You all know I’ve just returned from a wonderful break in Ireland? Gary had already decided that there was no way he would be dieting on holiday. For me it was less clear cut. I finally chose to attempt to be moderate. Yes, I do realise that sentence has probably made anyone who knows me splutter out their coffee in disbelief. Claire? Moderate? Those two words are not usually seen in the same sentence. In fact it wouldn’t surprise me if Claire was an antonym to moderate. But I digress. So moderate it was. And in many ways moderate I was. I could have gone mad and eaten everything in sight. But I didn’t because I was being moderate. However, I could have been miserable and eaten very little. But I didn’t, for again I was being moderate.
And there’s something to be said about this moderation thing. I still had fun. I wasn’t miserable in the slightest and I didn’t even feel I was missing out. Thing is, I really didn’t miss out. Due to the aforementioned moderation. I did however feel like I had put on a wee bit of weight, and before tucking myself down for the night on Sunday I weighed myself. I had in deed put on weight. Only it wasn’t huge and it wasn’t a shock. I weighed a very moderate three pounds more than I had when I left the shores of England two weeks hence.
Next morning I decided to weigh myself again. Lest you think daily weighing is my norm, you’d be wrong. I’m a once a week weight check girl, if that. But I felt lighter. I couldn’t explain why, I just did. And when I weighed myself again I had lost the three pounds from the night before. There it was gone! I tell you, this moderation thing is cooo-ell! (That or the water retention from nearly 24 hours of travel….)
Four (ish) weeks ago I set myself the goal of losing 10Ib by the 1st of November (next Saturday). I had forgotten at the time I was going on holiday (duh!). However, I weighed myself this morning and I was 232.5 pounds, a loss of 5.5Ibs over the last 4 weeks and bringing my total weight loss to 25.5 pounds. Yipidee-dipidee!! I have since decided to be moderate in all areas of my life……..no, not really!
To meet my goal of 10Ib loss by next Saturday I will need to lose 4.5 pounds. This is highly unlikely, especially as my twins birthday sits bang in the middle. I wasn’t going to post today but I thought it might help keep me on track and try even harder next week to shift a few more pounds so that even if I do not meet my goal I will be that little bit closer to it.
This week past I have done two things which, I think, have made a big difference. I have eaten more food but with less calories and I have not drunk my calories. Oh and I cut my hair off – that may have helped move the scales in my favour! The not drinking the calories idea was something that hit me as a very helpful idea given my propensity for lattes and smoothies. I got it from the skinny rules:
I’m not sure if these are things to do to be skinny or things that skinny people naturally do, but they seem fairly sensible to me, especially the one about drinking my calories. And to be honest many of them I do anyway and the rest seem eminently doable, although I’m not sure I’m ready to go to bed hungry yet, after all I’ve only just learnt to sleep!
There was one other thing I did which has made a huge difference. Do you remember I handed this weightloss journey over to God last month? I’m not sure what I expected, but I expected something. I know from experience that when one lets go of an area of one’s life, especially an area of struggle, and hands the reins over to God, then God will act. Well, I didn’t become weight loss girl extraordinaire, but I did remember at all times I was trying to lose weight. I had mentioned to Lorna, my badminton buddy, that if I could just remember I was trying to lose weight before eating something I might have a better chance of losing it. (I’m kind of hoping that’s not just me?? I have been known to be a bit scatty at times….). The last four weeks I have been aware of a small quiet voice reminding me. This means that every decision I have made with regards to food has been made knowing I was trying to reduce my size. This is huge for me, and has clearly helped.
My mantra for this week I pinned whilst I was on holiday:
Yes, this week I am not going to be fast, cheap, easy or fake. At least not gastronomically speaking. I feel like there is a small possibility of some momentum beginning to build. I hope so. Momentum decreases the effort required and I’m all for that!
How have you all done over the past few weeks? Are you relinquishing control of your area of struggle? Can I pray for you in some way? Do you have any tips or recipes you’d like to share?
It’s hard being moderate if it isn’t the way you naturally are, so well done! Congratulations on your weight loss!
Thanks Felicity!
Well, yesterday we went to the Renaissance Festival so I walked a good 3-4 miles. I seem to be moving like a glacier towards health, 3 steps forward, 2 steps back, or was that 4 steps back? I don’t know, slowly I’m working on improving.
I do wish we had renaissance festivals over here! I’d happily walk miles to go to one!
Congrats on the weight loss Claire, and on building momentum!
Thank you!
Yay!!! for you, Claire. Not just on your weight loss, but on your effort to control what you eat – especially while on vacation. That is hard to do, for me anyway. I agree about going to bed hungry. If I do that, my sugar level drops and I feel awful the next day. I have to eat regularly as not to have dips in my blood sugar. It is a problem I have dealt with for many years. I have felt better since not drinking sweet tea so often, though. I must confess, I told myself I didn’t need that chocolate chip cookie…oh, well. I will do better tomorrow.
Keep it up, Claire! You are inspiring.:)))
T has to watch low blood sugar. He becomes very agitated and tearful if he doesn’t eat at regular intervals. It has affected him like that since he was a baby. So he would fully sympathise with you!