A bit of Bridget Jones
What do Bridget Jones and I have in common? We’re both single, 30-somethings. Singletons I believe she calls it. I don’t live in London. But I do live in Healdsburg, California. Not quite the same thing, I know. She chronicles her love life, her obsessions with alcohol and cigarettes, and just general life commentary. I chronicle my life (a tiny bit of my love life–OH!–I had a total Bridget Jones moment when I was dating a guy last year–does that count? I really have to organize and relaunch that site, sigh. So many things to do, so little time). I could chronicle my obsession with wines and the internet and give general life commentary too.
The main thing Bridget Jones an I have is our obsession with our weight. Today. I’m mortified at my weight. I haven’t been taking care of myself as I should be. It’s partly because I’m a consultant and my bills don’t get paid if I don’t consult and I usually have three or four jobs going on. BUT TODAY. Or rather, this week. THIS WEEK, I reached the tipping point. A mortification tipping point.
After all this running I’ve been doing, you’d think the last thing I’d be worried about is my weight. But, quite the opposite. I like to eat. And I’m pretty stressed lately. So–um–I eat more. Stress eating. You know what that’s like, right?
After the marathon, I thought I should focus on rebuilding my upper body and I finally dragged myself to my gym in an effort to feel better about myself. Out of curiosity, I weighed in. I WEIGHED IN. Shall I announce it publicly?
Obviously. That’s what blogging is all about. Living out loud. So. SO. Guess what?
I weighed in. I weighed in at 151 pounds. I could convert it to kilograms (68.5) and get a lesser number–but that wouldn’t make a real bit of difference. The fact is: I weigh 151 pounds.
UGH.
UGH.
I have gained an ungainly 15 pounds since last May. I have to do something about this. Today. The first time I decided to do something about my weight was in 2004 and that something worked was when I kept a food diary. It was this little notebook where I could record line item by line item what I’d eaten that day. And it had recommended calories and foods that I could reference to I could calculate accordingly.
Basically though, what really worked was being conscious about what I was eating — and being accountable for it. Making conscious decisions about what I was eating and learning about portions.
Right now, according to this BMI calculator I found on Google, I have 25.1 percent body fat and by some sort of arbitrary chart, I AM OFFICIALLY OVERWEIGHT.
Here’s my plan. I wasn’t blogging in 2004 when I kept my food diary. But I am now. I’m going to use my blog (with all of my official and unofficial readers) to help me account for my eating and exercising habits. I’ll really be living out loud. I’ll even start a new category. What should it be called? Living Out Loud?
Ok. Here’s the stats for today (cringe):
Up at 6h am. Didn’t even make breakfast before I started working on a proposal.
Worked until 9am on proposal before I took a break and made a half bagel and coffee (with milk) for breakfast. Somebody showed up at my door and I didn’t have time to put anything healthy on the bagel. It was just a dry, half bagel. Normally, I like crunchy peanut butter and slices of apple on it.
Worked all day. Had a meeting in Petaluma at 3h pm. Meeting until 6h pm. Ended up being tired and hungry and dehydrated.
Thought about getting a burrito from Whole Foods–and only eating half of it. But — got side tracked by a Chinese place because I actually wanted soup.
Had mixed vegetable soup and a plate of mixed meat stir-fry on crunchy noodles. I didn’t finish the entire plate, but I made a good dent in it. Green tea. I think I really was dehydrated.
OK. All of that isn’t terrible. Right? In general healthy–but not as regular as it should be (breakfast, lunch, dinner). The kicker is the fact that on the way home I stopped to buy a gift for a friend. I bought a chocolate bar at the checkout. I didn’t really need that chocolate bar, now did I? Especially since I didn’t make it to the gym.
The worst part about it is. I don’t really like chocolate. OR until last September, I never really ate chocolate. Now it seems, I can’t ever get enough. UGH. Something else to work on.
Well. Tomorrow is another day. I guess I’ll let you know how I do.
Wish me luck.
