The beginning of the journey

Greetings! I am Jess, a 27 year-old laid-back chick living in Austin, TX. I'm also what doctors consider morbidly obese. I've been overweight just about all of my life. I played sports from the time I was 5 until 20, and managed to keep my weight from spiraling out of control. But it has steadily been climbing for the past seven years. 


I've reached the point where I'm tired of it, and I'm ready to be healthy. I don't want to do anything extreme, though. No eliminating carbs, no working out for seven hours every day, no drastic surgeries. I'm going to live a normal, healthy life.


My plan for a normal, healthy life means tweaking some not-so-healthy behaviors and habits I've formed over the years. I'm going to have to adjust the way I eat, and increase my daily exercise. Here's a breakdown of the plan.


 Diet

• No gluten. I discovered about 18 months ago that I am gluten-intolerant and went off of gluten. I felt so much better! Then after about 6 months, I started eating it here and there, and now I eat it all the time. For the next 12 weeks, I'm gluten free.
• At least one meal every day will be a salad for the next 12 weeks. That is 85 salads. Not boring, tasteless salads, but delicious, gourmet, high-quality salads. Think grilled meats or seafood, roasted veggies like beets, creamy goat cheese or feta, homemade vinaigrette, etc.
• Breakfast will be fruit and yogurt every day, to eliminate the guesswork in the morning. Plus, fruit and yogurt is a nice refreshing start to a hot Texas summer day. I'm a fan of the Greek yogurt myself. I'm going to try to stick to the unflavored varieties, just to limit the amount of added sugars.
• No sodas. Lots and lots of water every day.

Exercise

• 30 minutes of walking/jogging every day. I'm starting the Couch to 5K program, which will be three days of jogging 30 minutes per week, and will walk 30 minutes on the other four days. My goal is to run 3 miles in 30 minutes by the end of the 12 weeks.
• One hour of weight training twice weekly at my gym.
• Two, one-hour yoga classes in a studio every week.

That's it!  No crazy restrictive diets. No excessive exercising. Outside of those food guidelines, I can have whatever I want IN MODERATION. And outside of the exercise guidelines, I'm free to do whatever I please. 

I'll post daily menus of what I'm eating, as well as recipes if I happen to create something especially tasty. I'll also weigh-in every week to check my progress on this plan. That being said...

Day 1*
Starting weight: 289 (sigh)

Lunch: Chipotle Burrito Bowl (Brown rice, black beans, steak, corn salsa, green salsa, cheese, sour cream, guacamole, lettuce)
Dinner: Tino's Greek Cafe Chicken Feta Salad (Romaine lettuce, grilled chicken, cucumbers, Kalamata olives, feta cheese, creamy Greek dressing)
Dessert: Chocolate nonfat frozen yogurt with strawberries and blackberries 


*Excuse my starting this by eating out for every meal. Our counter tops are being replaced and we've been without a sink or counters for a few days. There is no way to cook in our kitchen! Here's to doing the best I can under the circumstances!