Sarahs Weightloss Blog

Dear All,

You would think that when you have been losing weight successfully for quite a while that you would have this weightloss thing in the bag and that by doing the same thing you will keep up the same success.  However what I have found over the past few months is that you can start to fall back into old habits, without even realising you’re doing it!  So over the past few days I have been taking a big step back and thinking – if I’m totally honest with myself, what am I eating? How much of it am I eating and what am I doing?  Is it what I was doing when I was losing weight, or has something changed?

I’ve looked at my diet and realised that the type and amount of food was not as good as it once was, as I discussed in my last blog.  However then it also struck me – CYCLING!

I used to cycle to and from university and the gym every weekday, which is at least an hour round trip before I hit the gym.  However I stopped doing this because 1) the weather has been awful here in England over the winter and 2) I got a very cheap nasty bike from halfords which didn’t last very long and was highly unpleasant/frightening/embarrassing to ride.  Also after reading Jon’s recent blog entry I realised that I was not putting the same effort in as I did previously to include more activity in my everyday life (e.g. long walks and cycles with my husband on weekends to explore the local area).  Instead I was spending the cold winter months indoors and trying not to think about how much I wanted to snack (which most of the time I did end up doing).

There’s also another element I have discovered in my self searching, which is that at the moment I am under some stress.  I am moving house in the next few weeks at the same time as travelling the country to lots of different special schools, to gather data on my next research project into autism.  This has left me tired and not feeling like going to the gym.  

My life style is definitely in need of a revamp.

When I am overwhelmed with different things to do I have to make a step by step plan, and break the problem up into different stages.  So here goes . . .

Back-on-track weightloss plan

step 1 - diet change

OK what am I doing that’s wrong here?  I’m really busy, not having time to eat or drink, and so am letting myself get too hungry and am thus overeating and making bad food choices.  This could also be slowing my metabolism, explaining the sluggish tired feeling I have at the moment.

Therefore I must :- *EAT BREAKFAST* *REMEMBER TO HAVE HEALTHY SNACKS TO HAND AT WORK* *DRINK MORE WATER*

Step 2 – recheck of calorie intake 

Maik has written some great advice in his last blog.  Using his instructions I’ve calculated that with exercising 1-3 times a week I have a base metabolic rate of 2199 calories I need per day to maintain my weight.  With a 20% (medium) deficit this leaves 1760 calories per day.  Which is a lot higher than I set my calories at previously.  This will give me a lot more energy hopefully and make me feel like I want to go to the gym.

Step 3 – exercise

I’m stressed and feeling really tired and so haven’t been exercising as regularly as I used to.  Fixing my diet should help with this, but I really need to incorporate activity into my everyday life in order to get back on track.

Therefore I must :- *CYCLE TO AND FROM UNI AND THE GYM ON WEEKDAYS* *GO FOR A LONG WALK OR CYCLE WITH MY HUSBAND AT WEEKENDS OR GO ON MORE DAYS OUT TOGETHER* *GO TO THE GYM 3-5 DAYS A WEEK*

I’ll let you know how this goes.  However I went out and purchased a really nice bike yesterday which I rode in today and really enjoyed – I forgot how much I enjoyed cycling in the mornings!

Till next time