Distressing Facts

You know how sometimes you are bored or waiting for something and look for suitable reading material to pass the time? Well I did that today and learned some distressing things.

Apparently butter chicken, that most wonderful east Indian dish, is bad for you. Like really bad.

I was waiting for my friend to join me on our last break this afternoon and started reading this article about people's favourite dishes. Being January, I should have known better. Of course it would be telling me how bad things are for me, you know, making people aware of what they are eating and all that. Well butter chicken is going to put you about 1700 calories in the hole.

That's almost all of the daily recommended intake of calories.

OK let's be honest. The east Indian place was open today after 3 long weeks and my friend pressured me into having butter chicken for lunch.

I should have known better, I should have resisted. But it's early in the new regime. I've heard it said that it takes 30 days for a new idea or regiment to become a habit. And I'm barely on day 3.

But I caved. And later in the day karma sent me this article so that I could see the error in my ways. And now I know. I made a big mistake.

But it got me thinking. About calories unfortunately. Although I'm not a fanatic calorie counter (if that works for you, more power to you. Something different for everyone) I do like to be aware of what I'm eating. Well for the past 6 months anyway.

I think more than calories it's important to look at the sodium content. Sodium is seriously the hidden danger- there is loads of it in everything! Anything frozen probably has tons of sodium to preserve it. Also the amount of fat in something. Yeah there is the whole thing about good fats but you are not seriously going to tell me that the amount of fat in a pizza pocket is good fat are you?

Please.

Anyway, my eyes were definitely opened. And as penance I'm going to the gym tonight. Or for a walk outside- it's clear out for a change. I want to take advantage. Plus it's January- have you been to your gym at all this week?? It's MENTAL.

Fresh air is better- you'll sleep like a baby.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Sweet Tooth Meltdown

I admit it. Today I caved and had a piece of chocolate. It wasn't crappy chocolate (if I'm going to fail I might as well fail spectacularly) it was a delicious Lindt chocolate, all creamy and smooth and oh so good.

Yes, Day 2 bag on the wagon and I've fallen off already. Doesn't bode well for my long term success does it?

It was a bad day. Got bad news from my mom and work was a disaster. And I caved.

But in true blogger form, I have examined my fall (from a rather high horse if you read yesterday) and I think I know the problem.

It was available.

Within arms reach actually. A remnant of that festive season of overeating and indulging in all those forbidden treats. And when I needed an emotional pick-me-up I went straight for it.

One of the hardest things about this little quest I'm on I denying myself those little pleasures that were I a size 6 I could easily indulge in. But I didn't get to be a size 14 by moderation did I?

(actually I'm fairly certain that I got to size 14 due to my apppalling lack of any physical activity)

Anyway. Lesson learned. If i'm going to be successful at conquering my food demons (mainly refined sugars. The worst kind: cookies, cakes, pastries etc) I can't make them so easily available.

So I'm throwing it away. All those Christmas treats are going in the garbage (I might not have the heart, I might donate them to work- in the lunchroom in plain sight so I won't be tempted. All those people watching and judging you see) and I'm clearing out my desk of any sugar.

Initially the cravings will be intense. But with a little willpower (I gotta exercise that more often too) I'm positive I can beat them.

I also have a secret weapon: gum. The Biggest Loser < /em> is really onto something there. A little piece of gum, almost no calories and the sweet craving is gone!

How are you beating your cravings?


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

New Year, New Beginning

So if you have been keeping up...well you will have noticed that there hasn't been anything to keep up with! Since my strong start (I like to think it was a strong start) I have done nothing. About this here blog or, if I'm honest, about my intended weight loss.

I have a list of excuses ready for you but I don't want to insult your intelligence. I like to think that many of you have found yourselves in this same position; you make a commitment to yourself, start seeing some progress and immediately you start cutting corners. That scoop of ice cream won't hurt, some cookies here won't make a difference and skipping a work out today won't matter that much.

But my complete lack of any success since late summer would seem to show otherwise.

When you skip your work out once you are more likely to skip the one after that and the one after that. Pretty soon you are watching people work out on TV guilt free. Not good.

The thing about weight loss that sucks so much (because let's face it- losing weight is a sucky process. All that deprivation and sweating) is that you kind of have to make a long term commitment to that one person that is the easiest to lie to. Yourself.

I can see that I am danger of getting all preachy and that is definitely not my intention!

My intention is to share my weight loss journey with others in the hopes that a) I will be inspired by you to keep going and b) to inspire others to do the same. Strength in numbers and all that.

So how do I plan on pulling this off?

Well I made a start today: brought my lunch to work and had breakfast at home.

I would say these are key. Breakfast at home prevents that mid morning Starbucks run (where I inevitably take a chocolate croissant back with me), lunch allows me to keep track of what is in my food. I'm not going all Biggest Loser on my lunch with portioned turkey or anything. I'm useless in the kitchen- but I bring a low calorie frozen meal, an apple and a yoghurt. Simple right? I also live to drink water so I don't have to worry about cutting out soda- I just don't like the stuff.

And the next, rather obvious step, is exercise. I'm pledging to go at least 4 times a week. For an hour. To start.

And finally- I will weigh myself once a week and write it down to keep track of the progress (or setbacks). I hate the scale but last time I found that it really was the single most important tool in weight loss.

So. Today marks the return to this here blog and a renewed commitment to my own health and well being.

Anonymously of course. I still find it embarassing to have even gotten to this point!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Inconsistency

Clearly this blog project isn't going as well as I had hoped. I have been hopeless at keeping this blog up to date. A list of excuses is running through my head, but I won't insult you by putting any of them up.

I have had bad weeks and good weeks. It seems like I will have a good week (last week I dropped 5lbs) followed immediately by a bad week (this week I gained 3). I think its because I let myself get fooled into thinking that the weight will just drop off without actually doing anything. The week that I lost the 5lbs I couldn't tell myself that it was because I had worked hard, I just kept seeing that I had gone out, been drinking, had only gone to the gym twice etc. So the next week, I told myself that it would still come off, without any hard work. Big mistake.

So I guess the biggest thing that I am having trouble with is consistency. And this should not come as a surprise at all. This has always been the problem with anything that I do.I kind of feel guilty too. The few people that I have chosen to tell that I am trying to lose weight have been really supportive of it. Then I gain weight back and I feel shame.

But every day is a new start right? I just looked at some wedding pictures of a girl I went to highschool with and she looked fantastic. I went to a wedding in the spring of another friend of mine who also looked beautiful. Both girls have lost a substantial amount of weight. And if they can do it, whats stopping me? I'm not getting married or anything, but one day I will and do I really want the pressure of losing weight on top of all the other stresses that go along with a wedding? Probably not.

My boyfriend has decided that after a long year of physio to try and sort out his back, he is ready to start running again. And I am hoping that I will be able to run with him. I think it will be a good thing to do together (and will get rid of one of the obstacles of going to the gym: leaving him at home) and more than that I think it will be easier to have a buddy.

I seem to be the last one that is really working on this weight loss thing. I have several friends that decided to lose the weight and they have all been successful at it. Part of it must be their mindset--I think sometimes I feel like it won't happen before I even start. And this is what I have to change. I seem to have the eating thing down, I take great pride in my ability to say no to cookies and cakes now. I am also fuller a lot sooner into a meal and have been eating smaller portions. But this alone will not allow me to drop the weight. I need to exercise as well. I'm young, it will fall off quickly.

If I stick with it.

So that's my goal for the week: to stick with it. To ignore the little voices piping up with excuses all the time. To put my need to lose weight ahead of spending time with my friends and my boyfriend. I mean, if they can do it on The Biggest Loser, surely I can do it too!

Anticipation Angst

Tomorrow is the big day. Scale day. First thing in the morning. A good way to wake up if progress has been made. A bad start to the day if I have fallen behind. 

I feel like there were more reasons to fail this week. I feel like I made more bad decisions, was maybe a little more lax with my self imposed rules. Perhaps because of my success the first week, I thought that I didn't have to work as hard. I skipped a work out to go to dinner 3 times and on Friday night engaged in some pretty serious drinking (but after an intense work out).

That said, I did also manage to get in 2 hardcore workouts and several walks. So we will see. Definitely not anticipating results like last week, but any weight lost, is weight lost!

The good news is that last week's 7 lbs seem to be noticeable. Mostly in my waist and my face. Even my boyfriend has noticed something different about my face. There is a decided lack of double chin on my face now and I can even see a hint of defined cheekbones! 

When I went out on Friday I feel like I was more confident than before. It must have shown- I got hit on several times AND a homeless man told my boyfriend he should marry me because I was "beeeeautiful"--always good to hear. Even from a man that lives on the street. Maybe especially from these men as they are more apt to call out things like "fat whore"...

I wish that I had done more. But at least with the scale I will know where I stand. There's no guess work involved, no feelings. Its numbers. And they don't lie (unless I have an inaccurate scale...) and there is some comfort in that.

So tomorrow morning, I will step on the scale and face the decisions I made this week. And for good or for evil, I will know what needs to happen.

Wish me luck!

Milestone!

So its been a week since that first step on the scary scale. And do you know what? It wasn’t nearly as scary today!

I figured that I would weigh myself once a week—this way I wont become obsessive about tiny increments, better able to focus on the more important exercise, and see a (hopefully) bigger result when I do weigh myself. So last Wednesday was the big first weigh and as noted, it was worse than I thought. But it was a starting point and that number stayed in my head all week, forcing me to say no to delicious pastries and yes to almost daily exercise.

I didn’t sleep that well in nervous anticipation. When I did catch some sleep I actually dreamt about my weighing and my dream told me that I had lost 2lbs—about what I was expecting to lose. So realistic was the dream that when I woke up, I actually thought that I had weighed myself already. But I hadn’t. I almost chickened out too!

But I didn’t! When I weighed myself, the results were so much better than I had anticipated! I lost 7lbs this week! That’s like Biggest Loser worthy! I can’t even believe that it came off so fast! I mean, I know that I have made some significant changes (like eating breakfast!), but I had no idea they would be so effective!

I’m going to bask in the glow of my success today. But then I will go back to worrying about my success next week. I’m afraid that this coming week, life gets in the way a little bit. I usually go to the gym after work. Tonight we have friends coming over for dinner and tomorrow night I am going to my parents for dinner. I don’t have to worry so much about what my mom is going to make for dinner (she is on Weight Watchers) but I worry that I won’t make it to the gym. Add to that our intentions of going away this weekend…and I’m not sure how many sessions of exercise I’m going to get in!

But like I said—I will worry about that tomorrow. For today I will celebrate my milestone!

Variety is the Spice of Life

I stepped on the scale. And it wasn't pretty.

But now I know. And I can do something about it. When progress has been made (like real, awe-inspiring progress) I might even share the actual number. For now just know that it was a lot worse than I thought.

But it has actually had the intended effect! I do a) think about what I am eating and b) make sure that I exercise daily. Usually when I do this, it lasts for a few days at most. When I get complacent...well I'm sure you have been there too.

The past 2 weeks (since the scale moved into my house) its been different. I make conscious decisions to eat better (and less) and exercise more. So in an effort to encourage others to make a start, here is what I have learned over the past 2 weeks.

1. Breakfast really is the most important meal of the day. I didn't used to eat before I left for work. The result? A chocolate croissant with my daily tea misto. Chock full of how many calories, filled me up for an hour and a half maybe and then? Starving. For the past 2 weeks I have been eating Life cereal (words cannot describe the sweet crunchy goodness) with skim milk and strawberries. Or blueberries. Bananas would probably work--you get the idea. And what a world of difference! Now I'm full from 7am until around noon! Which in turn keeps me away from that nasty snacking habit we talked about.

2. Gum is great. I kept hearing this tip last season on The Biggest Loser (is there any show more inspiring on TV now?) and I wondered if it really worked. It does. Essentially you get a sugar craving and you pop a piece of gum in your mouth. The calories (if any) are so minute that its not a big deal and it totally satisfies my sweet tooth. So now? I always have gum handy!

3. Keep it interesting. I do enjoy going to the gym for a workout. The machines are state of the art, there are TVs on each machine, the atmosphere is encouraging and only women are allowed. But sometimes its a real drag to make myself go there after work. So this week in addition to gym workouts I have enlisted my boyfriend to help. We played basketball for an hour yesterday and today we played tennis for an hour (plus a 20 minute walk to the courts and 20 minutes back home). I can already feel muscle pain from tennis, so its obviously working!

4. It gets easier every day! The first day I was inches away from breaking at every moment--a free cookie, not enough energy for the gym etc. But now? I just say no and move on. Perhaps most satisfying (aside from the feeling of elation after a great sweaty workout) is that I feel so much better. I sleep better. I already have more energy.

Who knew that eating well and exercise were so good for you?