and in other news...

...I've decided to do the MS150 again this year, after waffling over it for a couple months. I'm not sure yet where I'm starting, but I did finally decide to jump onto the company team. (It turns out that I still can, though I'm still waiting on an email to confirm my registration.)

And true to my attitude toward camping in general and MS150 fairgrounds tent camping in particular, we've turned the overnight into a family vacation at the new Lost Pines Hyatt. To hell with roughing it...y'all know I'm really more of an indoor girl. And since we'd have to drop a couple hundred on a crap-ass motel room at this late date anyway, may as well pony up for a really good one. Besides, it gives me something better to look forward to after 7 hours in the saddle than a tentful of co-workers & strangers. :)

In addition to upgrading my accommodations, I also plan to do a better job fundraising this year. Despite the best efforts of a handful of lovely sponsors (thanks Frazier!), I ended up putting in about 75% of the required pledge last year. Not that I mind donating to the MS Society at all, but $400 is a little more than I like to spend for a ride entry fee, you know? So I'll be hitting up family and co-workers more this year, and hopefully I won't have to kick in more than half. Already dreading the asking, but whatcha gonna do? It's one pledge ride a year. I don't have to like it, but I can at least make the effort.

Also, I've decided to lose 40 lbs by then. I know this sounds achingly familiar (not to mention, unlikely), but I really do mean it this time.

As I mentioned briefly in my scale post the other day, I'm really tired of maintaining 200 lbs. This is not where I want to be. I'm not happy, I don't feel pretty, I don't like how clothes fit me at this weight. And the only reason I'm still here is that I can't seem to motivate myself do the work that needs to be done in order to get past it. I'm sick of being half-assed about this...it'll be 5 years in January since I started this "weight-loss" blog, but it hasn't actually been one for at least 3 years. My net loss in 2003 was 26 lbs, net loss in 2004= 6 lbs, which means that from 2005 to present, I have lost no weight...in fact, then I've gained 14 lbs 2005-2007. Folks, that's some bullshit right there.

The thing is, I know I can do this. I know what I need to do in order to make it happen. I've done it before in 2003, when my body got to the point where I couldn't stand myself anymore. Unfortunately, unless I hit some kind of critical mass, I'm much better at talking about buckling down and growing some willpower & motivation than I am at actually doing those things. I don't want to be that girl anymore.

Though site accountability doesn't seem to have much effect on my success lately (because I rarely follow through on anything whether I post it here or not), I'm going to put my plan out here anyway. It will be good for my own reference when I start to go astray. (Note the use of "when"--trying to be realistic here.)

1. Work out 6 days/week, twice on Tues & Thurs. If there's one thing The Biggest Loser has taught me, it's that the more you work out, the better. If I have time to work out morning and night, I should totally do it. The club is having trainer classes on Tues and Thurs evenings until DST in March, and they're actually doing them at a time and location that I can handle this year. So I'll be on my bike for an hour in the evening, and Rob's wanting to hit the gym in the mornings. Then, of course, there's the rides on Sat/Sun. I'm taking Fridays off for sanity's sake, but every other day of the week is a workout day. No excuses.

2. Only eat when I'm hungry, and only until I'm not. Try to keep it around 1500 cal/day. I'd also like to eat as many whole foods as possible, and keep the sugar/salt relatively low. With the PCOS, my body responds better to low-GI diets, which fits right in.

3. Weigh in once a week, and ONLY once a week. This is sort of a compromise between weighing in obsessively every day and putting the scale away for a month. From now till...well, let's keep it consistent with the trainer classes and say daylight saving time in March, I'll be weighing in every Friday and recording the results here.

4. Post more regularly. I've been lax about this, lately, so I'm committing to posting at least twice a week through March.

So yeah, not a long list. I'm trying to keep it simple so as not to disappoint myself again. As far as the results I'm hoping to see...I'm hoping for 5 lbs in December, and 10 lbs/month after that. It's very aggressive, but frankly? Tired of fucking around here, and I finally feel ready to do the work.

Game on.

Song of the day: The Curse of Curves (right-click, save-as)