The Grand Plan

…by which I mean translating my apathy towards my weight/weightloss into something worthwhile and usable as a motivator.

Having given it some thought — and thank you to those who shared your own weight dilemmas, experiences, etc; I know weight is a very personal issue for many — I have decided to work on the following:

  1. Self-control: I do not need to eat an entire pack of biscuits. 1-2 is just fine.
  2. Less carbs: I don’t believe in cutting out whole food groups from the diet, but I live off carbs. Potatoes, pasta, cake, etc. Replace with more veg. (Aiming for 8 fruit+veg portions a day instead of usual 5?)
  3. More exercise: it’s easy to justify eating how I want because I walk to work (~2 miles) every day, but clearly my input is greater than calories burned and as I’m likely to fail on points 1 and 2, this is crucial.

I’m very concious about not making a big deal about this, a) because that will just set me up for failure because I’ll cave under pressure; and b) because I think dwelling on the F word will only serve to fuck up Isabel’s perception of weight, health, body image etc.

All that said, I bought the Wii Fit Plus package, and having weighed myself realised I weigh about 3st less than I did pre-Isabel. Ouch.

18 Comments

  1. Good luck! <3 Salads will get you there. ;) As for eating whole packets of biscuits, I can totally relate! I have that habit of taking an entire box with me and eating it at the computer… instead, I put some on a small plate and pack the rest away so I don't just keep grabbing from the box.

  2. Not sure if it’s already been mentioned but I’ve been using myfitnesspal.com

    Tracks food and exercise and gives you a calorie goal to work toward

    I’m losing about 2lb a week – should be 8lbs at next weigh in!

    Mobile apps for just about every major phone platform too!

  3. I’m with you on not stressing over it. Since puberty, I’ve been stressed about being “fat” and dieting and can’t-eat-this, can’t-eat-that, must join a gym (and then never go, lol). About a year or two ago, I realized my shape has stayed pretty constant (US size 16), whether I was working out like a madwoman and eating like a rabbit, or if I was being a lazy slug and eating whatever I felt like. Why do I keep stressing about it and making myself miserable? So I stopped. I still try to err on the side of healthier foods, but if I want pizza or ice cream on occasion, I’ll have it. I’ll never take up jogging, but I like walks. Through zero special effort on my part, I somehow lost 15 lbs in a year. All my clothes are still the same. So why stress? Little changes over time can probably go a long way. We didn’t get fat overnight, right? ;) And squishy people are snugglier anyway.

  4. I agree with Ang on this one, I think some people just have a weight and generally stick around it no matter how much (or how little) they eat. I eat nothing but crap all day. Right now I have a box of pies, packet of sweets, a packet of oreos, and a box of cereal bars in my desk drawer, and that’s just for snacks (to be honest I expect them to last at least two days!). My lunch is a cheese roll, pepperami, salad (drowned in oil, so the health is negated :P) and yoghurt. I’ve been eating this way and living a sedentary lifestyle for at least the past two years and I still weigh ~7st. :/ I’m a teeny tiny little bit flabby but that’s probably more due to the fact that I sit on my ass all day, not the fact I eat nowt but cake. People keep saying that I’m going to suddenly balloon in weight one day, between the ages of 25 and 30, but it’s not happened yet and until it does happen I aint stressing… but I guess I’m one of the lucky ones. ;)

  5. One thing I always keep in my head is “You can never out-train a bad diet.” I tend to eat a lot of junk, so I constantly remind myself that I can’t justify eating it just because I can run 5K a day. In the end, it turns out I’m running for nothing!

    Good luck on reaching your goals and don’t let minor slip-ups fool you into thinking you’ve screwed everything up. People, myself included, may do well for a week or two and then slip up and end up thinking it’s all over. It’s not. Overcome the mistake and keep going forward.

  6. I second the myfitnesspal.com suggestion; I’ve found it very handy. Wii Fit is also very useful, and the weigh-ins are now part of my daily routine without feeling like too much of a hassle.

    Good luck with the self control issue – this is by far my biggest downfall. I’ve been burning ridiculous amounts of calories in the gym this past month to compensate but it’s soon going to reach a point where it’s going to stop making a difference.

  7. They say muscle weighs more than fat. I’m under my pre-pregnancy weight too but I am not near as toned as I used to be. Upping exercise is my goal these days. I’d like to run more but it is always tricky arranging babysitting. So we mostly take a soccer ball and race around. I wish I’d set a schedule but I know three days in I’d decide not to follow it.

  8. If you eat more veggies, you’ll shit more…especially with broccoli and stuff like that. It will help your metabolism and combined with the exercise that pack of biscuits may quite possibly be ok :P

    I wish you luck!

    • Jem

      12 Jul at 8:35 am

      I don’t have any problems with my bowel :P

      • Haha, I never thought I did either until I started steaming fresh veggies rather than the frozen ones and then pow. :P

  9. I know that you have always worn Izz and prefer that method over pushing her around in a set of wheels however putting up and folding down and pushing a pushchair or buggy would burn more calories than you do now. Obviously you have a very busy lifestyle and don’t really eat much more than you should I think you will succeed in losing a few pounds more if you don’t spend too much time stressing over it.

    As you know I always had a tendancy to pile on the oink without really trying however what you may not know is those pounds, and the worrying about ‘what others think’ can cause really deep seated depression problems too. I know I’m overweight, to the tune of about 4-5 stone even but I have to admit that when I met Lou, who took me as I am, not as she or anyone else wanted me to be – I finally stopped stressing and worrying about my weight. Yes I am still fat, but finally for once in my entire life I am also happy about my self image. Now, thanks to her I couldn’t give a monkeys what other people think and leave all that stress to others.

    Get a push along lawn mower and do the grass with that at the weekends instead of a flymo/rabbit. Shop locally more and carry the shopping rather than bunging it in the car and go swimming more, take Karl too, then he can play with Izz while you get a few lengths in then swap so he too can exercise a bit too even though he doesn’t need to worry about weight it will still help him keep those ligaments in tone and maybe even build a bit more muscle tone to help prevent further dislocations etc.

    Also one of the most affective methods of taking off a few inches around the middle is situps holding baby. Lie on your back with Iz sat on your middle facing you, then do a sit up so that your face comes up to meet hers and “Boo” – she will not only thoroughly enjoy the game, but believe me it eats away those inches as you build fantastic muscle tone around the middle. If you do it on a soft surface such as the bed the added wobbling makes for even more effective muscle toning. Keep that up and soon you’ll have abs like Arnie Sweatyknickers.

  10. That’s something I’ve always been terrified of. Having my preoccupation with weight influence my kids perceptions of themselves and body image. I don’t want to play the my mother is the source of my problems but growing up I heard a lot of criticism of her own and others weight.

    Good luck with the Wii fit. I lost 40 pounds using it to track my weight and work out. So good luck and stay reasonable! :)

  11. Hi Jem,

    I’m a personal trainer so hopefully I can offer a few helpful tips…

    Your plan is pretty sound. For our calorie intake we require roughly 65% carbs, 20% fats, and 15% protein. You probably know already that protein and carbs are 4kcal per gram and fats are 8kcal per gram.

    It’s good to hear that you are actually eating plenty of carbs, as they are the only fuel the brain can use for energy (glucose). So, if you don’t want the brain to hybernate keep up the carbs! Of course too much of anything is not good so replacing those excess carbs with vegetables is a great move.

    The 2L of water each day is really important – it’s our body’s balancer. I typically drink from a 500ml bottle – just 4 times a day, each time I drink the lot, for me it beats sipping on a water bottle all day!

    Eating too much is the biggest reason why people struggle to lose excess weight. Excercise is good, but it is easier to lose weight by eating less than running more. For example, 2 slices of bread is around 200kcal – you have to do around 20-30 minutes on the treadmill just to burn that off, it’s far easier to just not eat the excess food than jog on the treadmill all day.

    A mix of cardio and resistance excercise is best, however of the two, resistance excercise is the best way to help with weight loss. Stay away from resistance excercise machines (yes, all of them) and use free weights (dumbells, etc). Out of all the excercises, squats are probably the best excercise you can do.

    Oh, and before I forget… a whole pack of biscuits is ok once a month, that is if you have the self-control, which I sometimes struggle with, especially when it comes to chocolate!

    If you have any more questions please flick me an email supplied with my comment.

    All the best,

    Tom

  12. I’ve found that weight loss/gain has a ton to do with portion control. Might sound obvious, but when I keep eating (even though I don’t NEED to eat anymore, the food just tastes that good or I’m bored or whatever reason I decide to keep eating) that’s when I pack on the pounds faster.

    I like the Wii Fit portion of your plan – I miss playing on a Wii! I don’t have one, so I only play when I’m at a friend’s.

  13. I start my weight loss program with small portions and end up eating lot of em :(

  14. Urgh, It’s like reading something I’ve written.

    A whole pack a biscuits: easy.

    We have pudding every night too, and snacks on top of that often.

    If I’m on my own I can loose weight really quickly, but when my OH is here I just want to feed him (us) up.

    We’ve just bought an exercise bike, I’ve swapped to red top milk and instead of bickies and cakes I’ve swapped to low fat treats like fat-free yoghurt, melon and a small chocolate weightwatchers swill roll once per day.

    Best way I’ve ever lost weight is just by cutting calories. I’m really anal and if I’m counting, I’ll count and stick to it and wait it out until my deadline. But then I tend to pile it all on again after, so it’s good if I have a goal (like a holiday or event) coming up. But long term I need to learn self-control.

    We should do our own virtual weightloss club. A private FB group with weigh ins and progress reports/support/recipes and motivation.

    Let me know if you fancy it. Doesn’t have to be too stressful or pushy, just fun and supportive.

  15. PS I’ll let you know if the exercise bike is any good. We couldn’t really afford it but I think it’ll get us both a bit fitter.

  16. There are no circumstances where only 1-2 biscuits is enough. If biscuits were meant to be eaten only one or two at a time, they wouldn’t come in packets of 15 or more!