Well. I wish I knew where to start. I came to Taiwan in the 90’s thin as a rake, walked everywhere… but within a few months I noticed how my pants had ‘shrunk in the wash’ … no idea why. (hint: fried rice for dinner, mcdonalds for lunch!)
Up and down: upto 95 down to 83 up to 97 down to 87 upto 102 down to 100 upto 104… you get the drift, huh? Well, this Chinese New Year (yeah, ok, Lunar) , I saw myself in a photograph side on- my father (god bless his cotton socks) used to say “side of a house”. He’d not have been far wrong. 105.9kg.
So I determined to change but not like before: I started slow and easy by changing my habits – one by one. Stop eating cookies, then snacks, then late night, then junk food, then rice (my biggest culprit), then pasta, then bread (my homemade one, too), then basically all carbs as much as I could.
HOWEVER, I knew 3 things: 1) it’d be unsustainable without carbs; 2) some cheating would be okay; and 3) I didn’t want to lose weight too fast (because it’d be unsustainable for me).
So breakfast is as always: fruit (berries/bananas), milk + low sugar cereal, tea or coffee at about 1030am; lunch is between 1 and 3pm; dinner is awkward because of work, but I try to eat within 10 hours of breakfast or less.
I redoubled my efforts to exercise, hitting a daily walking target of 9500 (psychologically, easier for me than 10k! Don’t ask… I don’t rally know why). Using the Google Fit App on my phone, a local walking track by the river, … I supplemented by drinking lots of water, wearing sports tights to boost circulation. (I have VV).
Between the habits changing, diet changing, faster metabolism… I’ve been able to leverage a calorie gap that’s enabled me to lose 10kgs – about 2kgs per month since mid-Feb. I’m struggling right now because of recent poor choices, but the next target is 91kgs by October 15th. That will be a milestone.
Being too disciplinarian hasn’t worked for me … but focusing on one bad habit at a time and practising its abstention helps to build my resistance. So I will pick up a bag of cookies from time to time (today it was chocolate), think ‘oh, how nice it is! I might have some’… walk around the store with it, and put it back on the shelf! Now I can completely ignore those shelves in the store without regret or temptation. I no longer ‘see’ them.
To 91kgs and back (or not)… well, I’ve noticed some carbs creeping back into my life; and I really miss bread. It’s probably why my weight loss has stalled these past week or so. But step by step, I’ll reorient my habits again without guilt or blame. For me, those only bring bad results and failure. Dealing with my habits one by one is more successful.
It’s not any one tactic that’s more successful… but playing a broad, patient approach may actually work for me. Who knows? If I reach 91kgs, I’ll drop back and let you know!
Good luck to everyone trying their own way to lose weight. It’s not easy but it’s certainly not rocket science!