Sunday 20 July 2014

Get real

Be absolutely honest with yourself.
I found this really difficult, it took me a few weeks to get to grips with this. We have all done it, that biscuit doesn't count because I was still in the kitchen when I ate it, it says a teaspoon of cream but I am sure that large blob is about right, there are no calories in ice cream if you are stressed etc etc etc
A portion should be the amount you eat not the amount you put on the plate minus all the tasters you have had.
It is also a process of recognising when you grab food without thinking.
There was a mammoth list of these for me, I doubt this is an exhaustive list but these are the ones I remember :
If there is food left out on the kitchen counter
Chocolates or cakes in the office
If I am stressed
Breaking my working day up
Boredom snacks
Food as a reward
Out and about

If you can come up with a list you can make sure there is something there that will be within your diet and keep you on track.

I have alpen 70 calorie bars in my handbag at all times. I love party rings or fruit shortcake biscuits for when I just need a coffee break. My current reward/stressed out naughtiness is a flake. If you get them in the multipacks they are slightly smaller and so only 135 calories.

I had tried to lose weight before but what really helped me this time was the fact my other half did it too. It meant that we had a joint will power and also a healthy sprinkling of competitiveness.
If you can't persuade your family to join you don't get too disheartened, just be honest with them too. State what you need from them, ask them to help you with your willpower without criticising you, ask them to congratulate you when you do well and not push you too much. It needs to be something you do at your own pace.
As for meals, they can easily be adapted so they suit both dieters and non-dieters without the need for separate meals. For my favourite curry I would serve it with green beans for me and for a non dieter they can have rice and/or naan.
If you have a non-dieter in the house then it means you can't clear all the high calorie foods out completely so make sure you separate them. Have a cupboard just for your go to stuff.

The reality check also needs to be done when you start thinking about targets. My advice is not to have a set weight in mind. If I had set a target and finished there I wouldn't have lost 5 and a half stone, I would have stopped after about 4. One of the preconceptions that I had was what weight looked like. I have always been big, I was a size 16 at 16 years old and only got bigger. I had an ideal weight in mind but when I got there it didn't look like the image I had in mind. I will cover the transitions in body image I have been through in a later posting but for now I will just say set yourself an aim that you can achieve, that you can see and that can keep being changed.
My aim was and still is to look and feel healthy. There are a whole heap of little aims within this. My first big milestone was to no longer be classed as obese on my bmi app. Now I have a whole list of issue with BMI as a measurement having worked with rugby players and ballerinas, I have seen how ridiculous it is. However it is a label that has effected my medical care and how I am seen as a person and so it was a label I wanted to obliterate and it felt amazing to pass that milestone.
Other aims have been to get back into a size 16, not a bad feeling to know you are as slim as you were when you were 16 when you are knocking on for 40. To wear skinny jeans without feeling like I am breaking some trade descriptions laws, to be able to sit comfortably with my knees up to my chest and pick clothes for what they show rather than what they hide.
People keep asking me how much more I want to lose, my only answer is that I hope I will know when I get there. I am not quite there yet but I am also relaxed about when I get there, which in itself feels like a goal achieved.

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