Weight loss wish list...topped with Quantum scale!

Hmmm.  So the diet hasn't really been going that well.  My social life has been rather too good lately which has challenged my willpower.  Another issue has been the overwhelming idea of how much weight I have to lose.  It's probably in the region of 30lbs and that has stopped me from stepping on the scale.  I hate hate hate seeing the number in front of me if it's not the "acceptable" one.  No matter how many times I'm told that it's just a number, the emotional attachment is far too strong.  I tend to go by clothes or measurements usually, but this time I have too much to lose.  Getting back into my clothes will take ages so it would be lovely to have something to show progress week to week.  My object of desire right now is the Quantum scale.  It never shows your actual weight-just the change from measurement to measurement.  It sounds completely perfect!  In my current financially challenged state, it's a no-go though. (It's also handy that I don't need any cosmetic treatments right now....)
Fingers crossed I can win one or something!

One thing I actually have ordered is a Gymboss interval timer which was a bit more affordable at $20.  I think I need to raise intensity on workouts, at least some of the time.  I restarted the Men's Health Spartacus workout recently which is a challenging one!  I think the interval timer will help me not to cheat....

The wishlist item I need to do myself is proper meals.  The Eat Clean cookbook is sitting on my shelf all unused.  Time to get cracking!

Bikini season...

Not me...but not too far off right now!

A few things struck me as I tried to squeeze myself into my gym shorts tonight before a half-assed workout:

1. My shorts shouldn't be that tight.  In fact, they should be loose since they're a size bigger than I was wearing this time last year
2. A half-assed workout is not going to half the size of my ass
3. I've been starting my diet tomorrow or Monday since July
4. I'm dreading summer and not being able to hide under a down-filled coat
5. Procrastinating on this is like procrastinating on living my life fully.  I'm putting things off because I can't wear the clothes I want/feel too fat/don't feel fit/don't want people to see me like this.

My vows:

• The diet starts now.  1500 calories or less per day.
• Good, healthy food.  I know I feel better when I eat it and crave less....so why do I keep putting junk in my body?  I need to equate too much cake and chocolate with cellulite and crepey skin.
• Consistent workouts of 1hr+ at least 5 days a week.   I'm going to use my Valslides even more.  I'll be mixing stuff from Red Carpet Ready with Val's bikini body workouts.  I have 1, 2 and 3 and 4.0 is on the way!
• I'm going to keep up to date with Leigh Peele and her Body By Eats forum for extra motivation
• I'll track my calories in and out on the Bodymedia website with my GoWear Fit (Bodybugg/Bodymedia Activity Monitor).   Who needs Jenny Craig's metabolic max?  I'll make my own food and track my own activity.
• I'll tweet my progress on my Still claiming 28 Twitter account

I have to do this.  It's three months to June.  That's enough time to show an appreciable change.  Any motivating comments welcome!

Quick jog in the morning to prevent holiday weight gain?

I'm already carrying way more pounds than I'm happy with at the moment so I really don't want to add to it over the holidays.  I came across this article yesterday which had an interesting suggestion-exercising on an empty stomach.
"Fasted cardio" has been a favourite of many bodybuilders for a while when looking for fat loss.  Other fitness professionals argue against it either maintaining that it doesn't work or that people don't do a decent workout when fasted overnight.  The study reported here split young males into 3 groups and fed them a high fat, increased calorie diet.  The control group did no exercise, one group did endurance training (running/biking) with carbohydrates before and during and the last group did their endurance training fasted.
At the end, the control group gained weight, the fed exercisers gained less....but the fasted exercise group gained the least, showed no signs of insulin resistance and seemed to burn fat more efficiently.

Sounds simple?

I've just started reading the full journal article to try to tell more and I"ll update when I do.  Skimming the first few paragraphs raises a few issues already though:
-Small group (28 in total)
-They were all regular exercisers.  The results may not be applicable to a wider population
-All male
-Lunch was supervised but on weekends they were instructed to replicate the meals as well as they could and log it.  There's no knowing what they actually ate
-The control group hadn't gained as much weight as expected by 2 weeks so they increased their calories by 500kcal!

It doesn't look like it's going to be a fantastic study but it's something interesting to try.  It wouldn't kill me to do a little workout on Christmas morning as my gift to self!