Weight loss update: balanced diet & portion sizes

The good news is I'm still maintaining my 50lb weight loss. In fact, I've lost a few more lbs in the last few weeks and I'm now 4lbs under my original goal of getting to 138.8lbs (9stone 12.8lbs).

I'm happier to be a few lbs under my goal than over it.

 

As I mentioned before, I'm trying to figure out the balance between eating more. Having lost another 4lbs I have more of a buffer zone. And if I'm still losing weight, albeit at a much slower weight, I could eat more, but (and I NEVER thought I would have this problem!) sometimes I just feel I can't eat any more! I feel full with what I'm eating, and satisfied. Since I've changed my eating habits to much healthier ones, there seems to be a limit on my appetite.

I'm putting this down to the types of food I'm fuelling my body with now. Pre weight loss I ate a lot more processed foods and my body was probably craving nutrients and thus my appetite was saying 'Feed Me' in the hope that I would eat something healthy and nutrient packed. Instead I would just grab whatever I fancied and it was usually the wrong choice.

NOW I'm eating a much more balanced diet that consists of TONS of fruit and vegetables. I reckon that because I'm giving my body what it needs to do it's work, it's more satisfied and happy and thus my appetite doesn't scream at me anymore.

That's my theory!

Goodbye Food Pyramid, hello Food Plate!

Somewhere browsing around online this week I saw an announcement that the USA has done away with the food pyramid.....

..and introduced the food Plate. They have called it Choose My Plate. Now, doesn't the plate make for much easier understanding about portions and food groups. I never had a clue how to interpret the food pyramid really. I love this new graphic. So clear and simple!

And our UK NHS has the Eat Well Plate. It's still better than the food pyramid, but I prefer the simplicity of the USA plate in design.

But what all the graphics show is that WE NEED A BALANCED DIET. It's the best thing we can do for ourselves. None of this cutting out fruit or carbs, or any other food group. As much as fad diets might produce fast results, they aren't the way to go in the long term, and you have your whole life ahead of you. Think about how you want to eat for life! I would much rather include as many food groups as possible, that's for sure!

A few of the changes that I've made to my diet since I started losing weight:

• I pack my diet with LOTS of fruit and veg. I don't place any restrictions on the amount I consume. They fill me up and they provide nutritional goodness.
• I cook my own meals instead of grabbing a microwave meal or a take away. Yes, this is a little more time consuming but I counter this by cooking once-eating twice or thrice! That saves time. And I decide what goes into my food and what I leave out: e-numbers, additives, preservatives, fat, salt, sugar.

If the notion strikes, I snap I pic on my phone. Here's small selection of examples of what I'm eating. Please note the amazingly organised fridge!

Train picnic

Mini choc bar

Fresh cream with banana and mango

Picnic (shared with my Mum)

Tofu

Suffice to say, I'm loving how I feel now I've lost weight. More energy, more vibrant, (even) more confident! It's all good! One of the best decisions I have made for myself.

Say hello on Twitter: @karenstrunks

Weight maintenance update & answering weight loss email - your weight loss choices

It's been three weeks since I reached my 50lb weight loss goal. 3 weeks? Is that all? For some reason it feels like longer!

So, three weeks into my weight loss maintenance and what do the scales say today....?

I've practically stayed the same as last week (which I didn't blog). 137.8lbs. Yay!! Looks like I'm getting the balance between eating more (than I was doing when losing weight), but not too much (so I put weight on). At least for this week!

So the little red arrow on the left (below) is the 140lb mark. I want to stay just under it at around 138lb mark (arrow on right).

I bought a new black lacey dress recently. You can't see the detail very well but it's ever so pretty!

I did a fairly big food shop today. I thought I'd share with you some of the items I bought. A couple of 'treats' like chocolate mints and a couple of desserts, some gluten free crispbread (I've still got to figure out if I am gluten/wheat intolerant). I only buy Marks & Spencer sausages as they are gluten free and 97% meat. BUT the good news is I am 99% sure I am not allergic to dairy!! I've been testing myself out on cream (a little), yoghurt and sour cream. I bought some cheese today, so will try that next (I haven't had cheese for 8 months, since I suspected I had developed a diary allergy) but so far no bad reaction to dairy!         



 

And of course, a big fruit and veg haul (mainly from the Bullring Market - so many bargains & beats supermarket prices every time!). I might not eat ALL of this in the coming week. Some things will keep well in the fridge until next week such as the oranges, lemons, chinese pears and potatoes, but I'll make a good dent in them!

When I imagined reaching my goal, I knew that when I got there I couldn't go back to my old eating habits, but it's just really sinking in now, that maintaining my new weight is going to take just as much of a commitment as losing weight has.

I can't be all free and easy with food like I was this time last year just because I'm at my goal weight.
Luckily I have accepted this new way of eating (and exercise) easily enough. As I have said many times before, my taste buds have changed, I don't have the same cravings, I am satisfied with less, (now I can just have one chocolate and leave the rest for example), I have more will power, I listen to my body more and eat instinctively. It's a whole new way, but it's all good.

And I've really enjoyed the process - bonus!

But, if I don't want to go back to square one, I'm going to have to remain aware of what I'm eating every day. Even every meal time. Every snack. All the big, and just as importantly, the small decisions I make will be the determining factor in staying at my goal weight.

I just want to mention a lady that got in touch, asking for some weight loss help. I mentioned that I was working on a blog post draft that would address her enquiry, so it's great that it was able to help someone in advance!

This lady basically asked for a kick up the bum! I obliged, in a good way I hope! She wants to lose weight, but found finding the motivation hard. I sent her my draft post by email. Here it is...

You have choices.


Choice 1. Don't lose weight! Stay as you are. I was happy when I was overweight (but I'm much happier now).


Accept the way you are. You might need to work on that, but you would be removing the pressure you are putting yourself under now to lose weight.

What's the consequence of staying as you are? How would you feel if you accepted it?


Choice 2. Lose weight and get healthy & fit.


Get curious. Challenge yourself and your body. See what happens!


Getting started is often the hardest part, but I haven't heard anyone say they regret getting started/losing weight/getting active! What's stopping you?


Imagine how you would feel if you took a step in that direction. And then you start to see the results and rewards that follow.


Why do you want to lose weight? We all have our own personal reasons/goals to doing this. Think about what yours are. Write them down & put them up where you can see them. You only need one reason.


You can't lose weight for anyone else but yourself, but once YOU have made the decision, there is nothing stopping you.


Become accountable, tell someone, make it public (blog/twitter)! Or keep your own diary. It's proven that people who write down (any) goals/dreams stand a much better chance of succeeding.


Plan HOW you are going to do it. We know what works, and there's plenty of help online about healthy choices.


Food wise, try new healthier alternatives, ditch the processed foods as much as you can. Give your taste buds a chance to change (mine have). If you don't buy it, you can't eat it! Cravings come but they go away too. And besides you know already know what cake/crisps/fatty/processed food tastes like, what's new?!


Be patient. See the 'bigger' picture and the longer term. It's taken me 9 months to get to my goal weight, but I broke down my goals all the way along. The first 7lbs, 10lbs, 14lbs etc.


Remember the benefits you will feel! More energy, sense of achievement and pride. Boost to confidence. Clothes looking and feeling better. It's all good!


Don't be a slave to the scales! Monitor weight but certainly no more than once a week. Listen to how your body feels (it will thank you for making these changes!). Take body measurements once a month & keep track. Don't be discouraged if you gain weight (I've lost count at the amount of weeks that I have gained or stayed the same over the last 9 months) The important thing is to keeping going and set your sights on your goals. Nothing and no-one stop you.

So, there are my words of wisdom! I hope they help.

If you have any questions, feel free to email me karenstrunks@hotmail.co.uk or send me a tweet!

Weight loss report & the battle of mind over body!

It's been about a week since I reached my 50lb weight loss goal and when I weighed-in this week it showed a 1lb loss which I was a little bit surprised about because I've actually made a point of eating a bit more than I normally do now that I am trying to maintain my current weight.

You can never tell what your body is going to do so I'm just going to continue eating a little bit more than I was doing when I was losing weight and hopefully things will even themselves out. I don't really want to lose more weight. Although at times I a little bit curious about how I would look and feel if I lost a few more pounds, but not so curious as to actually try and do that.

I had probably one of my worst runs today and have learned a few lessons.  I've actually come back from this run feeling quite grumpy when normally after a run, even if it gets a bit tough during the run, I feel great afterwards. Not so today though.

I was really in the mood for a run today and decided to do a 4 mile tempo run which consists of walking, running & running faster, just mixing up the pace a bit. This can runs a bit more interesting and I've enjoyed this type of run before.

Now, I've been having a few twinges in my left leg for a couple of days. Nothing painful, but I'm aware that something is not quite right. Regardless, I went ahead with my run and once I'd done a good walk up walk, I broke into a slow run. After that I mixed it up with different speed/effort.

Every step felt like a effort today. I checked my watch too many times. Before I had even run a mile I considered abandoning the idea. I had a argument going on in my mind..

"yeah, but your leg isn't quite right. It's ok not to run you know"

"why are you doing this? You are not enjoying it today!"

"look how slowly the time is going, it's going to be ages before you hit the 4 miles"

To

"I've done 4 miles before. I can do it again. It's only about 40 minutes of effort"

"Look how far you have come this year! From struggling to run/walk a mile to a six miler last weekend in a great time!"

"Look at all the people that struggle to walk or can't run, and you have two good legs, use them! Be grateful for the body you have"

And so this continued for 4 miles. And I did those 4 miles through mixed emotions ranging from determination, to almost wanting to quit, to feeling tearful, to getting angry. 

BUT (hindsight!) I should have listened to my body. Those twinges in my left leg? I'm now limping. LESSON LEARNT!

I could have done some other exercise today. A walk, some hula hooping, perhaps some biking which although uses legs(!) isn't an 'impact' type of exercise.

Since I took up running in January I've run about 150miles (I haven't tracked quite all of them) over countless runs, so to have one bad run over these months isn't bad going really.

I'm now going to rest my leg as much as I can and only run when it's better again. Hopefully soon. I really don't want to take a break from running! I'm just going to have to adapt in the meantime.

There's a busy week ahead with two trips to Liverpool. I'm delivering some social media training with Talk About Local tomorrow, and I'm attending the Red Eye event, National Photography Symposium, on Friday and Saturday. On the Saturday I'll be giving a talk about the 4am Project. Give me a shout if you are going! :)

And now, as it's Me Day Sunday, I'm going to chill out, have a lovely Sunday Roast, catch up on a film or two, and have a bit of beauty pampering!

Say hello on twitter @karenstrunks :)