Renewed energy

It's amazing what a good colon flush will do. Oh...and in case you were worried and missed the news, colonoscopy was clear for polyps and cancer, but I have diverticulosis. When he told me this, my first thought was "Shit, that means no more Big Macs because of the seeds on the bun!" But I did some reading, and diverticulosis is just the pockets in the colon wall, and the newest treatments don't forbid nuts and seeds...just recommend a very high fiber diet. If it turns into diverticulitis (where it gets infected and inflamed), THEN I may have to give up the Big Macs, but only about 10-20% of people with diverticulosis develop diverticulitis.

Anyway. enough about my sparkly clean colon. Actually, this is about weight loss. And while I'm not going to start again until after the 1st, I *do* have renewed energy for that. Watching the Biggest Loser season finale has made me want to start a competition...so I am. Because I do what I want and no one can tell me otherwise. Hence my weight problem (actually, this is only part of the reason, but it IS part of it--more on that later).

Here's the challenge: Get a group of friends with no specific connections, but we all want to lose weight. Break into teams, and see who can lose the most! That's it. So far, there are about 6 of us, I think? I guess that means the teams are out...we skip right to individual competition. And I doubt we will do eliminations, because I'd rather all of us stick it out to the end and lose as much as possible. Unless we have an At-Home winner...which is pointless, because we are all "at-home" already. Oh...and we certainly won't have a quarter of a million dollar prize, because none of us are rich. In fact, right now, there is no prize. Anyone out there on the interwebs that cares to rectify that, let me know. Competing for bragging rights is nice. Competing for stuff is better. ;o)

And just so my competition knows what they are up against, I'm gonna lay out my plan, here and now. *insert determined face here*

-30 minutes a day of a work out DVD, EVERYDAY. Sorry, DH and furbabies, but unless you want to do it with me, this means I go in the guest room, close the door, and work out. You will just have to suffer without me.
-3 days a week, we will add a 3 mile walk to that. Again, sorry, DH, but stuff needs to change, and we can't live our life in front of the TV. Come with me if you want to spend time together.
-Follow WW points. I did 75 days straight, I can do it again. And again. And again. I already know I have a few challenging days in there (Disney trip), but I did it once, so it's possible.

Since it's a competition, and I want to be fair, I will forgo the alli. Not everyone is ABLE to take it, much less willing (though, really, I have never had any of the major "treatment effects" listed), so it wouldn't be right for me to do that. This contest is about weight loss, but it's also about doing it right...diet, exercise, and confronting demons.

Speaking of which, I mentioned that part of my problem was that I do what I want. This is something I learned about myself from reading IE. While I don't follow the principles much anymore, it was good for some self reflection. There are many times where my way of pushing back is to do the opposite of what someone tells me to do. So if someone says "You really should get some exercise," I tell myself "Fuck you. I'm not doing that because you want me to," even when in reality, I probably would have done at least SOMETHING. Same goes for food. "You should eat this apple," turns into "Screw that! I'm going to eat this whole package of cookies instead!" So yeah, I have issues. I recognize them. I just don't know how to change them. Which brings me to my last part of my plan: counseling. Actually, I'm still a little iffy about this part, but it has crossed my mind, and the time might be right to do it. Obviously, I've lost the weight before. The fact that I have regained it says that there is a problem somewhere that needs to be addressed.

I imagine there will be lots of tears over the next 5-6 months. Hopefully, at least a few are from my fellow competitors when I blow them out of the water. :o)