Excuses, Excuses!

Posted February 11, 2014

Writing my post on why I want to lose weight reminded me of what my husband encouraged me to do in the run up to our wedding when I was trying to shift a few pounds to fit into my dress: He suggested that I make a list of all the excuses I could think of for not sticking to my diet and exercise plan. That way, when one of these excuses came up, I’d recognise it for what it is: Just an excuse.

Image courtesy of pakorn / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I thought this was a good idea so I wrote the following list on the noticeboard in my study:

Too tired
Too much work to do
Don’t have time
We’re going out
I’ve never been to this restaurant/tried this dish before
Can’t be bothered

I did find that it helped me to ignore these excuses.

Since starting my weight loss efforts afresh in January this year, I’ve been thinking about these excuses again and I’ve found it useful to spend some time considering how to respond to them. I’ve found this strategy to be even more helpful because I haven’t noticed the excuses surfacing so far, despite the fact that I’m now well into my second month, a time by when my initial flush of motivation would definitely have expired in my previous weight loss attempts.

Here are my musings on each of my excuses:

Too tired (to exercise) – Will I be going to bed instead of the gym? No? Then I can’t be too tired. Also, once I get there and get going I’ll feel more energised. I’ll feel great after my workout and I’ll have an even better night’s sleep because of it.

Too tired (to cook healthy food) – I’ve made sure that I plan very quick and easy meals for week nights and I’ve also got some stock cupboard staples, such as beans and bread, for when I really can’t be bothered. I also make sure I freeze extra portions of the meals I cook so that I’ve always got a healthy ready meal on standby in the freezer.

Too much work to do – Yes, work is important but so is my own health and well being. Just because I have a job which will expand to fit every waking moment doesn’t mean that I should allow it too. Exercise is an excellent way for me to de-stress at the end of the day. I can always go into work a little bit earlier the following day if I have something really urgent that I didn’t get done. I also make sure I have quick and easy meals planned for in the week (see point above).

I don’t have time – I need to prioritise my healthy eating and exercise to help me achieve my weight loss goals as I really want to reach my goal weight. Simple. So I make the time to plan my meals in advance and then make a list of all the foods I need. I then shop either in person or online. This makes it really easy in the week as I just have to refer to my meal planner. I also keep things realistic in the week sticking to recipes that are really quick and easy and using frozen portions of recipes I’ve already made. I also plan my exercise classes into my week – they’re just part of my routine.

We’re going out – We might be going out but I can still make wise choices. It won’t be the last time I ever go out and I’ll get to my goal quicker if I stay on track.

I’ve never been to this restaurant/eaten this dish before – I try to look at the menu in advance of going out for a meal so that I can choose the most plan-friendly option. This also allows me to work in any higher Pro Points options I want to try. However, I do often ask myself is it worth spending the points on one meal or even dish?

I can’t be bothered – Let’s face it. We all have days when we simply can’t be bothered. I’m not 100% sure how to best tackle this one as I haven’t really experienced one yet this time around. I have had a couple of ‘can’t be bothered’ moments, but I’ve just given myself a bit of a mental talking to and reminded myself that I REALLY want to reach my weight loss goals and throwing myself off track won’t get me there.

I’d like to end on a quote I came across the other day which seems to encapsulate the attitude I’d like to adopt towards excuses:

“If you really want to do something, you’ll find a way. If not, you’ll find an excuse.” – Jim Rohn

Thanks for reading!

PS How do you deal with ‘Can’t be bothered’ days?

The Results Are In – Week 5

Posted February 10, 2014

Filed under My Progress

Weight loss: 1lb

Image courtesy of Ambro / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Current weight: 12st 0lb

Weight loss since start: 6lb

Lbs to go to reach next target: 0.5lb

I’m really pleased with this result and here’s why:

What’s gone well?

I coped really well with an unexpected mid-week meal out choosing a Filling &Healthy friendly steak and replacing the chips with jacket potato (read my post about this here).

Following my chocolate-free January, I’ve eaten some chocolate most days this week but I’ve not gone mad on it and I’ve pointed it all.

I went to an engagement party on Saturday but drove instead of drinking. I also ate before I went and although I was stood right next to the delicious smelling and looking Indian buffet all night – not one morsel of it passed my lips!

I stuck to my plan to deal with eating out yesterday by choosing a main and a desert from the ‘lighter choices’ section of the menu.

I tried on some trousers that were too tight for me at the beginning of January and they now fit so I’ll be wearing those at some point this week!

What’s been difficult?

My chocolate craving was back with a vengeance this week. However, I didn’t let this throw me off track. I simply reminded myself of my goals and my reasons for wanting to lose weight to help reign the craving in and I made sure I pointed everything.

The week ahead

I have a work’s night out on Saturday night where I intend to have a few drinks – following an extremely difficult half term, my team and I definitely need to let our hair down a little. However, I’m very conscious that I want to achieve my next goal of being under 12st at my weigh in next Monday. I know that if I drink too much it will:

a) Make me want to eat rubbish on Sunday

b) Make me not want to go to my box fit class on Sunday

c) Make my dehydrated body retain fluid prior to my weigh in on Monday evening.

So, I’m going to have a few drinks but I’m not going to get really drunk so that I can still stay on track. I’m also going to attend my first Park Run 5k race on Saturday morning to get a few extra activity points in the back. I might even go for a swim and a spa following my class on the Sunday.

Thanks for reading.

PS How do cope with a night on the tiles when staying on plan?

Weight Loss Dilemma – Control Freak vs Unexpected Meal Out

Posted February 6, 2014

Filed under All Things Weight Loss

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

According to my sister (and probably my husband and a few others too), I’m a control freak. In fact, she’s probably spot on with her judgement to be fair.

For the most part, this helps me to live a busy, organised life. And being in control definitely helps with my weight loss: On a Friday or Saturday night, I sit down and plan my meals for the following week, make a shopping list then either shop online or take my list to the supermarket and I’m in and out in about 30 minutes.

This is great when I get in from work exhausted and all I have to do is look at my meal-planner to see what I’m having for dinner. No decision making is required therefore my chances to make unwise choices based on my mood or hunger levels are greatly reduced. Similarly, meals out are usually planned at least a few days in advance and I will look at the menu ahead of time to decide what I’m going to order (see this post for evidence of control freakery!).

However, the flip-side of this is that I get a little bit panicky should something unexpected come up. Tonight, for instance, my husband phoned me at about 5pm to ask if I wanted to go out for dinner. We don’t often go out in the week and I know he wouldn’t have suggested it if he didn’t really fancy it. Now, I know I ought to have been thinking ‘What a lovely idea’ but the control freak in me was wailing ‘But I haven’t planned for this! How can I eat out and stay on track with less than an hour’s notice?’

Well, the answer is, quite easily actually! I was really hungry and I thought that this would lead me to make a less plan-friendly choice such as a cheeseburger or a great big bowl of pasta. But I simply thought about the reasons I want to lose weight and reminded myself that I’d feel much better about having made a wise choice and that I’d also be that little step nearer to reaching my goal too. We went to a local pub where I ordered a sirloin steak and asked them to replace the chips with a jacket potato so it fit perfectly with the Filling and Healthy/Simple Start plan. Simple.

I’m not saying I’m going to rip up my meal planner and start living by the seat of my pants, but, just maybe, I can say yes to an unexpected invite to dinner without getting stressed about letting it throw me off track.

Reasons I Want to Lose Weight

Posted February 5, 2014

Filed under All Things Weight Loss

Inspired by this post from a fellow blogger, I’ve decided to compile a list of the reasons I want to lose weight to help me stay focused during those times when my motivation wanes:

I want to feel better about myself
Image courtesy of luigi diamanti / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
I want to wear smaller sized clothes
I want to get rid of my spare tyres and muffin top
I want to feel happy when I go shopping and try on new clothes
I want to feel happier when I look in the mirror
I want to feel happy with my size when I see myself in photographs

I’m going to visualise this list whenever I feel like having a binge.

The Results Are In – Week 4

Posted February 3, 2014

Filed under My Progress

Weight loss: 1.5lb

Current weight: 12st 1lb

Weight loss since start: 5.5lb

Lbs to go to reach next target: 1.5lb

Waist: 33in (-3in)

Hips: 40in (-3in)

Bust: 39.5in (-2.5in)

Arms: 12in (-1in)

Thighs: 24in (-1in)

Wow! I’m so pleased with both my weight and inch loss this week. It was tough not to lose heart following last week’s 0.5lb gain, but I’m so glad that I made staying on track my focus. I’m really going to enjoy buying myself a bunch of flowers for exceeding the mini-goal I set last week (to lose 1lb).

Week 4 – 5.5lb/10.5in loss

I’m also looking forward to rewarding myself for exceeding my January goal of losing 4lb. I have actually changed my mind about my reward – I’m going to treat myself to a new CD instead of a back massage as I’m a bit pushed for time at the moment. I might make that a reward for achieving my 5% goal.

The next mini goal I’m going to set is to lose 1.5lb by 17^th February to get me down into the next stone bracket.

What’s gone well?

Despite my disappointment at last week’s weigh-in, I still managed to stick to the plan for the entire week. I rewarded myself for this with a nice relaxing bath on Friday evening.

I successfully completed Dry January and had 2 glasses of wine of Saturday night. I also successfully completed ‘Chocolate Free January’. I hadn’t planned to have any chocolate on Saturday but I did end up having some Cadbury Fingers in the afternoon but I dealt with this by pointing them using my weeklies. Simple.

I’ve found it easier to stay on top of my weeklies this week by tracking in advance the things I knew I’d be having that would need to come out of my weekly points (e.g. syrup with porridge each morning, 2 glasses of wine for Saturday). This has helped me to plan my treats and not be suddenly left with no weeklies for the weekend.

What’s been difficult?

The hardest thing for me this week was staying on track following last week’s disappointing gain. To deal with this I have constantly reminded myself of why I want to lose weight and have considered how bad I’d feel if I went off track and then ended up gaining even more.

Week 4 – 5.5lb/10.5in loss

The week ahead

I’m going to the cinema and then out for a meal with friends on Sunday. As we’re going for a meal afterwards I’m not going to have any snacks at the cinema, just a diet drink. The meal is at Frankie & Benny’s so I’m going to choose a salad from their ‘Light Options’ menu and I might have some sorbet if people are ordering deserts.

Thanks for reading.

PS Other than the numbers on the scales, what do you use to measure your weight loss success?

The Results are in – Week 3

Posted January 27, 2014

Filed under My Progress

Weight loss: +0.5lb

Current weight: 12st 2.5lb

Weight loss since start: 4lb

Lbs to go to reach next target: 1lb

I must admit, when I stepped on the scales this week I was absolutely gutted. I’ve still stuck to the program, still not had any alcohol or chocolate and still kept up my new exercise routine. I honestly could have cried (although I’ve also had an extremely stressful time at work over the last few days so I am slightly emotional anyway).

However, I soon had a little chat with myself though and realised that only 2 weeks ago I was moaning that I’d ‘only’ lost 0.5lb. Therefore, it surely makes sense that I don’t give myself too hard a time about putting on this amount. It may well be due to some kind of natural fluctuation in my weight and I may well end up with a bigger loss next week.

Whatever the reason for it I’ve decided to view it as a positive and make sure that I’m concentrating on feeling ‘satisfied not stuffed’ this week and hopefully it will also motivate me not to go mad on alcohol and chocolate once I’m allowed them again on Saturday.

What’s gone well?

I said in last week’s post that there were a couple of moments when I’d felt like I couldn’t be bothered to go to my fitness classes. Well, I’m happy to report that this week it is beginning to feel like just part of my routine.

I’m also really pleased that I have managed another week without chocolate or alcohol. To be honest, I’m not even missing it. The only time when I did feel like a glass of wine was on Sunday when my dad came round for a meal for his birthday. I am looking forward to having a glass of wine or a cocktail next weekend, but I won’t be going crazy!

Me & Mr FFF went to the cinema on Saturday to watch The Wolfman of Wall Street (really good but really long film – 3hrs!). As I had plenty of weekly points available I did treat myself to 2 scoops of Ben and Jerry’s (1 FroYo & 1 ice-cream) and we shared some popcorn. However, the popcorn wasn’t that tasty so I didn’t eat much of it. I’ve never done this before – in the past I’d just munch my way through it anyway. But this time I thought ‘This really isn’t worth putting into my mouth’. So I didn’t. Simple.

What’s been difficult?

I’m starting to worry about whether I’ll be able to control my chocolate intake when I allow it back in to my diet next weekend. I’m not too bothered about the alcohol as I don’t drink much anyway. Chocolate however, is another story. I could quite happily scoff my way through a large bar of chocolate in about 20 minutes. I’ve also got a few chocolate gifts left over from Christmas in the back of one of my kitchen cupboards.

I’m planning on having a couple of drinks on Saturday evening but no chocolate. That way I’m not going to be treating myself to chocolate straight away on 1^st February. I might even lay off the chocolate for the rest of that week.

I’m also going to bag-up my Christmas chocolate into 3/4pp portions and keep them out of sight at the back of the cupboard.

The week ahead

I’m going out for dinner with my sister on Wednesday. I’ve had a look online at the menu for the restaurant we’re going to and there are at least 3 options I can have with a choice of veggies, salad and new potatoes.

I’m still going to have a nice relaxing bath tonight to unwind but I won’t use my Lush products as I didn’t lose this week. Instead, once I’ve stayed on track this week, I’m going to treat myself to a Lush bath on Saturday.

As I’ve already achieved my January target of losing 4lb, I’m going to set myself a mini-target of losing 1lb this week to help motivate me to stay on track. If When I achieve this goal I’m going to buy myself a bunch of flowers as a reward.

Thanks for reading.

PS What do you do to help you stay on track following a weight gain?

The Results Are In – Week 2

Posted January 20, 2014

Filed under My Progress

Weight loss: 4lbs

Current weight: 12st 2lbs

Weight loss since start: 4.5lbs

Lbs to go to reach next target: 0!

Wow! I’m so pleased I stuck with the program this week and achieved a great loss!

What’s gone well?

As I said in last week’s results post, I was disappointed at my weight-loss last week but I still rewarded myself with my Lush bath and reminded myself that a) it was still a loss that brought me one step closer to my target and b) I’ve made healthier choices with my food and exercise that have made me feel better in myself.

Having leftover portions of plan-friendly meals in the freezer definitely helped me to stay on track this week. Although I plan my meals a week in advance, for some reason I hadn’t included a meal for Friday night. I realised this on Thursday but was able to fall back on some leftover Moussaka after I’d been to my spinning class.

I’m also delighted that I’ve been able to maintain my ‘No chocolate or alcohol in January’ goal, even though the past two weeks at work have been pretty horrendous.

I’ve also made what I think is a big step for me in addressing my habit of comfort eating: I work with children and we all sit down to eat breakfast at 11am. The children have toast (white bread) with jam, marmalade or lemon curd. I’d been eating this in Week 1 and using my daily treats for it. However I replaced it with a banana this week to try to help increase my weight loss. On Friday, I felt very stressed and tired and I was going to have a slice. I was thinking ‘I’ve been good all week and it’s Friday. So I can treat myself and use my daily treats’. But then I recognised that this would not help me to break the comfort eating habit and that I need to stop seeing food as a reward. I ate my banana and I felt very virtuous!

What’s been difficult?

I have been slightly tempted to miss a couple of exercise classes this week with no other reason than at the time, I felt like I couldn’t be bothered. However, I reminded myself that sitting on the sofa won’t help to bring me closer to my goals and that once I’d completed the class I’d feel better. I managed to keep the motivation going but I know I’ll need to keep an eye on this over the next couple of weeks.

The week ahead

It’s my dad’s birthday this weekend and he’s coming round for dinner. I’m going to make some kind of beef casserole and I’ll have a look at my Filling & Healthy cookbook and recipe cards for a suitable desert. I think the hardest bit will be not having a nice glass of wine with my meal but I am determined to complete Dry January.

Thanks for reading.

PS How do you stay motivated to exercise?

Rewards – Be Nice to Yourself

Posted January 19, 2014

Filed under All Things Weight Loss

As per my previous post, I find it more manageable when I break my overall weight loss goal down into more manageable smaller targets. I also like to reward myself for achieving these goals. I don’t know if it helps me to stay on track but, as the saying goes, it’s nice to be nice and I don’t see any reason why this shouldn’t apply to being nice to yourself.

When I first started Weight Watchers, I would reward myself for having a good week by eating a great big cream cake, or a McDonald’s or something else that I wouldn’t spend my points on during the week. I got into the habit of seeing the evening after my weekly weigh in as a bit of a “no man’s land”.

At first, it started off pretty small, but eventually I was binging most Mondays after my weigh in. A typical week would see me polishing off a large McDonald’s meal with thick-shake, a pudding or cake of some description and a chocolate bar (or two)! Not only was this making me feel sick, but I realised that it wouldn’t be doing my weight loss any favours.

With this in mind, I have decided to stay on track even on the evening following my weigh in and to reward myself with non-food based items.

This month, I’m going to reward my weekly weight loss by having a bath with a fabulous bath bomb or bubble bar from Lush. I really love these products as they make a bath feel really special, however they are quite expensive so it’s a treat to use them.

For achieving my January target of losing 4lbs, I’m going to reward myself with a back massage. It’s a bit of an extravagance but they are so nice and at £15, I’ll be saving at least that just by not buying the items needed for my post weigh in binges!

How do you reward yourself for achieving your weight loss targets? I’m hoping to mix things up with my rewards as I journey towards goal so I’d appreciate any suggestions.

Thanks for reading.

The Results Are In – Week 1

Posted January 13, 2014

Filed under My Progress

Weight loss: 0.5lb

Current weight: 12st 6lb

Weight loss since start: 0.5lb

Lbs to go to reach next target: 3.5lb

I’ve got to admit that after a full week on Simple Start, with 3 gym sessions, no alcohol and no chocolate, I was hoping to lose about 2lb. However, as I’m always reminding the other members in my meeting when they’re happy with a small loss – it’s a step in the right direction and it all adds up in the end. Time to heed my own advice!

What’s gone well?

I’ve been really motivated this week and so I’ve found it pretty easy to stick to the plan. Even when I visited my Nan at the weekend and was faced with a table full of chocolate, chocolate biscuits and mince pies, I didn’t cave. This was helped by the fact that I’d planned ahead and taken some soup and an orange with me.

Panzanella with Bacon

I’ve been loving cooking and eating fantastic, flavoursome food including several new recipes from the Simple Start and Your Week materials. My favourite new recipe was the Panzanella which I added some bacon to for a protein boost after my box fit session on Sunday. I made extra so that my lunch for work on Monday was taken care of and added chicken and extra mixed salad leaves.

I’ve also enjoyed sharing a couple of my own recipes for Beef Rogan Josh and Cottage Pie with my followers.

I was delighted to find that one of my old favourite recipes fits perfectly into the Simple Start programme: Baked Sweet Potato with Spicy Mince and Beans (The Smart Cook p.88). I had some of this in the freezer and had it twice this week!

I’ve also managed to stick to my new fitness regime attending 3 classes over the course of the week : Body Pump, Spinning and Box Fit.

Baked Sweet Potato with Spicy Mince and Beans

What’s been difficult?

My lunch break at work has been shortened from 30mins to 20mins. I previously often relied on taking in and heating up leftover dinner for my lunches. I won’t have time for that now so I’m going to have to think about some cold meals I can take instead and how to factor in the time to make them in my already busy week.

By the time I’d finished work, been to my Spinning class, come home and eaten dinner on Friday, I really didn’t feel like sitting down to plan my meals for the following week and do my online shopping. I just wanted to flake out in front of the TV. However, I reminded myself that for me, planning ahead is crucial to staying on track. I did it and, though it wasn’t my favourite way of spending a Friday evening, at least it stopped me from having time to think about wanting a glass of wine!

The week ahead

I have a meeting to go to straight from work on Wednesday and then the photography course I’m doing has been moved from Thursday to Wednesday as well this week so Wednesday is going to be a particularly busy day. To help me survive it and stay on track, I’m going to order a baked potato with beans for my lunch at work and take a sandwich with me to eat when I get to college. I’ll also make sure I’ve got some extra fruit to snack on too.

I said last week that I thought it was important to reward myself for reaching my goals and that I was going to write a post about this. While I didn’t get chance to write about this last week, due to getting back into the swing of balancing work with eating properly and exercising, I have been thinking about this and will post about it tomorrow so keep an eye out for that.

Thanks for reading.

PS If you’ve got any tasty, easy, cold lunch ideas for me, please share!

Starting Statistics

Posted January 7, 2014

Filed under My Progress

I’ve been back in the fat-fighting frame of mind since 2^nd January now but I wanted to wait until I’d had my official weigh-in at my Weight Watchers meeting before posting my stats and targets.

Although I was actually looking forward to my first meeting of 2014, I was still (even after all my years of experience) a little bit apprehensive about getting on the scales and taking my current measurements. But I took the plunge and this is what I found:

Current weight: 12st 6.5lbs

Waist: 36in

Hips: 43in

Bust: 42in

Arms: 13in

Thighs: 25in

So now I know what I’m dealing with, these are my targets:

Goal	Amount to lose	Target Weight	Date to be achieved by
January Target	4lbs	12st 2.5lbs	03/02/14 (loss of 1lb/week for 4 weeks)
5% of current weight	9lbs	11st 11.5lbs	10/03/14 (loss of 1lb/week for 9 weeks)
10% of current weight	18lbs	11st 2.5lb	12/05/14 (loss of 1lb/week for 18 weeks)
Goal Weight	27.5lbs	10st 7lb	21/07/14 (loss of 1lb/week for 28 weeks)

I have based the dates for each of my targets on a weight loss of 1lb per week which falls well within the Weight Watchers plan’s recommendations (of between 05-2lb per week). I’m sure there will be some weeks when I do better but I want my targets to be realistic and achievable.

As I achieve each of my small targets I will be setting another one to help break my final goal down into more manageable chunks.

I was initially planning on my 5% being my first target. However, as I was writing this post and calculated when I would achieve this, I realised that’s quite a long way off. I’m hoping that setting a smaller goal for this month will be a good motivator in the meantime.

Here are my current pictures. I plan to update these and my measurements monthly.

I think it is important for me to reward myself with non-food incentives for reaching my goals so I’ll give some thought to what these could be and will post about them later on this week.