Fit by 40

I turned 39 at the beginning of September. Not a milestone by itself, but it is the last stop before a big milestone. I got to thinking during the days after my birthday that I was tired of being fat and tired. I decided something needed to be done, but I've tried making big changes in the past to only end up back where I am. We were pretty successful with the 17 Day Diet back in 2012 when I lost about 30 pounds, but that weight all came back and it brought some friends. We've tried to do the 17 Day Diet a couple of times since then and we just couldn't make it work a second time. I was up to my heaviest weight and largest pants size on my birthday. I hate outgrowing clothes, but I hit the point that I really couldn't wear most of the pants in my closet and a lot of my shirts were getting tight. I had to go up a size for my polos and my dress shirts were starting to tug at the buttons on my belly. I knew something needed to change.

I decided that if I'm going to lose weight and get in shape (and stay that way), I needed to make more gradual changes rather than trying to lose the weight quickly. I found the Runs for Cookies blog a while ago and one of her strongest recommendations is to start by making small changes that add up to a big change in the end. I also don't want to give up all the good food options :). My plan is to make a series of healthy changes during the year leading up to my 40th birthday. I've read that new habits take about 40 days to really stick. I don't want to wait that long in between changes, so I'm going to introduce a new change every two weeks. Some of the changes will be giving up a bad habit. Others will be incorporating a new healthy habit. The first changes focus on food because a healthy weight starts in the kitchen. So far I have ideas for 9 of the 26 changes. I might decide that I need to devote more time to make sure some of the changes become permanent before moving on to the next one on the list.

Here are the ideas I have so far. I would certainly welcome suggestions for other healthy habits.

• Give up pop
• Fix breakfast
• Pack lunch
• Stop eating out
• Eat at least 2 fruits a day
• Exercise 30 minutes 3x a week
• Exercise 30 minutes 5x a week
• 10,000 steps a day
• Bodyweight exercises 2x a week

 Starting stats:

•  Weight: 228 lbs
• Pant size: 38 in waist
• Shirt size: XL (16.5/17 in neck)