So yesterday started my new week of tallying points:

Sunday:
2 points for a 2+ hr bike ride
2 points for no alcohol
1 point for being in bed by 11 PM.  Not asleep, but in bed!

A New Start!

Back to the grindstone!  Anyone want to join me?

I need to start a new routine.  I'm in a new town, for a new start, and need to get back into a schedule of healthy habits.  So far its been pretty tough.

So, I'm going to start a points system as follows:

Exercise:

working out 30 min = 1 point

working out 1 hr = 2 points

Food:

tracking daily intake = 1 point

staying within calorie count = 2 points

Bedtime:

In bed by 11 PM = 1 point

In bed by 10 PM = 2 points

Wake up:

Up by 7 AM = 1 point

Up by 6 AM = 2 points

Alcohol:

1 drink only = 1 point

no drinks = 2 points

Week 1 = Goal is to get 5 points a day minimum.

5 points = 1 silver star

5 silver stars in 1 week = 1 gold star

I haven't thought any further than that, or how many stars it will take to get to perhaps allow myself to purchase something frivolous or take a vacation.  For now I'll just keep track.  

Anyone else want to join?  Strength in numbers!

I'm Back! And need some motivation!

Hello all,

I'm getting back on track and back to blogging after some intense March travel.  Seeing as I have my first bellydance performance in 2 years coming up, I am going to try to really get back to basics this next 2 weeks.

Last night I made this for dinner:
Stuffed Herbed Chicken with Boursin and zucchini spears.  Was pretty good.

I could really use your recipe suggestions for quick and healthy meals.  I'm feeling rather uninspired, even though I've found this awesome new meal resource.

I also need some workout inspiration.  I'm getting back to my everyday ~12 minute Lift workout which consists of squats, pushups, and planks, but I'm really having a hard time with motivating for early morning workouts.  My sleep is a little screwed up from travel and I find myself staying up late out of a bit of loneliness, then waking up with too little sleep and high-tailing it to work.

Any suggestions or support is welcome!

Quick Update - I'm still here!

Hello all!
Just wanted to say that although my blogging has declined, my efforts to exercise and eat right have not!

Some thoughts, prior to my Thursday weigh day, which will mark 1 month of doing this.

I have tracked my caloric intake with myfitnesspal for 27 days now.  I have been honest when I've gone over, which has happened quite a bit.  However, I am sure that if I was not tracking, I would have gone over more.

I have worked out 5 days a week the past 3 weeks.  This has improved my sleep, my mood, my strength, and muscle tone.

I am not exactly sure how much weight I have lost, because I did not weigh until the first week in.  I have a pretty good idea, though, what my start weight was and I believe I have lost 3.5-5 lb up until today, though my 4 week weigh in will be Thurs.

Progress has been slow but steady, and I feel healthy, and perhaps most importantly, not deprived.  It might be my imagination, but my clothes seem to fit a tiny bit better, and I think I look a tiny bit smaller.  Either way, I'm happy with the choices I have made in the last few weeks.

More on Thurs. - and a recommitment to blogging in Feb.!

The best fitness gadget you can buy is not what you think.

In the days of fitbit, iPhone apps, and all sorts of fancy gadgetry, the most effective thing you can invest in is a heart rate monitor.  It will it keep you honest in terms of how hard you are working, allow an accurate estimate of calories burned, and real time feedback on your performance.  One measure of fitness is how rapidly your heart rate drops after a high intensity interval. You have the benefit of the instant feedback of watching your heart rate decrease during recovery and increase with intensity, but you will also have a record of your performance and caloric burn for each workout that can be downloaded to your computer. I can't tell you how effective it's been just to wear it twice in the past week while teaching spin.

Good news is basic models can be had for under $30. Mine is actually part of my GPS watch, which ironically when I used for running I never used the heart rate monitor, but now I don't run very much and only use the HRM.

I even found a way to set it to read both heart rate and %max heart rate to know how hard I'm exercising with respect to the heart rate zone charts. Of course this requires entering info about age, weight, gender, and resting heart rate. Definitely informative for estimating calories burned when inputting exercise into myfitnesspal.

More info here: http://www.spinning.com/en/media/spinning_news_for_spinning_enthusiasts/2010-9-1.html

To dance!

The internet is being evil at my house and hanging when I try to post.  So here goes, second try.

This is not a food related post but rather one related to the reason I am making these fitness and healthy eating efforts:  Dance.

Tonight I went to a bellydance show (or Hafla) and saw wonderful dancers and musicians as well as my dance friends.  I had a great time and I knew watching people dance would make me want to dance, which I did with friends during the open dance part of the show.

So that was my first goal on the road to getting back into dance - to attend a hafla or show.  Next is to start attending some workshops - at least 1 next month (most likely more, as there is a lot going on!). In March, I plan to start dropping in on some classes, and I'm targeting May for performance opportunities. I hope by that time to be in the kind of shape I would like to be in for performing (as in 15 lbs lighter than now).  Hopefully, these efforts will bring me there!  Which means that I need to start being a bit more regular again with my blog posting, and more formal in my day to day actions.  I did choose 2 recipes for the week and I went shopping today.  Also did zumba, and am teaching spin the next 3 days.

I have had some challenges with going out, and alcohol has been responsibly for my calorie overages.  Not just the alcohol but the fact that it makes me want to eat after I drink it.  I need to stay out of situations involving drinking except for perhaps 1-2 nights a week.  Last week was a little anomalously social, and I can tell by looking at myfitnesspal that I definitely overdid it on the calories.

Seeing some dance has refocused me on why I am doing this in the first place, and I think keeping that goal of being able to perform and feel good about my body is something to keep at the forefront of my mind.  Onward and upward!

On from the vaults - Festival on the Nile, Orlando.  Year... 2009! Less than 5 years ago!

Moment of truth - weigh day 2

The good news is that I lost 1 lb this week, according to the scale. Though it's difficult to know for sure because daily weight fluctuations are also on the order of 1 lb or two. I'm pretty sure I lost more than 1 lb the prior week because looking at my avg. daily calories this week, I was up over where I should be - in fact, this weeks avg was 300 cal more than last week, and thanks to tracking, I know why.

I have myfitnesspal set to 1200 calories a day, which is the lowest it goes. As long as I exercise and don't drink, or only have  a planned glass of wine, I'm ok. But days without exercise, weekends involving going out to drink and eat, and special occasions push me sometimes well beyond my net calories even when I exercise. This weeks's net was 1700, which isn't horrible, but will only allow for loss of less than 1 lb per week. Last week's average was 1400, which I will strive for this week.

I'm still very happy that I have been very honest with myself and tracked diligently. 

Coming up: some more challenges and my discovery wearing my heart rate meter last night to spinning. Spoiler alert - I'm working harder than I thought!

Recipe Alert - Broccoli and Cheese Soup, light style!

I just wanted to share something I made today with you.  This is sort of an amalgamation of several recipes, but I think it turned out well:

Broccoli and Cheese Soup, light style!

Organic Chicken Broth - Low Sodium, 3 Cup	15	3	0	3	420	3
Brocolli - Florets (Raw) - Cwd, 4 cup	100	16	0	12	100	8
Oil - Olive, 1 tsp	40	0	5	0	0	0
Onions - Raw, 1 cup, chopped	67	16	0	1	5	7
Celery - Raw, 2 stalk, medium (7-1/2" - 8" long)	11	2	0	1	64	1
Yukon Gold - Potato, 9.54 oz (1 potato)	198	47	0	5	0	2
Kraft Natural Shredded Cheese - 2% Milk Sharp Chedder, 1/2 cup	160	2	12	14	460	0
Milk - Nonfat (fat free or skim), 0.25 cup	21	3	0	2	32	0

Season with salt, ~ 1 tsp curry powder, and lots of pepper!

1) First I sautéed the onions and celery in olive oil.  

2) Then I added broccoli, cubed potato, and chicken broth (you can use veggie broth but I can never find low sodium veggie broth) and heated to a boil, then brought to a simmer and covered for 20 min.

3) Then I pureed it in the blender, adding 1/3 of the mixture first, then the second third, then the rest.

4) I returned it to the pan, which needed a little extra heat by that time.  Added skim milk and light sharp cheddar cheese and stirred.

5) This soup needs seasoning for sure, a little salt, some curry, and a lot of pepper worked best for me!

It yielded about 4 cups.  A 1 cup serving = 154 calories.  Great for cold winter lunches!

Tuesday and Wednesday Challenge!

Hello all!

Yesterday's challenge was tough for me.  I caught myself eating leftovers out of the fridge post spin class.  But, I caught myself, and I wrote it all down.

Then later I had to have 2 emergency snacks.  One was a cottage cheese, healthy but I ate standing.  The other was a granola bar I had to grab - I was able to get a last minute massage appt. so I had to defer dinner and I was starving.  I did eat it sitting down - but in the car!

I usually eat breakfast standing bc I'm in a hurry - that's the hardest part.  So I am going to focus there for the rest of the week - eating breakfast seated.

I had another challenge for today but since this is going out late, I will defer it until tomorrow.  So here are my Tuesday and Wednesday challenges.

Tuesday Challenge - get 7.5-8 hours of sleep tonight.  (Last night I got.... about 5 hours).  So tonight I need to be in bed by 11AM if possible, and up at 7AM.

Wednesday Challenge - Drink 8-12 oz. of water before every single meal and snack.  I usually drink water out of a pint glass, so if you can do that, you'll get about 16 oz. per glass.  Makes getting in 64 oz. much easier, and makes you super full.

Anyone following these challenges - how are they going for you?  Did you choose a recipe for the week?  Which one?

Monday Challenge

How did your Sunday go?

I am halfway through my challenge.  I did 40 min on the treadmill (alternating walk and run), 3 sets of 7 squats with weight and 3 set of 7 pushups, then a little bit of plank.

Now, for this week's recipe.  Still trying to choose.  I love winter because you can make soup, and I love a good soup.  I made two last week, and I think I'll make another this week.  Or maybe a chili.

Stumped for recipes?  Here are 101 Healthy Soups to choose from.

Now, for Monday's challenge:
Eat every meal and snack sitting down.

The idea here is to reduce mindless eating.  If every time we eat is intentional, we won't consume the excess calories from a handful of extraneous calories here and there.

Good luck!

Sunday Challenges

I've gotten behind on my posts.  But, now for tomorrow's challenge(s).  Yes, since I forgot to post yesterday, there are 2 challenges for tomorrow.  One food challenge and one exercise challenge.

Food:  Choose one new recipe to make this week.
Use a cookbook you haven't looked at in awhile, or simply go online and search for a new recipe.

Exercise:  Get at least 20 minutes of movement tomorrow (Sunday).
This may be easy for you, or this may be hard.  Maybe you don't have it planned into your day, or tomorrow is your rest day.  Either way, take the dog for a walk. Dance for 20 minutes.  Or do a more "formal" form of exercise.

Report back tomorrow night on how you did!

Day 8 - Moment of Truth - Weigh Day!

So I got on the scale today.  Actually, I lie, I got on it yesterday too, but I didn't like what it said, so I got on it today and was much happier with it :-)

I don't like weighing myself at the very beginning of any weight loss effort because I find it can be discouraging.  Of course, that means that I don't really know how effective this week has been in terms of total weight lost.

However, I do know that my mood is good, I'm sleeping better, and that I am 1 lb below where I was last time I weighed myself back in early Dec.  Considering the fact that we just went through the gauntlet of holidays, and that I spent about 16 days last month traveling, this is a good thing.

And despite using myfitnesspal for several months on and off, that was the first full week I tracked EVERYTHING and was able to get a real average caloric intake.  Basically, I was great during the week, a little over on Fri., and a lot over on Sat.  And I know exactly why.  I went out Sat. night and drank.  I also know that anytime I am going to eat ANY MEAL out, I need to work out that day just to have that calorie buffer.  Today, for example, I went over, because I didn't work out.  Because I know I'm going out tomorrow, I know I cannot skip my workout tomorrow AM!

Entering my weight today on myfitnesspal was satisfying, and seeing the bar chart of my calorie intake this week was satisfying.  I'm a scientist, and I like data :-)  But most importantly, I got the feedback that I'm on the right track.

So the next challenge is getting through the weekend, and sticking to my workout and eating plan.  Because I cooked 3 times this week, I have a lot of frozen leftover to choose from.  On Saturday I will make my meal plan for the following week and see what I will need to pick up grocery wise on Sunday.

Thanks for following along so far.  For the next 7 days, starting tomorrow, in addition to updates about what I'm cooking, my workouts, and food plan, I am going to suggest a daily challenge.  I'll post the challenge a day ahead of time, to give those who want to participate an opportunity, and hopefully get people's feedback on how they did.  Of course, I will be following the challenge as well!

So tune in tomorrow for Saturday's challenge!

Day 6 & 7 - Exercise!

Well hello!

Missed a day of posting but I'll catch up.  I've been quite busy cooking meals, crunching Mars data, and teaching spin class.

Speaking of which, let's talk about exercise.  I tend to do much better when I am "all in."  Meaning, I need to be following an exercise plan as well as a plan of healthy eating to really stick with it.  I just FEEL better when I exercise.  Plus, when trying to stick to my calorie allotment for the day, I really need to burn those extra calories, so I can eat them!

One tough part about coming back to exercise after being gone for awhile is that feeling that you should be able to do more, run longer and stronger, lift heavier.  Its hard to start small and build back up, but I've made the mistake in the past of going all out for a week and then being in too much pain to continue, or just too tired, or burned out.

So my original plan was to start slow, 3-4 days a week of 45 min of cardio, plus following the 90 day squat and pushup challenge on lift, which gives you a daily mini-workout.  Click this link for all the plans available.  They start slow and build.  Come on, you can do 1 set of 5 squats and 1 set of 5 pushups.  I'm up to 3 sets of 6 squats and pushups.

My week was going to be:

Mon - teach spin, 45 min
Tues - teach spin, 45 min
Weds - rest
Thurs - run/walk 45 min
Fri - rest
Sat or Sun - Swim 45 min

However, I got a text from someone wanting me to sub for their Weds. night spin class, so I did.  The thermostat has been broken in the spin room, so Monday AM it was 58 degrees.  Tues. AM it was 48 degrees!  And tonight?  80 degrees????  My heart rate was way up.  I do realize that when I teach, sometimes I slack.  But I've been monitoring my heart rate to make sure I'm really working.

When estimating calories burned, we often overestimate.  Which can lead to overeating, if we put these values into an app like myfitnesspal and assume we've burned more than we have.  So I'm very conservative when estimating my calorie burn.  I know there are lots of things like fit bits etc., but even simply monitoring your heart rate through a 6 second count (and multiplying by 10) can give you a lot of information.  Review the heart rate zones, and how to calculate your target heart rates for these zones.  Remember, for weight loss and cardiovascular health, most of your workouts should be performed in the Aerobic zone.

Day 5 - Grocery Wars

Today's post is about grocery shopping. Yay!

As convenient as it is, I rarely do one-stop shopping.  I can't stand Giant, in general.  The people there are surly.  I miss Publix!

I end up going to Trader Joe's because they have great pre-made options, such as plain roast chicken, frozen food like Turkey bolognese sauce, and eggplant parmesan.  And delicious things like apple stix.  And low carb-wraps.  And almond milk.  And frozen brown rice. Yep, those are some of my staples.

For meat and most produce I usually go to Sniders in downtown(ish) Silver Spring.  Its super close to my house and I can stop on the way home from work.  And super cheap.

Tonight's dinner was Thai Chicken green curry - light coconut milk, green curry paste, a little fish sauce, a little brown sugar, green beans, chicken breast.  Tasty!  Now I have 2 of my 3 meals for the week cooked and packed.  I'll have one more grocery store trip to get the bottom round roast for my Thurs. night meal.

Didn't do too awesome on my water drinking today, but taught 6 AM spin and then did 3x5 squats and pushups after.  Teaching 5:45 AM spin tomorrow - it should be about 6 degrees at 6 AM  YUCK.

I promise more exciting posts in the future.  But I'm pooped and I have to finish my spin mix for tomorrow!

Where's your favorite place to grocery shop?

Day 4 - food planning

So my cat erased the original post by walking on the keyboard and closing the window I was writing in, but that's ok.  Kitty love.

Yesterday I made a meal plan for the week.  Dinners are the hardest to plan for.  I chose 3 recipes and got the ingredients, plus staples (eggs, almond milk, goat cheese, apples, pears, etc.)  Here's the plan for the week:

Mon - Thai green curry with chicken - an old weight watchers recipe I had printed out from the website.  Freeze 2 portions
Tues. - trivia, so I'll be out, but I always get the same grilled chicken salad at caddies.
Weds. -  Chicken and spinach soup with pesto which I cooked up today but added 1 c carrots instead of 1/2 c and also red pepper flakes for a kick.
Thurs. - Beef Stew Provencal - from a weight watchers cookbook.  Freeze 2-3 portions
Fri. - out
Sat. - Kale and Trader Joe's turkey bolognese sauce, other veggies
Sun. - Leftover green chili

Yay!  I use a lot of weight watchers recipes because they are actually pretty tasty and I have many of their cookbooks.  Online sites like Eatingwell are also great resources.  For the paleo side of things, health-bent has some great meatball recipes, though they don't put calories so I input the recipes into myfitnesspal to get the nutritional values.

Breakfasts I always eat the same things: 2 eggs with 1/2 english muffin or low carb wrap, or egg whites with a little cheese and green pepper in a low carb wrap, or occasionally oatmeal with almond milk.

Lunches are from what I make for dinner, which is why I cooked the soup today, so I would have lunch for tomorrow.

Ok, I'm sleepy and have to teach 6 AM spin class, so that's all for now!

Day 3 - Recap of today and There's an App for everything!

First I want to recap on last night.  I did go for pho, ordered a small chicken pho and ate most of the broth, all of the chicken, and about half the noodles.  No drinks (only water).  When he asked if I wanted to go have frozen yogurt I told him I was watching my intake of extraneous calories and maybe we could just get coffee instead.  However there was nothing open and so that was the end of the night.  Still, not bad.  I was mindful.

Today, I did some housecleaning (not enough) and unpacking of my many travel bags.  I chose 3 recipes to make this week (more on that tomorrow) and went grocery shopping.  Oh, and I also got myself to the gym for 35 min of walk/run and some squats/pushups.

Which brings me to the topic of the day:  APPS!

I have found several apps helpful and am always exploring more.  I do think there can be an app overload, where you spend more time tracking things than doing them, and it can get overwhelming, but for the most part, they provide accountability, satisfaction, feedback, and support from other app users.

So I'm going to list what I use right now:

1) myfitnesspal - tracks food, exercise, and water.  Has an enormous database of food, although since nutritional data is entered by users, you have to reality check some of the entries.  When you put in your exercise, it subtracts those calories from your total daily allotment, so you also have to be careful and reality check the calories burned for different exercises.  My favorite part of this app - when you hit "finished logging for the day" it gives you a message that says "If you ate this way every day you would weigh xxx lbs in 5 weeks."  Really hits home.

2) Lift - has all sorts of programs to track progress in everything from drinking more water to clearing your email inbox to becoming more extroverted.  Some of them just consist of checking a box each day you have done the activity, but others, such as "3 months to a new you" has daily instructions for how many squats and pushups to do, starting with very modest reps and building on this.  For example, I did 3 sets of 4 squats + 4 pushups in addition to my walk/run.  Check out the "fitness" section for more of this type of program, which include things like "10 minutes of exercise before 10 AM every day" etc.

3) zombies run - While the other two apps are free, this one is not, but its fun.  I don't use it religiously but its great for an otherwise dull treadmill workout.  You can set a 30 or ~60 min workout and each workout is a "mission" with a story interspersed with songs from your chosen playlist.  You actually get stuff, like in a video game, and can build up your base, but I haven't explored this too much.  Its fun though, and its what got me to the gym today.

Ok gotta run - I've done great today (dinner was rainbow chard with Trader Joe's eggplant parm) but I am going out tonight and will drink.  I am going to limit myself to 2 drinks, as I have the calorie allotment for that many.  Wish me luck!

What apps do you use to help with fitness and diet?

Day 2 - Water and a social challenge...

So I have succeeded in drinking my 64+ oz of water today.  I can check that off my list!

But, two random setbacks.  For lunch, I had awesome sushi and sashimi.  Wrote it all down, realizing maybe I should have made some different choices, but its ok.

Then I had coffee with someone (completely random, met on OK Cupid but works down the street for a NASA contractor and wanted to meet up for coffee).  He brought baklava.  I had a little but didn't eat the whole thing.  It was GOOD.  But, I've reached my calorie limit for the day and I haven't had dinner!

So I figured I'd make a clear veggie soup for dinner.  Then I get a text from the same guy from coffee who says hey, I know its last minute but do you want to go to dinner tonight?  Korean BBQ?  Definitely not diet friendly!

This is the perfect example of how easy it is to get derailed.  I liked the guy ok and wouldn't mind having dinner with him.  But sigh, I want to be good!

Whatever I do, I must write it down.

Water, water, everywhere...

Drinking water shouldn't be hard.  I can sit and mindlessly drink a glass of wine or beer like nobody's business.  Why is water so tough?

I have discovered I drink much faster through a straw, so I have one of those plastic cups with the straw.  Unfortunately its empty right now and the building water tastes like dirt (literally).  But, no excuses, I have 1 gallon of water on a shelf right behind me so I better fill that cup!

I had 1 16 oz. glass this morning, 1 glass at lunch (12 oz.), 2 cups green tea, 1 cup black tea.  Counting the tea, that's 52 oz.  I need 64 oz and I'd prefer not to count the tea.  So if I fill and drink my 22 oz cup right here, that will be 74 oz, before dinner.  Not bad!

Sometimes I like to add mint or lime or lemon to water to make it more interesting.  Problem is, I have ended up with a nasty lemon rind stuck in my narrow mouth water bottle.  Anyone else have ideas to encourage water drinking?

Day 1 - To dance again!

Why do I want to lose weight?  Lots of reasons.  But a simple, concrete reason is because I want to bellydance again.

I started dancing (Middle Eastern) when I was in graduate school at Florida State.  When I moved to the SF Bay Area, dance was my lifeline and getting involved in the bellydance community there was a bright spot during some dark times.  When I moved to DC, I sought out dance teachers and immersed myself in the dance community.  Some of my first and best friends were dancers (and possibly half of my Facebook friends are dancers I've met over the years!).  I have great memories of performing with these wonderful women, traveling for festivals, practicing, and costume shopping and swapping.

Fast forward to today.  I have not performed in almost 2 years.  I haven't even been to see my friends dance, partially because I've been busy, but also because it makes me sad that I don't dance anymore.  When I think about how much I used to love performing, interacting with an audience, and the simple joy of moving to the music, I get sad that I have let something like my body image get between me and something that brings me so much joy.  And its not as if I have gained a large amount of weight - but its enough to make me unhappy with myself.

Of course, there are many other reasons I want to lose weight, but all of them have to do with improving my self confidence, and fitting into the clothes in my closets full of awesomeness (my "normal" clothes closet and my costume closet!)

So, that's my "why."  I want to be dancing again in 6 months.  That's my goal.

My short term goals will change month to month.  What I want to do this month is keep this blog.  For one month.  Ideally longer, but one month at a time.  I thought it would be helpful to write a few more short term action-related goals for this month:

1) Write in this blog every day, even if its just a brief post.
2) Record my food intake 6 out of 7 days a week (try for 7).
3) Work out 4 times a week.  (This is somewhat built in for me because I am teaching spinning 2 and 3 times a week all month.)

What will you commit to?

Get ready...

Happy New Year!

Every year we make lofty New Year's resolutions.  And year after year, despite our best intentions, by the time January 31 has rolled around, we have lapsed back into our pre-resolution ways.

Why?  Because change is difficult.  But not impossible.  I think change is possible if we have a clear goal, and can commit to behaviors that will lead to that goal.  They say 21 days is enough to change a habit, or cement new habits.

Take losing weight.  For years I have wanted to lose weight, and for years, despite best intentions, I make it no further than 2 weeks of good eating and exercise behavior, and then life gets in the way.  And that's the excuse I make.

Well, life is always going to get in the way.  That's why its necessary to have realistic goals, and a concrete, defined plan to achieve them.  So, for the first time, I'm going to do this the right way.  I'm going to examine why I want to lose weight, why my health is so important to me.  I am going to take the time to draw up a plan.  Each day of this plan will have a concrete action I can take and check off a list.  Built into this plan is time to find new recipes, write a meal and exercise plan, shop for groceries and cook.  And I am going to record the process here, for accountability and hopefully, support.

Maybe you will follow this plan along with me.  The first week goes something like this:

Day 1: Commit - write down why I want to do this, long term (~6 month) and short term (~1 month) goals.  These goals will not be "lose 20 lbs" but instead things like "exercise 4 days a week" and "cook and freeze 2 meals a week" and "log in food journal every day."
Day 2: Start drinking water - Edit: I meant to say 64 oz. or 2 L a day!  Use an app. to track this.
Day 3: There's an Ap. for that - Start using an online ap. to record all food eaten and exercise.
Day 4: Food plan - look 7 days ahead at my schedule and determine which meals will be eaten at home and which out, which nights I will cook.  Choose recipes and make grocery list.  For me, it works best to have 2 recipes I will cook and freeze.
Day 5: Grocery Shopping
Day 6: Cook the food for the week
Day 7: Make exercise plan for next 7 days, and post on fridge.

Notice that "weigh self" is not on the list.  Personally, I don't like weighing myself until I've already started healthy habits.  That will be Day 8.

Today I started tracking again with MyFitnessPal.  Its a great app., and when I use it religiously I do have success.  Other apps to check out include Lift.  More on that on day 3.

Next post: Why I want to change my habits, and my goals.