Some little tips that helped me and might help you!

AnahitaCanDoIt

My pics are open to members so go and have a peep!

Well, I wouldn't necessarily call myself a Success Story (yet) but I have a few tips that have helped me along the way, especially when I've started gaining or losing motivation.

At the moment, I'm about 17lbs heavier than I want to be (or so)... I gained this recently enough, in the last 4-5 months, from simply taking my eye off the ball and thinking/acting like a naturally skinny person. I'm not that person. I need to work at it every day. My biggest challenge is fitness. I've just never properly incorporated it into my life and I envy those who lose significant amounts of weight and then go on to run marathons and whatever. I'm a dabbler. A few kettebell classes...some aqua aerobics...lapse, personal trainer...boot camp...lapse.. At the moment I'm recovering from major abdominal surgery and another surgery planned for November so I'm keeping the eating very simple. Not a lot of products or processed foods and many may say my cals are too low, however, I am getting a lot of protein (to reduce loss of muscle mass) and fibre (to help me in the potty) and I am for the last three weeks more or less bedbound so exerting zero calories, except breathing.



Anyway, the point is, there are two key tricks I've used to keep the 70+lbs off for a few years and if they help someone out there, I'd be thrilled because they're not conventional.

So, here's my top tips for keeping on track :

I know how mneumonics works and I know that for me, reaching for that first bite of (fill in the blank hi cal low nutritional content food) is the killer. Then you've got a slippery slope and we've all put on five pounds or more on a weekend away. I get my colleague (thanks, Laura!) to write down my goal weight 62kg in permanent marker on my hand, right at the fold where my thumb and forefinger meet. On both hands. For ages, everytime I reached for something, I'd picture myself at 62kg and half the time I ate it anyway. But that reduced. The looking at the 62kg and asking myself "Is this thing going to help me get to my goals?" started to become a habit. A good habit. I was thinking before eating. Eventually, I didn't need the 62 and a dot in that spot was enough; it served the same purpose.

The other tip is weighing every day and writing or logging it. Writing it down with a pen and paper works better for me. You can say what you like about not looking at the scale everyday, the scale not telling the full truth, fluctuations with time of the month, etc...but it was patterns I was looking for, not daily losses or gains. Like I can tell you, I gained weight, but now I weigh the same as I did in April on the 11th of April. I look in my phone and see, hey, that was the day I went to that fun Easter party and I wore that cute blue dress that I felt great in (example)... this helps me. Maybe it'll help you.

Today, I'm struggling with a problem doing Number Two because of the surgery and it's making me very puffy and bloated, which I noticed in my clothes. Icky.

Anyway, as someone who has keep this weight off a significant amount of time, I hope this advice helps you!