Three weeks ago, I mentioned that I was tired of dealing with the ups and downs of dieting and that I had decided to go with a steady, healthy, day-by-day, week-by-week, month-by-month approach to weight loss.  My goal?  To lose one pound per week.  And, three weeks later, I’m down three pounds.

In the past, I’d be discouraged by the fact that I had ‘only’ lost three pounds.  But, now, I’m excited!  Why?  Because, instead of depending on some super-silly weight loss fad, I’m simply walking more, eating less, and exercising (a little).  Slow and steady might be boring, but it’s working!

I’ve been away at camp this past week.  Now that I’m home, I can refocus on my blogging - and my weight loss.  It feels good to do something ‘the right way’.  Now, I just need to remember my one pound a week plan, and refrain from starving myself.  My body needs fuel - healthy fuel - and I need to remember this.

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Usually, when I talk about budgeting, I’m talking about personal finance.  But, not today.  Today, I’m talking about a budgeting the amount of food that I eat, throughout the day.

I’ve spent several days thinking about how the ‘food budget’ should work, and I think I’ve come up with a few good idea.

First, the budget should reflect desired daily caloric intake.

Second, the budget should be flexible.

Third, the budget should include a list of all of the foods that I like (with nutritional values listed).

Forth, the budget should be portable (and easy to use).

Fifth, the budget should note not only what I should eat, but when I should eat, too.

As you can see, what I’m really writing about is an ‘eating plan’ - but I like the idea of calling it my ‘food budget’.  For some reason, I like to have things written down, and I do much better when I can check off my progress, throughout the day or week.

Once I’ve settled on the exact layout of my food budget, I’ll share it with you.

Updates:  I’m still working on my push ups and my walking - and I’m still trying to eat between 1800 and 2000 calories a day.  I’ll weigh in at the end of July and we’ll see how my new ’slow-and-steady’ approach works out.

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For the past few weeks, I’ve been walking 45 minutes a day.  I find that all of my walks tend to follow the following pattern -

1.  I have to convince myself to actually pull out the treadmill and start walking.  On most days, I’m successful, but on a few, I’m not.

2.  Once I’ve plugged in the treadmill and grabbed a bottle of water, I start walking.  The first five minutes always feel - weird?  I set the speed very low and then every two minutes, I increase it.

3.  Minutes 5 through 25 always feel great.  I get into a rhythm and I start working up a sweat.  During these minutes, I’m always super-happy that I’m walking.

4.  Between 25 and 35 minutes, I hate walking.  I’ve been following this program for almost a month, and it never fails.  I hit the 25 minute mark and I want to quit.  And, I don’t mean quit the session - I mean quit walking all together.  Why?  I have no idea - other than the fact that MAYBE I’ve burned up all of the fuel in my stomach and the body is transitioning to fat burning?  Just a thought…

5.  Once I make it to 35 minutes, I’m golden.  In fact, as I move towards 45 minutes, I don’t really want to stop.  I just want to keep going and going.  And, from time to time, I do.  Today, I walked and extra 2 minutes.  A few days ago, I walked a total of 60.

6.  After I finish walking, I feel awesome.

There’s the breakdown.

Today, I walked 47 minutes, covered 2 miles, and burned 250 calories.  I don’t walk very fast and I don’t worry about distance.  I just set the treadmill, plugin my headphones, and get moving.  Over time, I’m sure that my speed will increase (as will the number of calories burned), but for now, I’m just proud of myself for actually getting on the treadmill!

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I’ve been writing about weight loss - on and off- for more than 2 years.  In that time, I’ve managed to lose about 100 points.  But, I’ve also managed to gain 100 pounds.  That’s right.  I weigh almost exactly the same amount today as I did two years ago.  I could go on and on, giving you reasons for ‘why’ - but there’s only one real reason.

I want results, and I want them to me immediate.  So, I follow a particular program, lose 10 or 15 pounds, and get excited.  Then, once the rapid weight loss stops, I get discouraged, and quit.  I’ve done this several times - not just over the course of my blog - but over the course of the last 15 years.

Yesterday, I had a long talk with a very good friend.  He was going on and on about my finance success - and he pointed out something very important.  He said, “You do a great job of creating financial goals, but you do a pitiful job of setting weight loss goals.  When you set a financial goal, you push yourself, but you manage to live in the ‘real’ world.  But, when you set a weight loss goal, you always go crazy, demanding ten pounds in two weeks, or fifty pounds in one month.  You need to have a goal - and it needs to be aggressive - but it also needs to be realistic.  And, you need to honor each meal, just like you honor each dollar.”

Pretty honest, right?  It’s good to have friends who will be ‘real’.  And, he’s right.  When it comes to weight loss, I want to work six weeks and undo a decade and a half of bad habits.

So, here’s my new, realistic, optimistic, doable goal.

I want to lose 1 pound, per week, over the course of the next two years.

Right now, I weigh right around 250 pounds.  If I lose a pound a week, I’ll weigh 200 by next summer and 150 by 2010.

I’ve done some calculations.  I’ll continue to eat consciously and follow the “I Will Make You Thin” principles - but I’ll also focus, just a bit, on calories.

If I eat 2500 calories, I should maintain my current weight.

If I eat 2000 calories, I should lose, roughly, 1 pound per week.

I plan to eat between 1800 and 2200 calories, and continue to walk 45 minutes per day.  I also plan to eat four or five small meals, instead of two or three big ones.  And, since I’m no longer drinking sodas, I’m already drinking copious amounts of water.

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