Love this girl!
I love Adele's attitude towards her weight. She's beautiful, curvy, and importantly, comfortable in her own skin. That's where I fail. I'm not happy with my weight at the moment. I haven't been for the last 4 years. Since I finished uni I have put on a stone and a half. I no longer feel comfortable in a bikini or wearing clingy clothes - and I want to be. I'm 5'7 and weigh, as of Saturday morning 11st exactly. At my lightest I've been 9st 2lb and I was far too skinny. At my heaviest I have been 11st 2lb. In fact, I've hovered around 11st 2lb for the last few years. I blame being in a relationship. I wouldn't change my relationship for the world, but when you live with a boy you eat like one. I'm terrible for having the same size portions as Ben, arguing over equal shares of chips, tucking into a big bag of Sensations thai sweet chilli crisps on a Friday night. You also don't need to worry about what you look like. Ben says there's nothing to me and he loves my little tummy. So you get comfy, you eat what you like, if it's yummy you help yourself to a little more. And then, before you know it, you're two stone heavier than you once were.
So what do you do about it? I've tried diets - Weight Watchers, Slimming World and fad diets. I remember Mum and I trying a ridiculous diet once. It involved eating Tuc biscuits, tuna and low fat ice cream. I lost something like 5lb in three days, needless to say as soon as I started eating normally I put all that weight back on.
I do a lot of exercise, I'd say more than your average person. I swim twice a week, play korfball three times a week. At the moment I play volleyball once a week, and in the summer I took up running. Running was great, I definitely toned up and fit into my clothes better. I didn't notice any difference on the scales, but I felt great. Sadly, I've not been since the clocks went back. There's something a bit scary about running in the dark, especially as there are no street lights for about a mile on the route I take. I need to make it a Saturday morning routine to get up and go for a run. So yeh, I'm pretty active. So my problem has to be food. In fact, I know it is. I eat too much. I don't bat an eyelid at eating biscuits and cake at work. I love crisps and I eat man portions.
So I need to kick the habit. My boss at work has lost a stone and a half recently down to what she calls - a lifestyle change. And that's what I need to do. Starting today I am making a lifestyle change. I know what I need to do and I now need to just do it. I've lost 2lb recently and I'm hoping to keep going in the same direction. So here are my bad habits and what I'm doing to kick them.
1. Everyday at work I would buy a bag of crisps and a diet coke - one, I'm wasting money. Two, they're not even crisps I like, they're greasy Walkers crisps. Yuk. So I buy a Graze box every week. I get it delivered to my home. I used to get the boxes delivered to work. Bad move. I would eat all the punnets in one day. Seriously, I'm a food addict I swear! So the boxes get delivered home and I take one punnet into work each day. When the sandwich man arrives I still allow myself to buy a diet coke if I fancy, but I eat my healthy Graze punnet instead of the bag of crisps.
2. Whenever I go to the Sportpark in Norwich, or fill my car up at the petrol station, I buy a bag of Skittles - now I only do this when I have a korfball match. I know that I definitely burn off the Skittles and more during a game, but buying a bag everytime I do exercise is pretty pointless. They're my treat for playing well. And when I fancy 'treating' myself at the petrol station, I just buy a bottle of Coke Zero. I'm sure it's entirely psychological.
3. Eating convenience food - when we're short on time because we're heading out to swim, play volleyball etc. we eat something quick and easy - microwave meals, pizza, chips. Well now I'm trying to eat homecooked meals as much as possible. I bought the book Cook Yourself Thin, and the recipes in it are amazing. At the moment Ben and I are in long enough to cook on a Monday and Tuesday evening, so I cook a big meal and freeze individual portions for us to eat the rest of the week. Tonight we had the healthy fish, chips and mushy peas and it was amazing, even if I do say so myself, and about a third of the calories found in a proper fish and chip shop meal.
4. Getting home from work and having a snack because I'm so hungry - this I still struggle with. My friend suggested having certain snack times - 11 am and 3 pm. I'm going to try this. That's if I can resist eating all my snacks before lunch.
5. Portion control - my nemisis. I love food. And if I really enjoy something I just want to eat more. Even if I'm full I can keep eating. I need to get some smaller plates and take my time over eating. Let my stomach realise that I've had enough.
6. Being aware of how much I am actually eating during the day - I've been using the My Fitness Pal site. I actually use their iPhone app. I'm not a religious calorie counter, but by keeping a food diary it makes you realise that all those little snacks you have here and there quickly add up and I can quite easily reach the 2000 recommended calories a day. According to MFP I need to eat 1350 calories a day to lose a pound a week. And as long as I do exercise I can manage this. It's the days when I don't do exercise that I struggle.
So to start with my goal is to lose half a stone. I'd like to be 10 and a half stone by the end of January. Then, ultimately, I'd like to get down to 10 stone. I decided to share with you guys rather than deal with it on my own. I know I'm not the only one who struggles with my weight and I'd love your tips and ideas on how to shed the pounds. I'm going to keep you all updated with how I get on and please share your stories with me. I think I'm going to need the moral support.
Firstly, may I commend you for being so open and honest, weight is a difficult issue and people struggle to speak about it.
ReplyDeleteSecondly may I offer you the biggest piece of advice I think I will ever give you?
THROW AWAY YOUR SCALES.
There I said. Your weight is healthy for your height, and your BMI is undoubtedly perfect - meaning you are looking after yourself as you should be. You are also one of the sportiest, most active individuals I know and muscle will ALWAYS weigh more than fat - don't loose sight of that.
Weight is a number! You are not a number - you are a beautiful, beautiful woman. Miss Sweetpea, strip down now and go look in that mirrior - go on go and look now - see that woman standing there? She's fit, healthy, and dammit she's stunning. Blow her a kiss. Give her a sneaky wink. Did you see her do it back? That's coz she's got confidence. And she's smiling now too, look, because she's looking at a woman and thinking "she's hot!" And, yes, I said she's looking at a 'woman' not a number!!
So I commend your new lifestyle changes and your attitude to your health, I really do because you are right - it's not about a diet, it's about living in a way which is healthy for your body, and which is right for you, and you're doing the right things. But there's still that big wrong sitting in your bathroom.
Get rid of the scales, pleeeaaassseee. Because as soon as you stop thinking about the number, you will start thinking about the figure, and you will start to love girl in the mirror again.
I weighed 11 stone at my heaviest (I am shorter and less athletic than you!). I wrote every day in my diary that I was fat, and counted every calorie I ate. I weighed myself weekly, religiously. I thought I was hideous because that number was too high, and I had no confidence.
This year I got rid of my scales.
This year I stood on a stage, in public, in a pair of knickers and some very sparkly nipple tassles and shook every wobbly bit on my body at my audience. They cheered, I laughed.
It's on my list of top 10 happiest, proudest moments in my life.
When I'm an old lady I will remember that moment, I won't remember how much I weighed.
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