4 years ago I lost lot of weight. Some good habits were created along the way so that my body craved fresh salads and daily exercise. Once I got to a comfortable spot, my attention got shifted, as did those habits. Here I am again. There's a good lesson in all of it - after creating healthy lifestyle and living it for a while you still need to make sure that your exercise and food choices are planned ahead. It is too easy to assume that you don't have to spend any time on planning, that it all comes naturally from now on but instead slip back into old habits (back to the feeling of losing control).
I wanted to write a blog post today in case I needed to get motivated in the future and describe what a huge difference those short 3 weeks have created for me:
- I was tired all the time - for about 1.5 weeks I haven't felt so completely tired.
- I didn't even want to go for a walk, even the thought of any kind of exercise felt exhausting, could be bothered with it. Even when forced myself out walking, I didn't enjoy it at all.
After exercising at least 30 mins every day for the past 2.5 weeks I'm starting to look forward to my little session, even when I am not feeling 100% I still want to move.
Also, exercise is a priority now which means I will find time for it. - I was really reluctant to count my calories again even though I know this really worked for me last time. So for the first 2 weeks I only kept a food diary, without weighing everything which already drew my attention to some bad habits around food AND SLEEP (not enough!!).
Then I guess I got quite motivated reading a book 150 Pound Gone Forever, took my measurements and decided to "just do it". Unfortunately my kitchen scales battery is low and I keep forgetting to buy a new one so again, the measurements had to be tbl, tsp, cups etc and sometimes just by eye. Not being able to measure everything to the dot doesn't matter that much to me at the moment, I just wanted to start with it! So for the past week I've been logging food and exercise in MyFitnessPal. - It probably took me about 5-7kgs of weight loss last time when my family started to see the difference which I remember surprised me at the time because I wanted them to see (and I guess get the praise) much sooner. After all I was measuring myself often and saw the numbers getting smaller pretty quickly! This time I must say I am much calmer about my appearance. Sure, I am not happy when I see myself in mirror but mainly I was annoyed of how tired I was all the time and how unfit I have become. I have started to worry about my health as I grow older and keep putting on weight, keep not exercising, keep eating rubbish.
So, I am not expecting my family to notice any changes in my appearance yet, it will come. But I am giving praise to myself, I am so proud of myself for taking responsibility for my health once again. It has been only 3 short weeks, I am not so tired anymore, my body is feeling stronger when I exercise and my clothes are not squeezing like they used to! We haven't sat at the TV since Olympic Games was finished which means no snacking at night time after 8pm and going to bed early enough to have a good rest! I am incredibly proud of what has been achieved with only 3 short weeks!
