Last time out I spoke about how 2019 was on a weight loss side. Spoiler the first 10 months weren’t good… But from October onwards I was able to get a grip of things, but I was concerned December was coming and everyone gets that holiday weight and seeing as I was entering my second year with having Christmas off (I used to work in a cinema so I had one holiday day off a year). So I knew I had a lot of downtimes and with downtime that usually means snacking and as there are a million treats in the house it was going to be an issue. Here’s what I did to make sure that any momentum I had would not be lost.
Ignoring the urge to overindulge
Christmas is for indulging and I purposely thought that I would combat that by telling loved ones to tone down on the number of treats I would receive. If I have less treats, less likely to gorge on them right?
Well, it turns out that those people failed to listen to these requests and they properly spoiled me with goodies. I can’t honestly be angry at them for it as well… Who doesn’t love treats! I just knew I had to not overindulge with them. Have a couple, but not be dependent on them. I think this is why I bought lots of fruit etc. into the house before Christmas. I would go for the fruit before the treats as I had an aim to still see a fair few of those treats in March. It may be a very unlikely aim, but I think I can do it.
A lot of these treats I simply put in the small room of our house and practically have them out of sight and out of mind. La la la, if I can’t see them, then they are not there! I actually had Victoria keep an eye on what I was eating, just to make sure I didn’t eat too many. There is no point in dropping a stone in weight and keeping it off to just gain again!
The same could easily be said for the dinners as well. I would have stuffed my face with potatoes and trimmings, but I decided to cut back and although I was very full, I wasn’t ready for a food coma during the middle of the day! I think the fact that Victoria and I had a number of journeys to make to see family meant that there was less time to have snacks and eat more. I am thankful for that when I think about it.
Building for January
Another thing I liked was that Victoria and I had things planned, we would do little things throughout the holidays and not be stuck in the house thinking of what we could eat and just munch away. We went for walks and runs and the gym. We didn’t want to rest on our laurels and expect the weight to stay off. We knew we had to be active and knowing that Victoria was joining me at my work meant we had to get our walks on as we wanted to save a few pennies and not have to rely on public transport to get there.
When we went for a run around New Year’s we felt good, we managed a comfortable 5k and we went and checked when the last time we had gone for a run. To our astonishment it was August! So we knew we had to get a better focus of our fitness if we wanted to improve everything. Although getting everything right in the kitchen is important and a good 80% of it all. I love working out in some form, walking, running, the gym. Anything as long as I am working out. So although physically I would be losing weight, mentally I would not be in a great place and by working out I would be correcting that issue.
For me, a big boost to not having to worry overly much about my leftover treats was that I was taking part in Veganuary and that means that almost all of my treats had to be left until February. This gives me a good month of having less sugary treats and getting that side sorted better. The little things…
Seeing that progress
When I came out of December I had a mixture of feelings. I had not gained weight which was a massive, huge plus, but I also had not lost any weight either. I know I should count that as a win but I really wanted to see that target get smaller and smaller. I am a little impatient in that regard, but I am truly motivated this time around and everything, I don’t know, feels better. I feel like I can do this and before it was more the feeling of that I hope that I could. We will see.
January came by and progress was starting to come with everything. I entered the new month, year, decade in such a better mindset than a couple of years previous and I was seeing active results on my efforts. It was rewarding.
Sadly however I have to leave it here, but I will be back with another piece on this later in the week as I am being a little cheeky and making this a longer series. Until next time.
Scott H Gilliland 