Stop, Continue & Start

I recently read a blog post by Diane Carbonell on her blog Fit to the Finish where she discussed hearing something that had nothing to do with weight loss in the context it was being talked about, but making a connection to weight loss with what was said regardless.  She was specifically referring to something she heard on a radio talk show.  What she heard was the concept of Stop, Continue and Start.  She explained it like this:

STOP represents those behaviors we need to stop doing because they are detrimental to our health and weight loss.

CONTINUE represents those behaviors we have that are good for our weight loss efforts.

START represents the behaviors we need to start doing to make ourselves healthier and lose weight.

I really like this concept a LOT.  I think it’s a very useful and helpful tool for weight loss.  She went on in her post to list out the things she needed to stop, continue and start (at her starting point of over 300 pounds, that is).  I then was inspired to make my own lists for these 3 actions…here they are:

I need to STOP:

• eating when I’m not hungry

• eating so many processed foods

• eating large amounts of food

• eating fast food

I need to CONTINUE:

• running

I need to START:

• eating more whole foods

• exercise more/more consistently

• cooking more often

• being accountable

This really lays it out for me.  It’s pretty sad that running is the only thing I see that I’m doing that is something I need to continue.  Really?  That’s the only thing I’m doing right?  And even then, really, I’m not doing it the way I should be.  I should be doing a of speed-work/hills run, a tempo run, and then the third run should be my long run.  However, I’m lacking the motivation to put forth the effort to do these things that would improve my running so very much.  And then, right now in Texas, the humidity makes being outside so oppressive and barely tolerable to be in.  And I hate running on the treadmill.  But, maybe, despite hating the treadmill, maybe I should do speed-work on the treadmill.  It would be really easy, I can just up the speed and go in ¼ mile splits…1/4 mile normal speed, ¼ mile fast and back and forth for 2-3 miles.  I absolutely cannot mentally handle being on the treadmill for much more than 3 miles, so doing more than just speed-work (I can do hill work with the incline on a treadmill too) on the treadmill is pretty much a no-go.  I do have a 10-inch tablet now, though, so maybe if there’s a wifi connection in my gym I can watch some of my DVR’ed programs while I run for 45 minutes to an hour for a tempo run and then just do my long run outside.  If I can make that work, that would make these next few months of running a little better for me. 

I do fully intend and plan to start eating better, hopefully the beginning of July.  Hold on, before you balk at me for waiting to start eating better and why don’t I just do it now?  Well, let me explain.  I’m going to do a published diet (this diet has worked extremely well for a friend, so I know it works), however I’m not done reading the book yet and hope to be done with it by the end of this week so I can then go grocery shopping and do food prep both on Sunday so that Monday I can start it.  It’s called the Fast Metabolism Diet and it cycles through 3 phases in order to boost your metabolism and up your fat burning power.  I’m hoping that during the month that I do this diet that I can get together a healthy eating plan so when the 4 weeks of the diet is done and over I can not gain the weight back and can stay on track with my weight loss.  I’m thinking of giving paleo a try at the end of the diet.  Not sure yet.  I’ll buy a book on it and do my research and see if it would be a good lifestyle for me.  If nothing else, I’d like to at least just give it a fair shake and see what happens.