Category Archives: trigger

Back on track … nearly!

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I am in the pre-contemplation phase.

It’s 13 weeks to a beach holiday so plenty of time to get back on track. Have had a bit of a splurge recently with food and drink.  Have kept off half the weight for a year. So I guess my current weight is my new “maximum, I have to stop now, weight”. Time to stop messing around and get back on it.

Went for a cycle ride at the weekend (then rewarded myself with a bottle of wine). Oops.

Today I am back… let the 13 week mission begin.

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Dinner was lovely, but now it’s time to rein in the treats.

36 hours to go in the 4-week focus…

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36 hours to go in the 4-week/9-day push. In the last 36 hours, I achieved the 9-day target and my gym goals 🙂  The problem with achieving your goals is that you then need to set some new ones! So, new gym goals have now been revised and the programme revised with some even more evil-sounding exercises … including way too many squats for my liking!

It didn’t dawn on me until I was driving home that in my new programme, my repetitions have increased by 50 percent! Wah! Okay, okay … that’s the 6-week goal. But still … wah!

Breaking things down into smaller goals works really well for me – into manageable chunks that don’t seem too overwhelming – both in terms of time and difficulty. It’s amazing what can be achieved when fully focused on a short-term goal. It seems silly to even say it, but the short-term goal thing is so obvious, yet so effective.

4-week focus … time is nearly up. From a weight-loss perspective, I may  be a pound or two adrift from the four-week goal, but you never know what might happen in 36 hours!

In any case, I’ll be able to enjoy my birthday in the knowledge that it’s all in the right direction. One step at a time.

Good luck with your own goals, whatever they may be!

A wobble on the 4-week push … refocus, refocus, refocus!

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Well, unless I chop a leg off, I don’t think I’m going to make my 4-week goal. I’ve had an enjoyable week and I DID resist the egg-buttie-breakfast-run on Friday, but then it went a bit downhill from there. I had my Mum round for the evening on Friday – dinner-and-a-movie-night. I was all determined to have a healthy dinner. She was a bit later than planned, so I convinced myself I needed a glass of Sancerre while I waited… and this simple decision began a weekend off the diet.

What’s encouraging, though, is that I can view a weekend off the diet in perspective. It simply is a wobble, not the end of the world. It’s true, I haven’t lost weight in the last few days, so no progress made to the 4-week push since last week – but the important thing is not to continue in this vein. In previous years, I’d have just carried on – eating and drinking what I fancied, regardless of the consequences. In fact, let’s be honest, that’s how I used to eat every day! So I must have learnt something this past 10 months or so!

Time to refocus: So now it’s the 9-day push! I recognise there is only so much I can do in 9 days. It’ll probably take me 2 days to get back to where I was on before the wobble. I think the very best I’ll be able to achieve in 9 days is to get to ‘X’ stone 11 lbs – above where I wanted to be, but still would be an acceptable loss across the 4 weeks and – importantly – it means I am still going in the right direction. (And no, I’m not publishing my actual weight to the world – even I have my limits as to what I’ll share across to the world!)

So, it’s back to reducing the calories. Later this afternoon, Wayne and I are off to the gym – I’m going for that ‘X’ stone 11 goal!

 

Beware stretchy clothes – for they are the enemy!

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So I wrote in a previous post about staying aware and staying changed. This morning, I had the perfect wake-up call for this.

Yes, I went to the gym on Saturday, but yes, I also enjoyed a little break from healthy eating over the weekend.  Apart from the gym, I was not very active and lolled around for most of the weekend in my stretchy gym gear or PJs. So far, so comfy!

Pasta was my friend again this weekend, and so was a very pleasant dry, white wine and other things that have been absent for a while! Now, usually this would be okay, under the good old 80/20 rule. In reality, it was more like 50/50 over this past week, 50% ‘good’, 50% not. And amazingly, this morning it showed in how my clothes fit. Or didn’t.

Yes, dear friends, the skirt I put on for work this morning was too tight. Now, I know this is hardly world headline breaking news, but I really was a little shocked.  And disappointed. It was my wake-up call! Enough is enough. Time to reverse the trend.

So, beware stretchy clothes, everyone – for they are the enemy! They let you put on weight and carry on in blissful ignorance, happily in denial, until you need to wear something fitted.

But, stretchy clothes will not win! I am changed. I am not in denial. I am aware. I will not buy larger clothes! I started to address it today.

So that’s me, still making the change and staying changed.

Stable. Stuck. So should I stick, or stick with it?

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Greetings to you all, this fine day. Had a very busy, but productive week at work with not much space for ‘me’ time.  Went to the gym in Sunday, but didn’t manage to get there again until this morning. But that’s just about twice in a week, so not too bad.

Now here’s the thing. I’ve lost a fair bit of body weight – and 3 dress sizes – (yay!) – since June last year. I was last stable at my current weight about 18-20 years ago (wow, that’s scarier written down, than in my head!) It’s still not quite where I want to be and I am definitely not beach-ready, if you know what I mean. I’ve been stable to within about 5lbs at this weight for the last two months. I know this is a good thing and it proves that I can maintain my weight.
But I’d really, really like to get a little bit more off. I wondering if psychologically I am taking into account other people’s comments:
“Don’t go too far – we don’t want you to be a lollipop head”
“Don’t get too skinny, you’ll be a beanpole!”
I think it might be because I like my food, and it is nice to eat a bit more – to be stablising, not dieting. I can ‘live’ at the weight I am – you definitely would not describe me as skinny and according to my BMI, I am right on the borderline of healthy weight and overweight.
This week, I thought, right, this is it, stop messing around, I’ll stick at it, give it a four-week focus, get to where I am happy (and firmly in the healthy BMI range) and then stabilise. But for some reason I have struggled. Maybe I just don’t want it enough. Maybe I am diet-weary.
Maybe I should stabilise for a bit, and gradually, gradually try to get to a lower weight – carry on with the gym, tone up and keep a track on my weight. Am not sure. As a minimum, I’ll be working at sticking where I am – making sure the belt stays on the same notch and that my clothes don’t get tighter than they should be.
And maybe tomorrow evening, after a nice weekend, I’ll have the motivation to do that four-week push for the last few pounds.
As you can see, I am undecided. If you’ve experienced something similar, I’d love to hear what you did about it! Looking for some inspiration and advice!

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March 2012
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May 2012
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April 2013
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March 2013

Stay Changed. Be Aware.

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It’s a bit of a constant mission, this ‘project me’  thing. It’s not just over when you reach your goal weight. Here’s a little of what I’ve learned over this change process:

One, decide what to want to change. Two, make the change. Three, you are changed! Ta Da! Not done yet, though. Four: Stay changed – or end up right back where you started again. And that’s not good. Unless you liked that place. And I definitely didn’t!

What’s a tiny bit scary is that the behaviour from ‘before’ is just there, waiting, below the surface… waiting to make its appearance. In my case it could be the eating to celebrate … the convenience (for convenience, read junk food) eating … and possibly the worst offender, eating when not even hungry. What can I say, I like food! But you know, a slip-up is just that. As slip-up. A few days off is absolutely fine – and probably quite healthy. I’m probably going to make a mistake, go a bit food-crazy from time to time. The important thing is to recognise when I am no longer making sensible choices as soon as possible and not let it get out of control. In the past, this has been my mistake – I haven’t noticed as the weight gradually piled back on. So this is how I am trying to stay changed:

1) Stay active – walk up stairs; park away from the supermarket door (not the closest possible parking space!) – go to the gym once or twice a week (it’s hard to avoid those full-length mirrors!)

2) Stay well-hydrated (it’s amazing how easy it is to forget about this)

3) Wear belts or tight-fitting clothes (or at least, not stretchy clothes) – to tell when my waistline starts to increase!

4) Get on the scales once a week

5) Throw away larger sized clothes so there is no instant bigger wardrobe on hand; give them to the charity shop or have them made smaller

6) Nip any weight gain in the bud and don’t let it get out of control.  It’s easier (and less depressing!) to lose 6 lbs than 20. Or 40!

I think awareness is going to be key. So that’s my goal: Stay changed. Be aware.

“Is this plane seat smaller than the others in the row in front?”

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Slightly too long pause.

British Airways Crew “Er… no, madam!” Uh oh. It’s just the size of my bottom, then, causing the trouble! Not an auspicious start to my holiday and not a very comfortable two hour flight. Thank goodness it was a short haul flight!

Well, that was then, last year. Things are a bit different now. Thankfully.

What sparked this particular memory was this wonderful image I found on Facebook on Detox International’s Facebook page last week – which really resonated with me.

Website: Credit: https://www.faactually I just woke up one daycebook.com/pages/Detox-International-A-life-changing-experience/276360322420371

It struck me then once you have decided you want to change – then you do. It’s not that difficult, you just have to want it enough. It can apply to any area of your life – big or small.

This is what happened to me after the plane incident. Last June I started ‘Project Me’. I didn’t blog about it. I didn’t really talk about it – except to those closest to me. I just did it. I am still doing it.

I am trying to become healthier by the day by losing the unnecessary weight and becoming more active. And becoming more aware of myself – because somehow, somewhere, I had lost ‘Andrea’ – she was buried deep in extra layers. And boy did ‘she’ like to reward herself with food and drink. Tough day? Glass of wine! Good day? Glass of wine? Normal day. Oh, let’s have some nice dinner. And on it went.

So my first trigger for action was the (small!) plane seat.  The second was choosing what to wear every day had become a trauma. It was taking longer and longer to find something that looked vaguely flattering, to hide my increasing bulk.  But, really, the plane was the trigger. Enough was enough. I enjoyed my few days abroad, but I knew I had to do something about it. Summer was coming and I had a big programme of events to deliver for work – where it would be difficult to eat healthily. Timing was terrible. But deep inside, I had to start. So start I did. I bought a pedometer. I found myfitnesspal.com – a free app that calorie counts your food. And that was the start.  So gradually, I am changing and I need to stay changed!

My mantra is ‘get it off, keep it off’. I have a feeling it will be the continuing challenge of my lifetime. I’ll be blogging about my journey from time to time – sharing things I have discovered  about myself in the hope that even one other person (apart from me!) will be helped or inspired to make some positive changes in their lives. Until next time!