Well I know it's been a long while since I've posted on here. Unfortunately during the last couple of weeks of my 84 day challenge I ran into a difficult spot in my life and have been a bit of an emotional wreck. This consequently brought on emotional eating which is never a good thing.
Things are still tough at the moment and I'm going through what seems like one of the most challenging periods in my life to date. On the bright side I've managed to reign myself in once again. I'm still following Optifast, but I'm taking a more relaxed approach at the moment.
I feel bad that I haven't done a summary of my experiences, considering I blogged so reguarly for a majority of the 84 days.
Weight loss is simultaneously the easiest thing and hardest thing I have ever done in my life. At the end of the day it largely a numbers game - eat less calories than you expend during the day and you are pretty much guaranteed to lose weight. This is the simplicity behind the optifast diet - your calorie intake is so controlled that if you follow it you will lose weight. I say largely because obviously anyone who has ever tried to lose weight before will know of the perils of plateaus and those weeks where you do everything right only to not lose a single gram (or even gain). These are the kinds of moments you want to go screaming and eat a whole tub of icecream. I know it can be one of the most emotionally draining experiences for anyone who is trying to lose weight, but persist, it will come off. It may take time, but it will happen.
So why is losing weight the hardest thing I've ever done... well other than the dreaded plateau, there's life. Life gets in the way all the time. In my social group celebrating is surrounded by food, from birthday cake to dinner parties and Friday night wine. I love food. I love cooking, I love entertaining, I love anyone who cooks for me. When it comes to a restrictive diet like optifast, it's pretty darn hard to function like a normal person. There are situations where if someone cooks for me, I'm not going to say no to their beautiful pasta that they've put their heart and soul into cooking. Maybe I'm not as strong as other people, maybe I'm a realist. Whatever the case, I'm slowly coming to accept that I have to be ok with the fact that I will lose less weight if I eat more food.
Here I am, on the first day of Spring. Despite a minor hiccup in the weight loss journey, I've actually managed to lose more weight. I weighed in this morning at exactly 87kg. I'm so close to my mini-goal of losing 10kg that I can almost taste it. I think it's going to be even sweeter than that sticky date pudding I turned down 2 weeks ago.
I'm not going to be posting my daily intake, it's a bit onerous, as much as it helped to keep me on track at the start. Ultimately, if this is going to be a life change for me, I need to be able to eat without analysing each and every mouthful.
Here's hoping for another 84 days of success and (hopefully) another 8kg gone.
Things are still tough at the moment and I'm going through what seems like one of the most challenging periods in my life to date. On the bright side I've managed to reign myself in once again. I'm still following Optifast, but I'm taking a more relaxed approach at the moment.
I feel bad that I haven't done a summary of my experiences, considering I blogged so reguarly for a majority of the 84 days.
Weight loss is simultaneously the easiest thing and hardest thing I have ever done in my life. At the end of the day it largely a numbers game - eat less calories than you expend during the day and you are pretty much guaranteed to lose weight. This is the simplicity behind the optifast diet - your calorie intake is so controlled that if you follow it you will lose weight. I say largely because obviously anyone who has ever tried to lose weight before will know of the perils of plateaus and those weeks where you do everything right only to not lose a single gram (or even gain). These are the kinds of moments you want to go screaming and eat a whole tub of icecream. I know it can be one of the most emotionally draining experiences for anyone who is trying to lose weight, but persist, it will come off. It may take time, but it will happen.
So why is losing weight the hardest thing I've ever done... well other than the dreaded plateau, there's life. Life gets in the way all the time. In my social group celebrating is surrounded by food, from birthday cake to dinner parties and Friday night wine. I love food. I love cooking, I love entertaining, I love anyone who cooks for me. When it comes to a restrictive diet like optifast, it's pretty darn hard to function like a normal person. There are situations where if someone cooks for me, I'm not going to say no to their beautiful pasta that they've put their heart and soul into cooking. Maybe I'm not as strong as other people, maybe I'm a realist. Whatever the case, I'm slowly coming to accept that I have to be ok with the fact that I will lose less weight if I eat more food.
Here I am, on the first day of Spring. Despite a minor hiccup in the weight loss journey, I've actually managed to lose more weight. I weighed in this morning at exactly 87kg. I'm so close to my mini-goal of losing 10kg that I can almost taste it. I think it's going to be even sweeter than that sticky date pudding I turned down 2 weeks ago.
I'm not going to be posting my daily intake, it's a bit onerous, as much as it helped to keep me on track at the start. Ultimately, if this is going to be a life change for me, I need to be able to eat without analysing each and every mouthful.
Here's hoping for another 84 days of success and (hopefully) another 8kg gone.
