My New Year's Resolution and Operation Six Pack
I would first like to start by wishing everyone out in LJ-land a happy new year. I hope you all imbibed enough to have a fun night whilst avoiding the dreaded new year's hangover.
With that in mind, have you all made your new year's resolution? More importantly, do you remember your resolution for the past year? I find it funny that we all resolve to do to something, and not only do we most likely fail to accomplish it, but we forget it by the end of the year. Personally, I'm fairly sure mine was to simply get decent grades so, for once, I think I actually succeeded. However this year, instead of a nice, simple resolution, I have resolved to procrastinate less. While it doesn't sound complicated, my procrastination is special in that it extends to just about every aspect of my life. I procrastinate about taking out the trash, writing LJ entries (I still have two "drafts" that I haven't written), getting my car fixed (check engine light has been on for about a month), depositing checks in my bank (with multiple locations less than two miles from the apartment), etc. And that doesn't even take into account schoolwork. Just about the only thing I don't procrastinate about is brushing my teeth in the morning and that's just because my breath tastes like ass (or how I imagine ass since I have not experienced it for myself). I'm of course realistic to acknowledge that procrastination is a part of life for everyone, which is why my resolution is to simply lessen the amount of procrastination. Here are just a couple things I've procrastinated about:
The eating part is mostly me cutting out the shitty food I eat. As some of you know, I have been on the fast food diet for the past five or six months. I do not intend to change this (completely), but to instead weed out the bad fast food and keep what's not so bad and/or to limit the intake. I've been paying more attention to what I've been eating recently, and I discovered that the Spicy Chicken sammich at Wendys is 440 calories (not too bad, of course without mayo), but the large fries I typically get along with it are 540 calories. Yes, that's right. And the fries have 24g of fat to the sammich's 16g. And though the chicken sammich has a lot of bread, it has fewer carbs, at 46-69g. It does, however, have twice as much sodium. And since I order the meal, the large soda along with it doesn't help. That's another thing. I've been limiting myself to a maximum of one soda per day, which I've actually been quite good about. I won't lie, the first couple days I had a headache as I tried to quit cold turkey.
So aside from the soda limitations, I have set a limit of 800 calories per meal I eat. I have two "bad meal" allowances per week, one of which will of course be reserved for Chipotle (my burrito is 1057 calories, though I can cheat by eating half of it for one meal and half for another) and a large movie popcorn (which I share, but it is ridiculously unhealthy with 1640 calories and 126g of fat). Yes, it's rather arbitrary, but I figure it weeds out combo meals that aren't good for me. I'm also eating more at Subway, Jason's Deli, and Quiznos, or just eating the simple things when I go to other fast food places. I'm not claiming that this is the greatest diet ever, but it's certainly an improvement. Think 12-inch sub to 6-inch sub and soup (900 calories and 42g of fat with a footlong Italian BMT vs. 760 calories and 23g of fat with a 6" Italian BMT and Chicken Noodle Soup). I've also found that eating slower is quite effective. I got my soup and sub combo and was full after eating the soup alone, which has only 2g of fat. I've realized that I'm full before I finish eating. Oh, and I'm saying goodbye to fourth meal.
I don't intend to give regular updates (what I eat on a daily/weekly basis) mostly because I don't think anyone gives a shit. I'll be surprised if most of you make it this far in this stupidly long entry. I'm going to see if I can keep this up for a full month and basically give a subjective analysis of how it goes. I have actually taken "before" pictures, but unless I see a drastic change, I probably won't post them (which will of course then be posted next to "after" pictures). My workout is the Men's Health Abs Diet Weekly Workout Schedule. I will be following it strictly.
In case any of you are wondering what spawned this endeavor, it came from a conversation I had with my friend, Brittany, about Nair. She was talking about Nairing my chest hair into the shape of a heart, and I became slightly curious what I would look like if I didn't have a hairy chest. Or hairy arms and legs. If Operation Six Pack is successful, I will undergo Project Nair (which would of course require pictures). And I'm talking the whole nine yards (referring to the Nair, not the pictures). But don't fear (for those of you who think I've gone completely insane by this point), it would be an experiment only and probably won't happen since Operation Six Pack will probably fail.
ANYWAY, HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE AND PLEASE FEEL FREE TO COMMENT AND TELL ME I'M A MORON, I'LL FAIL, OR COMMEND MY EFFORTS. AND PLEASE SHARE YOUR OWN RESOLUTIONS AND PLANS.
With that in mind, have you all made your new year's resolution? More importantly, do you remember your resolution for the past year? I find it funny that we all resolve to do to something, and not only do we most likely fail to accomplish it, but we forget it by the end of the year. Personally, I'm fairly sure mine was to simply get decent grades so, for once, I think I actually succeeded. However this year, instead of a nice, simple resolution, I have resolved to procrastinate less. While it doesn't sound complicated, my procrastination is special in that it extends to just about every aspect of my life. I procrastinate about taking out the trash, writing LJ entries (I still have two "drafts" that I haven't written), getting my car fixed (check engine light has been on for about a month), depositing checks in my bank (with multiple locations less than two miles from the apartment), etc. And that doesn't even take into account schoolwork. Just about the only thing I don't procrastinate about is brushing my teeth in the morning and that's just because my breath tastes like ass (or how I imagine ass since I have not experienced it for myself). I'm of course realistic to acknowledge that procrastination is a part of life for everyone, which is why my resolution is to simply lessen the amount of procrastination. Here are just a couple things I've procrastinated about:
- Getting my car checked out. It has issues when it hits higher RPM's with hesitation...which is probably why the check engine light is on. Oh, and my battery died today which is now the 3rd time in about as many months. I think it's time to get that replaced too (and I'm doing it tomorrow with my Dad).
- Getting my car sound system fixed. It's not just the amp that's blown anymore. Now the head unit is dead, which means that my cell phone is doubling as a sound system for my car. And while its speakers are impressive for a phone, they're not the best quality for cranking music while doing 80 down the tollway.
- Call Bullova about getting my watch repaired. I've been putting this one off since, oh, July or so for no good reason whatsoever. I've got the original box it came in as well as the original sales receipt, and if I wait about four months longer, it will be out of warranty.
- Clean up apartment. Though I've cleaned up all food products, my room is still a pit (especially with X-mas gifts piled in a corner)
- Finish the Rocket Bowl guide that I started writing almost two years ago.
- Operation Six Pack (detailed below), which was originally set to be deployed on December 13 but has yet to begin. Operation Six Pack consists of doing what it takes to get in better shape (though the name clearly states the ideal goal). Though I'm not in terrible shape, I would like to at least get back to the shape I was in during high school (pre-Chipotle shape, since I still have my 5 lb. "Chipotle bulge"). I stepped on the scale today and it reads 161.0 lbs (weighed in the morning before eating, and down from 163.2 lbs the other day), which I would be fine with if it were all muscle, but I can certainly see that it is not. I don't really have the goal to lose weight, just to burn fat and build muscle. I'm not trying to get ripped, just more toned. Operation Six Pack consists of two parts, one of which is the eating part and the physical part.
The eating part is mostly me cutting out the shitty food I eat. As some of you know, I have been on the fast food diet for the past five or six months. I do not intend to change this (completely), but to instead weed out the bad fast food and keep what's not so bad and/or to limit the intake. I've been paying more attention to what I've been eating recently, and I discovered that the Spicy Chicken sammich at Wendys is 440 calories (not too bad, of course without mayo), but the large fries I typically get along with it are 540 calories. Yes, that's right. And the fries have 24g of fat to the sammich's 16g. And though the chicken sammich has a lot of bread, it has fewer carbs, at 46-69g. It does, however, have twice as much sodium. And since I order the meal, the large soda along with it doesn't help. That's another thing. I've been limiting myself to a maximum of one soda per day, which I've actually been quite good about. I won't lie, the first couple days I had a headache as I tried to quit cold turkey.
So aside from the soda limitations, I have set a limit of 800 calories per meal I eat. I have two "bad meal" allowances per week, one of which will of course be reserved for Chipotle (my burrito is 1057 calories, though I can cheat by eating half of it for one meal and half for another) and a large movie popcorn (which I share, but it is ridiculously unhealthy with 1640 calories and 126g of fat). Yes, it's rather arbitrary, but I figure it weeds out combo meals that aren't good for me. I'm also eating more at Subway, Jason's Deli, and Quiznos, or just eating the simple things when I go to other fast food places. I'm not claiming that this is the greatest diet ever, but it's certainly an improvement. Think 12-inch sub to 6-inch sub and soup (900 calories and 42g of fat with a footlong Italian BMT vs. 760 calories and 23g of fat with a 6" Italian BMT and Chicken Noodle Soup). I've also found that eating slower is quite effective. I got my soup and sub combo and was full after eating the soup alone, which has only 2g of fat. I've realized that I'm full before I finish eating. Oh, and I'm saying goodbye to fourth meal.
I don't intend to give regular updates (what I eat on a daily/weekly basis) mostly because I don't think anyone gives a shit. I'll be surprised if most of you make it this far in this stupidly long entry. I'm going to see if I can keep this up for a full month and basically give a subjective analysis of how it goes. I have actually taken "before" pictures, but unless I see a drastic change, I probably won't post them (which will of course then be posted next to "after" pictures). My workout is the Men's Health Abs Diet Weekly Workout Schedule. I will be following it strictly.
In case any of you are wondering what spawned this endeavor, it came from a conversation I had with my friend, Brittany, about Nair. She was talking about Nairing my chest hair into the shape of a heart, and I became slightly curious what I would look like if I didn't have a hairy chest. Or hairy arms and legs. If Operation Six Pack is successful, I will undergo Project Nair (which would of course require pictures). And I'm talking the whole nine yards (referring to the Nair, not the pictures). But don't fear (for those of you who think I've gone completely insane by this point), it would be an experiment only and probably won't happen since Operation Six Pack will probably fail.
ANYWAY, HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE AND PLEASE FEEL FREE TO COMMENT AND TELL ME I'M A MORON, I'LL FAIL, OR COMMEND MY EFFORTS. AND PLEASE SHARE YOUR OWN RESOLUTIONS AND PLANS.