Obsessive is the way to go

I'm trying to turn a new leaf in everything. Write more. Keep my house in good shape. Be more organized. Be healthier. Etc. So far, so good. My house is starting to look pretty nice, I actually like spending time there now. I've worked on my book a bit. And I've been eating healthy and working out.

Something I've learned is that healthy eating is a struggle for me. It's not like I go get fast food everyday, or eat two pounds of pasta, my bad habit is eating processed foods because they are easy, cheap and quick. I hate to cook. I also struggle in trying to figure out what to eat, so I get frustrated and just grab a box of something.

Well I ain't gonna get healthy doing that. So, I put on my worn-out and overused obsessive hat and went to work. I have typed up menu pages with meal options for breakfast, lunch, dinner and a snack. Listing calories and such so I can quickly glance at options. I have also wrtiten out a daily plan listing the food I'll eat and my work-out. The food is broken down into things like 11 almonds, a tablespoon of salad dressing, 2/3 cup of cottage cheese, etc. I'm really crackin' down, folks.

But this is the piece de resistance (I have no idea how that's spelled, forgive me), I measured out ALL of my food. The other night I labeled ziplock bags to "hamburger," "turkey breast," "chicken," and "turkey sausage." The meats found in my daily food plan. They are all very, very lean cuts.

Then, I saw that the hamburger recipe called for 4 ounces, the turkey breast for 3.5 ounces, etc. So I grabbed my handy food scale and measured all the meat into those increments and put them in the labeled ziplocks for immediate freezer action. So my freezer is full of about 50 or 60 labeled ziplocks.

But it doesn't stop there. I have these mini tupperware containers that I have filled with tiny amounts of fat free mayo, sugar free jelly, unsalted peanut butter, whole almonds - some of the other things found in the meals.

And some meals call for two cups of salad, so I have measured that out into ziplock bags as well. And to prevent overdoing it on the salad dressing, I bought those new bottles of spray salad dressing in italian and balsamic vinigarette varieties. Both are rather good and only one calorie per squirt!

Have you imagined what my fridge looks like at this point? You may ask yourself why in the hell I would go through all that trouble. Well, I finally know myself well enough to confidently claim that if my food is not prepackaged, measured and ready to go, I won't go through the trouble of doing it when I'm hungry. Now it only takes me a couple minutes to grab the food and head to work.

You also may be thinking to yourself, "that's no way to live! Where's the freedom in the food?" First of all, I'm a super duper uper picky eater and only eat certain things anyway. Second, by eating so strict most days, I can afford a little splurge if I go to dinner with friends or something.

After only a couple of days, I feel so much better. It's amazing how much processed foods can make a person feel like crap without knowing it. I had no idea how crappy I felt until I started eating mostly fresh foods.

Anyone else as crazy as me and ever try something like this? We'll see if I keep it up, but I have some motivation to keep me going this time.

And the point of blogging this today was not to scare you or make you think I'm crazier than you already do, it's now out in the public and when I'm on the verge of quitting (as I'm sure will happen once or twice), I'll force myself to read it all over again.

Do you have any tips that got you healthier? Be it weight loss, lower cholesterol, more energy, etc.

Now if only I could start enjoying exercise...