Emmorph
Mantra
Jan 22, 2008
Don't be afraid that your life will end, be afraid that it will never begin.
This is a thought I can relate to. I spend so many years worrying about 'tomorrow' in so many way that sometimes I forgot to take care of today.
When all is said and done today, now... right now... is all we ever have.
So celebrate now, celebrate today, live your day. Find joy in your life today for we never know what tomorrow brings.
Em
Don't let stress EAT away at you
Nov 28, 2007
5 things I want to remember:
1) Overeating is a trigger that I want to avoid
2) I am in the perfect weight zone and don't want to wreck that
3) If I lose a little a will have a buffer for surgery
4) Those rich junkie foods have no nutritional value
5) Strategy: when stressed I will write in my journal
Lifestyles that last
Nov 19, 2007
Sometimes a kickstart gets people going on their weightloss journey- pills, shakes.. whatever. They are the training wheels that affirm that we CAN lose weight. But ultimately it has to come down to a lifestyle that can be embraced forever.
Realisation
Nov 18, 2007
Eating treat foods:
The second one doesn't taste any better than the first one. So learn to enjoy and stop at the first one.
MAINTAINING AFTER LOSING WEIGHT- REALISATION
I have been around goal for a year now. I have found maintaining goal is harder than losing weight. I can do it, but it's not like I got there and 'phew, well that's over' actually it's still hard work.
Here it is a year later and I have just realised WHY it's hard. When I lost weight the loss itself motivated me to continue trying. But maintaining doesn't have the same reward- the 'reward' is that the scales don't move too much. That is nowhere near the buzz of loss.
Especially since when you lose weight people give you high fives, say nice things like "wow, have you lost weight? you're looking so good!". In maintaining land no one high fives you anymore. Sure, you get to buy clothes that fit, sure you feel a whole lot healthier, and yes, slowly the brain adjusts to the new you. But the constant 'reward' moment is not there.
Weightloss is a Journey
Sep 29, 2007
If you think of weight loss in the same way as a journey in the car then you will accept the time taken to make the journey alot easier.
Imagine that the amount of weight you need to lose is the distance your journey takes. Imagine you had to travel a LONG way from A to B.... would you honestly expect to get in the car and drive directly from A to B? No break? Never stopping? Of course not! If we tried to do that we would probably drive a certain distance then burn out, deciding we didn't really want to go from A to B and then head home. Right back to where we started.
As we travel our weight loss journey we stop from time to time for a break. We do a little sight seeing, perhaps the car breaks down and has to spend time in the workshop, maybe we are just sick of driving at the moment. That's OK! Yes, the journey takes a little longer but we are more likely to continue to the end. To actually arrive at B.
Think of your 'diet mistakes' as a little sightseeing journey. The important part is to now get back on the road from A to B.
Best of luck with your journey.
Simple Formula
Sep 23, 2007
Weightloss formula:
INPUT
INPUT (What you eat) has less energy value than OUTPUT (the amount of energy you work off through incidental and planned exercise)
Maintaining formula:
INPUT= OUTPUT
INPUT has the same amount of energy as OUTPUT
Weightgain formula:
INPUT>OUTPUT
What you eat has more energy than you are using in the day.
Think thin
Sep 18, 2007
A big change is my shift in attitude.
Once I started my weightloss journey I decided to think thin.
What choice would I make right now if was already thin?
For a start I wouldn't eat that block of chocolate! Second, if I do 'snack hug' myself when stressed then I will OWN it, and work it off again.
There is THIN in THINK
Now I think first.
Em
My weight loss journey
Sep 14, 2007
I did not have WLS. I started walking every day- at first 15 minutes was all I could manage. Each week I added 5 minutes until I could walk for 1 hr a day. I changed my diet- and stopped eating the junk food and started eating nutritious food in appropriate portions. I lost the first 30kg in about 10 months, then I plateaued. I started a different diet, got 'real' about snacks and pumped up the exercise a while, it took me about 6 months to lose the next 20kg. The last 7kg have been the hardest- and I would ideally like to drop another 1.5kg (just so I can be exactly half!).
It is possible. The difference for me was 'no excuses' when it came to working out- no 'Too sick/tired/ate/busy'. No matter what I did the workout. I workout while I watch TV now- I am currently on an exercise bike as it was easy to watch a show and workout. I am a Dr Phil addict!
We have a rotating menu- this helped me keep on track as I knew what I was cooking and had the food availble for the meal which meant I and didn't need to get takeaway meals.
Pet hate
Sep 08, 2007
Do you know what? It (one) of my pet hates when someone posts asking for input, support and experiences of others then you type them a big long reply and they never bother responding. Did they even read the reply? Did they just think it was a stupid reply? are they just ill-bred ignorants who simply don't know any better? Makes you wonder why you bother sometimes... in fact it make me not bother replying to people I don't know sometimes.
Anyway... that's my gripe of the day.
Em
Rewinding Time
Sep 02, 2007
How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.
Weightloss is your 'elephant'. It can be done, and it does take time. Let me share the two keys I learnt from my weight loss experience:
1) REWARDS
What I found really helped my impatience was I set up mini goals with rewards.
When I met a milestone I would go shout myself a new piece of clothing (even though I knew I would soon be too small for it, that wasn't the point- it made me feel great at the time.)
I had small milestones with small rewards- eg buy a magazine (NOT FOOD!!!). Bigger milestones with bigger rewards. So long as I could see myself progressing towards the small goals I knew I was headed in the right direction.
It is important to celebrate these small achievements, they seem more attainable and keep you motivated.
Look at where you are now and set some short term goals within your long term goal.
I set mine up so that I was able to achieve each small goal frequently and the bigger goals came less often.
Eg: set a reward for each time you go under a 'decade' weight eg at 189lbs you get a small reward.
Set a mini reward for each 10lbs lost- eg if you started at 284lbs when lose each 10lbs that deserves a reward too- so make a reward for 274, 264 etc.
Naturally BIG rewards might be a loss of 50lbs or 100lbs, and getting under a certain weight- eg 200lbs, 150lbs.
2) ATTITUDE
I would remember how I ate all those tasty calorie rich foods. I didn't do workouts to burn them off and I got fat.
As I worked out I would think of each moment I worked out as working off all those foods. Rewinding the clock one step at a time.
You know how you read that it takes 'x minutes' to burn off a doughnut? Well I took the attitude that I was working it off- just a whole lot later than I ate it. I had alot of food based calories to burn off- that's alot of minutes I needed to be willing to workout to burn off past eating mistakes.
I didn't wake up fat, it went on gradually. So it is correct to assume that it would come off gradually too. So rather than thinking "this will take too long" think I am already succeeding- I am already thinner than I was and each and every day I workout and eat healthy foods I am slimmer and healthier.
If you slip up- that's OK too. Just keep going. Keep your focus. Celebrate each stage of your journey.
Let me finish this epic novel by adding:
Remember, it is worth it in the end!
