Thank you areyes1982. Best of luck on reaching your 35th birthday goal as well!!
Week One is over! Here is my recap:
This was a good first week for me. I'm not really committing myself to a diet. What I'm doing is implementing the life style changes that I know have worked for me in the past. Shifting my mind set and correcting my environment are always crucial in how easy it is for me to transition into taking better care of myself. I started reducing my caffeine intake over last weekend. One thing I knew I needed to do was remove soda completely from my diet again. Such a waste of calories, so bad for me and drinking it always leads to other poor diet choices. I had the last can of Cherry coke in my fridge on Sunday and I've made a vow to myself not to buy anymore. At this point I'm not ready to give up my morning coffee completely. A little stimulus isn't necessarily a bad thing and since I can't do black coffee, I've limited myself to one (large) cup of coffee each morning. Hasn't been a struggle at all this week so I'm happy to report I seem to be in control of my caffeine consumption.
The only other big changes from this last week was eliminating all junk food from my house. I can't do keeping small quantities around and using portion control. Not at this point. I don't want to be tempted, I don't want to give into temptation and I definitely don't want to end up hating myself after losing control and staring down at a bunch of empty wrappers. So when the last of a few treats where gone, I did not replace them. The kids have their semi healthy treats that don't tempt me and that is it. When I shopped last weekend I stocked up on the healthy staples that I actually enjoy and help me live a better life. Produce, veggies and fruits for the most part. When I cut dairy significantly from my diet I always feel so much better so I decided to keep cheese out of my meal prep for the time being.
I base when I eat on a lot of years of trial and error. I don't believe in starvation mode or that it's necessary to eat 5 or 6 small meals a day. I know that works best and is the right approach for some people, but I don't believe it's the law of how it should be done for everyone. We each have to find what works best for us. For now, for me what works is having a small meal in the early day when I actually feel hungry, and having a larger dinner in the evening. I've never been a breakfast person. A lot of times I'm not hungry until very late morning or even early afternoon. I don't force myself to eat in the morning. That might change in the future when I start working out again, because I know I need the fuel to help me exercise, but for now it's not necessary. I've done a lot of reading on fasting and intermittent fasting and I do believe there are lots of weight loss and health benefits. Having a gap in my day where I don't eat (because I'm not hungry) isn't going to hurt me and I'm also hoping it will help get my metabolism moving again. I work from home and spend almost 8 hours at my desk everyday. The risk is wanting to mindlessly snack during those hours, especially if I'm having a slow day and get bored. We all know eating is a part of our entertainment culture. The first thing to do to combat that is the removal of most snacking type foods. If I have to cook it to eat it, I wont have time anyway. The second is to give myself the simple rule that I don't eat during work hours. Simple enough.
The next thing is my calorie intake approach. My approach is basically no regulations. Since the majority of the food in the house is healthy and filling. It's not really an issue anyway. I'm not counting calories and I'm probably actually calorie cycling without even thinking about it. We all know some days you are just hungrier than other days. I could eat the exact same foods in the exact same measurements on 2 separate days, and one of the days I might have to force myself to eat some of it because I'm not really hungry and the other I might eat every bit and still feel hungry. I'm not telling myself I have to eat X amount of calories a day. As long as my weight is going down, that is how things will be done. When I get to a lower weight and things slow down, that is when it is time to reevaluate and implement changes if I need to. I've read a lot on how calorie cycling can be very beneficial to your metabolism and I think a lot of healthy people who have never had weight problems, probably eat that way naturally.
Now this whole plan is during the week when I'm at home and working obviously. My weekends are another story. Which isn't to say I'm going to go binge crazy just because it's the weekend. The weekend is when I'm out doing errands and spending time with my kids and family. This is my time to relax and enjoy myself. If we are out shopping, I'm not going to run home to make a meal when I'm hungry, I'm going to take the girls to a restaurant for a nice, slightly indulgent lunch. If my mom tells me she's making a family dinner on Sunday, I'm not going to decline to go or bring my own food. I'm going to go and enjoy the meal she made. The weekend isn't about undoing my week. My weekend is about being able to be less strict on myself because I was focused and on point during the week.
Exercise is something I really need to do, but for whatever reason I always have to build myself up to starting it. I usually enjoy it when I'm doing it, but I'm one of those people that needs to mentally prepare to even start. I'll get there, but it isn't a priority for me right now. They say weightloss is 80% diet, 20% exercise. I'm just fine with focusing on the bigger picture for now.
All of these tools aren't for the short term so I can see a lower number on the scale. This is a lifestyle adjustment. To lose weight now, and maintain a healthy weight for the rest of my life. A lot of people who want to lose weight, go on a strict diet and exercise plan and kill it and drop the weight fast. I applaud that, but I've never been able to do it. The sad part is those individuals often go back to their old way of eating and gain all the weight back anyway. I myself have done the same thing to a certain extent. I don't want to do that anymore. So the main thing I want to really implement is that this is actually my new lifestyle. Of course changes will have to happen. I might need to go thru periods of counting calories if my weight loss stalls. The holidays are coming and we all know what happens to so many of us during that time. The simple answer is that instead of eating bad being my norm with windows of trying to be healthier thrown in, I want a healthy lifestyle to be my norm with small windows of eating bad thrown in.
So that's the current plan! To actually report on my first week. I'm happy with it. I didn't really really start until Monday. Saturday I was out and we did eat lunch. Also my sister had given me one of my favorite candies for my birthday and we finished them off over the weekend. Sunday was when we actually celebrated my birthday. My mom made dinner with a menu of my choice. I didn't go crazy, but I did choose some of my more indulgent favorites. Despite my weekend, with the changes I've made during the week, I'm down on the scale 3.4 today. When I was younger (and losing weight was easier) I would have been devastated with that number after a first week. Of course I would have made much more drastic changes and placed big restrictions on myself, so a bigger number would have been expected. But I've had a lot of experience with weight loss, I've learned a lot of different things about what does and doesn't work for me over the years, and I feel really really confident that I'm setting myself on a good path for success this time.
Whoo that got long.
Thanks for reading if you've made it this far!
TooManyDimples ~ Accountability Log ~ Goal Weight by 35!
