It’s called a lifestyle, not a diet. It’s a change that I need to make for myself forever – not just for as long as I can play along. It’s actually very easy to believe that a permanent change could be possible. I’ve already lost 5 lbs since Monday, eating more than I ever did before, and exercising not as much as I should. Maybe I’ve got a shot this time.

It’s early, but I’m feeling positive about this, for the most part.

I’m working with a personal training studio called Hitch Fit, out of Kansas City, and have been told that it’s very possible for me to lose 13% of my body fat and as much as 30 lbs in the next three months if I just do what they say. It might sound odd, since in many ways I’ve prided myself for being a free spirit, but there are some aspects of my life I’ve acknowledged I just don’t have much control over. Diet and exercise are two of those aspects, so it fills me with a deep sense of relief and peace to just hand that portion of my life over to someone else, and do nothing more than just follow directions. The Before & After pictures are startling, motivating, insanely awesome. If I can achieve half of the success of some of their testimonials, I will be in the best shape this body has seen since high school.

And it’s not hard. Not at all.

I have to eat five meals a day, with a certain mix of carbs, protein and fat. It ends up being around 1300 calories, with LOTS of veggies and as much tea as I can drink. There’s no meat involved, no crazy supplements (other than the vegan, non-soy protein shake I was already drinking daily, and a green superfood powder with wheat grass and spirulina, which everyone should be taking, really), no diet pills or starving required – just eating at regular intervals, weight training three times a week, and doing cardio 5 or 6 days a week.

The nutrition plan reached my email inbox on Friday, and I was told to take a week to just read through everything, get familiar with the diet & exercises required, and think of any questions I’d like to ask before starting. So on Sunday I went grocery shopping and started loosely following the diet, figuring out how hard it would be to prepare my meals in advance (very little effort, as it turns out), and what it was going to be like to follow the plan. I figured it would be a little like the soft opening of a restaurant, just getting the lay of the land, figuring out what works and what doesn’t, making a few adjustments before the real work starts. Since then, every day I’ve worked a little harder to do exactly what I’m supposed to – 1 tbsp of peanut butter and not a bit more, adding the right amount of protein powder to my oatmeal, that kind of thing.

As of today, I’m down from 160 to 155.6 lbs., just following the meal plan and going to a couple of yoga classes. My dumbbell set came in yesterday, and I’ll start REALLY training on Monday, after a weekend of yoga. I’m excited. Scared of how hard it’s going to be to weight train and still find the willpower to do more cardio and go to yoga on a daily basis, but overall, feeling pretty awesome about this whole thing. It’s going to work, and I’m going to be in the physical shape I’ve always wanted. There have been, and will be, sacrifices made to this cause – most of the foods that I love, as well as alcohol (for the most part), and definitely lots of time – but I’ll figure out how to fit in the things that I need and say adios to the things that have just been weighing me down all of these years.

Wish me luck, folks. By March I’ll be ready to show off my bikini body 🙂