Hello and welcome to part 3 of my little series about getting back into fitness and a healthy lifestyle again after a blip in my progress. Check out my running post and my gym post! Today I chat about food and specifically my mistakes and what I aim to do to progress my body and mind. Shall we?
Falling back into old habits (and not the good ones)
So In last year, I finished off a little diet that I was doing in support of my friend. It had worked really well and it was a low carb and sugar diet, it was working wonders! I felt good, was running faster, was happy with what I was eating and I was even getting some progress into weights… Then the obvious cheat days started, and never really stopped. I would tell myself that it was okay to have a certain food as I would burn it off. Except it would get towards the end of the night and I had no interest in exercising or doing anything to get fit. I got comfortable and it went on for far too long.
This leads us to now, I am 2 stone heavier and very unhappy about things. Do I think about returning to that diet and getting back on it again? Absolutely, but I think part of the problem was the fact that I was even on a diet in the first place. I had limited myself to certain foods knowing that I would stop at a certain week. So I must have just had it in my head that I was just waiting and it would be pointless to allow myself to get like that again. To do all the hard work, for it to just disappear because I got stupid.
So what was I doing wrong exactly? I had allowed fizzy drinks and junk to come back into my diet in a major way. During the beginnings of my weight loss, I would sometimes allow a little fizzy drink in, as I do enjoy them and I think it is foolish to completely stop completely. For me personally I wouldn’t want to stop anything that I would enjoy, I believe I should limit those things that are bad for my diet and health to a very low level, but to cut them out completely? Nah, treats are there for a reason, they will be mine. I decided to use these treats as aims… If I lost a certain amount of weight in a targetted timeframe, then yes, I would have a fizzy drink, a chocolate or fast food. I am very goal orientated if I know I need to do something to achieve a treat or reward… Then you are sure as hell certain that I am going to go for it.
How has this made me feel?
When I began eating the crap and even up until a few days ago, as I have already mentioned, I was in the headspace of ‘oh I will run this little treat off later or in the morning’ and it just hasn’t happened. I don’t know what had made me so lethargic. It hasn’t been the me that I had known for the past few years of my weight loss. Yes, I would have little plateaus here and there, but I would mix up the exercise and kick it on again.
I am/was seriously disappointed with myself for going back to this and I think my self-consciousness of my body made me maybe not want to exercise outside as much. Thus adversely affecting my running and my performances when running. So then as I was feeling rubbish, instead of munching on that fruit like I would usually do… I resorted to bad snacking and then just repeated this stupid circle until I got a good shock to my system in looking at myself in the mirror properly. This is exactly what happened before the first time I lost weight. Luckily I have caught this one at 10 stone lighter than the first time.
What others say?
I know family and friends are being nice but, generally, people nowadays are afraid to say to someone that they are gaining weight, but I feel I would inform someone if I thought they were gaining weight. I have been down this tunnel before and if I can’t see it, I would like someone close to me to pull me back before I got too far down there. Who wants to look like the asshole? I am prepared for that, if only because I have gone through it.
I have had people say I am looking great still and they haven’t noticed any weight gain, but I am sorry how does someone not notice over 2 stone of gain. The clothes getting tighter etc? That is just being polite to be polite. Break it to me, if I am gaining continually, let me know. I would rather have short term hurt of someone breaking that to me, compared to the length of pain emotionally and physically of the weight gain and trying to lose it from there.
So, whats the plan?
First thing is first, no junk food or drinks until I drop a stone (14lbs) in weight. No, if’s or buts. I have a number of races planned and I will only accept a snack from the end of the 30-mile race in August. As ya know my body will need something. But that is exactly a month away and I plan to drop that before then. So it will be my treat. I have given myself a target of getting back to where I need to be by October. I am not giving myself a specific date in October, so I have that entire month to get to my target. I will lose just over 2 stone (30lbs) by this time.
Secondly, I started forgetting to do meal prep for myself and thus when I had my long days at work, I would have to buy food during work, and because of my job, I can’t leave the building during my time there. So I was stuck with ordering junk etc. Stupid, stupid Scott. So with that said, I bought a chunk of food lovely fruit and veg and meat and cut it all up and cooked ready for the next few days.
If you follow the blog enough, then you will know I have a vegan/plant based girlfriend, and I cook for her on Mondays. It is nice as I wouldn’t usually do this. But what I have found is that the food is nice and at worst edible, Victoria says the food is good (humblebrag) so I will take that! So as part of my prep, I will cook some meat on the day before and then simply add it to the prepped box for that days munching. I will have a box of veg cooked and ready for snacking and the same with fruit. I have stocked my cupboard with concentrated juice. As no matter what, I love a bit of extra taste in my juice than simply having water. I am picky like that.
This is what I did before and it worked before very successfully! So why not return to what worked? The only difference is that there is a bit more vegan based food in my diet so there will be meals without meat or dairy, which isn’t a bad thing in my eyes. I feel that doing this will help my body in the long run.
I have a fairly simple plan and I think that is what a lot of people get bogged down by with diets etc and doing way too much, that their body will simply not sustain it long term. I am aiming to lower the junk that I got sidetracked with and have my food prepared, have it as clean as possible. But not be afraid to have some treats, when I have earned it, or for an occasion. As I won’t be held down fully. There may be a time I count calories and /or macros. But that is when I want to shift weight when I get further down and it becomes harder to lose weight. A completely different scenario all together!
Well, that’s it for this mini series. I will post up a short update every Wednesday, to let you know how my running, fitness, eating and weight loss is progressing, with a longer post at every landmark I reach!
If you want to follow me twitter, instagram for updates, then you know what to do! Until next time, thanks for reading and I hope to see you again soon!
Scott H Gilliland 
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