Day 1 - I'm ready to go. So lets go!

Before I start documenting all of my trials and tribulations, I want to make a very big call out to my friend from work, Lance. I want to say that part of my inspiration to do this came from Lance and his willingness to go to the gym with me. We see each other pretty much every day, so we can be a sort of coaching buddies. Thanks Lance.

Today is the big day! I have reviewed many sites over the last week, struggling to find the vital information that will allow me to make this journey without hurting myself. I would like to share one of my favorites with you. This chaps name is Scooby and he is all about getting the information out to everyone. His site is free and very informative. If you have a moment, cruise over to his site and check it out.

Last night I sat up until all hours of the night trying to generate a list of what I could eat based on what i had in my cupboards. I needed to generate some sort of a meal plan, but I have zero experience doing this sort of thing. I went back to some familiar places to gather the resources I felt I needed to get this done. If you are wanting to try this yourself, I will list several sites that may assist you in finding how to manage you meals, exercise, dietary requirements and such.

Here are the main sites that i used:

1. Scoobys Home Body building Workouts - To learn how to do it at home and on a budget.
2. Canada Food Guide Website or the (PDF Guide) - To be 100% sure I was making balanced meals.
3. CookingNook.com - This site has an amazing weight loss calculator.
4. CalorieKing.com - To find out what characteristics different raw foods had.
5. SparkRecipes - To find some great meal ideas. This link is actually a search on their site for Low Calorie, High protein meal ideas.

Before you go off and blindly build up a plan of your own, it is important to note that I am not a doctor or dietitian. You need to read anything and everything that you can before you dive into what may or may not be a safe program. These sites are simply a handful that i used myself.

On with Day One

Today I quit!
I will not be sedentary.
I will not smoke.
I will not drink alcohol.
I will not eat things that my body does not need.
(I may play a bit of warcraft. :P)

As mentioned earlier, I generated a list of what I had that I could eat. I was shocked to find that even with an extensive list of items, if I were to eat everything on my list, I would still come up short on calories. Here is the list, to give you an idea of what i mean.

Brown Rice	0.5	216	108	cup
Can Tuna (water packed)	0.5	131	65.5	can
Sweet Potato	0.5	206	103	medium
Cream of Wheat or Oatmeal	1	140	140	cup
Milk (0 fat skimmed)	2	91	182	cup
Pita or 2 Slices Bread (whole grain)	1	170	170
Yogurt (fat free / sugar free)	1	63	63	container
Orange	1	62	62	medium
Apple	1	72	72	medium
Pork , Steak or Chicken (average calories)	1	200	200	piece
Corn	1	132	132	cup
Mixed Veggies	1	150	150	cup
Carrot	1	25	25	medium
Balsamic Vinegar (Thanks to Scooby)	1	19	19	oz
Salsa	1	70	70	cup
Whey Protein	3	104	312
Banana	1	105	105	medium
Orange/apple juice	1	40	40	cup

As you can see, this is a pretty huge list for one day. At least its big compared to what I normally eat. I wanted to hit near 2200 calories per day for now. I will need to pick the numbers up when I start exercising. (I just got my gym membership). On this list I had to add Whey Protein powder in order to bring up my calories as well I would need the proteins for when I started to exercise.
The meal change was much different than I had expected. What surprised me the most is that starting the day off with oatmeal, milk and a fruit, my tummy was rumbling well before lunch. After lunch was the worst, I felt like I had swallowed a brick. I am sure this was due to the fact that I never eat breakfast and it was my first day using protein supplements. Needless to say, at the end of the day I very much enjoyed a vanilla bananna smoothie. (Yummy...real flavor after a day of blah)

I was able to take my Day 1 photo which I will post below. I am not proud of this picture, but I am proud that I was able to take it and that I was able to find the courage to post it. I am starting to take things one day at a time.