dianaschnuth

I’ve often felt like I’m a little anal-retentive about the things I track and record on a regular basis. But nothing I do holds a candle to Nicholas Felton.

In one sense, the Annual Reports started in 2004 with a single-page, best-of-the-year survey. While this “Best of Four” was filled primarily with items I’d enjoyed the most over the previous year, it also contained some smaller, objective items I could excavate from the year without trying too hard. These items, such as the “most-played song,” “air miles traveled” and “digital versus analog photos” formed the basis of the following reports, while the subjective elements have become much less prominent.

I looked at Felton’s most recent Annual Report, and found it both intriguing and excessively OCD. Then it occurred to me how many things I track in my own life:

• Music – tracking listening habits via Last.fm and iTunes
• Food – tracking eating habits for Weight Watchers by hand in a journal
• Weight – tracking daily/weekly weight over the past six years via Excel spreadsheet
• Photos – geotagging on Flickr, cataloguing and tagging via Adobe Bridge
• Concerts – via Last.fm Events (and physical ticket stubs saved)

I’m sure there are other data and trends I could extract from my online interactions (like Facebook and YouTube), and I know there must be daily actions that it would behoove me to track more regularly (like my sleep habits).

I’m sure it would also be helpful if I actually looked at the trends that the data reveal — do I gain more weight after a weekend including sushi or Indian food? Is there a correlation between amount of sleep and weight loss/gain? How does my diet directly affect my weight; how many Flex Points can I eat before I stop losing and start maintaining or gaining? What’s the effect of eating five or six servings of vegetables versus only one in a day? There are so many possibilities, depending on how obsessive I want to get about the various aspects of my life. (Right now, my weight loss and food intake is the most trackable and accessible, so that’s where my focus goes first.)

Might be worth some thought for me, as I’m already an anal-retentive bastard when it comes to tracking and listing certain things, anyway. Maybe dialing up the OCD will help me on several fronts.

Time for a reality check.

I haven’t lost any weight since before Thanksgiving. The trendline curve on my anal-retentive weight-loss graphs is starting to bow in the wrong direction, for the short term. Something needs to be done, and just complaining isn’t going to cut it.

I need some new, measurable short term goals.

And that means a starting point. Since my last officially blogged weigh-and-measure, the following measurements have changed:

Weight: 190.6 lbs (down 3.4 lbs in just over 6 months)
Chest (not bust): 35½” (down half an inch)
Hips: 46″ (down one inch)
Thigh: 25″ (down one inch)
Calf: 15.25″ (down 0.75 inches)

All other measurements have stayed the same. I’ve been flirting with the 180s since late summer, though — honestly, today probably wasn’t the best day for an official weigh-and-measure, due to monthly bloating. TMI? Perhaps. But that’s how I roll.

So, what’s my reasonable, measurable short-term goal, and how am I going to get there?

I’m going to shoot for a small and quite reasonable goal: 185 lbs by my birthday (April 22nd). Even if I only lose half a pound a week, I’ll get there. I can do that.

How will I do it? By drinking at least six glasses of water a day, eating at least five servings of fruits and vegetables, keeping up with my push-up program, and doing at least 60 minutes of cardio a week (not including lunch walks). I can do that, too.

I’m tired of being so down on myself. I’m ready to do it up right. I’ll feel so much better, physically and mentally, once I get back on track.

It’s nights like this that prove to me exactly why I’ve been in a plateau for the past three months. This evening, I chose to indulge in an evening of TV, which is extremely rare for me. Unfortunately, my evening of television turned into an evening of I Can’t Stop Eating.

The same thing happens on Friday nights: I sit down to enjoy myself, in whatever solitary pursuit I find myself on a Friday night, and I end up falling face first into a bowl of noodly goodness. Followed by a diet fudge bar, followed by another snack, followed by a frozen meal, followed by me no longer tracking my Points.

On weekends, I assume that I’m OK if Aaron’s OK; he tracks more religiously than I do, especially on weekends. Sometimes I forget that he has many more Points than I do, since he’s male, and has a more active job. Even though he takes his last meal of the day after I’m already in bed, I should still probably say no to that last fudge bar of the day, or be more careful of what I order at Starbucks.

I also can’t remember the last time I exerted myself to the point of sweating. The gym membership we were going to buy ended up bring too long of a commitment, and I never got around to activating my free 30-day membership at Bally’s. Really, though — if I’m not going to exercise at home, what makes me think I’m going to make a special trip to Bally’s in the snow and cold, even if it is less than ten minutes away?

Point being, I need to get back in the game and start giving a shit again. I was so excited when I was consistently losing. Ever since the holidays, I’ve stalled; and the more momentum I lose, the less motivated I am to ramp things up again.

It’s easy to see what needs to be done. The challenge is in actually doing it.