After the past few weeks of eating and drinking my way through to the New Year it’s unfortunate that I’ve become re-addicted to sugar, carbs and fat – I’ve become a food addict again. It’s quite a common addiction but one I was able to overcome, which is what led me to the losing half my weight in the first place.
Most people think that because I managed to shed over 70kg that I no longer needed to be worried about any weight creeping back on. But the truth is that there’s no ‘magic switch’ when it comes to staying slim, and I need to be just as vigilant as the next girl does, perhaps more so.
Lately I find myself craving all sorts of unhealthy food at all times of the day. These cravings used to only be after dinner for a short while and were able to be controlled, but not now. I’m like a woman gone mad and the extra few kilos are starting to show: my clothes are a little tighter; my tummy bulges just a little; and my ass has become a smidgen wider. Not happy Jan. So it’s time to kick this addiction again and lose the extra Festive love.
Having done it before I know I can do it again (even though I’m a little older this time, I’m also a lot wiser) and it got me thinking that some of you out there may be interested to join me on this journey too. So let’s get going (and sharing and caring) together.
Step 1: Clean Out
That’s the cupboards, pantry and fridge of anything that’s full of sugar, carbs and fat. You know, all those foods that you binge on when you get the urge. There’s actually not much of this in my fridge or pantry at all – any I had I’ve managed to eat over the past few days and now I commit not to buying any more.
My issue is my husband’s hidden stash of chocolate and lollies – I found it the other day. And whilst my preference is for him not to have it in the house it’s unfair that my inability to control my own issues should impact on him. So now I have to ask him to hide it in a better place or put it under lock and key. It may sound juvenile, but those who are food, or more accurately carbohydrate addicts just like me know the insatiable feeling that those cravings have over you, when you are powerless to do anything but give in and fill them. And when it hits it’s simply easier if there’s nothing ‘bad’ around to shove in your gob.
Step 2: Fess Up
Admitting the truth is often the first step in overcoming the battle. It’s easy to hide our sins, and most of us have become pretty good at it. So find someone that you can trust, who won’t judge you and who can support you in your cause to get healthier this year. I’ll do this one face to face when I see my husband in Sydney tonight *please hold*.
Step 4: Plan to Eat
Making sure you have the right foods ready to eat when you’re hungry is pretty pivotal to making this whole thing work. How many times has the hunger gotten the better of you and you’ve just snapped … lashed out and grabbed the first thing that’s ready to eat, which is usually highly processed foods that aren’t good for you? Odds on that if you’d had some healthy prepared food ready to eat in the fridge that you and I would both have made a better choice.
As a writer I tend to get caught up in the moment and process of writing and forget to eat until I get so hungry and my blood sugar drops so low that I become, well, a bit ferrell around food. So I earlier this week I hard boiled some eggs, chopped up some fresh fruit into a salad, and have a tub or two of low fat no sugar yoghurt at the ready. It would be better still if I planned each one of my meals at the start of the day – and I will get to that once I’m back from travelling. You know it only takes about an extra 30 minutes in the morning to prepare everything and have it in check so you stay on track. And I actually find it’s easier not to snack if I split my 3 main meals into 6 and eat every 3 hours. It keeps the blood sugar constant so you don’t actually want to snack – in fact you often won’t even feel like eating but it’s important you do BEFORE the hunger hits again.
Today I’m off to Sydney so it’s been a little tricky: healthy fruit and vegetable smoothies in the morning but there’s airplane food for lunch on my midday flight, so I might have to rely on salad at the Qantas Club beforehand. I normally order diabetic meals on flights not because I’m diabetic but because the food is healthier, but they’re not available this flight. My afternoon snack is probably going to be a banana, but as I can’t take fruit across state borders I’m going to have to see if there’s a supermarket near the hotel.
Then the next hardest meal will be dinner. As part of my trip to Sydney my dear husband has organised a dinner out each night at very nice restaurants. Dining out was our big thing when we started dating over 15 years ago, and it’s still an important ritual in our relationship, so I would never ask to cancel these and ‘stay in’. But I’m going to have to really analyse the menus and make the right choices, skipping the bread and dessert and restricting myself to only one glass of wine (after two my carb craving kick in and my inhibitions drop leading to definite dessert time).
And so I now recommit to planning my day’s meals in advance every morning and sticking to the plan. No impulse moments or binge eating to be had. And I’ll need to get my husband’s support on this especially over the next 2 or 3 weeks as my body detoxes naturally.
Step 5: Reprogram Your Subconscious
So the easiest way to do this is by negative association. I’m a little over the audio programs I have (although they’re good) and I need something quick and portable for my travels. Voila the ten cent solution is … a simple rubber band.
Believe it or not a rubber band placed around the wrist can be a very effective food deterrent if you have the courage (and remember) to flick it hard each time you think of unhealthy food during the day. Sure, it can hurt and that’s exactly the point. Each time it does it’s a negative deterrent against thinking about that food.
I now commit to wearing the rubber band AND to flicking it each time I think about unhealthy foods that I wish to eliminate from my diet.
Step 6: Get Active
Over recent months I’ve started feeling each one of my 42 years, and then some. 4 mornings out of 7 I will wake with lower back or hip pain. It’s partially the residual issues from my severe hip bursitis that occurred in late 2011 and which took me around six months to regain my mobility, and partially getting older, but mostly it’s due to a lack of stretching each day.
So my commitment is to do Hatha yoga each and every morning, and perform my Stretching Routine every evening.
As I won’t have the dogs to ‘force’ me to go for a walk I’ll also need to ensure I meander the streets of Sydney to get my step count up. And on that, I must remember to pack my pedometer too.
Lastly, the quickest weight loss occurs when high intensity cardio is combined with resistance training 3 days per week, and so I’ll also take to opportunity to hit the hotel’s gym for a quick 45 min session of cardio circuit hopefully twice. Getting your heart rate up (safely) is key to fitness and fighting fat.
Step 7: Time Out
And after all that good work is complete it’s also critical to give your body a rest. So this week I plan on getting 8 hours of restful sleep each night, as well as soaking in a hot bath and perhaps even indulging in a massage or reading a good book.
Bonus 8th Step – Know Where You’re At, and Where You’re Going
You know I love my bonuses (which is why I give so many away with my book) so here’s the 8th very important key. Knowing where you’re at currently is important in order to track your progress. Writing it down is even more powerful (it’s kind of like Step 2). So remember to record your weight, body fat, and measurements: hips, waist, bust, upper arm and upper thigh.
It’s also important to know where you’re headed. It may be an actually weight goal that you wish to achieve, or it may be a number of kilograms. Either way it doesn’t matter as long as you write it in the affirmative. So don’t say I want to lose 5 kilograms – it may find you again! Say I’d like to gain 5kg of slimness. Now I can’t go into all the reasons why working, thinking and writing in the affirmative is important (if you want to know all this then it’s in my book) but just take it for granted that it works.
For me I’m on a mission to gain 5kg of slimness over the next 5 weeks. So stay tuned for the next instalment of my journey and if you want to join along then like my page on Facebook and join in the conversation.