weight loss log 2.0

[Blitz]

äirly is on the money here. Like cool hand Luke...you win simply by getting up and not giving in.
Each time we do that we grow stronger and learn more about ourselves and our journey.
Learn from this experience and grow stronger!

Kim

[Sanov22]

Been making very slow gains (or losses, I should say) since last post.

Got down to 75.9 two weeks ago.

Unfortunately I attribute that to going through a very stressful situation more than a determined effort to be healthy... Still, I'll take it :p

Last week or so I've started to slip. Want to turn it around from today and consolidate my achievements since the start of the year.

[tinkerbella]

welcome back 22,
goodluck and I look forward too reading more of your posts..
Natasha.

[Blitz]

Glad to see that you have posted here and shown accountability.
As JP said in a previous post "stick about - it does help with the 'accountability' "(are you reading your own words here JP? )...keep your self on track by hanging around here. It is precisely in the tough times that places like this Forum can supply you with the encouragement, help and support that will see you through the dark times.

Today is the day that counts!...yesterday is finished and tomorrow holds the promise but it is today where the rubber meets the road!
Please share your places of struggle and lets see if we here in this Forum can help you to that better future! I'm sure that we can!

We know the dark places of this journey but also the heights that can be achieved too.
We are here for you!
Kim

[Sanov22]

I'm baaaack!

Since the last post I was hanging around the same weight - maybe a kilo or two more, fluctuating - for a year or so, then started a new job last year which took up more of my time and mental energy than I was used to having taken up and gained again, got back to about my worst - 83ish.

In the last couple of months I've started to figure out how to incorporate health and fitness into this new lifestyle and have started to turn it around. I started drinking sparkling water instead of soft drink, I bought a backpack and flat boots to replace my shoulder bag and heels so that I can walk comfortably to and from train stations on my commute to/from work, and probably most importantly, I started planning what I eat. I'm getting up a little earlier so that I can have a decent breakfast at home instead of a drive-through coffee and a sweet muffin, packing a healthy lunch so I don't go to the local cafe at lunchtime when I'm already hungry and buy a huge focaccia and/or something sweet, and for dinner I've been cooking more often, and with an emphasis on vegetables. I'm eating meat only a couple of times a week now instead of making it the star of every lunch and dinner. I was still eating some junk - usually after dinner - these last couple of months, but making these changes helped me get back out of the 80s. On Election Day I was 78.8, which was the first time I'd been under 79 in a long while, so kind of caught some enthusiasm from that and have cut out the junk and gone at it hard since then. Currently 77.0 and feeling strong. Hoping for under 75 by August.

[Blitz]

In the last couple of months I've started to figure out how to incorporate health and fitness into this new lifestyle and have started to turn it around.

Excellent! This is what it is all about.
The problem with prescribed diets and exercise programs is that they are based on other people's lifestyles and that is why they fail for most.
Tailoring your healthy eating and exercise into your life and producing an unique lifestyle blueprint is the way to go.
As you have discovered, lifestyles do change and it is up to us to figure out how to incorporate our goals to this changing lifestyle.

As a magician I'm often asked how did so and so magician make that coin/handkerchief/girl/car/Statue of Liberty disappear?
To me the problem isn't how but rather which method? All things are possible...the how is the easy part!
The hard bit is figuring out which is the best method for the circumstance.
The "fit" has to be right.
The same is true for figuring out our healthy lifestyle.
The "fit" has got to be right...there are plenty of options - but which is right for my life?

Good work...now keep going forward!

Kim

[Sanov22]

In the last couple of months I've started to figure out how to incorporate health and fitness into this new lifestyle and have started to turn it around.

Excellent! This is what it is all about.
The problem with prescribed diets and exercise programs is that they are based on other people's lifestyles and that is why they fail for most

Yes. Think I finally learned that lesson after failing dismally at Michelle Bridges's 12 week body transformation late last year. Reflecting on that now, of course it didn't work. The prescribed food and exercise plans just weren't to my tastes at all. Every meal and every workout was a chore, and the whole thing just took up too much of my time.

I'm feeling a lot more optimistic this time around. I'm posting now because I'm struggling a little today, but this is honestly the first time in weeks where it's felt really hard to make good choices. In general, I'm eating foods I find enjoyable and satisfying, and doing the type of exercise I like, and eating and exercising in a way that fits my life. It feels sustainable.

I am struggling with cravings this afternoon though, and about to enter the 'danger zone' of a dinner out with friends at an undecided location, so posting now for accountability. Someone had a sausage roll for lunch at work today and it smelled amaaaaazing. Sausage rolls have featured regularly in my lunches over the years during unhealthy periods. I'm aware of how terrible they are from a nutritional standpoint, but damn if they don't taste good. So I started craving one quite badly. Ate the healthy lunch I had packed instead, but I've still been wanting the sausage roll all afternoon. I'm not really hungry, just unsatisfied I guess. I think my breakfast might be to blame. I have been having either avocado on toast with dukkah or porridge with banana and blueberries, both of which I love, then pretty light til dinner - often just salad and fruit, maybe some vita wheats and hummus. Today though I had a tub of yoghurt and a muesli bar for breakfast. Both were the best of their kind nutritionally - Chobani yogurt (low fat, low sugar, high protein) and Carman's 'superfood' bar (4.5 star health rating), BUT I didn't get the satisfaction from eating them that I get from my normal breakfast. Particularly the yogurt (tried a new flavour - terrible).


Aaaanyway. I haven't slipped up yet today but it's been hard. I'm about to go meet my friends for dinner and have no idea where we will eat and what will be on the menu, but I will post tomorrow to say what I did eat. Perhaps that will make me consider my choice more carefully.

[Sanov22]

*yoghurt

Can't edit. Can spell.

[Blitz]

Hope that dinner wasn't too much a disaster for you last night.
Remember one night gone wrong doesn't have to spell the end of it all.
It is far more important to use the experience and learn from it.
Asking questions like "what did I do wrong?",
"How could I have done things differently?" and "What did I do right?" are key to future success.

As for sausage roll cravings...
Here are some of the things that I've found that helped me cope with things like this -
1.) Keep the internal dialogue up on losing weight. When tempted I self talk words like;
"This food isn't the sort of stuff I eat any more...I'm not the person I was then - that's not who I am any more.",
"It's not worth the extra exercise to burn those extra calories off"
and "I've eaten my lifetime quota of that food already. This isn't for me any more...I've eaten my share."
2.) Delay gratification. Say to yourself that you'll make the decision tomorrow morning.
The time delay and the cold light of the new day may be just enough for the craving to lessen or depart.
3.) If you are going to have it - then take responsibility for it. Cut back on calories elsewhere and/or do extra exercise.
Usually I would do both and do my darnedest to do enough to continue to lose more weight in spite of what I've eaten.
4.) Sometimes a food will just digs into your psyche.
In cases like those the best way forward is not to whip yourself with it but use it as a spur forward.
When losing weight at the beginning of my journey Coke was one such food for me. Just couldn't get it out of my head.
Rather than letting it get me and defeat me I used it to my advantage. I gave myself permission to have it (one coke glass bottle worth - something primed into childhood memories) so long as I had lost 10 kilos. That way I earned the treat without feeling deprived or guilty.
You may want to goal a lower target...I was just starting out then and had a lot of fat to lose. Strangely enough by the time I had earned the reward my taste buds had moved on and Coke no longer had any appeal...far too sugary! I continued this method with other foods. Cream do-nuts too went the way of Coke. Mushroom pies however hit the right spot and ended up being my regular treat after each 10 kilo goal reached.

Hope these ideas help you along.

Kim

[Blitz]

*yoghurt

Can't edit. Can spell.

Hey...you spelt it right the first time!...those typos can get ya!
Thank goodness I have a spell check on my stuff or everyone will know just how deplorable my spelling is.
As it is my typos keep me busy enough on my edit button (advantage of being a coloured green user ).

Kim

[Sanov22]

Partial success last night. Dinner went really well - went to a Thai restaurant and I ordered the entre sized lemongrass chicken skewers and steamed rice, and had some veggies from a share plate. But later I had one alcoholic drink and 2 bites of baklava, and when I got home a few hours later I was a bit hungry so had a slice of toast with peanut butter and a hot chocolate (homemade type with mostly water, not cafe style super sugary all milk). Not a total blowout... I don't feel too bad about the drink and the baklava - not long ago I wouldn't have stopped at one drink and two bites. It's something I could have done without to try to maximise the weight loss, but having these sorts of things sometimes and in moderation is OK in general. The toast and hot chocolate was just silly though, I was going to bed pretty soon anyway and wasn't THAT hungry. Oh well.

Did very well today on both the food and exercise fronts. I've been keeping a physical diary of my food and exercise but think I'll come back to keeping my log here.

[b]16/7/2016[\b]

Breakfast - 2 slices whole grain toast with avocado and 1 egg,
Lunch - salad sandwich
Dinner - pumpkin and spinach frittata
After dinner - hot chocolate

Exercise - 1000 steps Kokoda memorial track and an hour long Pokemon walk this game is going to be great for me.

Slept well.
Could have drunk more water.
Weighed in at 77.1

Weight has hung around the 77 mark since earlier this week, but not too concerned by it. I started exercising more/more intensely than I had been this week, and except for the little slip last night have been eating very well. The number will go down soon.

Thanks for the tips Kim. I particularly like the delayed gratification idea and the allowing of one treat after x kg lost. How do you go now? Do you still crave mushroom pies and eat them on occasion? What does your daily menu look like?

I just looked up the yoghurt/yogurt spelling. It's a British/American English thing, I didn't realise! Yogurt is to yoghurt as color is to colour.

[Sanov22]

76.5 this morning

Albeit that was after a bit of a lie in and a walk/run before breakfast. I haven't weighed before breakfast and after exercise in a few weeks, so perhaps not really comparable to my 77ish weigh ins the last few days. I always used to do it this way though, so it's a fair comparison to the numbers in my older posts. Which means I'm only 600g away from being the lightest I have been in a couple of years. I'll aim to crack that this week.

[Blitz]

Partial success last night. Dinner went really well - went to a Thai restaurant and I ordered the entre sized lemongrass chicken skewers and steamed rice, and had some veggies from a share plate. But later I had one alcoholic drink and 2 bites of baklava, and when I got home a few hours later I was a bit hungry so had a slice of toast with peanut butter and a hot chocolate (homemade type with mostly water, not cafe style super sugary all milk). Not a total blowout... I don't feel too bad about the drink and the baklava - not long ago I wouldn't have stopped at one drink and two bites. It's something I could have done without to try to maximise the weight loss, but having these sorts of things sometimes and in moderation is OK in general. The toast and hot chocolate was just silly though, I was going to bed pretty soon anyway and wasn't THAT hungry. Oh well.

Great to hear that dinner wasn't as bad as you feared. Sounds like you handled it well. Ordering entrée size for your main meal is a useful tip for those who worry about how to survive a night out at a restaurant. The peckish-ness after you got home may have best been answered with a good hot drink or a cup of soup instead. I've found eating a snack before going out to the restaurant (after a small lunch) helps curb hunger build up that may linger after waiting so long for your meal (as a general rule I like to eat dinner early).

Did very well today on both the food and exercise fronts. I've been keeping a physical diary of my food and exercise but think I'll come back to keeping my log here.

16/7/2016

Breakfast - 2 slices whole grain toast with avocado and 1 egg,
Lunch - salad sandwich
Dinner - pumpkin and spinach frittata
After dinner - hot chocolate

Exercise - 1000 steps Kokoda memorial track and an hour long Pokemon walk this game is going to be great for me.

Slept well.
Could have drunk more water.
Weighed in at 77.1

Good healthy meals.
My wife has been getting into Dutch Hot Chocolate recently which she has discovered is very low in sugar.
Caught up in the Pokemon crazy too eh?
All power to the movement...anything that encourages people to move and have fun is all good!
...but watch out for road traffic okay?

Weight has hung around the 77 mark since earlier this week, but not too concerned by it. I started exercising more/more intensely than I had been this week, and except for the little slip last night have been eating very well. The number will go down soon.

Keep churning it out and the results will always come (eventually!).
One slip is the exception not the rule. We all fall down some time. The secret is getting back up and making sure that it isn't the rule!

Thanks for the tips Kim. I particularly like the delayed gratification idea and the allowing of one treat after x kg lost. How do you go now? Do you still crave mushroom pies and eat them on occasion? What does your daily menu look like?

My food intake is pretty routine. I've read two books recently that reinforced my belief that the two important things in a person's diet (word used in a general sense - not a restrictive sense) is having a healthy balance (all over the world people eat different types and styles of food - but always in healthy balanced variety) and proper portion control (there is some pretty convincing research out there that suggest that we don't eat until our stomachs are full but through social cues, plate sizes, food size etc...basically the battle is in the mind not the stomach).

In maintenance it isn't so tough. It's just a case of refining the skills already learned during weight loss. I travel in a 3 kilo range and like to keep in the middle and make minor adjustments when things drift. I weigh daily so I keep on top of it pretty quickly. At the moment for example we've recently brought some unhealthy Dutch treat foods (one of my Achilles heels). So I make up for it by eating less of my other "regular treat foods" and exercising more to maintain my weight. This is my choice thus it is my responsibility to forgo other foods and do extra exercise.

Last time I had a mushroom pie was the last week in October when I visited Melbourne. It served as my entire dinner along with a banana and a WeightWatcher health bar. I had it because I could microwave it easily enough in my hotel room and save a bit of money. I don't have it often - maybe once or twice a year. Like you, it's the smell of them heated up at the shops that gets to you. Once you leave and think of something else then the craving soon goes away. It's more the psychology of it that is at play. Put a fence around it and say "forbidden"...then the mind lingers and wants. Saying to yourself "I can have it any time...but it isn't helpful to me in achieving my goals" puts the sting out of it and means you can walk away.

I just looked up the yoghurt/yogurt spelling. It's a British/American English thing, I didn't realise! Yogurt is to yoghurt as color is to colour.

That explains it all...never realised that yogurt/yoghurt falls into this category. Before we have a go at our American cousins for mucking about with the Queen's English lets temper our thoughts with the truth that on some occasions the Americans actually preserve some of the older spellings that we have discarded! This language is broad enough to survive in both forms. After all it has the biggest vocabulary of any language (borrowing readily from anywhere) and yet if you know less than 300 words you still can make yourself understood in it.

Kim

[Blitz]

76.5 this morning

Albeit that was after a bit of a lie in and a walk/run before breakfast. I haven't weighed before breakfast and after exercise in a few weeks, so perhaps not really comparable to my 77ish weigh ins the last few days. I always used to do it this way though, so it's a fair comparison to the numbers in my older posts. Which means I'm only 600g away from being the lightest I have been in a couple of years. I'll aim to crack that this week.

600gr is a great mini target to drive you forward.
When losing weigh I never was focused too much on the big number but the small number in front of me.
It's reaching those smaller targets that motivates and gives you a feeling of success.
It is amazing how quickly those small target numbers add up - and then you reach the big goal!
I look at my weight loss recording book all the time and can hardly believe that in only 60 weeks I went from 153.7kg to 66.6kg yet the individual daily numbers are not all that amazing...just steady losses (and a few gains!) that add up.

It is good to get out of those plateau numbers...usually you will find that you have a bit of a purple patch after them...
so make hay while the sun shines!

Kim

[Sanov22]

All good today.

Breakfast - porridge sachet - cranberries/strawberries/almond mix flavour, made with half a cup of skim milk, and a chopped up small banana
Lunch - baked salmon - Jamie Oliver lemon and basil crust flavour, and garden salad
Dinner - bowl of celery soup and I slice of sourdough with Flora proactive spread

Exercise - week 6 day 1 of couch to 5k, plus another ~20mins walking (had to catch em all).

Slept OK.
Not enough water (must remember to drink it...)
76.5kg after the exercise/before breakfast.
Feeling good. Tired but not sore. Pleased with what I've accomplished so far and excited to get further. Thoroughly enjoyed breakfast and lunch today, hadn't tried those varieties before but will definitely repeat them now. Dinner was pretty good. A bit light maybe. Bit hungry now but I'm not repeating Friday's mistake. I'll just drink some water and go to sleep after I finish this post.