Day 1: An Anticlimactic Beginning

“It is not the mountain in front of you that slows your journey, it is the pebble in your shoe.” Chinese Proverb

Okay, so I am about to go to bed. It is the end of Day 1 of my 84-day journey. The first few steps were, to be honest, a little bit of a let down. I mean, I have been working towards this day for about three months now. Every weekend, I would have a nice large meal, complete with a coke and dessert, and at the end of it, Emily would say, “So, when are you starting that diet?” I would give my usual response, “Next Monday.”

For some reason, Monday has always been the day to start a diet for me. In fact, it is somewhat of a running joke around the house that it is physically impossible for me to ever start a diet on a day other than a Monday. Emily may laugh, but I like starting diets on Monday. It is a fresh beginning to a new week, and, more importantly, allows me one more weekend to get all of my favorite foods in before I can’t ever eat them again.

Of course, I have been telling Emily that I would start a diet next Monday for a very long time now. There were several false starts, there was a brief attempt to just stop eating sugar, and I even went through a brief (maybe two hour) stint as a vegetarian (it only lasted two hours because I started snacking on some beef jerky and didn’t realize it until I had already finished a few pieces).

I guess the saddest thing is, now that I have actually started dieting again, there really isn’t much to say. Today was fine. I haven’t been hungry. I did work hard at the gym, but it was not really something I had never done before. I am tired now, but I think that is a good sign.

I guess more than anything I am surprised. I thought I would be writing about how much I hate the diet, how hungry I am, how I can’t believe I spent so much money on a program that is no good and makes me eat bad food. In reality, Kristi Approved (after one day), is pretty good. I had a great breakfast burrito this morning, a great apple and chicken salad, a “Mexican bowl” with beans, rice and ground turkey, and barbeque chicken. Honestly, I would have had any of these meals on my own if I had the recipe, regardless of whether I was on the diet or not.

I guess it really is true, it isn’t the insurmountable task that will keep you from being able to do what you need to do, it is the tiny little things—the pebble in your shoe—that keeps you from attaining your goals.