Back To The Future!

Hi!

It's been a while, hasn't it? Like I said in an earlier post, I felt myself slipping on this diet thing, and I needed to withdraw and re-strategise, because, believe it or not, this is a war I am on. LOL. The thing is that I finally recognised that my trigger was stress and anxiety. When I am in a situation that seems out of my control, I overeat -I am a bit of a control freak. The problem was that I had no idea what to substitute eating/ binging with. So that's why I needed the break. Thanks, in part, to an online motivator that I subscribe to, I've been able to work through my feelings and feeding, and I have come quite far; but it's still a work in progress.

But damn! I was going to regale you with my fantastic feat today, and the reason behind it, in that order, only to find out when I got home, that my pedometer had fallen off my shoe. (That's what you get for power-walking on busy, dark roads without attaching your pedometer to your shoe straps. Hindsight is 20/20 vision.) So I can't tell you how many km or miles I walked, or how many calories I burned, but I can tell you that I walked 30 mins or thereabouts. And that's a feat for me, cos I hate walking. Or used to.

The point of this post is this: I now totally understand two fundamental issues in weight loss. The first is the idea that, the reason you are overweight, or that you eat indiscriminately, is not just because of food; that there is an underlying, deeper reason - in most people. The second is that you must find exercise that you enjoy, or find ways to make your exercise enjoyable. I realised during my 'retreat' that I will always have issues, problems, challenges that will make me anxious: I just had to find a way to get through them which does not include high sugar or high carbs. Presently, that solution involves a long walk with my ITouch, a nice, cute, comfortable outfit, and my pedometer. As I walk I mull over the issue or I pray- my other method of dealing with my issues. ( Most of the time I am too busy enjoying the music on my IPod, the cool night air, and the adrenalin to remember any issues. I regularly download exotic, and rare music that appeals to me, and the walk is my place to listen to and enjoy them.)

A final thing I have learnt on this journey, is that I can't do everything at once. When I began the healthy living regimen, I dedicated myself to having a cut-off time for my eating (8pm), exercising, cutting out my usual fattening treats, eating healthy food only, taking my daily multivitamins, etc. It worked but I was gradually overwhelmed. I have now learnt to take a goal a week and stick to only that. If it is eating no later than 8pm, dedicate yourself to that for one week, chart your progress everyday, and move onto another one next week. That's what I am doing now. This week's is to exercise everyday, save one. And today I did the excuse- busting workout, and I walked 30 minutes. So;

Day 1
Exercised today

How ya living?

Chili!

PS:
I tried on a previously, VEEERRRY tight, belt today, and it was almost too loose. Yippeee!!!!