Moving day.

I've been considering moving my blog for a while now (at least while I was active with it) so I've decided to go ahead and do it already.

A friend of mine asked recently what "OPAAT" means to me. It's just an acronym for one pound at a time but the connotation goes so much further. This is a weight loss blog. But I've stated many times that I am not my weight.

Why should my blog be?

So to that effect I found a nice new name on blogger, but they don't do redirects. Once the url had changed http://opaat.blogspot.com was a dead link. I wanted to keep my posts so I started to look around the other services. WordPress has an import feature so I've moved there.

My new blog URL is http://thisgranolalife.wordpress.com/

New year, new address, new outlook, new me!

Goal Posts For the End of the Year

I was writing a rather self defeating post about the new year and how it's incredibly arbitrary to make goals based entirely on the idea of a new number at the end of the year marking. But honestly, would it have done me any good?

The answer is simply no.

So this year I'm going to do something different and actually make New Year Resolutions (NYR). If you've read my blog with any consistency (not that I've been a very consistent blogger) you'll know that I'm not a fan of resolutions. For the past few years my NYR has been "...". Which is to say I haven't made any. This is, however, a New Year so this year I'm going to do something drastic and different.

I am going to resolve to do things. This is actually a really hard thing for me to do because I have been trying hard for the past two years to not have major goals. They would only lead to disappointment, I would tell myself. But the thing is, they only lead to disappointment if I don't actually follow through. That is the issue that I've had, I don't follow through. Having taken the risk of disappointment out of the equation I actually end up with no reason for accountability. There's nothing that I'm working toward so it doesn't matter that I haven't gotten anywhere.

This list, I should note, is not only about my weight. That is because I am not just my weight. Instead I am taking a holistic approach to this. This blog will no longer be JUST about my weight, but about the improvement of the person that I am. This does not preclude my health in any way shape or form, because my health is pretty essential to my person. This list is about me, not becoming a different me, but becoming a better me.

So without further ado:

Chrissie's List of Stuff To Do in 2008!

• Learn Spanish


I've been thinking about doing this for years now. I am half Cuban and at some point would like to learn more about the culture and history of a part of my heritage that I hold dear to my heart. I feel like I'm removed from that because I don't speak the language and it's actually been really disheartening for me. I have the books. I have the CDs. I have the time. I have the desire. I just haven't done it. In 2008 I will.


• Lose 75 pounds


There I said it. I want to take off 75 pounds by December 31st, 2008. It's a reasonable number, I think. A little less than a pound and a half per week. I know there are plateaus, and dry spells and set backs, but I have a goal and I have the ability to meet it. With eating well and exercising on a regular basis there is really no reason that I couldn't be under 200 pounds by the end of the new year. (note: I've already started to think of excuses, but I can't think of one single valid justification).


• Be More Physically Active


This is a fairly ambiguous goal. Honestly. just walking to work would automatically fulfill this resolution. However, I mean it in a more all encompassing manner. I am still living a very lazy life style. I have a bike that I don't use. I have a gym membership that I don't use. I live in a National Park that's world renowned for it's awesome hiking that I haven't really gotten out into. I should do these things and more! I'm happy when I'm moving, I need to move more.


• Be a Better Friend


There are a lot of awesome people in my life that I essentially neglect on a regular basis. I have excuses but again, no valid justifications for living this way. So I'm going to change that. I don't want birthdays and holidays and days of note to pass by without letting the people that I care about know that I care. I have a really awesome day planner with all these beautiful pictures of Cuba (tying into resolution #1) and by December 31st, 2008 I would be doing it a grave disservice by letting it remain as empty as it now. I'm going to become a phone caller, a letter writer, a card and gift sender, a visitor and most importantly, a good friend.


• Be a Better Me


I am broken in a lot of ways. I battle depression and horrible horrible self esteem. While these things aren't essentially my fault they are things that I can control and move past. There is no real reason why I should settle with thinking horrible things about myself just because I think them. There is no real reason that I should continue operating the way that I have been just because that's the way I've been operating. There is no reason to allow myself to continue my life the way it is because it's comfortable. It's time to take risks and do things that I'm scared to do. It's time to be accountable and responsible both for myself and to myself.


• Get My Finances in Order


It's no secret (if you know me) that I'm terrible with money. I'm actually really irresponsible with it. I don't have to be, but I am. So I'm not going to be any more. I have debts that aren't being paid. I have bills that I'm letting slip. I have things that I'd like that currently aren't feasible because of the way that I treat my money. It's time to change that.


• Get Back My Spiritual Side


My faith goes through peaks and valleys. I used to be really excited and contemplative about my faith. I used to love nothing more than diving in and reading and then writing exegesis. I've let that go in the past year and because of that I honestly feel like there's something substantially lacking in my life. It's time to get back the fervor.


• Hike the Grand Canyon - Rim to Rim


A very small percentage of people who visit the Grand Canyon (and there are millions every year) ever actually hike inside the canyon. It would be a complete shame if I don't considering that I actually live here. So this year I'm going to.


• Be More Introspective and Extroverted


Can that work? Can I take the time out to honestly think about myself, and think about the world while actively getting out and participating with the people around me? I think so. Not only do I think that I can do this but I think that I need to do this. I spend a lot of time in my own head, admittedly. But I spend very little time thinking and actually dissecting myself. I suppose this ties in with #4 and #5 but in a more specific way.


• Blog More and Be a Better Blogger


There's such an awesome community out here. I want to be a part of it. This means, obviously, updating here more and updating my LJ more and actually thinking about and replying to things that other people post. I need to get back out there. This is an awesome resource that I need to take advantage of.

And there you have it. 10 simple steps to a better me in 2008.

Simple... Right?

Edit: To the goal of "Blog More and Be a Better Blogger" would you be so kind as to post links to your favorite bloggers? I have just realized that Opera (my browser of choice) has a built in RSS reader and it's about time that I make use of it.

Ahhh the New Year.

Plans are in place. Plans and schemes.

2008 is going to be the year in which to finish what I started 2 years ago.
I even started putting away money for a new wardrobe when I hit goal.

Yes, I'm serious again.

It's the small things.

I just wrote a whole long post about the same thing that most of my posts are about. Instead of whining though I'm going to just shut up and do something about it. (Translation: Tomorrow I'm going to wake up at ass o'clock in the morning to go to the gym since I know that I'll never go after work.)

That being said I have three small things to report.

1: My weight is under 250! Hooray.
I'm only moderately embarrassed at having to carry my scale to the bathroom with me in the morning. Thankfully I rarely see anyone and if I do they're as zombified as I am. I did get one /look/. She looked at me, looked at the scale and then at me again, gave me that "Yah, so stuff some more Big Macs down your throat" look. I will NEVER understand the reasoning behind that. Fat girl + Scale = some one not trying to improve their health? But I have a strong suspicion that this girl is anorexic. I rolled my eyes at her and then gave her a look which loosely translates to "I hope you choke on a grain of rice, you bitch". It was a good time. Honestly I'm proud of myself. There would have been a time when getting the look would have driven me back to my room to never venture forth with my scale again.

2: My boots zip up!
When I was employed by the Kansas Department of Transportation it was required that I own a pair of black boots with nonmarking and nonskid soles. It didn't matter that I worked behind a desk and didn't do anything more strenuous than file, I still had to have the boots. The taxpayers were kind enough to pay for them for me and I woke them a grand total of twice. They're pretty neat boots (as much as I dislike wearing leather now), fancy with Harley Davidson logos and suchlike. The thing that I liked about these boots was that I don't have to lace them as they just zip on the front. I neglected to actually try zipping them up though and found out the first time that I had to wear my boots that they don't actually fit. My feet were too fat! Not anymore.

3: You all are awesome, inspirational and fabulous and I adore you.

The end.

P.S. More consideration and thought has been put into the NutriSystem thing. I'm even in communication with some one who has done the program. I think I'm going to end up doing it. And it's a good thing that I've thought about it too since my paycheck, the one I thought I wasn't getting for another week and a half will actually be on this Wednesday.

Convenience, but is it worth it?

A friend of mine told me last night that she'd been considering getting back onto the Jenny Craig diet. She'd done it before and was successful. She enjoyed the foods and the convenience of the prepackaged meals which cut down on her late night trips to fast food restaurants.

I have a confession to make, at this point. I've been eating HORRIBLY lately. I'm still at a deficit as proven by my continued gradual weight loss, but I've been less than great at picking what I should. It's easier for me to go to one of the cafeterias here and pick up a veggie burger than it is for me to actually COOK anything in my room. My microwave only cooking is proving to be more of a chore than it seems that I'm willing to deal with most nights. So I thought to myself, I could certainly use the convenience of prepackaged meals that require no refrigeration or freezing. This might actually be a good idea.

So I looked. Jenny Craig, sadly, is very expensive. They also don't offer a vegetarian meal plan. Nutrisystem, however, does. Not only are they far cheaper than Jenny Craig but purchasing a month of food (plus two weeks free) actually costs less than I'm currently spending on food.

The problem? From what I can tell they send you a grand total of 600-800 calories per day broken down into 3 meals and one snack. That's a MISERABLY small amount of food and one that's sure to doom any dieter into failure. You're expected to add your own fruits and vegetables to these meals but if my caloric baseline is 1500 calories a day where am I getting the other 700-900 calories? Fruits and vegetables only offer so much in the way of calories. Another issue that I see is that most of the foods are carb based. Pastas galore, flat bread pizzas and other carb-o-rific meals are what most of these foods are. Of course that's pretty much what I'm eating now, so where's the difference?

There is, of course, the possibility that I add soy protein products to every meal. 120 calorie egg mix for breakfast when served with a portion of MSF breakfast scramblers becomes a 200 calorie meal. Throw in a piece of toast and it's 240, which is approaching an acceptable amount of calories. A lunch of NS black beans and rice with 170 calories could easily be added to with some seitan or a couple chopped up veggie burger patties. 210 calorie vegetarian chili for dinner? TVP the rescue.

So knowing that I can take pretty unspectacular foods and turn them into high protein, calorically viable meals with the inclusion of vegetables and vegetarian proteins the question is - should I? Will the availability of foods that I just have to heat up with no real additional prep work (aside from heating the veg. additions) actually make this something that I can stick to? I think the answer to that may very well be yes.

It's certainly something that I'll be thinking about over the next week and a half (until I get paid and can afford the foods). But in the mean time I'd like your opinion on this. I can and do eat well and healthy when I'm able to cook for myself with a stove and oven. That isn't possible here. Should I take the short cut knowing that it'd at least be doing SOME good?