My Methodology (or lack thereof)

As first introduced yesterday, I am going to be recording my attempt to cut 100,000 calories from my diet. It must be mentioned again here and throughout the year that this is not a scientific process. I don't have a baseline from which to start so I can't truly know when or if I reach the 100,000 plateau. What I do know is the way I have been living is not going to get me to retirement age.

 
 

So, here's the first attempt to explain my plan:

Each week I will work out either three or four times. If I work out three times, then each workout needs to burn 500 calories. The only work out I currently do is to walk on a tread mill at our local Family Y (used to be the YMCA, but recently changed the name). It counts the calories I burn for me. I really don't know what I'm doing so I simply press the "calorie burn" setting and then give myself a slight incline upon which to walk. Normally 45 minutes I can burn between 400 and 500 calories.

 
 

If I go three times in a week then I want to burn a total of 1,500 calories. If I go four times then I'd like to burn a minimum of 1,600 calories. Whatever the number, I will record it here, both for each workout session and a running total.

 
 

In addition to the calories burned each week walking the treadmill, I plan to find one or two items of food to cut out of my normal diet totaling approximately 400 to 500 calories. That should give me somewhere in the neighborhood of 2,000 calories cut per week.

 
 

NOTE TO READER: Phrases such as "somewhere in the neighborhood" should give you an idea of just how unscientific this experiment will be.

 
 

The simple math tells me if I can burn 1,500 to 1,600 calories through exercise and another 400 to 500 by better eating habits, over the course of a 52-week year that should be in the neighborhood of 104,000 calories eliminated from my 2011 life as opposed to previous years.

 
 

In addition to my week calories burn count, I will be blogging about the foods I give up (or at least limit the number of servings per week/month/year). This will scientific process known as ... wait for it ... label reading. Yes, you know that area of small type on the opposite side the food package from the fancy marketing and catch slogans? I am going to look at the calories in some of my favorite foods, and use that 3 or 4 digit number to guilt myself into not eating it.

 
 

Yes, yes, I know there is more to those labels than calories, but this is a start. I want to be more healthy eventually, but first I want to simply weight less.

 
 

Oh, just in case I lose any weight, my current weight as of Christmas Eve, according to my mother's scale, was 228 pounds. This project is not simply about pounds, but pounds certainly weigh into the equation (pun intended).

 
 

Look for another post tomorrow (Sunday), after my first workout of the year and while I'm still excited about the project and before I get back into the daily grind of teaching on Monday. After that the updates may not be as frequent or lengthy.