I got this awesome 1 Second Everyday app after seeing a TED talk by the creator, Cesar Kuriyama. At first I wasn't really sure if I wanted to have a theme or just wing it, so my first video wasn't too interesting. Also, I started mid-month, so it was shorter than if I had recorded a full month. I decided not to continue the project in March because I had lost my inspiration.
I actually look back on that little February video and enjoy it because it reminds me of some of the fun stuff we did, like have Japanese food in Carbondale, IL and go to the movies.
I knew there had to be more I could do with this app, though.
My first thought was of those cool time lapse videos that show your child growing. I have two children, though, so I couldn't really make that work without either making one child feel left out, alternating days/months and messing up the flow, or buying a second iPhone.
Then I thought I could do a video of myself everyday, but I quickly dismissed that idea. "Why would I want to watch myself get fatter and fatter?" I asked myself. I thought yeah, that would be a great idea if I could watch myself LOSE weight instead of gain.
Quick history lesson - I've been gaining weight steadily every year since my son was born. I'll go on diets, lose some weight, then put it all back on. Every year I can see myself in photos getting fatter and fatter.
Anyway, this is where it hit me. I WOULD take a video of myself everyday for a year, and I WOULD get thinner rather than fatter. I made a plan, set a date and waited.
I started this little project on April 1st, one month ago today. So far it's going really well, and I have my first monthly video to share. It's a little uncomfortable to share because I don't like taking pictures, I don't like my face, don't like my body. I'm only putting this out there because I hope it changes over this year and I think it's important to see where I came from so I'll know why I never want to go back.
My starting weight on April 1st was 216 and my last weigh day of the month was April 29th where I weighed 202.6. That's 13.4 lbs lost in a month! The goal is 2 lbs a week, so I'm happy with my results so far.
I'm using several apps to aid in this process, one, of course, is 1 Second Everyday. The others are Lose It!, Water Your Body, Munch 5 and Fooducate. Honestly, I think the video everyday is what's keeping me in check more than anything. I've used lose it in the past and it's a great tool, but I found myself "cheating" all the time by not tracking certain things that I knew would put me over my daily amount of calories. I can't do that when I'm taking videos, though, because it will all show up on the scale on Monday.
Speaking of Monday, my video every Monday is of my weight. Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays are food video days. Wednesday is the day I take a video of my face to track any facial weight loss, skin changes, etc. Fridays are for the body shots and Sundays are "free days" where I can take a video of anything relevant to the whole weight loss thing. It's usually just another shot of food, though. I enjoy the food days. I think, though, that in the end I'll enjoy looking at the face and body days because I'll be able to see a big change by the time this project is over.
No comments:
Post a Comment