Saturday 31 March 2012

The devil & the angel

I've found the last couple of weeks more difficult to deal with food due to my emotions. I suffer every month with feeling quite down for a couple of days. Previously I would have a massive binge on chocolates/crisps/sweets/takeaways. You know those cartoons where the character has a devil version of themselves on one shoulder and an angel on the other? Well that's how I've been feeling for the last couple of weeks. It spiked last night and I really wanted chocolate (and lots of it). I was getting quite cross about the fact we didn't have any. In the end I wrote a status update on Facebook. A couple of friends & my lovely sister were very supportive. I told my husband I wanted chocolate and he said that we didn't have any and that he wasn't going to get any. I was even more sad then. The devil & angel in me were still fighting. Then I remembered that we had some chewy cereal bars. So I had 2 of them & a jelly pot. So it was a compromise in the end I guess.

Last week I managed to lose 2lb but it was a week of temptation & a but of indulgence (compared to normal). On Tuesday last week I had 50g of cheese savouries (which we call GG snacks) & pretzels. After I felt so guilty. I had eaten them for a massive total of over 230 kcal. It was only a snack as well. I was very disappointed in myself. Then for dinner we had a Chinese takeaway. We had more than normal since watching what we eat. This week I have given into temptation for 2 nights. I'm a bit disappointed, but not too much because this is my life. I did not deny myself extra food but at the same time I didn't eat what I would have 3 months ago.

Tonight I'm going out for a good friend's birthday. We're off to Charlie Choys which is a Asian buffet restaurant. I'm really looking forward to going out. But I've only been doing this new healthy eating for almost 3 months, so I know that the devil & the angel will appear tonight. I've not been doing this for long enough for it to be a habit, it's still hard work at times. I've already roughly worked out my calories for tonight, so I'm not going eat a lot during the day. I really hope that the angel shouts louder tonight coz I'd hate it if I gave in. It would be great to know that I can still go out, eat lovely food & lose weight.

We will find out the consequence of my
eating on Monday. Monday makes 3 months since I changed my way of life.

Monday 19 March 2012

What I do if I fall off the wagon...

At the end of January I write a post called Failed.

In this post I talked about how the night before I had eaten more than I should have and that I hadn't done as much exercise as I'd have liked. I was feeling very down and disappointed in myself for falling off the waggon so-to-speak. At that point I'd been living a healthier life for 3.5 weeks. In the past I would normally have jacked the whole thing in and gone on a massive food binge and basically eaten loads of crap. This would have undone all the hard work I'd put in to losing the 12lb I'd already lost.

The difference this time is that i am looking at this as a way of life forever. I know that I will always have to worry about my weight, even when I get to goal, because I know just how easy it can go back on. Losing weight is a battle. whether you've got 10 lb to lose or 10 stones. By having a positive attitude and looking at the long term I managed to carry on with this way of life back in January. Because I did that I managed to lose an extra 19 lbs to date.

I cannot explain how important I have found it to look at it in the long term. I think that generally this goes against what slimming clubs like weight watchers & slimming world advise. I remember both companies advising me to concentrate on the short term and the small goals. Don't get me wrong, you need to do that to a point. After all 2 stones feels a lot easier to lose than 7 stones. But if you go along your weight loss journey with your head down and only focusing on the short term, you forget that all those 0.5lb & 1lb losses will add up. Even on weeks where you put on weight take a look at the bigger picture. Think about how much weight you have lost since the start. Think about all the things you can do now that you couldn't when you started. Focus on the positives.

Life will inevitably throw all sorts of things at us that will throw us off course.
All that matters is that we get back on the right path rather than give into temptation.

Updating the rules

In my very first post I wrote a list of rules that I was going to stick to in order to achieve my goal. I've adopted a healthy way of life for 11 weeks now, so I thought I'd review those rules.

1) smaller & appropriate portions Still applies
2) don't finish of my sons food Still applies
3) 3 meals a day Still applies
4) no snacks, but if really need something then fruit or vegetables. Still applies
5) eat a variety of foods throughout the week Still applies
6) eat all food groups in a day Still applies
7) more fruit & veg Still applies (although not eating as much fruit as I was at the beginning).
8) drink more no added sugar squash & water (cut down on fizzy drinks) Gone back to fizzy drinks
9) move more than I did before Still applies
10) don't stick to one type of exercise - don't want to get bored Doing variety of gym equipment, walking, cycling.
11) no food is banned - it's all about moderation. Still applies
12) be honest & talk Still applies
13) have fun & be positive Still applies

I feel quite pleased looking back that I'm actually keeping to the majority of my 'rules'. I have added one rule since I started.
14) Have approximately 1200 calories a day.

This is the amount that I eat, but everyone is different. I use a website called My Fitness Pal and they do an amazing free app for your smart phone. This works out how many calories I need to have to lose weight.







Monday 5 March 2012

Health MOT & training programme

Last Saturday I had a Health MOT at the gym. It was good and there are a few areas to work on improving which is great. I'm going to to have another one done in 3 months. Hopefully there should be an improvement.

I'll put a few of my results below:
Hip to Waist ratio = 0.90
Aerobic fitness = 30
Resting heartbeat = 56
Cholesterol = 4.55
Blood Glucose = 5
Health score = 58

So yesterday I met up with a personal trainer and worked out a programme for me to work on. He's set me a little 30 minute challenge to do once a week. It's a mini triathlon of rowing, cycling & walking. Then the rest of the times that I go I've got a weight resistance & cardio workout. Apparently the more muscle you have the more calories you burn. I'm looking forward to getting started, in fact I can't wait. I managed to go to the gym 4 times this last week as well as incorporating cycling & walks into my week.

Still really enjoying the exercise. On Friday I cycled to town, pulling my son's trailer all by myself. It was definitely harder but I made it there & back. It was the first time that I've taken my son out on my own, so I was really pleased that I did it. I also cycled to a toddler group on Tuesday. Also going to cycle to my parents this afternoon.

Food-wise all has been going well in the last week. I've been keeping to my calories. My focus is still more on the exercise instead of the food, which is really helping. I was talking to the personal trainer yesterday and he was saying that I good tip is to eat fewer carbohydrates with your evening meals. He said that if you eat a lot of carbs in the evening they are more likely to turn into fat and become harder to shift because your body can't burn the calories off. He said if you think about breakfast it kind of makes sense. Most people eat toast/cereal for breakfast. Both are packed with carbs, but you then have the whole day to burn off those stubborn calories. With that in mind I will try lower my carbs at dinner, but not excluding them completely.

I have been very good this week but I do not know what the scales will say in the morning. No mid-week weigh in this week so I hope that all my exercising at the gym is starting to help. Only time will tell...