I don't even have to look at my last post to know that it has been ages since I've been here. A few things have changed. With the help of my doctor, I finally took care of some health problems I was having. And with the help of a personal trainer, I have begun to change my body composition. I don't weigh a lot less than I did (I've lost about 10 pounds) but I am definitely stronger and leaner than before. My clothes fit better. I'm slimmer through the middle and my legs are thinner. I'm still fat, but improvement is good.
They say that losing weight is 80% diet and only 20% exercise. They're right. I, like many others before me, was hoping that I could exercise myself into a great body and still eat whatever I want. Nope. Not happening. This November will make 2 years that I've been working with my trainer. TWO YEARS. And I'm only 10 pounds lighter. It looks like more than 10 pounds because I've lost fat and gained muscle. However, 10 pounds is not enough. I simply must change my diet. Everything in me wants to become a "healthy eater" overnight. But most of what I've read says to go veeeerrrrryyyy ssssslllllooooowwwwwllllyyy. I've done tons of reading and research and the recommendation that makes the most sense to me is to make one or two small changes and stick with them for a month. Then make one or two more small changes and stick with the first change(s) and the second change(s) for another month. Keep going until I really am a healthy eater.
My 50th birthday is about 18 months away. I would like to lose about 3 pounds a month from now until then. I haven't set a specific weight goal mainly because I wasn't working out when I was at the weight at which I was happy (about 124 pounds). That may be a reasonable weight for me, or it may not, since my body composition has changed. So I'm going to start out with teeny tiny goals. The first one is 3 pounds by October 10th. That's 4 weeks away, so not even a pound a week.
Last night I decided that my first change to make/habit to create was eating a healthy breakfast before I left the house. FAIL. I made some oatmeal and threw in some chia seeds, cinnamon, vanilla and a little stevia. It tasted fine...but it made me want to gag. I am NOT a firstthinginthemorning breakfast person. AT. ALL. So I googled "is breakfast really necessary" and guess what? The jury is still out. So change/habit 2.0 is (drumroll please) SKIP BREAKFAST! There is some information out there in internet land that something called Intermittent Fasting (or IF) can be an effective way to lose weight. If you google intermittent fasting you will find that there are many different "protocols" to IF. I chose to adopt 16 hours of fasting, then 8 hours of "feeding". Simply put, I'll eat dinner around 6pm and won't eat again until 10am or later. There are possible pitfalls, like overeating at lunch, eating foods that aren't particularly healthy for lunch or dinner, etc. I'll have to do some planning, like making sure I pack a nutritious lunch the night before and planning to incorporate some "treats" (dark chocolate! YUM!) here and there.
The second change I am adopting for this month is to eat at least 1 serving of fresh fruit daily. I chose to add this habit, rather than take away or replace a "bad" habit because skipping breakfast is already "taking away" something.
Wish me luck!
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