So I'm going to go back about 5 years and delve into my diet history...
... to help decipher: why has my weight loss been so much easier and more sustainable this time?
While it may because I've learnt so much about how the body regulates fat storage/release and metabolism, learning this has only provided me with the fuel to actually put this information into action...
Fortunately, to aid me in my 'history-delving", i actually have a diary of what i ate when i LAST lost weight, and last got to 65kg (that's right, i am slimmer now than last time!). Here are the things I noticed:
1) EXERCISE
2007: I used to run 45minutes, every morning at 5am, before breakfast. I'd do a 5 minute walk warm up, then jog for 20 minutes, walk uphill for 10 minutes, then sprint the last 5, and walk warm down for 5. On weekends I would have to counteract my binges (which appeared after about 4 months of dieting), by doing 4-5 hour slogs of walking. And I did pilates once or twice a week. And i was tired...
2008: I sleep-in until 6am. I walk everywhere I can: to the train, around uni, up stairs, so that most weekdays I clock up about 10,000 steps of incidental walking (8km). I do pilates (40mins) once a week when i have the energy, and on weekends I go for a walk outside - 1 hour up/down hills, with the occasional jog.
2) FOODS
2007: On 'diet' days - despite always getting the 2 serves fruit & >5 serves veg, my diet consisted of quite a few overly processed foods: I replaced normal cheese with kraft 'Free' singles and low fat cottage cheese. I ate a lot of tuna (never salmon) and tofu, and avoided meats where I could (especially lamb and pork). I ate artificially sweetened yoghurt (Nestle 'No fat') as opposed to reduced-fat plain yoghurt. I avoided nuts, seeds, and oils like the plague (using cooking spray or no oil at all). I used to eat seeded/wholewheat crackers, but instead went for the thinner/lighter Cruskits. I drank a lot of Diet coke (2 x bottles /day), and was always chewing sugarfree gum, mints, and lollies. I tried to eat the bare minimum of carbohydrates like bread, pasta, cereal and rice. I even limited lentils and pulses, afraid that they were too high in carbohydrates. I drunk skim milk instead of low fat milk. I used to bake 'low kilojoule treats' - brownies that replaced the sugar with splenda and the fat with blended prunes, 'almond biscuits' that replaced the almonds with almond flavouring and only used egg whites instead of whole eggs. I ate low joule jelly, 'diet' chocolate mousses/desserts, and drunk sugar-free cordial. I snacked on whole packets of 'fat free' rice crackers, and ate 99% fat free maggi noodles.
This produced a diet very low in fat (~15g/day), low in carbohydrates (~150g/day), and quite high in protein (~100g/day) - and probably at <1000calories/day.
(At binge times: I ate everything in sight, and consumed about 300g fat, 500g carbohydrates. This gave me a daily caloric intake of >4000 calories/day. If you look at my caloric intake over a week, it will be: 500, 700, 800, 4000, 200, 700, 4000, etc etc...!!! - from one extreme to the other - although still the same amount of calories on average as in 2008 (now).
2008: I always get the 2 serves fruit, & >5 serves of vegetables per day. I limit my processed foods to a minimum, except having some sort of 'nut bar' once a day (Sesame snaps, Be Natural bars, Go Natural bars, lately: Artisse Organic Flax seed bars) or a handful of almonds (when I'm home). I eat salmon AND tuna. I cook with generous (though still sensible!) amounts of olive, sunflower and sesame oils. I still don't use margarine or butter on my bread. I eat reduced-fat cheddar cheese, and creamed cottage cheese. If I occasionally eat crackers, they are always wholewheat (and not 'light' or reduced fat - just ordinary seeded crackers!). I eat whole eggs 3-4 times a week. I eat my meats with freedom, (though still don't like greasy cuts of pork or lamb - but I never have!). I drink reduced-fat milk and low-fat (unsweetened, or Attiki's low-sugar yoghurt), and always make sure i get 3-4 serves of dairy in me a day. Now I avoid all artificial sweeteners like the plague (including soft drinks, lollies, jellies etc etc) - if it is artifically sweetened, I will not eat it! I also avoid MSG (to a lesser extent than sweeteners, but I try not to eat much of them!). I eat generous serves of pasta, rice and bread at mealtimes - especially when I am craving them, and don't try to shut my carb-cravings up with sugar-free treats or vegetables. If I eat a 'treat' or 'sometimes'-food - it is always the Real McCoy, I don't see the point in going for a dodgy/diet version of what I'm really craving.
(This produces a diet with moderate amounts of fat ~40-50g/day, ~200g carbs and ~75g protein. My daily caloric intake is ~1500kcal.)
(I don't binge anymore, although my caloric intake does still go in (less-extreme) cycles from day to day: for a few days in a row it will be low at about 1200, then I'll be more hungry and consume 1,500-1,700/day).
3) MEALS
2007: On average, my meals were eaten in the caloric ratio of:
1 Breakfast: 2 Lunch: 3 Afternoon tea: 3 Dinner: 1 Dessert
(Despite knowing the benefit of a healthy-sized breakfast, this was a habit I could NOT break and would NOT break - for fear that I would end up ravenous in the afternoon and have consumed all my daily allowance, and thus go over, and 'blow my diet'!)
I used to push my meals back as long as I could, to see if i could last as long as possible without food. I never ate lunch (or snacked after breakfast) before 12am, and dinner was usually at 8/9pm at night. I ate dessert about 1/2 hour before sleeping.
2008: On average, my meals are eaten in the caloric ratio of:
1 Breakfast: 2 Lunch: 1 Dinner
(Lunch is usually me grazing over a period of ~4 hours between 11am and 3pm!)
I eat when I'm hungry, even if that means breakfast is at 10am. I try to cook dinner at about 6-7pm, never later. I save dessert from the night before for breakfast the next (usually fruit salad and yoghurt), and go to sleep at least 2 hours after last eating.
4) SOCIAL SITUATIONS
2007: I was afraid of going out, because I knew that there would be unhealthy food there. I was worried that people would judge me for not eating the food they were passing around. I used to eat very little for the day before and the morning of to 'save calories' for that evening (and exercised a great deal), "just in case" - and 'filled up' on water/vegetables/sugar-free foods before hand. I was worried I would crack under pressure and eat everything in sight (which i did!). I was worried that I would drink too much, then crack under pressure and continue drinking more and eat everything in sight (which i did!).
2008: I will admit, I'm still moderately afraid of going out - that I will crack under pressure, and that people will judge me for not eating the food. But now I eat more of the food, so the judgement is less of a problem. I have definately got my drinking under control (never more than 2-3 standard drinks in a night), by realising that if i drink wine/champagne it hits me earlier than if i drink spirits (which take a long time to hit me - several hours! - and are often accompanied by sugary drinks!). Suits me fine cos I don't really like spirits anyway, and I love my wine! I eat normally the day before, and the morning before going out (if anything, I eat more!). If I do eat a little bit too much, then the day after is when I automatically eat less and exercise more - because I'm just not hungry, and my body is fuelled for exercise!
-----------
5) THE RESULT?
2007: 4 months of that, and the cravings (-->binges!) got worse and more and more frequent, and I got more and more tired and lethargic and depressed (the vigorous, painful exercise stopped!) - and the weight piled on in a matter of weeks.
2008: Still going strong: my energy is high, and my cravings are low. And the binges... well, non-existant! If i decide to 'stop' my diet - I'll still be doing my 10,000 steps a day, incidentally. I'm already eating what I want, so how can I 'stop' that?
:) Nikki
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Monday, August 25, 2008
The impact of TTOM...
Well TTOM came and went, and with it about 1 kg... so what I read about oestrogen promoting fluid retention seems to be true... you tend to retain fluid (up to 2kg!) for the few days before/during your period, and also for the few days surrounding ovulation.
Of interest also, your metabolism slowly increases for your monthly cycle, starting from the first day of your period - it actually starts to drop back a few days after ovulation (day 16) so that it is lowest the few days before (and during) your period... but that is not necessarily corresponding to hunger levels, as women tend to be much much hungrier a few days before and during their period (the average woman eats a whopping 30% more calories during this time! and espeically fats and sugars, because of increased fats/sugar cravings...). So keep an eye out for that :)
I also did some research yesterday regarding coconut. I had heard a few months ago about the positive effects of coconut oil (a medium chain fatty acid - lauric acid) - but i was nervous about giving it a try, as i knew how high coconut was in saturated fat! But it can actually have a good, positive effect on weight loss:
www.prosperityorganicfoods.com/pdfs/abstract_coconut_oil.pdf
Coconut tends to improve energy levels by helping tell your body that you aren't starving, improving your metabolism and increasing satiety!
As I said before, I've ignored coconut for years and years cos I always thought it was terrible for me - but the above review indicates that coconut oil (and other Medium chain triglycerides, but especially coconut) are associated with lower rates of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and faster metabolism, better satiety, and improved weight control.
I'm not saying go out and consume a surplus of coconut oil on top of everything else... but if you can spare the calories, consider replacing your sunflower or olive oil with coconut oil!
I've lost about 5 kilograms in the last little while, and i know I'm about to have a bit of a plateau and hungry-hungry-caterpillar-time soon, so I tried replacing my 1/2 cup yoghurt (74cals, 1.4g fat) with 1/4 cup coconut cream (68 cals, 8.9g fat) with my oats to see if it boosts my metabolism a bit (almost exactly the same in terms of calories!). And wow -it's now 3 hours since i had breakfast, and although brekky was a lot smaller than usual (i only had 2 tbsp oats with the coconut cream, no seeds, no fruit - i was short of time this morning) - and I am really full and don't think i'll be able to eat for a good few hours. And what's even better is that I've been FREEZING cold ALL THE TIME lately, (yes it's been cold here in sydney recently - but i've been wearing about 7 layers, and still freezing my butt off...!) but today I'm fine in just 2 layers!!! Maybe the weather suddenly changed, but there was certainly a spring in my step this morning - I had much more energy than usualy. In fact, i didn't even need to stop for my usual coffee on the way to uni, i had so much energy! So if you are feeling really ravenous one morning, and freezing cold, - spare the fat/calorie worries, and give the coconut cream a try... you won't be disappointed! I'm thinking, though the coconut cream didn't taste so great (needs to be sweetened, but i don't like adding sugar to anythin...) so i might consider using it for lunch instead in a curry soup or stir fry's or something... The only thing is that I'd advise eating it in the morning (or earlier half of the day) - to get the maximum thermogenetic (energy-inducing) effects! So i'm going to have a bit of a think as to whether i can improve the taste, or just have it for lunch... I thought that maybe i could use coconut instead of coconut cream, but that has a lot less oil for the same calories, so it will have a lesser effect (i think its cos dried coconut contains more carbohydrates)...
One thing i've been trying to find out, however, is that: apparently, coconut oil is very difficult to damage with cooking (i.e. difficult to hydrogenate - thats what the 'trans fats' are all about, as the horrible hydrogenated fats are the ones that gets stored in a nasty fashion in your arteries!). Well looking at the coconut cream, the ingredients are: coconut, water, and emulsifier. I'm worried that the emulsifier (a chemical which makes oils and water able to be mixed together) might be hydrogenating the coconut oil... but I haven't been able to find out much about it on the net. Will have to keep looking.
:) NIkki
Of interest also, your metabolism slowly increases for your monthly cycle, starting from the first day of your period - it actually starts to drop back a few days after ovulation (day 16) so that it is lowest the few days before (and during) your period... but that is not necessarily corresponding to hunger levels, as women tend to be much much hungrier a few days before and during their period (the average woman eats a whopping 30% more calories during this time! and espeically fats and sugars, because of increased fats/sugar cravings...). So keep an eye out for that :)
I also did some research yesterday regarding coconut. I had heard a few months ago about the positive effects of coconut oil (a medium chain fatty acid - lauric acid) - but i was nervous about giving it a try, as i knew how high coconut was in saturated fat! But it can actually have a good, positive effect on weight loss:
www.prosperityorganicfoods.com/pdfs/abstract_coconut_oil.pdf
Coconut tends to improve energy levels by helping tell your body that you aren't starving, improving your metabolism and increasing satiety!
As I said before, I've ignored coconut for years and years cos I always thought it was terrible for me - but the above review indicates that coconut oil (and other Medium chain triglycerides, but especially coconut) are associated with lower rates of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and faster metabolism, better satiety, and improved weight control.
I'm not saying go out and consume a surplus of coconut oil on top of everything else... but if you can spare the calories, consider replacing your sunflower or olive oil with coconut oil!
I've lost about 5 kilograms in the last little while, and i know I'm about to have a bit of a plateau and hungry-hungry-caterpillar-time soon, so I tried replacing my 1/2 cup yoghurt (74cals, 1.4g fat) with 1/4 cup coconut cream (68 cals, 8.9g fat) with my oats to see if it boosts my metabolism a bit (almost exactly the same in terms of calories!). And wow -it's now 3 hours since i had breakfast, and although brekky was a lot smaller than usual (i only had 2 tbsp oats with the coconut cream, no seeds, no fruit - i was short of time this morning) - and I am really full and don't think i'll be able to eat for a good few hours. And what's even better is that I've been FREEZING cold ALL THE TIME lately, (yes it's been cold here in sydney recently - but i've been wearing about 7 layers, and still freezing my butt off...!) but today I'm fine in just 2 layers!!! Maybe the weather suddenly changed, but there was certainly a spring in my step this morning - I had much more energy than usualy. In fact, i didn't even need to stop for my usual coffee on the way to uni, i had so much energy! So if you are feeling really ravenous one morning, and freezing cold, - spare the fat/calorie worries, and give the coconut cream a try... you won't be disappointed! I'm thinking, though the coconut cream didn't taste so great (needs to be sweetened, but i don't like adding sugar to anythin...) so i might consider using it for lunch instead in a curry soup or stir fry's or something... The only thing is that I'd advise eating it in the morning (or earlier half of the day) - to get the maximum thermogenetic (energy-inducing) effects! So i'm going to have a bit of a think as to whether i can improve the taste, or just have it for lunch... I thought that maybe i could use coconut instead of coconut cream, but that has a lot less oil for the same calories, so it will have a lesser effect (i think its cos dried coconut contains more carbohydrates)...
One thing i've been trying to find out, however, is that: apparently, coconut oil is very difficult to damage with cooking (i.e. difficult to hydrogenate - thats what the 'trans fats' are all about, as the horrible hydrogenated fats are the ones that gets stored in a nasty fashion in your arteries!). Well looking at the coconut cream, the ingredients are: coconut, water, and emulsifier. I'm worried that the emulsifier (a chemical which makes oils and water able to be mixed together) might be hydrogenating the coconut oil... but I haven't been able to find out much about it on the net. Will have to keep looking.
:) NIkki
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Sick sick sick sick sick...
Nyuck...
I'm so sick sick at the moment - i've got the killer cold from hell...!
Still hanging around 65kilograms, and have been for the last few weeks. Again, i've noticed the trend that as soon as i start exercising more, my weight stays exactly the same (but the measurements keep moving...). But who knows, the weight this time may be because I'm sick, it may be because of TTOM - whatever, I'm okay with my size, so who cares about what weight I am?
So here's a bit of a boost, anyway - I looked at my overall change since I started regulating my eating habits (I'm 166cm tall):
Cool :)
Have to get some uni work done today - life is suddenly getting very hectic.
Oh PS, had breakfast at uni yesterday, and I treated myself to a huge almond croissant for breakfast (my favourite thing in the world, and this cafe makes the most AWESOME ones!) I haven't had one in MONTHS and omg it tasted so good! But because i listened to my hunger signals, i wasn't really hungry until about 5pm that afternoon!!! (though i had a salad in the meantime, as it's silly to skip a meal) And even when I ate dinner that night, I got satisfied pretty quickly. So the almond in it must have just 'hit the spot', and satisfied my sweet tooth / cravings for the moment. It'll be a while before i feel ready to eat one of those again, though - as i did feel slightly queasy for most of the rest of the day...!
xox Nikki
I'm so sick sick at the moment - i've got the killer cold from hell...!
Still hanging around 65kilograms, and have been for the last few weeks. Again, i've noticed the trend that as soon as i start exercising more, my weight stays exactly the same (but the measurements keep moving...). But who knows, the weight this time may be because I'm sick, it may be because of TTOM - whatever, I'm okay with my size, so who cares about what weight I am?
So here's a bit of a boost, anyway - I looked at my overall change since I started regulating my eating habits (I'm 166cm tall):
Cool :)Have to get some uni work done today - life is suddenly getting very hectic.
Oh PS, had breakfast at uni yesterday, and I treated myself to a huge almond croissant for breakfast (my favourite thing in the world, and this cafe makes the most AWESOME ones!) I haven't had one in MONTHS and omg it tasted so good! But because i listened to my hunger signals, i wasn't really hungry until about 5pm that afternoon!!! (though i had a salad in the meantime, as it's silly to skip a meal) And even when I ate dinner that night, I got satisfied pretty quickly. So the almond in it must have just 'hit the spot', and satisfied my sweet tooth / cravings for the moment. It'll be a while before i feel ready to eat one of those again, though - as i did feel slightly queasy for most of the rest of the day...!
xox Nikki
Saturday, August 16, 2008
I still get stunned...!
Well,
As i said before, my weight loss has been having a bit of a standstill for the past 1-2 weeks... and waning energy levels (with increased hunger, and being FREEZING COLD 24/7!) have told me its cos my body is starting to panic a bit and my metabolism is dramatically slowing!
Nevertheless, I was AGAIN shocked when last wednesday we drove down to Melbourne: which means 2 x 12 hour drives of poor sleep, no moving (no exercise), an army's worth of food (and not very healthy!), and boredom... I coped pretty well, though - we took the left over platter of sandwiches from the funeral, but did end up gorging on them - about 12 x small 1/4 meat/egg/chicken sandwiches... and then something twigged in my body and i was STILL hungry - so I had a giant handful of nuts/sultanas... and then decided i wanted to try the apple cake that we also took home... and still kind of hungry i finished off the evening with an apple and tried to sleep...
Well, was I surprised when I came home and weighed myself over the next few days to discover that not only had I not gained weight, but I had actually LOST (+ cms, so it wasn't just losing muscle and gaining fat!).
Strange how despite experiencing this same pattern of losing weight and speeding up my metabolism only when i'm eating ENOUGH and eating MORE of healthy(-ish!) foods, I am always surprised and shocked to discover how easy it can be to lose weight... After years and years of pushing my body, and starving myself, and exercising ridiculously to try and lose weight (and just seeing me plateau for a few weeks - then end up starving and bingeing the next week!) - I feel this tremendous guilt and amazement that the key to my success this time has just been making sure i'm eating MORE.
I just hope that I can share my experiences with other people so that they never have to feel the emptiness and despair of hunger/plateauing again, because it is such a lonely and depressing world to be in! I hope that anyone (if anyone is!) reading this, that they WILL take my experiences on board, and realise that I don't just have a magical body or metabolism - you too can retrain your metabolism to get easy and effective, sustainable and long term weight loss. Please do take the leap of faith. Stop seeing binges/falling-off-the-wagon as YOU being weak, and it's your fault - it's time to see them as an innate, ancient response of your body to hunger, and as inevitable if you push your body to that extreme. If you accept that, then you can arm yourself with defences to stop them happening (before the urges get out of hand) with nourishing foods that will supercharge your metabolism and energy levels, and quickly get those nagging hunger pangs to disappear (without 'blowing' your diet!). You have to be honest with yourself: learn the warning signs before you crash and burn, because the longer you leave it - the harder it will be to get it under control!
It's just about being too smart for your body, and not letting it be too smart for you!
xox Nikki
PS: I went for a walk/run yesterday, and I had SUCH renewed energy! Nourishing my body with food showed me run longer, faster and more often than I have before on my walks - and I now have a new time! And I've stopped being freezing cold all the time!
It's important that you learn the symptoms of your body when you are hungry / full (i.e. when your metabolism is slow, or fast!) so that you can best use that to your advantage. When my metabolism is slowing - I get cold, depressed, hungry for protein/fatty/carb-rich foods (i.e. energy dense foods, especially nuts, bread and cheese! I get completely obsessed with food and working out when i can eat next, and I spend half the night/morning ravenous!) , and really really tired. So I eat myself out of it, until I start feeling the cold less, and my body starts itching to exercise with huge amounts of energy, I feel really positive and sociable about life, and I find that I can go a bit longer without feeling hungry. I also start craving salads and vegetables, and the thought of sweet/fatty unhealthy foods makes me feel quite sick - and that's when I know my metabolism is supercharged and ready for effective and easy weight loss.
As i said before, my weight loss has been having a bit of a standstill for the past 1-2 weeks... and waning energy levels (with increased hunger, and being FREEZING COLD 24/7!) have told me its cos my body is starting to panic a bit and my metabolism is dramatically slowing!
Nevertheless, I was AGAIN shocked when last wednesday we drove down to Melbourne: which means 2 x 12 hour drives of poor sleep, no moving (no exercise), an army's worth of food (and not very healthy!), and boredom... I coped pretty well, though - we took the left over platter of sandwiches from the funeral, but did end up gorging on them - about 12 x small 1/4 meat/egg/chicken sandwiches... and then something twigged in my body and i was STILL hungry - so I had a giant handful of nuts/sultanas... and then decided i wanted to try the apple cake that we also took home... and still kind of hungry i finished off the evening with an apple and tried to sleep...
Well, was I surprised when I came home and weighed myself over the next few days to discover that not only had I not gained weight, but I had actually LOST (+ cms, so it wasn't just losing muscle and gaining fat!).
Strange how despite experiencing this same pattern of losing weight and speeding up my metabolism only when i'm eating ENOUGH and eating MORE of healthy(-ish!) foods, I am always surprised and shocked to discover how easy it can be to lose weight... After years and years of pushing my body, and starving myself, and exercising ridiculously to try and lose weight (and just seeing me plateau for a few weeks - then end up starving and bingeing the next week!) - I feel this tremendous guilt and amazement that the key to my success this time has just been making sure i'm eating MORE.
I just hope that I can share my experiences with other people so that they never have to feel the emptiness and despair of hunger/plateauing again, because it is such a lonely and depressing world to be in! I hope that anyone (if anyone is!) reading this, that they WILL take my experiences on board, and realise that I don't just have a magical body or metabolism - you too can retrain your metabolism to get easy and effective, sustainable and long term weight loss. Please do take the leap of faith. Stop seeing binges/falling-off-the-wagon as YOU being weak, and it's your fault - it's time to see them as an innate, ancient response of your body to hunger, and as inevitable if you push your body to that extreme. If you accept that, then you can arm yourself with defences to stop them happening (before the urges get out of hand) with nourishing foods that will supercharge your metabolism and energy levels, and quickly get those nagging hunger pangs to disappear (without 'blowing' your diet!). You have to be honest with yourself: learn the warning signs before you crash and burn, because the longer you leave it - the harder it will be to get it under control!
It's just about being too smart for your body, and not letting it be too smart for you!
xox Nikki
PS: I went for a walk/run yesterday, and I had SUCH renewed energy! Nourishing my body with food showed me run longer, faster and more often than I have before on my walks - and I now have a new time! And I've stopped being freezing cold all the time!
It's important that you learn the symptoms of your body when you are hungry / full (i.e. when your metabolism is slow, or fast!) so that you can best use that to your advantage. When my metabolism is slowing - I get cold, depressed, hungry for protein/fatty/carb-rich foods (i.e. energy dense foods, especially nuts, bread and cheese! I get completely obsessed with food and working out when i can eat next, and I spend half the night/morning ravenous!) , and really really tired. So I eat myself out of it, until I start feeling the cold less, and my body starts itching to exercise with huge amounts of energy, I feel really positive and sociable about life, and I find that I can go a bit longer without feeling hungry. I also start craving salads and vegetables, and the thought of sweet/fatty unhealthy foods makes me feel quite sick - and that's when I know my metabolism is supercharged and ready for effective and easy weight loss.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Maintenance #3
So, yesterday i was hungry again... in a BIG way... and i ended up eating more and larger meals than normal, and i couldn't stop grazing all day! But i woke up this morning feeling quite full and content, (with no more temptations to graze, thank goodness!), so that seems to be working OK. I confess, I'm just really nervous about weighing myself - Tuesday is weigh/measure day... and i feel a lot bigger than yesterday! But its OK, i know its just my body getting used to more food again, and it will slip back down - but no one likes to see the scale go up (for fear it will keep going that way, and never go back down!).
I'm so very very sick this morning. I think I picked up a cold from someone at uni... nyargh...
Better try and get in some exercise today - did nothing yesterday other than 30 Min's incidental walking. Had big plans for Pilate's and running... but that was before i woke up so sick!
xox Nikki
--- Update --- Later that morning...
Well, I got out of bed and did my Pilate's... and felt better, I must admit.
Weigh in day was today - so despite my eating-fest yesterday, I still weighed in and took measurements... And I'm the same weight (which I am happy with, after 5 weeks of weight loss at 1 kg / week!)... BUT lost a few centimetres in measurements! :) YAY, maybe my muscle mass is coming back!!!!! :D :D :D
Didn't feel very hungry for breakfast at all today - except fruit, fruit and more fruit. Why do I always spend the whole day craving fruit when I'm sick? Must be the vitamin C and sugary/COH goodness...
xox N
I'm so very very sick this morning. I think I picked up a cold from someone at uni... nyargh...
Better try and get in some exercise today - did nothing yesterday other than 30 Min's incidental walking. Had big plans for Pilate's and running... but that was before i woke up so sick!
xox Nikki
--- Update --- Later that morning...
Well, I got out of bed and did my Pilate's... and felt better, I must admit.
Weigh in day was today - so despite my eating-fest yesterday, I still weighed in and took measurements... And I'm the same weight (which I am happy with, after 5 weeks of weight loss at 1 kg / week!)... BUT lost a few centimetres in measurements! :) YAY, maybe my muscle mass is coming back!!!!! :D :D :D
Didn't feel very hungry for breakfast at all today - except fruit, fruit and more fruit. Why do I always spend the whole day craving fruit when I'm sick? Must be the vitamin C and sugary/COH goodness...
xox N
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Self Esteem
Ok
I just want to put up a post about me and my self esteem.
Before i started losing weight, I thought that self esteem would come when i was slimmer.
I'm now 65kg, within the healthy BMI for my height - and the self esteem has not appeared. If anything, it's actually worse!
So this is going to seem very boastful, but I'm going to put up a post of the things I like about myself - and the positive things I AM! I've had altogether too many negative thoughts going around my head recently....!
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Superspeed weight loss??? LOVE IT!
Well,
this is wierd. I haven't been pushing my body harder than i usually do when i try to lose weight - Not at all, like my exercise levels are probably around 30 minutes a day of something, and I'm eating all that i should be...
But the last 5 weeks I've had a nice easy weight loss of about 1kg a week....! It seems that maintaining your weight loss for a while, is DEFINATELY the way to go - it is incredibly easy!!!
So! My self-experimentation with 'ad libitum feeding', has WORKED!
However, I can feel my hunger creeping up these days, and i'm getting more tired - so i think that another bout of maintenance will be due very soon...! Especially today....! I had muesli, yoghurt and fruit for brekky at 7.45am this morning, then was hungry on the train at 8.30am so had some sesame snaps... then was roaring for lunch at 10am and had a giant chicken and salad roll... and sure enough, when i got home at 2pm - it was time for a second lunch! Outcame the cheese and crackers, apple and a banana milkshake!
I'm feeling very nicely content now :). It's great: food tastes so much better these days because I'm actually hungry, and it's entirely guilt free!
Okay, well i'm off for a walk - i need to put this extra energy i now seem to have to good use, i'm bouncing off the walls!
xox Nikki
this is wierd. I haven't been pushing my body harder than i usually do when i try to lose weight - Not at all, like my exercise levels are probably around 30 minutes a day of something, and I'm eating all that i should be...
But the last 5 weeks I've had a nice easy weight loss of about 1kg a week....! It seems that maintaining your weight loss for a while, is DEFINATELY the way to go - it is incredibly easy!!!
So! My self-experimentation with 'ad libitum feeding', has WORKED!
However, I can feel my hunger creeping up these days, and i'm getting more tired - so i think that another bout of maintenance will be due very soon...! Especially today....! I had muesli, yoghurt and fruit for brekky at 7.45am this morning, then was hungry on the train at 8.30am so had some sesame snaps... then was roaring for lunch at 10am and had a giant chicken and salad roll... and sure enough, when i got home at 2pm - it was time for a second lunch! Outcame the cheese and crackers, apple and a banana milkshake!
I'm feeling very nicely content now :). It's great: food tastes so much better these days because I'm actually hungry, and it's entirely guilt free!
Okay, well i'm off for a walk - i need to put this extra energy i now seem to have to good use, i'm bouncing off the walls!
xox Nikki
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