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| Now: 60kg = 132lbs // Then: 66.7kg = 147lbs |
Hi Folks :)
I am in the middle of a slim down. A year into my battle I thought it would be really helpful to keep me going if I blogged about my experiences; whats worked for me, what hasn't and a monthly public weigh in to frighten me into staying on track.
So today I first wanted to share with you my ongoing struggle and so far marginal success in my war against my own bulge! I'm having trouble getting back on the bike and diet after Christmas so I thought this might help motivate me and may help some others out there who, like me, want to make 2013 the year they got in shape.
First of all I want to start by emphasizing my relative success so far. I thought this would help me remember how far I've come but also how far there is to go. Last year I lost a stone. Yay! Really I lost most of that in a 6 month time frame. I then spent the rest of the year loosing a little more but mostly getting used to my new weight and finding simple ways to stop the pounds piling back on.
I attacked the weight loss at first. I didn't count the calories. Instead I went on the Atkins diet, or really my own cheap and slightly cheating version of it! I did cut out the carbs but once a week after weigh in I would have a carbalicious treat if I lost weight. A cheese twist or pain au chocolat from tesco were my treats of choice. Or a mahoosive bar of green and black chocolate. hmmmmm so yummy!
I think this worked for me because before this all I ate was pasta. Truthfully it made up about 75% of my diet, usually I would have it for lunch and for dinner. Looking back I don't know how I didn't see what I was eating, but I suppose I was in denial. I didn't keep the atkins up for more than a month but it was enough to break my bad carb habits. In the months after I slowly reintroduced carbs. However I still steer away from pasta (except once every few months) lest I fall back in to old habits.
I coupled this diet change with a trip to the gym 3 to 4 times a week. It started off as an evening workout. Just 20 minutes on the cross trainer on a very very low setting. This was just to get me in the habit of going to the gym, I didn't really care at this point how many calories I burnt whilst I was there. I saw results, about a 1lb a week.
After a month I got seriously bored of my new routine, so I decided to shake things up. I switched to morning sessions at the gym and the results were dramatic. It was insanely hard to force myself out of bed at 5:30 in the morning but giving my metabolism a boost that early worked for me. In that first week of morning sessions I lost 3lbs!
After a month I got seriously bored of my new routine, so I decided to shake things up. I switched to morning sessions at the gym and the results were dramatic. It was insanely hard to force myself out of bed at 5:30 in the morning but giving my metabolism a boost that early worked for me. In that first week of morning sessions I lost 3lbs!
After that the weight came off slowly but surely. In my experience I don't have to kill myself at the gym. Just making myself go is the main thing! Whether I do 20 minutes or 2 hours once I'm there it doesn't matter. As long as I couple basic regular exercise with a healthy diet (for me that's a diet high in protein and veg) I see steady sustainable weight loss. I'm sure anyone reading this is thinking "I knew that!" but its much easier to say but alot harder to do!
Thanks for reading this, its helped me so much talking about it and has inspired me to get back on the diet. Its hard work but the feeling of self worth as you see the scales go down and your measurements shrink is the best feeling ever. Compliments from friends about your shrinking physique is an added bonus.
So good luck folks. Till I next tune in xx
*I didn't want to ramble on too long so this is just an overview. If you have any questions please leave them below and I'll answer asap*
