The Writer's Guide to weight loss, better health and excercise

There is something new I’m doing here. About once a week, I’ll be posting my journey through weight lose and health. Right now, I weigh 165lbs. It’s the heaviest I’ve ever been. I have Thyroid disease, (which doesn’t help) High cholesterol, mostly because of my thyroid, high blood pressure, and pretty serious stomach issues. Those last two are from over twenty years as a cop. It comes with the territory. I’m on, (as I was reminded by a doctor) very serious medications for my age. Yep, pretty much.

What brought me to this point is what I call a 'Josiah' moment. My nephew who, is a cop, was sitting on the couch with his kids, and it just hit him how tired he was of feeling the way he did, and being at his weight. So he did something and lost a lot of weight and got in shape.

I had my Josiah moment recently. I hadn’t been running, swimming, biking or hiking like I love. I’ve had my butt in the chair writing. It started with going through the edits of She Cried Wolf, and went from there. So there I was sitting on the couch, watching a mindless show, and I caught a glimpse of myself in the reflection of my computer, and was not too happy at all. The Josiah moment slammed into me like a player up to bat. I couldn’t complain. I had no one to blame, but me. I’ve done this before, where I’m really not feeling so great about myself. I’m going to National in July and would really like to wear something cute for the awards. I did this the last time I went to National two years ago, “I’m going to lose the weight.” I didn’t and wore something I hate, that was black.

I’ve made a lot of promises to myself, and announced to the world I’m going to do this and that. Nothing…Here I am at the same weight I’ve been for almost six years, doing nothing. It is my Josiah moment and I’m ready.

The reason I’m bringing it here to such a public forum is because of the past. When RWA had its National convention in Reno, (those of you as long time members will say, wow that was a long time ago), a good friend of mine's husband met us there. The first thing he said, “Wow I’ve never seen so many fat women in one place, who need a makeover.” 
Yes, he went there. And yes, I’m saying it. I’m not saying it to insult anyone, but to make a point. Writers love to write. We forget about everything else including ourselves. We get lost in the voices in our heads and indulge in our characters lives as we eat the wrong foods, ignore exercise and indulge in chocolate. The part of any good writers life is chocolate. It is the sweetness of our imagination, the fuel for our fingers. And it likes us too, right down to our asses.Fortunately for me, I like dark chocolate, that is 72% or higher in cocoa. Less sugar.

I won’t make my goal by National. I’m starting too late. But I’ll lose something before I leave.  So as the weeks and hopefully the months move along, this will be a honest appraisal of what works for me and what doesn’t. I’ve got the experience as a fantastic YoYo dieter. I've tried everything...This will be the journal of triumphs, failures, what works and what doesn't. I'm hoping for the positive as I take a totally different approach this time. I'm ready to kick my own ass into gear.

I might get brave in the coming weeks and put a picture of myself up on the blog. But for now, I'll just hope I look like the silhouette in about six months. 

Next week: Wrapping ones head around the idea of diet. Believe it or not you've got to prepare your body for it..