Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Weigh In Post 2

I have been able to record that kick start I weighed in at 142.8 kilo's or 314lb. I must admit this is pretty normal for me I tend to lose weight in chunks and because I haven't really lost anything for about a month this is not surprising. I have started to do some regular exercise again and this has probably helped.

The one thing that you do need to be aware of is to adjust how much you are eating as you lose weight. This week it has been the rotisserie chicken one of my favourites I have had to give it up I always overeat when I get it and I never take the skin off and obviously I have lost enough weight that it has now become a problem. So I have now taken it out of the calorie equation I have kept avocado and cheese in I have done this because I know the chicken is a problem for me and keeping my potion size under control.

Some people can control their portions no matter what the food is I can't I have a couple of foods that I really struggle with so I choose not to eat those particular foods. This is not for everybody but it works for me.

As a part of my journey I found that my weight loss had stop ed and my weight was actually going up even though I was sticking to my calorie count and doing some exercise this has happened before, so I started doing some investigation and it had been mentioned before by a friend and by others trying to lose weight it was called insulin resistance. A lot of my family suffer from type 2 diabetes's including 2 siblings a brother and a sister and some more distance relatives suffered from type 1 diabetes. I am not diabetic but I had 24 out of 26 of the symptoms of insulin resistance. This means that I am a candidate for type 2 diabetes and that some foods are a problem for me they create like an allergic reaction inside my body and I create too much insulin. To find this out at 48 it was a great eureka moment and at the same time it was why didn't anybody tell me about this before my life could have been so different.

Having this insulin resistance problem means that I have to be careful with certain foods. No Sugar or Grains in any form I also have to eliminate potato and be careful with other root vegetables. I have been able to re-introduce brown rice to my diet but definitely not white rice. I am careful with fruit No high carbohydrate fruits like banana's or melon's I stick to berries apples and citrus but only 3 small serves a day and always with protein to counteract the sugar. This new way of eating has made such a difference in my life I feel so much better I don't get the emotional highs and lows and my fluid retention has reduced significantly, my weight loss has been very regular since I started this new way of eating. I do have a relapse every now and again but the scale reminds me why it is a problem if I do indulge in foods I shouldn't and it takes about 2 weeks to fix it.

I started this blog talking about food I have trouble with so I avoid that particular food because I know I have no control its all or nothing, others seem to be able to indulge certain foods within their calorie range and therefore nothing is forbidden and then also the other extreme were they believe that they can never eat outside of a very strict diet. This is definitely a personal journey and you need to do what works for you and don't let anybody influence you in thinking that you need to do it differently or my favourite "a little bit wont hurt or you have been so good you should have a reward"" I made it especially for you or eat up I don't want any of it left or don't you like xxxx its my favourite" be polite but firm and that you are in control of what goes in your mouth. If it comes to the crunch you can always bring out the I am diabetic or allergic for emergencies

Have a great day
Ann

Friday, September 25, 2009

The Scale and Getting started

I weigh myself everyday this is not for everybody but you need to be in the right frame of mine to do this. I treat it as part of my day and it keeps me accountable I don't let the weight on the scale affect my day its just another tool on the weight loss journey. The way I lose weight is by chunks so I am quite happy if my weight stays the same or goes up a little because I know if I keep to my eating plan eventually my weight will go down by past experience I seem to be at my lightest in the middle of my cycle. You can find these things out by recording your weight everyday for about 3 months. The information comes in handy when your weight suddenly goes up 1.5 kilo's or 3lbs for no reason and stays there for about a week to 10 days and then starts going doing again it gives woman in particular information on what there body is doing in regard to fluid retention and at what time during the month, as long as I stick to my food plan and calories it always goes back down again. I really don't worry about how much I weigh until the end of the month and then see how I have gone for the whole month this gives me a much better picture of how I am going and stops the panicking over the scale going up a little.

Don't use the scale to beat yourself up or as an excuse to overeat because you didn't get the result you wanted. Losing weight is a marathon not a sprint so you need to look at the result on the scale as a guide to how you are going. The measuring tape is another really good guide to how well you are doing. What you have achieved in regard to exercise goals is also a good indicator as well as how you are feeling.

When I started this journey I was feeling really bad I was tired all the time I couldn't walk up a flight of stairs I wasn't sleeping very well and none of my clothes fitted. I was the heaviest I had ever been. I was very depressed and I had convinced myself this was how my life was going to be because I felt that at 48 I had left it too late, it wasn't possible to change. After getting home from a trip to visit family and friends, a very good friend of mine asked me that question you don't want anybody to ask and the one question you don't want to answer. He started with Ann I am really worried about you, what are you going to do about your weight I am concerned for your health. I said to him I know I need to do something about it I feel like I am out of control and at that moment because somebody had taken time to sit down with me and quietly ask the hard question I made a decision that I needed to do something about my lifestyle. I said to him I know I have to do this for my health but I want to do it slowly I want to get slimmer and fitter but I want to take it slowly small steps at a time (sparkpeople philosophy must have sunk in) I also knew that I had tried the fast way numerous times and it didn't work.

I started with a food tracker on sparkpeople and started counting calories nothing was out of bounds but it had to be tracked. SP gave me what I thought was a very generous calorie allowance and it was explained to me that a lot of people make the mistake of not eating enough I was definitely one of those. Because I don't like cooking I liked to use the meal replacements I obviously was not eating enough calories. I also started drinking water this wasn't that hard because I was a good water drinker anyway and gave up the Diet Coke I had a 3 can a day habit it wasn't doing me any good.

I also started to use frozen meals I knew that one of my biggest problems was portion control I had no idea of the correct amount of food to eat and how many calories were in that food. Lean Cuisines and Healthy Choice became my best friends I did supplement them with more vege's and just added in the calories. This helped a lot because I knew I was eating good food but I also new exactly how many calories I was eating. After about 2 months I was able to do a few meals for myself SP has a great tool for adding in a recipe and it gives you exactly what calories are in each portion I could break it all up and freeze it and it became a part of my food tracker.

I did this over quite a long period of time nearly 3 months I only really started exercising in the third month. I new I needed to get my food under some control before I could tackle the exercise as well. I did fall off the plan every now and then but once I had tracked my indiscretion and realised the calories I had eaten it was a big deterrent in straying to the bad side.

The biggest thing I discovered about this journey I had started was to change things slowly don't try to change everything at once its too hard. As soon as you feel you have one or two changes down add another one and so on. This is for life you need to be able to do this everyday a healthy lifestyle is something you do forever its not a diet that you go on and then stop its forever. You need to be able to live with the changes you have made forever.

Lifestyle changes are for life.

Ann

Monday, September 21, 2009

Weigh In Post

Today I weighed in at 145kg or 319lb I have been around this weight for a couple of months and I need to give myself a kickstart to get it moving again. Definitely not enough excercise and a few empty calories over this time would not have helped. The main culprit is that I am back at University and my priorities have shifted. I need to make sure I can balance this new lifestyle the positive thing is that normally if I was not watching closely and was eating the way I used to I would have put on weight so I am definitely doing somethings right.

I subscribe to a couple of other bloggers and just by chance they happen to be men they are at two extremes of the weight loss agenda both had a lot of weight to loose. One has followed a very stricked diet and still does the other counts calories and as long as the item is in his calorie range he eats it and they both excercise one exercises a lot the other exerises regularly. Two very different ways of losing weight both successful. I do a combination I count calories and I restrict certain foods I also excercise although inconsistently. Losing weight is a very personal thing and what these two super losers (weight that is) have taught me I have to do it my way and what works for me because everybody is different.

A couple of my biggest issues are emotional eating, binge eating, sugar and simple carb cravings and lack of excercise, I got to a stage were I was very uncomfortable moving so I didn't. With the help of Sparkpeople I have been able to modify my diet so that I don't crave the sugar and simple carbs my binge eating is completely under control the final hurdle really is the emotional eating I still struggle with this one. I excercise I really enjoy swimming so I started to swim I now do 1600 metres or 1 mile regularly I have just started some strength or resistance training moves, I wouldn't call it training just yet, I need to get some consistency with my excercise.

I got a little angry with myself on the weekend I live no more than 500mtres to the beach but I rarely go there. I think its because I decided to go to the beach I should be exercising. I don't like walking as in power walking getting all sweaty not being able to breath I don't enjoy that sort of walk. I really enjoy walking just walking enjoying the scenery and being outdoors and strolling along talking to people and patting there dogs. So I decided thats what I will do so this morning I got up a bit earlier chucked on some shorts and a top and strolled down to the beach and enjoyed half and hour strolling. What a great way to start the day the sun coming up over the water strolling on one of the nicest beaches on the east coast.

We need to do what we like doing and we need to be able to live with our choices for a lifetime.

Thanks Ann

Sunday, September 20, 2009

The Journey Continues

I have just made the decision to go public with my journey. I need to be accountable and honest with what I am trying to achieve and I am hoping that in some way I may be able to help others. I have been overweight all my life and I have struggled with being an overweight woman in this body concious, looks concious society. A lot of the time I have ignored being overweight hoping that it would disappear or I accepted the weight and decided that this is my lot and I just have to deal with it, I accepted that I was different and fitted in with others that were also a bit different I became there champion. I also craved deep down to be the same as everyone else.

I have sacrificed a family and partner so that I could be overweight. I know, why would you want to be overweight I have ask myself the same question a lot and now that I have started to be honest with myself I believe its protection, its an excuse, it means I don't have to get out of my comfort zone, I have a ready made excuse for not achieving or reaching my goals, I can give up without guilt and the best one of all is that I can blame something else for my life not being everything that I want it to be.

I am 48 years old my highest weight was 166kg or 365lb This was the position I found myself in in Febuary 2009. I have been on a cycle of losing weight and gaining it back with interest since I was 16 years old. I have decided that enough is enough and I don't want to hide behind my fat anymore. I am a strong person and stubborn and I have a strong belief that I can beat this thing I want my life to be better I am going to give this gift to myself because I deserve it.

I started this journey of discovery in Febuary of this year I joined an online health based weight loss group called Sparkpeople (its free) in July the previous year another one of my five year cycle attemps. I seem to do that every five years I make some sort of effort to lose weight and end up putting more on at the time Sparkpeople seemed very overwhelming but I kept getting the information emails and I would read some and they got me thinking I need to do something about my weight maybe this is the way to go it was a start.

Sparkpeople advocate eat healthy and excercise, I know I hate that too, can't I just take a pill or a meal replacement shake, I have had success in the past with pills and shakes and such like. I then had to agree that the success had been very short lived ok I lost weight and sometimes a lot of weight but it would always come back and more. Sparkpeople advocate changing your lifestyle for good start slowly and change your habits. This is what I have been doing for the last nine months baby steps changing my eating habits and excercising more.

I have lost 23 kilo's or 50lb I must admit its the longest I have taken to lose that much weight but it has definitely been the best learning I have done. I know now why I binge eat I know when I eat emotionaly I now know what triggers hunger pains. I have the tools and I need to use them everyday. I am hoping to loose another 70 kilo's and at the same time increase my fitness. I don't want to be an athlete I just want to have good general fitness so I can do the things I want to be able to do.

I will be posting a few times a week and I will relate back to some of the things I have gone through and some of the problems I am facing now.

Thankyou www.sparkpeople.com

Ann