Let’s start with the kitchen. In college it never occurred to me to do dishes until I didn’t have anything to eat with. Later, I started to notice that every time my family gets together for a big meal, the aunts and uncles practically race each other over who gets to help clean the dishes. At first I assumed they just liked doing it. But it finally sunk in that they just like having it done. Big difference.

Now I take the same approach in my own house. Get it over with. The big key for me was having organized cabinets. A person might look in that cabinet think ‘Wow! So organized!’ What they don’t realize is that it only represents half of what my kitchen is like behind closed doors.

Tomorrow I will introduce you to the other half…

People who are naturally organized don’t seem to have to work as hard to keep their lives in order. I would love to be one of those people. I have no idea how someone like me ended up being a Quality Assurance Engineer. Strangely enough, I am pretty organized at work. I plan well, follow through, and pay very close attention to details. Using those phrases to describe me at home would be more like the punch line of a joke. Without the key hook by the door I would never know where my car keys are. Without automated payments I would most certainly forget to pay my bills on time. I keep a folder for emails from co-workers that say things like ‘You are so organized!’ because it is so highly ironic and strange to hear myself described that way. Don’t get me wrong. I am nothing like I was in college. More on that tomorrow…

Now for the hard part. I removed every piece of clothing from my closet that is too small for me and took inventory. That was rough, I have to admit. It filled up two storage bins! And there it will remain until it all fits again. So for everyone who has very kindly made sure I am not being too hard on myself, thank you, but hopefully this demonstrates that the issue is not a matter of losing weight to be happier. I am about as happy as a person can be already. I have a much more practical problem at the moment. I can’t wear my clothes.

10 swimming suits
10 pairs of board shorts
8 pairs of jeans
7 pairs of capris
7 pairs of exercise shorts
5 pairs of pants
5 pairs of athletic pants
24 undergarments (not shown)

Thank you to my cat Buddy for photobombing the side view of my clothing stacks.

I ran for the first time in months this morning. It was on a treadmill which was really boring. I would so much rather run outside. I barely finished 3.5 miles in 37:40, about 10:45 per mile. That is a long way from the goal of 7:30s. I should have no trouble getting back close to 8:00s if I run consistently. The really tough part will be pushing through to 7:30 per mile at altitude.

WEEKLY WEIGH-IN:
Last week: 157
This week: 152
Start:  157
Goal: 137

This week’s featured amazing person is The Beautician: Deb Rodriguez. What does a beautician have to offer women in Afghanistan who cannot show their face in public?

http://blog.changemyselfchangetheworld.com/?page_id=371

Yesterday, I promised to reveal what made me choose the specific diet I have been following since New Year’s Day. The answer is another goal I have set multiple times but never followed through with. I have officially signed up for a before and after photo competition. Last year I registered 3 times and never make it past week 5 of 12. So in the spirit of finishing what I set out to do, I am having another go at it. Finishing the whole 12 weeks without quitting will be the ultimate accomplishment. But I also want to find out what I am capable of when I put a consistent effort into it. The downside, of course, is that if by some miracle I DID win they would post my before pictures on the internet. Maybe I didn’t think this all the way through…

My diet is not outrageous. It isn’t really low-carb, low-fat, or low calories. And much to the probable frustration of my CrossFit trainer it isn’t even particularly high in protein. It is based on a balance of the four in reasonable quantities six days per week. One day a week I can splurge on pizza, mozzarella sticks, or whatever suits me. The only real tragedy is leaving behind the sweets, soda, and alcohol. Total abstinence for the next 12 weeks. So no more Cinnabon for breakfast.

It isn’t required for the diet but I am tracking everything on DailyBurn.com. They made an iPhone app where you can actually use your phone to scan a food’s barcode and it automatically enters it for you. No I am not kidding!

Anyway, there is a reason why I chose the specific diet I am on. I’ll tell you tomorrow.

After 2 months of persistent illness and zero exercise, I was ambushed at CrossFit this morning by the entire SWAT team for the City of Boulder. They had come for a hellish workout called Fight Gone Bad: one min at each of 5 stations, 3 rounds for max repetitions. Words cannot do justice to the suffering. I volunteered to take pictures but alas, I was roped into the mess.  See What is CrossFit? for more info.

Here are a few of my fitness goals:

Pullups (dead hang): 10
     Previous best: 7
     Current: 2

Pushups (military): 25
     Previous best: 15
     Current: 8

Run a 5k race (at altitude): 7:30/mile 
     Previous best: 7:46/mile
     Current: 8:50/mile

DEADLINE: March 31st

Any other suggestions?

My husband once called me a paradox. I live a long list of inconsistencies that need sorting out starting with this one. I love health and fitness, nutrition, sports, being outdoors, and anything active or adventurous. Sometimes I even think about making a career of it some day.

The irony is that I am also the worst junk food monger you’ll ever meet. Fast food, cookies, candy = yum. I am also wearing out my spot on our couch in front of the TV. In college I felt guilty and fought against these tendencies with some pretty bad behaviors (a story for later).

The older I became, the more free I felt to do whatever I wanted without worrying about the consequences. I thought “I am an adult now so if I want to have Double Stuffed Oreos and a Diet Coke and watch a movie for breakfast that’s my prerogative.” And so I did.

Unfortunately (or fortunately) doing so makes me feel like crap – even more so than the average person (another story for later). It also means that when I am not active I gain weight quickly – which has led me to my current weight and all time high: 157 lbs

SEVERAL PEOPLE have pinged me to ask what my resolutions actually are. The answer is… all of them. The following is a list of what appears to be the 10 Most Popular Resolutions and I am going to tackle them all on some level during the next 12 weeks:

1. Eat right/ get fit / lose weight 
2. Get better organized
3. Accomplish something major at work
4. Better contact with friends and family / reconnect with old friends
5. Tackle a health issue
6. Learn a foreign language
7. Learn something (else) new
8. Volunteer or do charity work
9. Follow through on a childhood dream
10. Follow through on New Year’s Resolutions 

A few others are also very popular but do not apply to me:

1. Quit smoking – I have never smoked.
2. Quit drinking – I stopped drinking excessively several years ago.
3. Finances – Todd stays on top of that.

If you see any obvious popular ones I have missed please let me know!