Time for the mid-week update and to see how I'm tracking for my goals this week.
I have found that I have been much better at sticking to my yearly goals by checking in on them every month so I imagine this will have the same affect.
Follow my food plan: I haven't been great at that this week. I made my plan on Friday and added everything into my food tracker. I should be clear that, of course, ideally I would like to stick that what I plan 100%, but life doesn't always allow for that. Friend's invite me out for dinner, I don't feel like what I have planned, I over indulge and have to make the points up elsewhere. So for me, staying on plan isn't so much about eating every morsel I have pre-planned. It's about successfully making adjustments so the outcome of my eating is more or less the same.
Having said that, this week, so far, hasn't been awesome. I overindulged at the weekend, binged on Monday and there is no way that I can save enough points between now and Saturday to even this out.
On the upside, the binge was small and I tracked everything and other things have gone well so I'm generally quite pleased. I have pulled the book "Shrink Yourself" off my shelves again to try and regain control of my emotional eating and my new committment to attending all Weight Watchers meeting has really helped me ward off any potential eating frenzies.
Follow my exercise plan: So far, so good! The only exercise I skipped was Sunday morning yoga in lieu of shopping, but I ended up doing a 60 mninute walk that more than made up the exercise points.
I also decided to try interval running this morning instead of my usual straight 30 minutes run. I did 21 minutes of actual running interspersed with roughly 10 minutes of walking and a walk at the end of about 10 minutes to cool down.
I LOVED it! I found that I really pushed myself a lot harder when I ran and (apart from my coughing fit and the fact it got really cold) I felt like I could have gone for ages. I look forward to using intervals to challenge myself over the coming weeks.
Water, water, water: SO much better than previous weeks. I haven't quite made my 8 glasses every day but I try very very hard. Also I drank a lot of water on the weekend which was my real aim as that's usually when I forget! Looks like I'll easily make 8 glasses today so I'll aim for the same over the next few days.
I have weigh in tomorrow instead of Saturday due to Easter so I'm not expecting much. In fact, I doubt I'll loose and it's highly likely I'll put on! But I'm not worried. I feel like I've made so much progress this week emotionally and mentally that it's really only a matter of time (hopefully not too much) before I'm back where I was 6 months ago.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Triggers
Today I want to write briefly about triggers, before my scheduled mid-week check in tomorrow.
I have two types of triggers: emotional triggers and food triggers.
Food is pretty easy to identify and avoid. I eat a certain type of food and I want more. Chocolate is one. Pizza, another. Weirdly, oats is another one! No matter how big a bowl of oats I have in the morning I want more and since I've gotten rid of all junk food in my house, oats is often my go-to food.
Emotional triggers are a lot harder to deal with. You can't avoid emotions. Unlike junk food you can't banish it from your house. If you're stressed, you're stressed - there is no low-fat version of being upset.
This morning I woke up feeling depressed. My mother was getting the results of a tumour she had removed and I had dreamt the night before that I had cancer.
I was feeling grumpy and sleepily tried to put in a contact lens. I dropped it in the rubbish never to be found. It was my last one and my glasses are almost broken. I'm broke and can't afford a new pair.
I'm dealing with a particularly difficult client at work, our server is down so I can't access email or anything useful.
Volunteers at my work are playing up and not following rules.
I feel fat and I can't believe just 6 months ago I was the healthiest I had ever been.
I wanted to eat. I wanted to stuff down every emotion as I cried standing in a hot shower. I wanted another bowl of oats, some chocolate, some toast, a yogurt - whatever I had in the fridge.
Instead I went to the gym. I felt a lot better but I was still quite stressed when I got back home. Then I wrote a list of all the things I needed to acheive throughout the day to alleviate stress. I felt better.
I was having a good day until my colleagues suggested cup cakes to fix our crappy days. Then I had another serve of food at dinner. Then another cup cake and two glasses of wine at dinner.
I guess what I'm illustrating here is how easy it is, despite genuine attempts, to fall of the wagon. How strong those triggers can be and how you can't, no matter how great you are, change things over night.
I have been really working on my emotional eating triggers for about 6 months now. It is by far the most difficult thing I have had to do. Going to the gym every day, running my first 5k, joining Weight Watchers, learning about healthy food - this all pales when compared to the emotional battle I've been waging. I've seen it written in countless other blogs before; this habit is hard to break. Emotional eating patterns have formed over 25 years, it's not a habit that can be broken over night.
So today has been good and bad. I made some not-so-great choices but I also didn't binge, and did stave off binging at a couple of points, including right now as I write this post.
I'm a little tipsy and tired, two emotional triggers for me. Once I've written this I will clean my teeth, set my alarm and fall into bed and wont think of food until morning. Tomorrow, when I'm more awake I'll read Shrink Yourself again, I'll go through all of the exercises and I'll remind myself to go to my WW meeting before the long weekend.
Blogging is just one of the ways I stave of emotional triggers. This is effort but it's worth it. I'm not hungry.
I have two types of triggers: emotional triggers and food triggers.
Food is pretty easy to identify and avoid. I eat a certain type of food and I want more. Chocolate is one. Pizza, another. Weirdly, oats is another one! No matter how big a bowl of oats I have in the morning I want more and since I've gotten rid of all junk food in my house, oats is often my go-to food.
Emotional triggers are a lot harder to deal with. You can't avoid emotions. Unlike junk food you can't banish it from your house. If you're stressed, you're stressed - there is no low-fat version of being upset.
This morning I woke up feeling depressed. My mother was getting the results of a tumour she had removed and I had dreamt the night before that I had cancer.
I was feeling grumpy and sleepily tried to put in a contact lens. I dropped it in the rubbish never to be found. It was my last one and my glasses are almost broken. I'm broke and can't afford a new pair.
I'm dealing with a particularly difficult client at work, our server is down so I can't access email or anything useful.
Volunteers at my work are playing up and not following rules.
I feel fat and I can't believe just 6 months ago I was the healthiest I had ever been.
I wanted to eat. I wanted to stuff down every emotion as I cried standing in a hot shower. I wanted another bowl of oats, some chocolate, some toast, a yogurt - whatever I had in the fridge.
Instead I went to the gym. I felt a lot better but I was still quite stressed when I got back home. Then I wrote a list of all the things I needed to acheive throughout the day to alleviate stress. I felt better.
I was having a good day until my colleagues suggested cup cakes to fix our crappy days. Then I had another serve of food at dinner. Then another cup cake and two glasses of wine at dinner.
I guess what I'm illustrating here is how easy it is, despite genuine attempts, to fall of the wagon. How strong those triggers can be and how you can't, no matter how great you are, change things over night.
I have been really working on my emotional eating triggers for about 6 months now. It is by far the most difficult thing I have had to do. Going to the gym every day, running my first 5k, joining Weight Watchers, learning about healthy food - this all pales when compared to the emotional battle I've been waging. I've seen it written in countless other blogs before; this habit is hard to break. Emotional eating patterns have formed over 25 years, it's not a habit that can be broken over night.
So today has been good and bad. I made some not-so-great choices but I also didn't binge, and did stave off binging at a couple of points, including right now as I write this post.
I'm a little tipsy and tired, two emotional triggers for me. Once I've written this I will clean my teeth, set my alarm and fall into bed and wont think of food until morning. Tomorrow, when I'm more awake I'll read Shrink Yourself again, I'll go through all of the exercises and I'll remind myself to go to my WW meeting before the long weekend.
Blogging is just one of the ways I stave of emotional triggers. This is effort but it's worth it. I'm not hungry.
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Another Day 1
Start weight - May 2009: 74.7kg
Current Weight: 69.3kg
Almost a year ago a joined the weight loss program at my local gym. It included 3 circuit classes a week and a Weight Watchers meeting on a Saturday morning.
I was skeptical of the WW meetings at first. Surely, thinking it was another weight loss scam attended by new mothers and middle aged women.
Thankfully, due to a fantastic leader I warmed to the program almost straight away. Also, the fact I could, technically, eat anything I wanted didn't hurt either.
Over 6 months I lost about 10kg and was feeling fantastic. I was not only a weight watchers convert but I was actually enjoying regular exercise, running in fun runs, and I had completely changed how I felt about food. I still struggled, like everyone, with my own vices. I had binge eating issues that I was dealing with and I was slowly culling my cupboards of all preservatives and additives.
I looked in the mirror, and while I still had a way to go, I liked what I saw.
Then I went away for a work conference. I went to the gym on the first day and I tracked, but slowly things slipped out of my control. By the end of the weekend I felt bloated and horrible and I had put on 3 kgs.
I lost most of that but then it was my birthday. Then Christmas and a trip to Dublin and Paris. Then I broke up with my long term boyfriend. Then I got sick. Then my mum went to hospital.
The fact I have only put on 4.3kgs is amazing to me. I felt like all the good work I had done was coming unravelled. All those months of forming good habits, down the drain.
But that's not the case, of course. Sure, some things have crept back in but I know something now I didn't know a year ago. I know what works.
I know what my triggers are, I know what I should and shouldn't be eating. I know what I can get away with. I know what exercise I like and don't like. I know how far I can push my body.
So I'm back at weight watchers meetings. I love my meetings and my leader, Andy. I'm inspired to the point that I'm thinking the meeting I made with a psychiatrist to discuss my binge eating might not be necessary.
So I'm making myself a promise. I'm answering Bitch Cakes call to dedication. I will go to every single WW meeting I can. If I'm away for a weekend I will weigh in early at a city meeting. If I'm unexpectadly sick I will weigh in late. I will not miss another meeting because if I have to go to a meeting for the rest of my life, it will be worth it.
This is my goal, for now. And below, my weekly goals.
Weekly Goals
Follow my food plan: I have already planned and tracked all my meals for the next week. I have almost all the ingredients I need for all my meals - some are even already cooked and in the freezer. All I need to do is follow the plan
Follow my exercise plan: As with food, I have planned all my exercise for the week. All I want to do is stick to it. I don't plan to push myself hard or give it 110%. All I plan is to get out of bed and do it. Today was my first circuit in well over a week. I took it easy (still have a terrible cough) but I'm so proud I did it. Strength will come in time and I'll be able really push myself physically, but for now, the challenge is getting out of bed.
Water, water, water: The one area I have severely fallen off the wagon. I used to drink litres a day but now, I barely manage more than 3 small glasses - and that's on a good day. I will drink 8 glasses of water daily and track it in my online tracker.
Current Weight: 69.3kg
Almost a year ago a joined the weight loss program at my local gym. It included 3 circuit classes a week and a Weight Watchers meeting on a Saturday morning.
I was skeptical of the WW meetings at first. Surely, thinking it was another weight loss scam attended by new mothers and middle aged women.
Thankfully, due to a fantastic leader I warmed to the program almost straight away. Also, the fact I could, technically, eat anything I wanted didn't hurt either.
Over 6 months I lost about 10kg and was feeling fantastic. I was not only a weight watchers convert but I was actually enjoying regular exercise, running in fun runs, and I had completely changed how I felt about food. I still struggled, like everyone, with my own vices. I had binge eating issues that I was dealing with and I was slowly culling my cupboards of all preservatives and additives.
I looked in the mirror, and while I still had a way to go, I liked what I saw.
Then I went away for a work conference. I went to the gym on the first day and I tracked, but slowly things slipped out of my control. By the end of the weekend I felt bloated and horrible and I had put on 3 kgs.
I lost most of that but then it was my birthday. Then Christmas and a trip to Dublin and Paris. Then I broke up with my long term boyfriend. Then I got sick. Then my mum went to hospital.
The fact I have only put on 4.3kgs is amazing to me. I felt like all the good work I had done was coming unravelled. All those months of forming good habits, down the drain.
But that's not the case, of course. Sure, some things have crept back in but I know something now I didn't know a year ago. I know what works.
I know what my triggers are, I know what I should and shouldn't be eating. I know what I can get away with. I know what exercise I like and don't like. I know how far I can push my body.
So I'm back at weight watchers meetings. I love my meetings and my leader, Andy. I'm inspired to the point that I'm thinking the meeting I made with a psychiatrist to discuss my binge eating might not be necessary.
So I'm making myself a promise. I'm answering Bitch Cakes call to dedication. I will go to every single WW meeting I can. If I'm away for a weekend I will weigh in early at a city meeting. If I'm unexpectadly sick I will weigh in late. I will not miss another meeting because if I have to go to a meeting for the rest of my life, it will be worth it.
This is my goal, for now. And below, my weekly goals.
Weekly Goals
Follow my food plan: I have already planned and tracked all my meals for the next week. I have almost all the ingredients I need for all my meals - some are even already cooked and in the freezer. All I need to do is follow the plan
Follow my exercise plan: As with food, I have planned all my exercise for the week. All I want to do is stick to it. I don't plan to push myself hard or give it 110%. All I plan is to get out of bed and do it. Today was my first circuit in well over a week. I took it easy (still have a terrible cough) but I'm so proud I did it. Strength will come in time and I'll be able really push myself physically, but for now, the challenge is getting out of bed.
Water, water, water: The one area I have severely fallen off the wagon. I used to drink litres a day but now, I barely manage more than 3 small glasses - and that's on a good day. I will drink 8 glasses of water daily and track it in my online tracker.
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