A single girl’s diet and weightloss journey

I didn’t weigh in last week, and I haven’t blogged for a week or more.  There are a few reasons for this, but suffice to say that I’m back now, and the break didn’t do me too much harm. For the last two weeks my exercise routine has been pretty good, and I’ve eaten most of my planned meals. Unfortunately, I’ve given into midweek treats a few too many times, and my weekend eating has been pretty bad.

This morning I weighed in at 68.8. That’s 600g less than my last weigh  in, two weeks ago. So technically, I lost 300g a for each of the last two weeks. I’m OK with that

My goals for the next week are

• No mid week treats
• 5 exercise sessions
• Only ONE fee day on the weekend.

Just out of curiosity this morning I re-did my CalorieKing profile using my current weight. CK now reccommends I eat 1270 calories a day.

This is well below the 1430 they recommended when I was 82kgs! It’s also below the 1300 recommended by the PT when I had my metabolism tested.

I’ve been planning 1300 cals and eating a bit over. No wonder I’ve plateued! Next week i will plan 1250 and try harder to stick to it.

It’s not even mid week yet, but I thought I’d do an update. I’ve already acheived one of my goals this week - I’ve researched some snack ideas for ext week. That will make my meal planning a lot easier! And it’s a bit of a relief because I am a bit over everything I usually eat right now.

I’m on track for my other two goals, and have been making a big effort to be organised and to get out of bed when the alarm clock goes off at 5am for the gym.

I have to say, getting back to 5am starts after a bit of a break is an absolute killer! but I do love knowing tat it’s all done and I don’t haveto worry about exercise for the rest of the day!

I must be having a mid afternoon slump though, because I am realy tired! Oh well, back to work!

I guess I have been a bit quiet on here this past week. Work is quite busy, and I am focusing on that and going to dance classes and stuff.

This past week I gained 0.2kgs, which is not OK as it’s my second week in a row with a gain.

The thing is, looking back at what I ate, I don’t think it’s that bad a week. There were a couple of chocolates and one night where I had popcorn, but overall that’s not a disaster.

Fact is, if I had eaten exactly this three or four months ago, I would have lost at least 400g.

I guess that means that what I’ve been doing is no longer working, and it’’s time for a course correction.

This weekend I printed up a heap of “Weigh in” sheets for my diet file. They have a space to write in how I went with last week’s goals, what went right/wrong that week, and what next weeks goals will be. Hopefuly that will help me to focus on small weekly or daily goals instead of getting complacent thinking about the big picture.

This weeks goals are - no weekday treats, 5 exercise sessions (2 weights) and research 2 new snacks for my meal plan next week.

I’m also going to do some work on the motiation section of my file to help me stay on track over next weekend, as I am still failing to keep my free days moderate.

The weight loss fairy did not visit this week.  It’s very irresponsible of her.  In fact, of all the elves and fairies I think she is the least reliable.  I mean, can you imagine if Santa just didn’t show up?  There’d be such an outcry!  And you’d never catch the tooth fairy slacking.  But anyway…

I  gained 400g, taking me up to 69.2kgs.  But after two really good weeks of over a kilo each, i’m Ok with that. The graph simply cannott go down and down with no breaks.  It just doesn’t work that way. 

Also, I’ve now had two consecutive weigh ins under 70kgs, and can finally cross off that goal, nine weeks after I first went under 70.  It’s been a slow couple of months weight loss wise. Damn fairy.

P. S I didn’t mean it! I love you weight loss fairy, please don’t stay away this week!

Because last weekend was a long weekend here in WA, I had two free days instead of just one. Unfortunatly that extra free day on Monday turned into a bit of a disaster featureing fast food AND a party size bag of chips.

I got straight back on track on tuesday and so far have been on plan since then, with no real worries at all. I’ve been too busy to eat! Work has been insane for a few days now. I’ve been very good about not letting the stress get to me though.

The question is, can four days of perfect eating and moderate exercise make up for two really bad days? Will I need to be perfect through Saturday as well to make the scales move? Usually I can ease up a bit on Saturday.  I can’t really see myself eating perfectly this weekend though!

I don’t know, but I’m not going to worry about it. I have other things to worry about - like resisting the urge to tell my boss where he can stick his extra project!

This week the weight loss fairy came and took away 2.2kgs!! Of course, this isn’t really possible in one week and confirms my suspicion that last week’s weigh in was a blip, and I actually lost 1.2 kgs last week, and one kilo this week.

Whatever, I’m now 68.8, firmly under 70 and I’m stoked! My jeans from way back when I was in London fit again for the first time in ages, I feel good, I look good, it’s all good!

I read a quote on Diettired Blog the other day - it was by a motivational speaker called Zig Ziglar. It said:-

“People say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing. That’s why we reccomend it daily”

This really strikes true for me.  I’ve always read weightloss books, I especially like the ones that deal with ways to defeat cravings using mental re-training or cognitive therapy. And I often find that my motivation is really high for a few weeks afterwards, but then it wanes.

A lot of times, the motivation comes from mantras, little sayings that stick in your head and provide the little boost that gets you through those tough cravings and moments of temptation.  For example, after reading The Thin Commandments, I found the mantra “It won’t make me happy, it will only make me heavy!” really struck a chord with me and was very effective in turning me away from off-plan eating. But after a few weeks, I forgot about it. It wasn’t floating around at the front of my head so much anymore and the motivation was gone.

A while back I realised that I had forgotten a number of really useful mantras that had helped me in the past. Actually, I hadn’t so much forgotten them as gotten out of the habit of using them. They didn’t come to me automatically anymore when I needed them, although I’m sure they would have come to mind if someone asked “What does such-and-such book say?”  The point is, you need to keep these things close, and practice them for them to be there when you really need them.

For me, the solution was a new divider labelled “Motivation” in my diet file, where I am now writing down every mantra, motivational quote, saying and concept I come across. I have made a committment to re-reading it every week when I do my meal plan, and to continue researching and adding new motivations to it.

So far it is very effective in keeping old mantras at the front of my head, where I need them, and also in making me remember new ones. I read or hear them and think, “Oh, I must write that down in my file!”

Maybe for you the solution is a notebook, or an index card in your wallet. Whatever, the principles hold true. Write down your motivations, keep them handy, read them regularly, and add to them often.

Although I won’t be blogging every day this week, I’m hoping to continue the same momentum through a second week. My goals for the week are:
- No chocolate on a week day
- No eating after dinner on a weekday
- Some form of exercise every workday and one weekend day.

My motivation is pretty high despite my weigh in this week, hopefully it will last!

OK, so I had a perfect week. I weighed myself on Saturday morning - just to see how I was going, and I was down by 1.2kgs to 69.8. Great!! I figured all I had to do was not pig out for a day and I was sorted!

So that’s what I did. I exercised, and didn’t eat anything terribly bad, and stuck to my no chocolate goal.

Then, on my official weigh in on Sunday, I weighed 70.8!! How the hell does that happen? 1kg in a day?

Of course I know that it’s just one of those weird things, water retention or whatever. But I’m still pretty pissed off about it. All that good work and nothing to show for it!

Next weeks weigh in had better be a huge loss!