One of the main reasons I wanted to create this blog was to discuss my feelings and experiences with health and wellness and so here is where I will start. I would like to get on track with my physical being and make it back to my "happy weight", a number that would require me to lose a few pounds. Somewhere between five and ten to be non-exact. Although I am currently within the healthy BMI range, there have been many a binge day in the past year to get to this point. Lately my feelings towards food have become pretty unhealthy. I've been mindlessly eating, sometimes from insatiable hunger other times from boredom and habit but regardless of the cause the effect is always uncomfortable fullness, endless guilt and obsessive thoughts. I am trying to find my way to a healthy state of mind, something I probably haven't had since middle school.
I've tried fitness and diet programs in the past but never been able to stick to them. Even the idea of being on a program feels restrictive and so this time I'm going to try a more gentle approach. I'm not going to jump into this weight loss thing restricting calories or cutting whole food groups out of my diet. I'm going to do this in the most humane and enjoyable way possible-hopefully it will be possible...
I've learned the more you remove from your diet the more you can never eat again-or if you do you might experience some undesirable symptoms like headaches, intestinal distress or guilt.
I believe even the smallest changes can make a big impact and so here is my plan. (Please know I am not a nutrition or fitness expert I am simply taking what I have learned from past experiences to create this plan. I've never done this before and I'm sure I will make changes and possibly mistakes along the way. I'm not telling anyone to follow this plan, I'm simply sharing the process for my own good.)
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THE PLAN (for now)
For the first few weeks I'm going to focus on simply tracking my satisfaction level concerning my food choices for the day. I will also include my workout of the day just to show a bigger picture.
A daily entry will look like this:
Day one
Movement: Yoga for 60 minutes
Food: Satisfied.
Notes: Ate mindfully and felt content with my choices at the end of the day.
I will also be including two side goals I have been trying to meet every day. The first is drinking one cup of green tea and the second is meditating for at least ten minutes. I've only been about 50% successful up until now so I will be tracking this as well.
Looking at the big picture and remembering I am going to be documenting my satisfaction level at the end of the day might make a difference in the food decisions I make. If it doesn't work and my unsatisfied days outweigh my satisfied then I will make another small change.
No weight loss journey is complete without a few "before" pictures. As much as I'm not looking forward to posting these I think it's important and honest and so I will be brave and hope this motivates me to achieve an improved after picture.
Height: 5'6"
Weight: 141 lbs
The hearts are to remind me how important it is to love myself as I am in this moment. There is nothing wrong with my body. It is healthy and injury free. It can walk and run and swim and breathe and get me through work so I can help pay the bills and see and hear and learn and love. My goal is to lose a little weight and get back on track. However, if getting back on track just means I no longer feel lethargic and depressed and guilty and regretful from lack control around food, I will consider this experiment a success. Even if I don't lose a pound!
*Edited and blurred photo because there is more to life and health than how we look! (January, 2016)
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