Since I made the decision to lose weight and get in the best shape of my life a couple of weeks ago, I’ve been working on preparing for the official start date to my plan.

I have always found that when I set an official start date and set very specific goals for my weight loss, I do much better than when I’m vague with whether I’m on a plan or not.

I’ve done about a half-dozen weight loss challenges in the past, so this is not new territory for me.

I’ve been getting a bunch of stuff prepared for my new plan, such as getting my new gym setup, installing an infra-red sauna, ordering certain supplements and doing a tonne of research on potential strength training plans I’m considering following.

I’m also considering working with a personal trainer at my home to help me achieve my goals on the strength training side of things.

Another thing I’ve been doing, which is something I did in the past when preparing for my various weight loss challenges, is to go to my favorite restaurants and eat my favorite foods before my plan starts.

The reason for this is because I have often found that when we don’t have a favorite food for some time, the fantasy and image of it that we hold in our minds is often much better then the food itself, and so because I don’t want to have to fight the craving to have those foods I’ve been going to restaurants and ordering my favorite meals.

And as I’ve experience in the past, these amazing foods that I imagined in my mind weren’t actually nearly as good as I remembered them, so I’ve been kind of purging the fantasy of them from my mind one at a time.

In fact, it’s gotten to the point now where even though I’m technically still allowing myself to eat anything and everything I want right now until I officially start my plan, I’m finding myself becoming more and more turned off by unhealthy foods and more and more looking forward to healthy, nutritious meals.

For example today I went to A&W for lunch and ordered one of my favorite burgers – the BLT Chubby Chicken with fries – and I ended up picking at it, not even finishing the burger and hardly eating any of my fries.

I had almost zero appetite for this food.

Contrast that with my dinner tonight – where I went to the Keg and ordered a garden salad to start and I enjoyed it immensely.  The salad tasted SO GOOD to me!

This has happened to me in the past.  It’s a signal that my mind is pretty much ready to let go of the crappy foods that used to taste good to me but weren’t healthy, and to embrace healthy and nutritious meals instead.

I’m hoping that this weekend I can finish off my preparations and perhaps even officially start my plan.

I still have a few things I want to figure out and get done prior to my official start such as:

• Get 100% clear on my new diet plan.  What I’m going to do, which plan I’ll follow etc.  I’ve got this about 80% figured out.  Few different paths I could take.
• Take before pictures, measurements, and Skulpt Aim stats for my “before” file.
• Pick up some 10lb, 5lb and 2.5lbs olympic weight plates and possibly an olympic bar for my gym.
• Pick up a few more supplements that I’m still researching.
• Figure out my plan for my strength training and cardio program.
• Pick up some groceries that I might need to start my plan.

These are all very minor things, that I should be able to get done most likely this weekend and realistically I could get started without even getting all of those things done, except for the before pics and measurements.

I definitely want to make sure I have “Before” pics and measurements as I don’t want to later regret not having them.

I’m really excited to be finally putting my health and fitness as a priority in my life and I can’t wait to see where this transformation will take me.

I’m also looking forward to blogging about my transformation as I have found that to be one of the best ways to stay on track and produce results.

Making a public declaration about your weight loss and fitness goals is a great way to stay accountable.  Basically your entire blog audience becomes your accountability partner. 🙂

If you’ve been looking to improve your health, lose weight or to just get in better shape I highly recommend Blogging about your journey.

If you don’t yet have a Blog, I recommend getting setup with Kalatu as it’s the easiest way to get started with Blogging.

Click here to learn more about Kalatu.