I’m on a diet.

I really don’t want to broadcast my weight here, but when I started this diet a month ago I was about 30 pounds heavier than the average healthy weight for someone my height. When my BMI got into the “overweight” section of the graph I decided it was time to do something.

Lynn told me about a site called SparkPeople, and because I had no clue where to start with a diet … I joined.

I’ve been pretty good about eating better — healthier foods (more fresh veggies, lo-fat options, whole grains, etc.) and portion control mostly. There are some days when I don’t do so great, but in general I’ve been sticking within the 1200-1550 calorie limit I’ve set. I rarely go over my fat limit; actually I’m under most of the time. I’m also under my carb and fiber limits most days. For the latter I think I’m going to start taking some of those fiber pills or something.

Exercise is another matter. When I started dieting I started doing some basic strength training exercises (just the usual push-ups, crunches, etc.), but didn’t do much cardio. Even though the winter has been pretty mild, it’s still too cold for me outside. So jogging and/or biking is out until spring. I tried jumping rope, but the combination of being out of shape plus getting out of breath easily because of my heart made it difficult to do it for more than a few minutes.

Justin and I looked into a gym membership, but since we’d mostly use just the track and treadmills… well, $600 a year is a bit much to walk around. We could buy our own treadmill for that money — except we don’t have room for one.

Long story short… I dug out my dance pad and updated my DDR game (SuperNova for the PS2 — if anyone wants to battle online let me know) and have been dancing. If the calorie tracker in the game is even somewhat accurate, I’ve burned over a thousand calories in the past four days…. and that’s just using the numbers for a 30 minute workout once a day. I’ve played a lot more than two hours this week.

I’ve lost five pounds this past month. It should be six, but I actually gained a pound this past week. I hope that adding DDR to the mix helps — I’m starting to get a bit discouraged.

Oh, totally off the subject: Justin sent me this link today: How to Beat Cingular’s iPhone Monopoly… written by a Cingular employee.