It dawned on me while I was typing this that “fitness” might have been the wrong word for what Im calling this. Probably more of a weight loss journey than anything. At the same time, dropping the weight is definitely part of becoming more fit. Semantics, I guess. Welcome to my brain!
So yesterday was a milestone. I clocked in at 275 lbs yesterday morning, which officially puts me 50 lbs down since the beginning of the year. Progress.
Last month, there was hardly any movement. Two things I attributed that to were not being as active and primarily the amount of sausage that I was eating. It wasnt an astronomical amount, but sausage is pretty high in calories because of the fat that is in it. Per link, brats clock in around 200-300 calories. Most hot dogs are the same way. They make a white meat turkey hot dog (Ball Park) that is 45 calories per link, but its 5g of carbs due to the fillers.
I was going through some videos last night from My 600 lb Life that randomly showed up in my feed (cause they’re listening) and Dr. Now says pretty consistently that you have to limit what you eat, limiting the calories. Lately Ive been thinking about how complicated things tend to sound based on all the noise in our lives and realistically, to do the things we need to do – they’re not that complicated. They’re made to sound that way so that putting in real effort to change is avoided. Its hard to change your thinking and be accountable for your own shit. But its also very freeing and gets easier the more you do it. It reminds me of the saying “Whether you think you can or you cant, you’re right.” When you’re ready to change your thinking and your lifestyle, thats when real change happens. 90% mental. Same thing when I quit smoking. When I was mentally ready – gone.
One thing they dont mention or encourage much of is food logging and I CANNOT stress enough how useful of a tool this is. You have to be honest about it and accountable. Its software, its not going to judge you (if you set it to alert you when you go over calories then it might feel that way – turn that shit off or adjust it so it doesnt alert you, if that’s a problem for you). Being able to see what you’re actually doing is huge. It took me a long time not to get in my head about the analysis of data and just collect it. I’ll admit that food logging is a giant pain in the ass, especially if you eat out. Most food apps (including Cronometer) have photo based logging now thats relatively accurate. It will at least get you started in the right direction. Most others have barcode scanning tools so you can scan the ingredients and create recipes and such so you can get accurate data.
I dont know why I find myself veering toward this need to communicate what it is Im doing. Every time I start to write it down somewhere, I go off on these tangents. There’s a whole lot of – well what about this and what about that and what did I did when I drove off a cliff without a parachute and didnt have Louise in the passenger seat (I’m Thelma in this particular exaggeration – and also showing my age). I think Im just going to document it this way, in the simplest way possible.
- Determine that a change in lifestyle has to occur and that Im mentally ready to do the work – including understanding what that work means.
- Eat at a Caloric Deficit (Eating Less Calories than the Body Burns)
- Wear Fitness Strap that includes burned calories.
- I wear a Whoop strap, which is expensive but the output on sleep, steps, the new BP insights, and burned calories is useful to me. Burned Calories doesnt have to be accurate to the calorie. The point is to know that you’re burning more than you’re eating. This is feedback so you can tell if you’re staying on plan or not.
- Eat lean meats and a lot of veggies.
- You can add a lot of volume in veggies to get FULL.
- Spices are your friend. Bland food is gross.
- Log food and beverage intake honestly to determine calories eaten.
- Food apps like Cronometer are incredibly helpful. The internet is your friend. If you can find the nutrition information, most apps should allow you to create custom foods.
- Weighing your food helps.
- Regular exercise of some kind for at least 30 minutes a day, at least 5 days a week.
- Staying consistent in the above habits at least 90% of the time
- Giving myself at least one meal every week or two that is a “cheat”.
- I still compromise on ingredients like switching regular pepperoni for turkey pepperoni and whatnot, but eating out and having a few extra calories once in awhile isnt goign to rock the boat. Keeping it controlled to that ONE meal is important. Enjoy it, savor it, then get right back on the horse.
- Weighing In Daily (optional)
- This is more for data collection and trends. The goal here isnt to get in my head about the number. However, I do look at these numbers over a couple of week timeframe to make sure Im not gaining or stalled out in loving anything (especially during the course of a month). If I stall out, that usually means that I need to make a dietary adjustment (see above about eating too much sausage).
- If the scale is a mental issue, stay off of it daily. Weigh in weekly or monthly. Dont avoid it entirely, because its feedback.
- Make adjustments along the way.
- Some things work, some dont. Maybe the choice of meat we chose was too fatty or was prepared in a way that wasnt conducive to our goal. Be willing to make an adjustment and try some different options to see what works.
- Be in it for long haul.
- This didnt happen overnight and its not going to change overnight. Strap in!
- Reflect along the way. Be proud of positive changes, but also use them as motivation to keep going. Celebrating those wins is great (see above about cheats).
At some point, adjustments are going to need to be made to maintain body weight. Ive been thinking about it as the whole “its easy to get an A, but much harder to keep it” concept that we had in school. the way Im thinking of it is that I’ll be able to ease up a little bit, but not stop. This is a lifestyle now. These are positive habits that Im developing. Awareness is everything.