It's for life!!

I have been on this weight loss journey for just over a year now. To date I have lost about 16kg's but it has been hard work, many plateau's and months of utter frustration.



I constantly have to keep telling myself that while I am trying to lose fat at the same time I am building muscle. As well, around big cycling events I have no other choice but to do some carbo loading, unless I want to 'bonk' while cycling (basically run out of energy while doing a big race). I love going to gym and cannot see myself sitting at home not doing it - it has become so much a part of my life that it's hard not to envision not going.


All of these things affect the number on those scales. It has taken me a year to accept this but some days I still get frustrated even if I am aware of the ‘science’ taking place. The scale is rarely my best friend. But the changes I see in my body say more than a scale number could or should ever say. But here is the thing – nobody every wants to know what size clothing you’re wearing or how many sizes you have dropped. The big question is ‘how much weight have you lost?’ and ‘What does the scale say?” I hate these questions because I believe the scale never ever really tells the full story behind these journeys we embark on.


I chose the TF Weight Loss Programme because I got tired of constantly thinking about what to prepare, when to prepare, how to prepare for 3 meals a day, as well as 2 snacks while still trying to do everything else from being a mom and a wife. I liked the idea of paying a once off fee instead of a monthly fee to go and weigh-in and then still spending fortunes on all the foods I would need and sometimes having to prepare 2 different meals. And for the first time, the recipes are actually easy to do, taste great and the whole family enjoys them. I have not found this on any of the other programmes I have been on.


Some days I am concerned about the low carb part, especially with the amount of exercising I do but as I head into week 3, I can honestly say I am feeling great. The first week was hell and but I survived and it does get better. For cycling races I will need to carbo load but I believe as long as I make the BEST food choices, I will be okay. On the days that I really workout I do take in extra as well.


This is my ‘I REFUSE to feel GUILTY’ treat:


After cycling races we pull into a KFC for my Choc brownie Sundae treat. Most races I burn between 1 300 to 3 000 calories. I know I've worked hard for it. :D This is my strictly 'Not going to feel guilty' pleasure.


I’ll be honest I am not perfect at this. I cannot claim to be 100% on plan all the time BUT it is a stepping stone to healthy living and giving it my best. I would be fooling myself if I believed that once I had achieved goal weight that I could go back to old habits, give up gym and cycling because then I would just be back at square one.


And it is this : The MOST IMPORTANT information I can share with you about this journey. If you don’t learn or not prepared to work at it every day, even if you miss a step here or there - THEN why bother at all because you have learnt nothing. You will blame the weight loss programme and everyone else but at the end of the day, it is YOU who has failed yourself!!

Accountability!!

For the past week or so I have been contemplating if I am going to be continuing with Weight Watchers or not. Don't get me wrong, I fully believe in Weight Watchers but right now all I use it for, is to step on a scale once a week. I rarely stay for the meetings due to time restrictions and two boys who would rather be somewhere else than at WW meeting. This is also a costly weigh in and that money right now could be used for other things. I also pay a Personal Trainer who does more and weighs me. ((grin)) Why pay twice??

The advantage in staying with Weight Watcher's is accountability and support. The incentive to not look like as Ass when you step on the scale. You want to have lost and not have picked up. Not that anyone makes you feels horrid if you have and fortunately it has only happened to me once or twice in my 20 week odd journey so far.

I rarely have big weight losses anyway. I spend a lot of time at the gym : 3 Personal training sessions, 3 Spinning classes and a Zumba class. A couple of weeks ago there were days when I would go to gym twice a day but my PT has insisted that I cut back on the amount I was doing, the concern being I was doing way too much. I am considering sneaking my Pilates session back in. I miss it!! So the scale is not showing much but the centimeters lost is.

I am 100% committed to my new healthy lifestyle and that is just it, it is about the lifestyle and not just about the weight loss. In the past when I have dieted and lost and then returned to bad habits, *voila* all the weight is back on and more!! I wish I had understood this before - losing the weight is not enough!! You need to change your lifestyle to make it a success!! Weight Watchers was the first step in my Journey and that is why a part of me still desperatley wants to hang on to it. But seriousely how many scales do we need to step on???

Shortly after joining WW's, I then signed up at one of the Virgin Active gyms locally and I have gone from strength to strength. I LOVE IT!! I live for how I feel after a good workout. I live for the *good* pain and do my best to avoid the *bad* pain (injury). I have to wonder how many times I have used these words said by Tara of The Biggest Loser : "You can do this, you have it within you. You have to be uncomfortable to grow". I hope I got the quote right, forgive me if I haven't. Those words have got me through many a Spinning session when my muscles are burning and one part of me wants to get off that bike and quit and then I just start saying those words over and over again in my head and next thing I know, I've survived the class and we're cooling down. There is nothing like the feeling of saying 'I did it and SURVIVED!!'.

So my thinking is, I don't need to step on a bathroom scale, a Weight Watchers scale and a gym scale to have them tell me the same thing. One should be enough and according to some, one is too many, but I'm not quite ready to throw my Bathroom Scale away. Maybe one day........

As of now I have lost 10 kilograms BUT I've dropped 2 Jean sizes and that means more to me than any number on a scale.......but the woman in me just refuses to part with the scale....Crazy, I know....