Sarahs Weightloss Blog

Hi Everyone!

Its been a little over a week since my last post.  Work at University has been really busy.  I did not really have much time to go to the gym as much as I would have liked, with travelling around the country, but I have been having long days of running around and being generally active.  Also not much time to think about or having time to eat lots of food I don’t need to eat!  I have just been having convenient plain, wholesome food – lots of sushi, chicken, fish, veg/salad, whole wheat bread rice and noodles.  Snacks are nut and fruit bars (the eat natural ones – yummy!), fruit, or yoghurt with granola and honey for a treat.

So last time I checked in I was 75.7kgs – 0.7 of a kg off my penultimate target of 75kgs.  I weighed myself on the scales a few days after my shapeup app had been bleeping at me to add a new measurement.  I was expecting it to read the same weight if not more since I had not been much to the gym.  But I weighed in at 74.3kgs! Wahey! I can’t believe it.  I feel very happy now.

I have now entered a new goal weight into my shapeup club app – 65kgs.  This will give me a normal BMI according to the tables for my height.  I still need to check my body fat and consult with my GP, but I would like to slim down a bit more so I can go into most shops and pick up a size 12 – I can only do this in a few shops in select styles at the moment.

But I’m getting there, I can finally see the finish line.  I just hope I can make it all the way, and keep on track when I get over the line.  The big challenge will be keeping it up after the weight is lost – it is so easy to fall off the wagon isn’t it?  I have never maintained a healthy weight my whole life, I’ve either been too thin or too fat.  I hope I can manage it this time.

Till next time

Hi All,

Hope everyone is getting one step closer to their goals

I have finally moved into my new home! and it’s wonderful.  When I was packing as most people do we combed through all our belongings to throw away everything we did not need, so there was less to move.  Guess what the largest back of rubbish was? My clothes!  It was a real eye opener, I had loads of clothes of varying sizes from UK 10 to 22, some of which were years and years old and I had not worn for years but kept anyway, probably in case I ever needed to fit into them again.  I had even kept the size 22 trousers I had 9 months ago and the size 18 dress I wore to my friends wedding 8 months ago.  I suppose I am still thinking that I will perhaps be wearing them again! So I said to myself ‘NO WAY’, and purged all the large trousers, dresses and tops.  I also realised on checking the labels that I was still wearing size 16 and 18 tops, and didn’t own any other clothes – my wardrobe was looking a little empty to say the least!  So I took a deep breath and went out clothes shopping to get some nice things, something which I haven’t done for . . . wait I actually cant’ remember the last time I did it!  I usually just buy what I need and what would fit – no trendy choices or ‘I’ll buy that because it looks nice’.  However I found that I am a size 12 in pretty much everything (except skinny jeans, still a size 14, but hey, they are SKINNY jeans with a size system all of their own ).  I also quite enjoyed my self, it was a totally new shopping experience.  I didn’t buy much though – I don’t like the 80’s style at the moment, yuck!  But I tried on everything in every shop and it was FUN!

So now I have much more get up and go to sort out my exercise and get my fitness back.  I am training to do the silver triathalon this time (I did the bronze about 4 months ago), it’s an extra 10 lengths in the pool, 6kms on the bike and 2 kms on the run (so 30 length, 18kms, 5kms).  Now I have something to focus on.  I have also organised a new program at the gym with an instructor.  Taking Maik’s advice I have got a weight program together (I do classes, cycling and running for cardio) for 2-3 days a week, each day concentrating on a different body area.  I’ve also been giving it beans (as we say in the UK) down the gym.  Yesterday I managed a 7km run on the treadmill (slowly, in about 50 minutes, 5 mins slower than before Xmas), did a cycling/rowing class for 30 minutes, and 45 minutes of pilates to finish.  I also cycled to work the gym and home.

I am now quite sore, in places I didn’t even know you could have muscle! However I am embracing the soreness, it’s a sign that I am taking it up a notch.  Hope to see some differences soon.  Tonight I’m doing some weights, running and cycling.  I haven’t found a martial arts club I like yet, but will keep looking.

To end with for this week, here are some things I have learned so far to keep myself on track when motivation is low . . .

Tips for when your motivation is lulling:

1. look back and what you have achieved so far

Photos are great, as is being able to step into those really big trousers you used to wear and hold a clear lot of inches either side!

2. Reward yourself

You’ve been working hard, give yourself a treat – clothes shopping, weekend away, whatever you like

3. Take a break!

Don’t be too hard on yourself, everyone deserves a break once in a while.  Try to up your calories (in a controlled manner) and maintain your weight, work on your fitness instead perhaps (a tip given to me by Jon – thanks Jon!).  I have also found that this is also a really good way to beat a weightloss plateau.

4. Mix it up

Doing the same exercises day in and day out is soooooo BORING.  Mix it up, change things, make it harder to achieve, work towards a goal or event (e.g. a fun run, charity event – race for life is coming up for instance).  Don’t let yourself get bored and stop as a result.

5. Keep it real

Be sensible and keep your goals realistic.  Have a realistic plan with goals which break down your weightloss into managable bits.  For example start with a goal of 10% loss in total body weight.  Enjoy the changes, then lose another 10%, and so one.  Becoming disparaged with unreasonable expectations of yourself is a real lifestyle change stopper.

Till next time

Hi All!

Thought I would talk about keeping determined and being patient with losing weight, which can be really tough, particularly when the weight just seems to stop shifting.

When I first started my new healthy regime, I paid a personal trainer for the first 4 months, to ensure I stuck to the exercise.  He pushed me really hard, but with the small, slow and steady changes in eating habits the weight literally just dropped off.  I could expect to lose as much as 2-3kgs/wk, which kept up for a few months!  I would come home after a session and an hour later I could see a change in my body.  I used to have really horrible ‘back fat’ which I hated, and with every session I had, after every week, I could literally see it melting away.  This was great as it gave me a real boost and it was easy to keep going – I really did not want that back fat back! Every time someone offered me a tasty something I really did not want to have it.  I wanted to get my fitness up so it was possible to exercise more so I could become a lean, tall, agile women, like the others at the gym.

However as I started to lose more and more weight, and get down to a size where I had a figure, could buy clothes in any shop – which is what I wanted – the visible difference in my body shape between weeks started to get smaller.  This has only got difficult for me recently, as I cannot notice the difference week by week or even bi-weekly as the difference is now so subtle.  However overall  I am much happier with my body and the way it looks and feels and the way I feel inside – so much more healthy, bouncy and full of energy, and much much happier and confident than before.  However I don’t think I am totally there yet, and want to lose 1 more dress size (so I’m a UK 12-14 rather than a 14-16).  To be honest though this last 11 kgs is turning out to be really hard to lose, much harder than the 30.7 kgs which preceded it.

However I have heard that this is very common.  People lose tremendous amounts of weight and then the last stone takes much longer to lose.  

If like me you find yourself in this situation, just hang in there, its not easy to lose weight.  Your body adapts to the new regime, learns to live on lower calories, burns less during exercise.  Over the past weeks I have been racking my brains over how to kick my weightloss back into gear, however the truth of it is that I was feeling really unenthused about exercise and eating salads – I was bored and fed up with the same routine week in and week out.  I really was not sufficiently determined or patient, and since my weight was stable, I wasn’t getting any reward for trying to control my eating habits.

Sometimes however you have to be patient both with yourself and how fast you can make changes, and with your body to respond to those changes.  With the support of my husband and family, I have managed to slowly change back to the old routine of better food in sensible portions with regular exercise.  Now the weight is coming off again, at a slower rate, but there isn’t so much excess fat and I am much fitter now – the difference can still be seen, it just takes longer and is more subtle than before, but it is good enough for me to keep going.

If you are really struggling to lose that last bit of weight and are thinking of throwing in the towel, do this:

Current weight: 75.7kgs, 0.7kgs till next target of 75kgs, weight lost so far: 30.7kgs, BMI reduced by: 11.9, down from UK size 22 to size 14

BEFORE:

AFTER:

End target 65kgs, size 12 – NOT FAR NOW!

Till next time

Hi Everyone!

This week I lost 1kg – wahey! I am now 76.3kgs, 1.3kgs till my next target of 75kgs.  It is taking a lot longer than I would like but I am getting there slowly but surely.  I have been worrying about hitting a plateau and talking at length about tackling it in my blogs over the past month or so, but look at my weightloss overall so far: – You can see that my weightloss has slowed down considerably for quite a while and remained stable for about amonth, but it is still going south.  Also my size 14 trousers are starting to get a bit of extra room in them!  I won’t hold my breathe, but I could be on my way (slowly) to a size 12  

So how was my week? I must have been doing something different to kick start my weightloss again.  I cycled to and from work everyday, instead of taking the bus or a car I always, wherever possible walked instead, even if it was miles and took me and my husband all day, we did it.  I also went for a short 15-30 minute jog if I didn’t have enough time to travel to the gym.  When I went to the gym I jogged or cycled there, depending on how much time I had.  I haven’t had the chance to go to the gym much however, since I am still running my study and moving home.  However in my spare time I am running around packing, cleaning, travelling on the train with heavy bags to schools – you get the idea.

So basically instead of my usual routine of going to the gym after a sedentary day and doing an hour 3-5 days a week, I have just been more generally active in my everyday life.  I was worried because I was really hungry and eating above my recommended intake everyday and was sure I would not lose weight, or even put some on, but due to the extra activity, I seemed to have lost weight anyway.

So I suppose a way of losing weight if you can’t afford to go to the gym, or don’t want to go for whatever reason, just try and become more active in your everyday life.  Walk, cycle or jog to and from work and to places on weekends.  This seems to be doing wonders for me at the moment

Oh! I was going to tell you about my Ju-Jutsu class wasn’t I!  It was OK, it wasn’t much of a workout, but the people were very friendly and welcoming.  However there was a lot of mixed ability and not really enough time to practice the moves which I found very hard.  I am going to try some classes at the university, since they are smaller and have many more beginners starting at the same time.  I am also definitely going to try and join an intermediate/advanced pilates class at the uni – if they have one that is!

In the mean time, as another time saver I have found that exercise DVD’s are a really great way to do some exercise.  When I have gone home to visit schools for my study I can’t really do any exercise – I am away from my gym and travel as light as possible so don’t usually bring running clothes.  However there were lots of pilates and yoga DVD’s at my families house, so before bed I did an hour or so of these relaxing, body conditioning routines.  They were really great and I have borrowed a few to try at home before I come back next week!  Again, if you don’t want to join a gym, I would recommend borrowing some exercise tapes from your library or buying them from a local book or DVD shop.

Hopefully next week I will have finally reached my next goal! I don’t want to look too far ahead, but after I am down to 75kgs, I will then try and slim down to 65kgs, which will bring me into my ‘normal’ BMI range.  I am still a little worried about losing too much, so before I do this I will visit the doctor to get some advice on whether or not I am still dangerously overweight, just very muscular, or if I could just do to lose a little more weight.

Till next time