Making The Wrong Choices
At Church we have a song that the children sing, called Choose The Right. It's a nice song which encourages children to, funny enough, Choose The Right. The song is something that I often find myself humming at random moments in time and I've found that it's also really useful to hum at the children when they are making choices that I might not approve of... it's also really good advice for when you're lost in a maze.
Anyway.
Recently I've been making good choices in relation to my general health and well being.
I'm sure you've all seen that I've been exercising more and that I've been out running with Top Ender and for long walks with the family. Some of you may have seen that I've been tracking my food on My Fitness Pal and just generally making better food choices, many of which I've been photographing and putting on Instagram.
And it's been working.
I've been losing weight, I can feel muscles in my thighs, calves and upper arms getting stronger and harder. I've been eating a variety of foods and finding out that despite my Dr Pepper and Chocolate addiction that I can curb my cravings and moderate my intake to allow myself a treat that isn't also going to be the reason for my premature death. I've also discovered that taking photographs of my food and putting it on Instagram helps me to monitor not only what I'm eating, but how I'm eating. I mean why would you spend twenty minutes making something look pretty, cutting up the vegetables etc to just wolf it down in thirty seconds without bothering to pause and savour the flavours?
In my lovely box for Important Things that my husband gave me, I'm storing my printouts from the weighing scales in Tesco or Boots. They are numbered, so that I can see how much weight I've lost each week, how my body fat percentage is going down, how my health is generally improving. I've got lists of my measurements (because muscle weighs more than fat, so it's important to know if the scale doesn't move it might be because of the muscle gain rather that lack of fat loss).
School Run Mums are commenting on my reducing girth (although they use much prettier and encouraging words, one of them has nicknamed me Wafer, as she says pretty soon I'll be Wafer Thin!) and asking if I've been for my run when they see me in my Exercise clothes. Other people are messaging me on Facebook, or Instagram or Twitter or via email and telling me that I'm inspiring them. Telling me that they figure if I can do it so can they, and I'm okay with that. I mean I understand that if they see the fat bird (again they use prettier language, this is what I call myself and don't me I'm not because I know I am and it's said with love!) doing it they know that they can at least try themselves!
And then suddenly BAM, I'm making the wrong choices and no matter how hard I hum Choose the Right, I'm still making the wrong choices.
It starts small, a biscuit here, a second glass of Dr Pepper there.
It gets bigger, a creamy calorie laden sauce here, a larger portion there.
It gets even bigger, with a missed workout here, a shorter or nonexistent run there.
And then I realise that I'm putting on weight and not losing it because I've made more wrong choices than right choices and I feel sad and want to eat to hide my feelings deep down inside underneath layers of fat and piles of mashed potato and pasta and all the other comfort foods we love.
So, what to do?
Well, I think that the first major thing I have to do is to work out that it is okay that I may occasionally "fall off the wagon". The thing that I have to do next is to work out how to not let it turn into a downward spiral of regret and calories.
The second thing is I have to work out how to make myself more accountable for workouts and my weight loss and that's where you come in... I'd like you to help me be accountable by being my buddy and getting you to check in on me on Twitter or Facebook, every few days or once a week or whenever you like to see if I'm sticking to my plans and I'll make sure that in my weekly update posts I'll update you too.
So my goals are;
Anyway.
Recently I've been making good choices in relation to my general health and well being.
I'm sure you've all seen that I've been exercising more and that I've been out running with Top Ender and for long walks with the family. Some of you may have seen that I've been tracking my food on My Fitness Pal and just generally making better food choices, many of which I've been photographing and putting on Instagram.
And it's been working.
I've been losing weight, I can feel muscles in my thighs, calves and upper arms getting stronger and harder. I've been eating a variety of foods and finding out that despite my Dr Pepper and Chocolate addiction that I can curb my cravings and moderate my intake to allow myself a treat that isn't also going to be the reason for my premature death. I've also discovered that taking photographs of my food and putting it on Instagram helps me to monitor not only what I'm eating, but how I'm eating. I mean why would you spend twenty minutes making something look pretty, cutting up the vegetables etc to just wolf it down in thirty seconds without bothering to pause and savour the flavours?
In my lovely box for Important Things that my husband gave me, I'm storing my printouts from the weighing scales in Tesco or Boots. They are numbered, so that I can see how much weight I've lost each week, how my body fat percentage is going down, how my health is generally improving. I've got lists of my measurements (because muscle weighs more than fat, so it's important to know if the scale doesn't move it might be because of the muscle gain rather that lack of fat loss).
School Run Mums are commenting on my reducing girth (although they use much prettier and encouraging words, one of them has nicknamed me Wafer, as she says pretty soon I'll be Wafer Thin!) and asking if I've been for my run when they see me in my Exercise clothes. Other people are messaging me on Facebook, or Instagram or Twitter or via email and telling me that I'm inspiring them. Telling me that they figure if I can do it so can they, and I'm okay with that. I mean I understand that if they see the fat bird (again they use prettier language, this is what I call myself and don't me I'm not because I know I am and it's said with love!) doing it they know that they can at least try themselves!
And then suddenly BAM, I'm making the wrong choices and no matter how hard I hum Choose the Right, I'm still making the wrong choices.
It starts small, a biscuit here, a second glass of Dr Pepper there.
It gets bigger, a creamy calorie laden sauce here, a larger portion there.
It gets even bigger, with a missed workout here, a shorter or nonexistent run there.
And then I realise that I'm putting on weight and not losing it because I've made more wrong choices than right choices and I feel sad and want to eat to hide my feelings deep down inside underneath layers of fat and piles of mashed potato and pasta and all the other comfort foods we love.
So, what to do?
Well, I think that the first major thing I have to do is to work out that it is okay that I may occasionally "fall off the wagon". The thing that I have to do next is to work out how to not let it turn into a downward spiral of regret and calories.
The second thing is I have to work out how to make myself more accountable for workouts and my weight loss and that's where you come in... I'd like you to help me be accountable by being my buddy and getting you to check in on me on Twitter or Facebook, every few days or once a week or whenever you like to see if I'm sticking to my plans and I'll make sure that in my weekly update posts I'll update you too.
So my goals are;
- I'm planning to lose 2lbs a week (I'd like to lose more, but lets be sensible shall we?!)
- I'm planning to go running five times a week (at least half a mile, but I'd like to up it to a mile)
- I'm planning on doing 30 minute work outs in my home gym (the garage) three times a week.
So, can I rely on you to help me be accountable? I'll return the favour if you like, just let me know where to find you on Social Media in the comments!