Entries from August 2009 ↓

I lost 800g this week! That’s pretty good since I’m still not exercising, and I didn’t plan my meals at all. I just ate kind of along the lines I usually do, but with no junk food treats.

Today it feels easy. Yesteray was good too, but Saturday I was very tempted to get a chocolate bar at the petrol station. It felt so natural to just grab one! Then I thought “Oh, hang on, I don’t do that anymore” but I still kind of wandered around looking for something else I *could* buy, just for the sake of buying something. Then I gave myself a bit of a shake, paid for the petrol and walked out empty handed. That felt weird.

OK, it’s day 20.

I’m still on track, I haven’t eaten any junk food so far. No chocolates, chips, lollies, maccas.

I’m struggling a bit though. The temptation for something sweet after a meal is high, and I’m craving carbs - bread has been on offer at quite a few meals out lately and I’ve been enjoying it with butter, which I don’t have at home.

I think maybe the lack of sugar is what’s causing the carb cravings, no junk food is cutting it right down. But I’m also a little stressed right now, I’m buying a home, work is busy and I have been dating quite a bit (after all this time - it never rains but it pours!!) So I’m very busy, and my body seems to be craving that comfort food.

I’m still determined to complete the whole hundred days - but I am having to be a lot stronger than in the first weeks where it seemed so easy. I’m practicing my relaxation exercises at lunchtimes in a quiet room and that is helping a lot.

Often just reminding myself of the challenge is enough to put off a craving, I kind of think - “oh yeah, I can’t have that, Oh well!” and then it’s out of my mind, whereas before I would have agonised over “Should I, Shouldn’t I?” for ages making it even worse if I decided not to.

I don’t think my weight has gone down much since the first week, when I had a great loss. But that’s probably because of all the rich meals I’ve been having on dates and at the work seminars I’ve been going too. I haven’t been exercising much either, as I have a sore knee and I’m trying to rest it until it feels better. Hopefully next week I will be running again. Then those scales should really move!

Still technically on track - no junk food etc for 18 days! And only three drinks at the staff cocktail party - they were huge so it’s probably cheating but technically I still get that gold star

Some of my meals lately have been quite high calorie - mostly meals out, but I am trying to balance with simple meals at home.

I’m really craving carbs right now - bread and potatoes and stuff. I wonder if this is because I’m having less sugar at the moment.

I have no idea whether I’ll have a good weigh in this week, but it’s only tuesday so it’s a bit hard to tell. I don’t feel any slimmer right now.

I didn’t lose weight this week.

I don’t get it. 

OK, so I didn’t exercise. That’s cause I have a sore knee. And I still went to dancing, so I wasn’t totally idle.

And my eating was good. Not perfect, but really, pretty damn good. Worth 500g of loss at least.

So why? I have no idea. I’m guessing it’s a blip, maybe the paella I made last night was a bit salty? Whatever, I’d better have a super good loss next week.

In the meantime, the challenge continues!

I feel elated! This is just so easy, such a great way to keep on track. I feel slimmer, I’m sure I’ll have a good weigh in this week.

Maybe this is a danger sign? I need to keep my emotions in check aso that I can stay with it for the long haul. Don’t get overconfident!

I previously wrote a post about the importance of continually changing your weight loss methods - trying new things discarding things that don’t work. But what about when the things you’re doing would be working IF you were actually doing them? What if you’re just going off the rails because you’re bored?

Since I started doing my 100 day challenge, I’ve realised that this is exactly what had happened to me - making meal plans, checking them off, doing the same workouts, week in and week out, I just got bored, and more importantly, I got overconfident. No wonder I was on a plateau! My old snacking behaviours were creeping back in because I just thought the routine would keep going on regardless of little slips.

Doing the 100 day challenge has really freshened things up for me, given me something else to focus on. So I’ve started look for other ways to keep my healthy lifestyle new and interesting. Here’s what I’ve come up with so far:

• Set yourself a challenge - 30 days without eating after dinner, or a week of blogging or 30 days without junk food, make one up that will change the behaviour you are slipping up in
• Try a new recipe - try one every week
• Make a new recipe file, decorate it and make it pretty
• Make up a new diet file, make sure there’s a section for motivational sayings!
• Check out some other people’s blogs and try their weighloss tips
• Push your workout one step further, or change it completely
• Do some research, read a new weight loss book.

Ultimatly, we all need to realise that the changes we are making are permanent, and if it’s boring, that’s just tough. But anything that can make it more interesting along the way before it gets automatic, has got to help!

I have 11 gold stars! This is OK, I’m sure now that I can do it. Had a difficult spot on Monday - I went on a date and he pressured me to order a dessert, but in the end I explained that I am doing a challenge and didn’t want to break it, but that he should go ahead and I really wanted a cup of tea. So I had my tea and he had dessert and it was fine.

Challenges coming up - the work cocktail party on Saturday night.  I will have to stick to my three drink limit - although three cocktails should be enough for anyone ata work do! I will just be sure to drink diet coke in between each drink

Funnily enough, the problems I thought I would have, cravings when I’m at home relaxing, have not been so bad. It is resisting the pressure from others and the need to be ‘polite’ which has been hard, and I never thought that that was one of my problems.

This challenge thing is OK.  I’m getting results - back down to 69.0 after going up to 70 last week.  I feel slimmer and lighter too, so that’s nice.

My big challenge this weekend was a BBQ at a friends place, with lots of nibblies. It wasn’t really a problem. I was relaxed, I didn’t even think about the chippies - they were there for other people, not for me. I just remembered why I was there, to socilise and enjoy the company, not to eat! I enjoyed the lunch, homemade pizza and garlic bread, and left the rest of it alone. Oh, and I had 2 drinks.

So yeah, pretty happy with that! I may not have been under my cals for the day, but I doubt I was much over, which I would have been if I’d given in to the nibblies! And I had a lovely afternoon spent with friends and other interesting people, and came home NOT feeling guilty about it!

Looking back over the last year, I feel like I’ve pulled myself out of a hole. I’ve started doing a lot of new things that I never would have done before, and now I only wonder why I never did them?

For nearly two years, I went to work, I went to the gym (and did a half-assed job) and I went home, and I ate. That’s about it. I didn’t have a car, so that explains some of it, but also, I just didn’t much like to go out.

One of the biggest things I’ve started doing now is dancing classes. I’m not sure if I would have done that when I was at my heaviest. I started back in the summer, and at the time I was still around 72-73 kilos. Not slim by anyone’s standards, I’m still not really, but at the time I was just feeling good about the weight I had lost so far. 

Once I started I loved it! If I had started doing this three years ago, my weight might not have ever gotten out of control. I’ve discovered that my weight is a lot easier to control when I’m happy, and doing new things makes me happy.

So I guess for anyone who’s out there reading this, the lesson is this - don’t wait until you’re thin to go out and live, it might never happen. Go out and live first, and getting thin might just follow. All those things that I’ve been putting off until I get thin, I’m going to go and do them now, I’m not going to wait for that last 8 kilos to come off. Rock climbing and sailing and all the rest of it - just as soon as I can find some free time from dancing!

Yesterday I went to the movies, politely refused the buttered popcorn and had a chicken salad at dinner afterwards. This is easy! I now have four gold stars. Today should be easy too - dancing tonight so no time to be browsing through the fridge!