A New Year: Day 1

Nope, this isn't gonna be a post about my resolutions for 2013; I don't even really believe in resolutions to begin with. I think if you want to do something, you'll do it. You don't need the start of a new calendar year to get your butt in gear. Not to mention, the odds of sticking to a resolution are pretty slim. So nope, no resolutions for me; instead, I'm using the start of a new year to start something NEW.

For the past year, I've been on MFP. I've met a lot of people on there and learned a bunch of things I never knew before in regard to "diet" and exercise (diet is in quotes because I absolutely despise that word). One of the topics I've been reading about and was intrigued by was this notion of eating more and still losing weight. WHAAAAT?? As long as I can remember, I've had the media telling me to eat 1200 cals and workout for 3 hrs (hi, Biggest Loser) so what are these people talking about? I learned about resetting my metabolism. I learned about bulking. I learned about cutting. But most importantly, I learned about waving the white flag and being at peace with food.

I wanted to try EM2WL ever since that first day I heard about it. The reason I didn't? I was afraid of the inevitable weight gain that would result from the metabolism reset period. Stupid, I know, because what ended up happening was me feeling overwhelmed, hungry, and just down with eating 1400-1600 cals a day despite working out. The result: I wound up eating a heck of a lot more than that. This behavior lasted for 5 months and I gained over 20 pounds. All because I was scared of the unknown, meanwhile if I had tried EM2WL to begin with, I may be at a 10 pound gain rather than 20. But that is in the past.

Now I'm ready to do this. For the first time in a LONG time, I'm not dreading being on an eating plan. This is how I know I am ready to do this! I don't have to starve myself or spend countless hours working out. I'm a little apprehensive but at the same time, I really want to do this. So here we go. I'll chronicle my journey and try to check in everyday, this way I can assess everything and (hopefully) keep my motivation up!

UGH now for stats:
Weight: 192
Dress Size: 10/12
BMR: 1658
TDEE at 15% deficit: 2189
This means with my activity level, I can burn 527 calories before I need to worry about adding them back in. My macros are at 40/30/30. Fitting all that protein in will be a definite challenge for me, but I'm scouring Pinterest for ideas! I'll be tracking everything on MFP. Here.we.GOOOOOO!