendations. I have checked out Ultra Metabolism, it looks good, and I will order it and read it. I have also checked Steve Pavlina’s website, and I like the way he’s posting his progress, I will try to follow a similar format on here
@ Sunny Daydreame - Thanks for sharing your weight loss goals and advice, it’s very motivating and encouraging knowing that others are also working on their health and fitness. Please keep us updated with your progress, or if you are tracking it on your blog, provide a link so we can all check it out
January 3rd, 2008 at 5:07 pm
Excellent goals you have set for yourself. I’ve gotta start working on my physical fitness, too. Fortunately for me I have a huge motivation. If I get over 21% body fat my employers get really angry and work the weight off however they see fit. I guess you could call it “company policy”. We HAVE to be in at least decent shape or they get quite angry.
This is also a very informative list of comments. Thanks for all the helpful information everyone!
January 3rd, 2008 at 6:33 pm
[…] wanted to thank everyone for their support and comments on my Project Weight Loss introduction post. Your support has been very encouraging. Pat R thanks for your recommendations, I have also […]
January 3rd, 2008 at 6:44 pm
TributeK Thanks for your support. I actually think that while your company policy might feel annoying, it’s still good because it gives you more reasons to stay in shape
January 5th, 2008 at 2:09 am
Hi Andrew:
Best of luck with your weight loss goals! Thank you for sharing this with Carnival of Healing, posted at Intensive Care for the Nurturer’s Soul.
Have a healthy & blessed 2008!
Kind Regards,
Hueina
January 5th, 2008 at 2:17 pm
Hueina, thanks so much for including this post in the carnival.
January 5th, 2008 at 9:15 pm
Great goals! Make sure you don’t get stuck in the trap of using will power, but instead, change your entire thought process on health itself. Start learning about ingredients, good and bad, and see what effects they have on your body, good or bad. Once you see what effects the bad stuff has on you, you’ll be a lot more picky about what you eat, then keeping the weight off won’t even be a thought anymore. It will just be you.
January 6th, 2008 at 4:22 pm
[…] Post is part of Project Weight Loss and a follow up to Day 2 & Before […]
January 6th, 2008 at 4:40 pm
Brandon, you have brought up great points. I agree with you that there is more to losing weight and keeping it off than just eating healthy and exercising. While healthy eating and exercising are important, the associations that one makes with certain foods and actions are also very important. I might write an in-depth article on this in the future, thanks
January 8th, 2008 at 10:06 am
Total Mind and Body Fitness Blog Carnival 31
Monday is Blog Carnivals Day. A Blog Carnival is basically a collection of articles or blog posts, all relating to a similar subject, that are gathered together for your viewing pleasure. You can quickly and conveniently see a list of Article Titles a…
January 8th, 2008 at 10:26 pm
[…] Post is part of Project Weight Loss and a follow up to Days […]
January 14th, 2008 at 11:42 am
Good Luck, Andrew! Let me know if you need anything from The Health and Life Mixing Bowl!
January 14th, 2008 at 3:40 pm
Terri, I really enjoyed some of the great posts on your blog, thanks for your support
January 15th, 2008 at 2:33 am
[…] Post is part of my Project Weight Loss and a follow up to Days […]
January 15th, 2008 at 7:04 am
[…] presents Project Weight Loss posted at Personal Hack, saying, "Please help support me to lose weight by implementing […]
January 15th, 2008 at 11:52 am
Good Luck—We’re all out here cheering you on to success!
January 15th, 2008 at 1:11 pm
Thanks for your support Karen
January 16th, 2008 at 11:23 pm
[…] presents Project Weight Loss posted at Personal Hack. […]
January 17th, 2008 at 10:53 am
[…] I’ve started project weight loss I have been actively learning more about weight loss, healthy eating habits, exercising and […]
January 19th, 2008 at 6:12 am
Carnival of Dieting Tips
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January 23rd, 2008 at 8:25 pm
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Welcome to the ninth edition of the Weight Management and Fitness Forum. I must apologize for publishing this edition a week late. I had some unexpected distractions arise. However, we have some good selections for this edition, and we hope they are wo…
February 19th, 2008 at 5:56 pm
Hi the very best of luck with your journey and I really do hope you get to where you want to go.
March 20th, 2008 at 9:38 am
[…] Andrew784 submitts this piece for us to read, entitled, 33 REASONS TO START A BLOG. You can check this out at PERSONAL HACK. This is a recent update: Andrew784 has also submitted this article, PROJECT WEIGHT LOSS. This may be read at the following link, PERSONAL HACK. […]
April 16th, 2008 at 7:44 pm
[…] work in the first place. I can certainly relate to this last example which is why I started my Project Weight Loss where I’m working on implementing healthy eating and exercising habits for a lifetime and […]
July 31st, 2008 at 6:19 pm
[…] about writing personal development articles is feeling like a hypocrite. How can I give weight loss advice when it’s something I myself I’m working on still? How can I write about biphasic […]
August 5th, 2008 at 2:52 pm
I wanted to thank everyone for their encouraging comments
August 9th, 2008 at 5:10 pm
great post, will help us a lot ..thanks
August 20th, 2008 at 8:39 am
How often do you yourself do Weight training or do you just write about it?
Can I ask though - how did you get this picked up and into google news?
Very impressive that this blog is syndicated through Google and is it something that is just up to Google or you actively created?
Obviously this is a popular blog with great data so well done on your seo success..
Soccer greats you should write about next.