Five things to start doing NOW to lose weight

A toffee apple driving a ride on lawnmower

It seems, when I am not chowing down on all the wrong foods, I am trying to lose weight. It's a never ending cycle for me, always has been.

After finding out another person in my family has been diagnosed with diabetes (I had gestational diabetes), I need to do something about my widening girth.

Most of the clothes in my cupboards are not fitting me, and quite frankly, I look like a giant toffee apple. A big round top with stick legs! I have to also accept that I am getting older, and the weight seems to creep on much easier and is harder to get rid of.

Here's five things I am now trying to implement to get myself back in my own pants, and some ideas that can help you lose weight too.

1. Drink more water. Get yourself a large bottle to use for water. I have a 1.25 litre bottle on the kitchen bench. I know that I have to drink that whole bottle during the day, at least. 

Having a large bottle makes it easier to measure how much water I have drunk over the course of the day, rather than relying on filling up a smaller bottle several times.

I have a smaller bottle I take with me if I am going to be out of the house for a while, to drink in the car, or to put in my bag.

2. Change habits. When I do put on weight it is because I have let go of any healthy eating and drinking. Yes this means lots of wine, biscuits, cake, chocolate and coffee. I have never been a big coffee drinker, but when I fall of the healthy lifestyle wagon I find I turn to it. My guess is because I am overweight and tired and coffee just seems like the logical answer.

I've stopped drinking coffee, and started drinking my black (no milk) tea. Mostly green and herbal tea.

If you can't get through the day without your coffee, start buying a lower fat milk. You'd be surprised how much of a difference this can make.

3. Plan your meals. It is so easy to make bad food choices when we are rushed, and hungry. Having a plan for meals and doing some forethought helps to keep on a healthy eating track.

Think about what you are consuming through the day. If it's cereal or toast for breakfast, sandwiches or pasta for lunch and meat and veggies (potatoes, a starch) for dinner, you might be having too many carbs.

Opt for a carb breakfast, and stick to protein and veggies or salad, for other meals. Eating a piece of fruit before meals adds to you daily dose of fruit and vegetables, and helps fill you up.

You could have fruit and yogurt for breakfast, or an egg with grilled veggies(mushroom, zucchini, spinach and tomato for example), and have a carb meal for lunch(wraps or pasta), and meat and veggies/salad for dinner.

Knowing what I am going to eat during the day, and when, helps keep me on track, and stops me from impulse eating.]

my downfall

4. Slow your eating. Keeps portion sizes reasonable and take your time when you eat. My husband eats like a bull at a gate, I am forever reminding him to chew his food because his stomach doesn't have teeth.

Chewing your food properly lets you enjoy the taste your food. It aids digestion and improves the absorption of nutrients from the healthy food you are eating.

5. Move. Be realistic about how much exercise you do. If you are sitting most of the day, it makes sense that you would need less food for energy. The highest energy foods are usually the white ones; sugar, bread, pasta, rice and potatoes. If you don't move much, eat less of these foods.

Any exercise will help with your weight loss. If you can't get out for a walk or don't want to join a gym, find some exercise you can do at home. I do like walking for exercise. It doesn't have to be far or fast, just and amble around the block is good enough.

Things that have helped me is stepping. Get yourself a step or find something you already have that you can use as a step. Five or ten minutes in front of the telly and it's done.

I've also had an exercise bike in the lounge room before too. You don't have to go hard, as long as you are moving a little more than you were before.

What changes do you make when your pants start getting tight, or not fitting at all?!

An InLinkz Link-up

Ramblings about nothing in particular #openslather

I'm sitting here wondering what the heck am I going to write about for Open Slather, I have zilcho pilcho. So I'm just going to ramble.

My sister turned 40 on Saturday, which means we are the same age for three weeks. Yes I have a birthday soon. Is 41 considered to be teetering on the top of the hill? Or is 41 the new 25. I'm gunning for the latter.

I've started walking, and have been three times in the last week. Feel free to roll your eyes at yet another attempt at me losing weight. It's not the losing bit I suck at, it's the keeping it off. 

A Kirby(extremely expensive vacuum cleaner) rep came on Saturday. If you want to see exactly how dirty your house is, get them to come round and vacuum your mattress and carpets. I was shocked and appalled, my Dyson will now be known as the useless piece of shit.

I was going to post about Daffodils today, but I didn't really like the photos I took, so I didn't. I like photographing my flowers, and sharing them too. If I can get my shite together I'd like to do more of that. 

The weather hasn't been the best for taking photos outside. Yesterday was a gloriously sunny day though, it was awesome to see blue skies and feel the suns warmth, what there was of it. Izzy played at the neighbours and I pushed Summer up the shops, bought her an ice cream and walked home again. Awesome.

I took the girls to the coffee shop early last week, something I haven't done for ages. They loved it, it was a novelty. We nabbed a couch and a coffee table and lounged about, I with a zero coke and the kids had an ice cream. Someone had their thinking cap on when they went with covers for the couches. We'll definitely be doing more coffee shop lounging from now on. I wonder how long I can get away with not 'having' change for the car though. 

Five things to have instead of a biscuit binge

Some of you may remember me babbling on about trying to lose weight. Well it worked somewhat. I lost 9 kilos, but put four back on. I am extremely shit at keeping it off, so I'm on the 'stop eating crap' bandwagon ....again.

So what's my downfall. It's not chocolate, I am not much of a chocoholic, I don't keep a stash in the house, but I wouldn't say no. 

I do like potato chips. And ice cream. But I don't have them much. Hubby likes to have them, it seems it's becoming a usual Friday night thing, and I try to stay away, sometimes badly.

My achilles heel of keeping the chub at bay, is the biscuit barrel. It's there, right in front of me when I open the pantry door, and awfully easy and convenient to twist off the lid and grab a quick snack. Just not 5 times in a row!

Five or six goes of the biscuit barrel, depending on the type of biscuit, could equate to a whole meal. Not good. Not good when there is no nutritional value and just about all those calories are from fat and sugar. 

Hoping I can practice what I preach, here's five alternatives to the dreaded 3 pm biscuit binge.

1. Get out of the kitchen, away from the pantry and take a bottle of water. Drink it.
2. Grab some fruit. Apple, orange, pear, watermelon. Keep the fruit bowl stocked.
3. Eat a carrot, or cut it up with celery, cucumber, capsicum. Use cottage cheese for a dip, if plain vegies are too boring.
4. A tub of yogurt. Try some chia seeds mixed through. (Try it, you'll like it). 
5. Nibble on a healthy handful of nuts and seeds, like almonds and pepitas.

Take your time. Chew. Appreciate the flavour, texture. Sit, let it settle. 

What do you do when your 3pm cravings set in? What is your diet undoing?

The Diet - the first week

It's been a week. Yesterday I weighed in, after my first wee, in the nuddy, as soon as I woke up. There was excitement and nervousness as I stepped onto my newly purchased scales. They had been a new novelty for the kids for the past week. Izzy had only seen one like this in nannas bathroom, we would goo and gaa in fascination when she stood on them. She has been pulling this one out and playing with it, but it's my turn now. 

To tell the truth I had a go during the week, and found that I had lost a bit. I feel less bloated and just in one week, my pants have loosened just that little bit.

The biggest thing I have noticed and been making a conscience effort on is chewing my food! I am not sure if it is a mother thing, being busy and gutsing my food down quickly while I can, but I have been. I remember when I had Izzy and breastfeeding, I was starving, and would woof my food down. Maybe it's something I have carried with me.

I'm always reminding Brett to chew his food, that his stomach doesn't have teeth, because he eats like a bull at a gate. He is famous for being the first one finished although he does the most talking at the table(usually with a mouthful of food, which is totally grosse to watch!). I make sure I take my time, put the knife and fork down, and chew.

I was shocked too at how much I did pick. Cleaning up the highchair, Izzys plate, I had made myself a human garbage disposal. But not only that, when I was preparing food too. I check myself all the time now before my hand reaches my mouth!

"A diet is the penalty for exceeding the feed limit"

I am eating a lot more healthy, not so much packaged sweet rubbish, like biscuits or chips. I have given up sugar, and as a result coffee, and I am not buttering my bread or toast. I am eating heaps more fresh fruit and veggies. Still managing to fit in a few alcoholic bevos somewhere during the week in to my calorie count, I have to have some sort of vice!

I started last week at 75 kgs*. I don't know how but I weighed in at 69kg and lost 6 in this first week. Now it's gonna get harder, and I've got to do more walking.

*While I weighed in at 75kg last week, it was in the middle of the day, and I was clothed. Realistically, I should have done in the same conditions as I did yesterday morning. Possibly I could have been 74 kgs, whatever the if, I lost weight!!! 

Little fatty

I went and bought a pair of bathroom scales. I knew I'd put on a bit, I wasn't quite prepared for how much. I was shocked. A feeling of shame swept over me as my mouth dropped open, 75 kg. My last weigh in full term with Izzy was 72! Shocking, just shocking. Seventy five kilos might sound not so bad for most, but with my 157 cm short frame, it's too much. I need to lose at least 15 kilograms, and am making my target 60 kg.

Wish me luck, I am kicking of my weight loss campaign today. I am registering my weight and will be filling in my food diary at calorieking.com. I have been here before, I know I can do this, but just between you and me, I am shitting myself!

Changing habits...or...My pants are too tight.

My size fourteens are feeling uncomfortable, I am not feeling good about it. The only alternative, besides watching what I eat and walking, is to buy size 16 and I am not having it!

I can't blame it on motherhood, however before I had the girls, I was a happy, confident size 10. I have let myself go.

I am not aiming for size 10 again, it would be fantastic, but I would be setting myself up for failure. Just a size 12, so the clothes I have fit, I feel confident and comfortable in them, along with my own skin. With less weight , more confidence in my appearance, other parts of my life will become easier to deal with. I know this. But just like giving up smoking, my head has to be in the right space. I am close, if not there.

The first step, small but substantially big enough, is cutting down on sugar. I have recently, well in the past 6 months or so, started drinking coffee. For the longest time I have been a tea drinker. Black, no sugar. I am sure the extra milk(I liked it milky), and the sugar(two) have been slowly making their impact. The first mouthful of a coffee with no sugar didn't appeal to me at all, I tipped it down the sink and made a black tea. Hello old friend. It felt and tasted right. I have been a cranky, irritable and short tempered bitch today. 

The second step is to make sure I am drinking at least a litre and a half of water, every day.

Thirdly, I need to check my food intake in between meals. NO picking at the kids leftovers! It is so easy to shove bits and pieces in when I'm cleaning up. Stay away from the biscuit barrel! Instead of having something healthy like fruit, I will graze out of the biscuit barrel, and then think, I need a coffee to go with that, and grab a couple more biscuits! I need to change my habits.