Thursday, February 28, 2013

Motivation

I thought I had all the motivation I've needed, but this past week I've seriously been slacking when it comes to working out.  I have been eating relatively healthy, being active, and still my weight is downtrending, but I'm still not exercising the way I should be to reach my healthy lifestyle goals.

I have been walking and generally moving more.  I've been doing things such as trying to burn more calories by standing when I do things, like posting this blog for example.  Don't get me wrong, I've lost 1/2 a kg in a week, and that's definite progress.  I can lose more weight if I increase the amount of exercise I'm doing.

So, next week I'm going to start doing my work out tapes again.  I feel better after doing them than if I just do a simple 45 minute walk.  Maybe I'll be extra motivated and end up doing both? We'll see, but I want to hold myself accountable.

I have the motivation, I have a wedding coming up, and more importantly I have not so healthy numbers surrounding my health statistics.  That is all the motivation I need.

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Happiness

I think that one of the most important things about weight loss is being happy.  When you are overweight it can be challenging to like the person you see in the mirror, and to love the way you look. I know because this has been me for majority of my life.  I think the thing that will be different this time and allow me to succeed is that I am happy, something that I haven't always been, especially during my dieting periods.

My new outlook is to not look at it like a diet and as a lifestyle change.  I am not trying to lose weight to make myself more attractive, although that is an added bonus, but for my health.  I have a fiancee, family and friends that love me very much.  I want to be around as long as possible for them, and the best way to do that is to take care of my health.  I don't so much care about the number on the scale, but the more important numbers that being a healthy weight leads to like normal blood pressure, normal A1C, and normal cholesterol.

So my advice to you is to find something that makes you happy.  Reading, writing, music, something that no matter your weight loss struggles you can count on to change your attitude and put a smile on your face.  Positivity leads to positive results.

Monday, February 25, 2013

Plateau

I think I may have hit my first plateau.  I've only lost 1.5kg since I started this blog, but from my heaviest weight, and since I've started seriously trying to lose weight and I've lost 15lbs. My exercise routine has switched to walking from work out tapes.  I've been bouncing between 98.5 and 98.2kg for the past few days.  I have also been having some serious back pain, which I believe is related to my lack of necessary stretching, but that's a post for another day.  So, as it's Monday it's supposed to be my first workout day of the week since Saturday and Sunday are my off days.  I couldn't do it this morning, just walking makes my back hurt.  I've been spending my day cleaning and intermittently doing back stretches for 10 minutes.  I'm hoping to be able to do yoga tomorrow on top of my walk and have that make things better.

So, my question is what is the best way to get past a platuea? My first weight loss goal is 4 weeks away and that means I need to lose on average 1.3kg a week to get there.  It's important to me to meet this first goal.  What can I do to get there?

Friday, February 22, 2013

Remembering

Yesterday wasn't a great day of eating habits for me.  I did pretty well through breakfast and lunch, but after lunch I was still hungry, so I ate my afternoon snack a little early.  The real problem came when I was starting to cook dinner and I was very hungry again.

Now, there are a few things I try and do to make sure that my hunger is actually hunger and I'm not just bored or thirsty.  Dehydration can frequently show its symptoms in hunger.  So when I feel hungry the very first thing I do is drink a large glass of water.  Recently, I've been staying very adequately hydrated drinking about 2 liters of water a day in addition to multiple cups of tea.

So as I was cutting potatoes and cutting broccoli I just had to have something to eat.  Since I'd already eaten my snack a jacks and had a mandarin I went for whatever was in the cabinet.  This was Japanese snack mix. If you don't know what it is, it's a mix of crackers and nuts with Japanese styles and flavoring.  It's pretty good and under usual circumstances it's not a terrible snack.  I, however, ate way too much and ended up being incredibly full by the time my delicious dinner came around.  I still ate dinner and ended up being uncomfortably full.

So, the point of today is remembering how eating too much made you feel.  Because of the extra snacks I was unable to fully enjoy my very delicious (and healthy) dinner.  The next time I feel hungry before dinner I need to remind myself what I felt like last night.  And make a healthier decision, such as a small piece of fruit, or a few cut up vegetables.

Live and learn.

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Preparedness

I'm a creature of habit, and I don't deal well with change.  Strange I know considering I just moved to a different country 3,000 miles away from my home.  But, in general I am a creature of habit.  I usually eat the same thing for breakfast because I know exactly how many calories are in it, and that it is beneficial to my health and goals.  Today, however I switched things up.  I am meeting a friend for coffee around 11 and am planning on having a later lunch today than I am used to.  In order to prevent cravings that would lead to poor food decisions I wanted to increase that amount of protein and calories I have at breakfast.  This will help to keep me full and prevent hunger from dictating the decisions I make.  This is an example of preparedness.

I will also be prepared with a small piece of fruit for a snack, and a bottle of water to prevent excess thirst (I'm slightly cheap and water isn't free in restaurants on this side of the pond, so if I'm not planning on eating I'll bring one with me).

I joined weight watchers in the beginning of 2012 and had a lot of excess.  I've tried almost every weight loss program out there and weight watchers was the only one where I felt like I had control, i.e. not having to eat out of a box, and had the most success with.  Unfortunately due to financial issues (damn student loans) I was unable to continue participating, and old habits made themselves present in my life, but it is the one program that I highly recommend if you need extra support through your journey.

One of the most important things I learned through weight watchers is that you should always be prepared, always have a healthy snack.  Think about when you make the poorest decisions regarding food.  Mine usually come with excess hunger or negative emotions.  I have not learned to control how my emotions impact my food, but more on that another day.  The one thing I can control is how hungry I let myself get.

In order to be successful you have to take control and be prepared.

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Positivity

For my first post I'm going to focus on the importance of positivity.  I've been beating myself up my whole life because of my weight. I've also had a love hate relationship with food.  Meaning, I love food, especially the kind that isn't good for me, but I hate the way I feel about myself after eating it.  That type of negativity isn't healthy for anyone, let alone someone who is trying to make healthy lifestyle decisions.  So, my new attitude is not just approach each day with a fresh attitude towards food, but every meal.  Just because I may have blown my afternoon snack by eating 6 cookies (which I didn't, at least not today) doesn't mean that dinner has to be a waste too, or my snack before bed.  The most important aspect of positivity, in my opinion, is forgiveness.  You have to forgive yourself for the mistakes you make.  You also have to acknowledge why you made the mistake (emotions, letting yourself get too hungry, or a momentary lapse in judgement).  Part of my set of goals is to acknowledge why I make poor decisions regarding food and doing this should help me reach my goals.