My Project

I have an important announcement to make. (Drum roll, please...)

I have decided to undertake a research project. Yes, you read that right, RESEARCH. No, I haven't gone back to school, nor is this a job on the side (nor have I gone clinically insane, though that might be debatable). For once in my life, I've actually just really developed a sincere interest in something, and am curious enough about it that I want to undertake some research on the subject.

And to all of you, my lucky blog readers, I am offering the chance of a lifetime. The chance to be involved in (what I'm sure will be) groundbreaking research! To be a test subject! A guinea pig! This is your lucky day!

Alright, alright. All kidding aside, I'm just throwing this out there. Some of you may be interested, others may not. But I'm hoping at least some of you will be, because I really do need real live subjects to do my research. Intrigued? Read on...

Over the last several months, I have had significant (and for me, surprising) success in overcoming my long standing struggle to lose weight, get fit, and become more healthy. Several people have asked me what I've been doing and have wanted me to share my "secret". Really, it's not much of a secret. It's very simple and straightforward. Yes, it has taken a very firm resolve and discipline. But it's totally do-able. No pills, starvation, or days on end of eating only bananas. Anyway, when people ask me what I've done, I'm not sure what to tell them, because it seems too simple (not necessarily easy, but simple). I've been wondering, "Is this something that would work for many people in many different situations, or is it just something that worked for me in my specific circumstances?" I truly believe that it could be widely applicable. And I want to test that theory.

My personal testimonial is that I love living life this new way. For the first time in my life, I've been successful at losing weight (a battle I've fought unsuccessfully for a long, long time), and I feel very confident that it's something I can sustain for life. Along the way, I've come to love food even more (if that's possible!) and eat more flexibly than I ever have before. In a world full of fad diets and unsustainable, crazy weight loss plans I just keep thinking, "Really, it doesn't have to be that way! It can be so simple!"

You probably see where I'm going with this. I only have my own experience to go on right now. But I would love to see my experience benefit anyone who would like to feel healthier and maybe lose a few pounds (or a lot of pounds!). And I would love to get feedback from real people who would be willing to try it out and let me know what they think. Of course, I can't make any promises. Also, I'm not a certified researcher, or a fitness expert, or anything like that. But I do think there's a lot of potential here.

So...here's what I would be looking for in my "test subjects":

1. Willing to commit to one month of trying out my ideas. (This doesn't mean perfect implementation of these ideas, just willingness to give them an honest try, every day, for one month.)

2. Willing to give me honest, daily feedback about your experiences, probably in written form--by e-mail, for example. (I would not ask you to tell me your weight. As far as that goes, I would only want to know after the one month is over whether you lost weight or not, and if so, how much.)

Really, that's all I would expect. In return, I plan to provide regular support along the way. I'm thinking of setting up a separate blog dedicated to my project, on which, during the course of the month, I would regularly post tips, ideas, and discussion threads designed to support people and give them additional ideas or motivations which would hopefully help them to be successful. I anticipate that some people will really like this and find it works great for them. I also anticipate that there will be some who find it's really not their style. I am sure that there will be some who like parts of it and find they want to modify other parts. I'm interested in all these types of people. I want to get all kinds of information. I'm just really, really curious about it. And I think it has the potential to benefit people. I have nothing to gain from this except to gather information, I promise. I'm not selling anything. :) So...

If you're interested, will you just shoot me an e-mail at karenesproject [at] gmail [dot] com? By doing so, you're not committing. I first just want to see if there's any interest. If there is, once I have pooled together a group of people who are interested, I'll go from there, letting you know exactly what the plan is and from there you can tell me whether you want to participate or not.

Thanks for humoring me. If you have any questions, feel free to post a comment here, or e-mail me questions as well. We'll see if anything comes of this or not. Feel free to post a link to this post on your blog if you think that any of your blog readers might be interested, as well. I'm very curious to see where this could go!