Developing a plan

I know I have to be realistic in my fitness quest. Someone might think that quitting smoking shows I have strong will power, actually I don't. It was still difficult to quit, but once I found out my Dad had cancer I just didn't want to smoke any more. I have never been the type to be successful in self denial so I know that any diet plan that leaves me hungry or feeling like I can't have the things I want is destined for failure. The upside is that my body seems to respond fairly well to exercise and eating anything resembling eating healthy.

So that is the two pronged approach I am going to take, start exercising and stop eating utter crap. When I say crap I mean the empty calorie stuff like cookies, candy, chips etc. My meals I will try to avoid fast food but hamburgers and pizza will still be in play. Maybe some portion control, but mostly just eliminating crap.

Another big source of empty calories for me is booze, now I know any plan that means I have to give up booze is also a problem. In my last foray into fitland I had success by substituting Jack Daniels and diet coke for beer. A typical beer is 120 calories or so, my beer of choice Shiner Bock is 142 calories. I usually drink 4-5 shiners in an evening so that is an extra 710 calories. A Jack Daniels and diet coke is about 60 calories so the same 4-5 is 300 calories.

As for the exercise bit I canceled my gym membership, and I will have to think about reinstating it but I am going to begin with using the things I have available to me. This are a stationary bicycle, dumbbells, and my swimming pool. We just bought the house with the pool and with the weather I have only been able to swim in it twice so far but the weather is warming and I intend to try to use the pool to full effect.