Probably the biggest stumbling block on my path to losing weight has been a lack of motivation. I love food, and I’ve always felt that life is for living and doing what you love. Well, turns out that can be an excuse to engage in destructive behavior, such as over eating. Anyway, a couple of things finally motivated me to make some real changes in my life, and once I decided to change, I sought out some help to keep me going and hold me accountable.
My motivation for losing weight is two-fold. First, I just turned 30. Now, I’m not saying I’m having a mid-life crisis or anything, but let’s just say I’m starting to feel Father Time nipping at my heels a bit. Second, in the process of moving into our new house last December, I hurt my lower back pretty badly lifting boxes. I spent a couple of excruciating nights during which the 15-foot walk to the bathroom brought me to tears from the pain. Laying in bed in constant pain, I promised myself that when my back healed and I was mobile enough to start working out, I would once and for all get myself in shape. It took almost a month before I felt strong enough to start, but I did start. And I plan to finish.
So, I had my motivation in place. But I’d been motivated before. When I was 25, I dropped about 20 pounds and actually had myself in pretty good shape. I marked my progress on the wall calendar in my living room, and seeing how much work I’d done really kept me going. Problem was, when I turned the page of the calendar to the next month, all of a sudden, I hadn’t done anything. The calendar was blank, and it was literally like a switch flipped off. I stopped working out. To avoid that happening again, I needed to be held accountable by a system that wouldn’t let me just turn the page.
And that’s when I started One Thing New. Even though it took me a couple of weeks to get to my first Lose Weight with Web 2.0 post, I had planned from the beginning that I would write about that. My thinking was if I publish my intentions to lose weight, then I’m accountable to my readers. And if I framed it as a project (testing out and comparing two Web 2.0 weight loss sights), then I would have a tangible goal to shoot for. Pretty smart, huh?
As I wrote in yesterday’s post, Gimme20 became my favorite of the two Web apps I reviewed. Tracking my workout — I mentioned using a calendar the last time I tried losing weight — and seeing my progress grow over time is incredibly inspirational. You want to keep it growing. Well, you can’t turn the page on Gimme20’s tracking page, and I think that’s important. And it’s not only the fact that I can see my stats growing; it’s also the fact that everyone can see them, too. If I put my goals out there, I’m held accountable by the people who read about them. It’s very motivating.
I can say that I wouldn’t have gotten as far a long as I have without the help of the Web 2.0 technology I’ve used. My age and my injury motivated me. And the potential audience and viewers of my blog and my Gimme20 page have helped me stick to my plan. I’ll continue to track my progress on Gimme20, and I’ll probably post periodic updates here. But I think I’ve gotten over the hump. My commitment to change is finally real, and I plan to see it through — with your help.
Oh yeah, since I started my program on Feb 28th, I’ve lost 12 pounds. Not bad for a month’s work, eh?
