Well the good news is I can stop panicking. After my weekend wake up call of 14 stone 11lbs, a few good days and plenty of water has seen that reduce to 14 stone 5lbs as of this morning. So, that’s 6lbs off with 12 to go to make it to my goal weight of 13 stone 7 lbs. As long time readers will know, I had loads of goals when on Lighterlife and I only have one left on the list. To be less than 203lbs on the 1st Jan 2010. Well, I’m there but only just (currently 201lbs). I need to build in the Christmas buffer again! You may all think I’m going a bit over the top with this but it’s amazing how much worse you feel when you put a stone on at this weight. Before it was pretty much along the lines of ’20 stone, 21 stone, what’s the difference?’. Well the difference is that much more apparent at my current weight. Although people are saying I look fine and I guess I don’t look THAT different, I do feel pretty sluggish and generally ‘Heavy’. It’s amazing how you can slip. You’re so resolute when on the plan but those bad habits do creep their way back in. One of the things I’ve always said was a big part of the reason I was so over weight in the first place is that I had the exception and the rule the wrong way around. The rule was beers and take always and the exception was a salad. Well I’m pleased to say that it’s still the other way around. For dinner last night for example I had Jacket Potato with low fat cottage cheese and salad. That’s pretty much a standard dinner for me during the week and always has been. With that said though, even a dinner like that can get out of control. When I first started having it a few months ago, it was a pretty small spud with half a pot of the cottage cheese, well, a couple of weeks ago it had gotten to a monster spud with the whole pot. Although the bigger version isn’t exactly the worse meal you could have it’s still indicative of the problem. I wonder if this ‘feeling full’ or ‘eating slowly so your body knows you’re full’ is actually at the root of the whole obesity problem. I am of course only talking about behavioural factors and not emotional.
Something else I would say (again) is to never underestimate the impact of writing something down. I’ve always recorded what I was eating but of late it hasn’t been as detailed (read, obsessive) as it should be. I also stopped blogging (as you may have gathered). These were fundamental errors I made in the last few months. I wasn’t ready at the end of the day. I wanted to go it alone but I’m just not quite there yet. As a result, the spreadsheet has been reactivated and I’m back jabbering on here.
Ah, that reminds me before I forget. It’s a couple of weeks of milestones. Yesterday was exactly a year after my very first blog entry and next Wednesday (26th August) will make my very first Lighterlife session exactly 1 year ago. I haven’t been back to my group since finishing management in early April. Why? No real reason. I planned to go back for a weigh in every 4 weeks but I couldn’t make the first couple due to various reasons and I guess the desire to go back kind of diminished. I don’t think that has had any impact on gaining or losing weight in the maintenance stage if I’m honest. The time came quite some time ago for me to take responsibility for my own destiny way back when modifying the management plan to suite my exercise requirements. Ahhhh, exercise. For me, it has to be a ridged and structured routine or I won’t do it. We had some work done on our house which ended up taking quite a few weeks longer than planned and as a result, I couldn’t get to the treadmill. Turns out that was all the excuse I needed to not bother. I’m pleased to say I’m back on track with it. It does make you feel good though, that hasn’t changed. It’s amazing what a few pints of water and a couple of runs can do to your general mood. Why do we let ourselves slip? Who knows, but what I’m increasingly convinced of is that recognising a problem and getting back in the saddle quickly is actually the secret to long term success. Over indulging will always happen. It’s how you deal with the aftermath that counts…..
G
P.S. Still pretty quick posts. I’m easing back in. ;o)
