1. A sustainable exercise routine
2. Conscious control over what I eat
3. A written log of the journey

#1 is in the bag… I’ve committed myself to 30 minutes a day on the Wii Fit, and while it’s not the most rigorous workout ever, it’s better than nothing.  It’s challenging enough that I feel like I’m accomplishing something and not too challenging that I want to give up.  It’s sustainable and I don’t feel like a slug.  I’m sore and tired, but it’s a good tired.

As a side-note, commonly exercise it clears your head… not me.  I’m less focused than I was before.  Aside from the soreness, this has been the only downside.  On the plus-side, I do feel like I have more energy.

#2 involves a few things:

• Walking to Sunflower each day to get stuff to cook dinner that night (after Thanksgiving)
• Eating slower
• Choosing smaller portions, and
• Drinking more water

#3 is this blog and possibly a food journal.

I’m not sure what a food journal will look like yet.  It takes a lot of time to write down every meal and it adds a lot of guilt to something that should be pleasurable.  Keeping a food journal is like counting condoms before you have sex; probably not what you should be focusing on in that moment.

The reason I stopped going to Weight Watchers a few years back was simple: there was a poster on the wall that said, “Nothing tastes as good as being thin feels.”

For me, thin seems like the wrong word.  Healthy is the right message.  Nothing tastes as good as being healthy feels.  So I’m keeping that in mind.

I wrote a long time ago on Psychotic Resumes about Persistence – and how Wii Fit made me want to curl up into a ball and die.  That was back when I was perfectly healthy, still had an appendix, and the thought had never occurred to me that putting on pants would soon become an accomplishment.

It was, too – I wore pants for the first time since my surgery on Easter Sunday, and the lord saw it, and it was good.

And Wii Fit still makes me want to die. But I’m giving it another try.

I had a conversation with @empowerfitness on Twitter – she’s a personal trainer. She got me thinking that exercise is a really important part of my life that I’ve been neglecting.  As fast as I bounced back after the appendectomy – out of the hospital after two days, working after a week; I could have done a lot better.  I also think I could eat a lot better.  I want to be able to feel dizzy without thinking it’s some sort of stroke.

Starting today, I’m going to make it better.  I’m going to go to Kings and buy some somewhat healthy breakfast food.  I’m also going to get stuff for lunches and dinners.

The whole thing is hard for me.  Instead of cooking, I’d much rather go out and get something to eat, save myself the time, and use that time to be doing something creative.  Instead of bringing something to work that I’ve had to re-heat or leave cold, I would just as soon go get something and pay a little more.  And breakfast… well, I’m fickle.

I’ve taken a liking to these pre-split pink grapefruits, but each one has something like 300 calories and a TON of sugar.  Since it’s simple sugar, I guess I shouldn’t freak out so much, and I’m actually eating a decent breakfast.

Eating out works fine when you don’t have a ton of massive bills. I haven’t tallied them up yet, but I owe somewhere around $3,000 for my appendectomy. Maybe a bit more.

Besides the money aspect, I could be making a lot healthier choices for food.  I’d resolved to do this when I had my appendix out – mostly because my body just would not tolerate horrible food anymore.  Well, that went out the window after the first few BK chicken sandwiches.

It’s a difficult thing for me to think about – ultimately I know that I’m the one letting myself down. Maybe I’ll figure that out before it’s really too late to do anything about it.

Who doesn’t want to be a Superhero?

So I decided today that I want to be a Superhero.  You know, mild mannered (kindof) by day, slaying demons and singing songs about heroics and glory by night… or at least a really kick-ass Karaoke version of Don’t Stop Believin’.   Yeah Journey.

If you know me, and chances are pretty good if you’re reading my blog – you know I’m crazy creative.  I don’t like tooting my own horn or being pretentious, I just like making people laugh.  What’s a better way to make people laugh than creating and becoming your own Superhero?

Some of you are going, “Jeeeze… this guy’s freakin nuts.”  But I know some of you are thinking, “Where the hell do I sign up?”  Most of you were thinking, “Oh no, he’s going to start his ‘lets wear tights’ phase.”  Not true.

Anyway, more details on that later.

Last night at the GitNit Right meeting, I talked in front of 9 Interns.  I informed them all that they were no longer Interns; they were now part of a Tribe.

It’s an interesting concept, and one that I whole-heartedly believe in.  More and more, corporations are treating employees like cannon fodder… or at least like clock-watching Internet zombies who can’t think for themselves, let alone speak or act for the good of the company.  The only defense against such nonsense is to instill a sense of self-worth and identity into ourselves.  We should each know that if we’re giving up our time on this earth to go do something, we’d better be getting more than just a paycheck – it had better mean something.

It has to.

Speaking of which, since I’d like a little more time on this Earth, I’m also going to be starting a section of this blog on my attempt to get back to a healthy weight.  Right now I’m at 250+… which you couldn’t guess from looking at me, but I definitely feel it.  This isn’t going to be easy for me.  I’m not even sure I can make it fun, but I’m going to try, dammit!  I’ve got a Wii Fit, which I was using… and then laziness took over, or a sense of being buried in projects… so, no more.  I always have at least a ten minute stretch during the night or the morning where I at least *think* about exercising and decide it’s too hard.

All I know is I have to be better.  So I will.