Monday, August 18, 2014

Making Changes

If you followed my old blog Random Thoughts From a Stay at Home Mom then you know I have tried many different ways to lose weight. All of them have worked, most quickly, but it just wasn't something I was able to maintain for the long term. I could usually get two or three weeks out of it but pretty soon it just felt so restrictive that I would break and...


That would mean the weight would come back, I would get frustrated and think...what's the point, I'd rather eat what I want and be happy. Of course I wasn't really happy, I felt like I failed.
I decided to let things go and just do what I wanted for the summer, eat whatever, not worry about calories or even if it was really healthy...if it tasted good..awesome. Of course I don't allow my children to eat that way because...you know...I know better. :S
It had just the the affect you would expect, when I got on the scale after not being on it for months it was a bit of a shock. I'm not really sure why because I knew I was up, I could feel it, but when it's looking you in the eye like that...ouch.
So dieting wasn't working, letting things take their course wasn't working, it was time to find out what would work. I decided to consult a professional. I had my first appointment last week with a personal trainer named Kathleen. Weight and measurements were taken and body fat percentage was calculated....a surprising 36.9...wow. After that unpleasantness we moved on to goals for the next couple of weeks. The main one is to eat mindfully. Now this may seem pretty easy and straightforward but when you get up to two little kids and a lot of dog chores you pretty much hit the ground running and taking time to eat mindfully is a serious challenge. I often eat my breakfast while checking emails, and my lunch answering texts...tsk tsk. I have been quite good about following through at dinner time as it is always a sit down family affair with no distractions allowed, I'm still working on the early parts of the day.

 If you aren't sure what mindful eating is I found this handy dandy  little chart on Pinterest:


It's important to slow down and think about your food, where it came from, how it got to you, taste and savor each bite, don't ready another bite before you've swallowed the first one, in fact put your fork down in between if you have to and wait until the flavour from the first bite is gone before you put the next one in your mouth. At first it feels like it takes forever and you just don't have time but it's worth it, you feel full with much less food.

I've done a three day food diary for my next appointment, and I'm adding in the exercise that fell by the wayside over the summer. Somehow laying on the beach didn't burn that many calories. ;)

My plan is to post about my progress (and struggles) every Monday. By being accountable to myself, Kathleen and to you it will be much easier to stay the course. A steady lifestyle change, it's what's needed and it's what I'm doing.

I wanted to share this great recipe I found for Cocoa Granola Bars. They are semi sweet and a nice little chocolatey treat without all the excess sugar and junk that comes with the boxed bars. I made a couple of changes to the recipe, I didn't have tart cherries so used a blend of dried cherries, cranberries and blueberries and I used about 1/3 cup of honey rather than 2/3. They are a family hit.



If you want to join me on my journey to get fit and strong, the more the merrier and I would love to hear from you in the comments section. Here's to us!



6 comments:

  1. So hear ya....No motivated what-so-ever!! I have a girlfriend who just went to Toronto to have the Slimband procedure done. $16,000 K later, I can't do that...too much money!! Then there is this "pink drink" they say works...ya ok....waste more money on diet remedies. Yup I am bummed out.

    Good luck to you tho my friend.

    Wish I had Oprah's chef with me 24-7 too easy!

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    1. Shelley! We can do this together! Lifestyle changes my friend, they are the only things that work.

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  2. I need to hit rock bottom I guess, and the clothes that don't fit ain't it ! Crazy eh....I just need a swift kick in my butt!

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    1. This is officially your swift kick in the butt! There's no time like the present...and we may as well do it together. :)

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  3. Ok you are so cute, ok let's do it....can you make the menu ;)

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    1. The My Fitness Pal app is a great helper for getting an idea of how many calories you should be consuming, I've been relying on it. I'll share some food ideas that I've been using in some upcoming blog posts.

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