That Ugly Four Letter Word - PLAN

They say life happens to you when you start making plans.  They also say the surest way to get God to laugh is for humans to start making plans.  And somehow, I always manage to sideline myself if I ever set out a concrete plan.

Which is a bummer, because I like plans.  I'm a total control freak who likes to know what is coming.  Months before a trip I make plans, travel plans, intenarary plans, plans on what to spend, plans on what to save so that I CAN spend, and so on.  I already have planned out our Christmas Eve and Christmas Day festivities, from the menu to the guest list to the activities.  I believe in plans.

Yet when it comes to weight loss, I can plan like a madwoman and yet all my plans go up in smoke (or down with a cheesecake).  Maybe it's because my plans for weight loss aren't realistic.  I set up high goals and then when I can't meet them, I get quickly discouraged and quickly revert back to old eating habits for comfort, which totally sabotage the diet.

A lot of that has to do with the lack of control I have over the weight loss.  I diet and exercise but it seems that I'm still a slave to the Weight Loss Gods (they have to be male, Goddesses wouldn't do this to us).  I'm at their mercy and their whim on how much they're going to shave off those numbers on the scale.  If any.

So given that I've found a new (old) way to lose weight, by knowing what my caloric needs are and employing the "burn more than you take in" theory, I think I've finally got enough control to start making a plan.  It's going to be a temporary plan as I experiment to see if weight loss CAN be as simple as a mathematical formula. 

So from now on I'm going to put in my journal every day how many calories I've spent, and keep a monthly tally.  At the end of the month, if the tally equates to pounds lost (3500 calories per 1 lb of stored fat) then I will publish my plan and set it into motion. 

If this works out, it very well may be the light at the end of the tunnel to keep me on this path of weight loss until the very end.

My data sheet I use to track my calories started on Dec. 6th.  And so far I've spent 12,430 calories, which should have shed 3.5lbs.