Here are my initial thoughts on formalising the process I followed….
Diet. It’s a powerful word in today’s society. Hands up who’s been on a diet?
OK, I have some views on diets….
Where do I start?
I guess I’ll start by talking about the process I followed.
The first step was being honest with myself. But, that didn’t actually work! I was unconscious in what I was eating. The first step was therefore conciousness. I recorded what I consumed, I was shocked. I used myfitnesspal which was a great tool. After a while the conciousness became normal, I’d say six months.
What was the next step? Well, for me it was about eating what I wanted. This is where most diets fall down in my opinion. Even today I eat what I want, it’s not always healthy and people can’t believe it sometimes. But, I’m concious and it’s not every day.
I lost alot of weight by eating big breakfasts (normally a fry up) which fuelled me for most of the day and gave me all day to burn it off. The whole ‘breakfast like a king, dinner like a pauper type thing’.
I ate when I wanted to and didn’t eat when I didn’t want to. This is a big trap that I used to fall into – eating a big dinner when I wasn’t hungry.
Eating guilt free was something else. I’m sure there’s negativity around feeling guilty. I’m an adult and can eat what I like.
Taking responsibility. My weight was my responsibility. There’s alot of talk around genes, big bones, metabolism, etc. To a point. I think it’s an excuse personally.
Rocket science, it’s not. OK, so once I started recording my intake and how much energy I expended I knew where I was. If my intake was less than my expenditure then that was good.
Never use scales. Not quite true (maybe once every 6 months), but never use them as a measure of how you’re doing. Weight is easy to measure but so unreliable and messes with your head too much. Go by feeling, clothes fitting, etc.
Be realistic. It takes ages to put weight on and takes the same amount of time to lose it.
The next bit is about energy expenditure as that’s important. It’s a lifestyle change, not just what you eat.
Again, it’s being concious and taking responsibility. This is what I did and what I continue to do.
Park far away in car parks
Always take the stairs
Walk if it’s less than 3k (sometimes futher, depends on how much time you have). Saves a fortune too
Exercise. Find something you like. I found running and cycling, it’s a great way to explore and also great for mental health.
Get a step counter and set it to 10000 steps. Don’t be obsessive about achieving it every day but aim for 5 out of 7 days.
Be kind to yourself, we all fall off the wagon from time to time, it’s OK.
It all comes down to priorities. We all have more than enough time, it depends whether you’re going to be honest with yourself or continue to believe your own excuses.
My Inner Self 