Losing the Weight: What I’m Doing

I wrote a post last week about how I’m currently the heaviest I’ve ever been, and the reasons for that.  I feel like now that I’m aware of the reasons I’ve become overweight, the actual losing weight shouldn’t be too tough.  So what am I doing, to get rid of these extra pounds?

Tracking Food & Exercise

My sister showed me an app on my phone – it came on the phone, but I hadn’t even noticed it! I can use it to track my sleep, my food and my exercise and I’ve found it really useful. I don’t want to make rules for myself, like saying I’m “not allowed” chocolate – I know from past experience that I can’t stick to things like that! Instead I’m just trying to make sure I’m making healthier choices, and that’s easier to stick to. I’ve tried to keep a food diary before but found it hard to keep up – but with this app I can put it in there and then, and it tells me how many calories I’ve eaten for the day so it’s an immediate thing. Although I’m not specifically counting calories, it is handy to have a vague idea of how many calories you’re taking on each day, so I have found it really useful. Also with it tracking my activity it’s keeping me motivated to make sure we get out and do things.

EFT

A friend showed me EFT, so I’ve been trying to do that when I want something to eat and I know I’m not hungry. I have a habit of just wandering into the kitchen and eating, even if I’m feeling uncomfortably full already – so doing EFT helps me to stop and think before doing that. 

Hypnosis

I’m going to see a hypnotist this week and I’m quite excited to see how he can help me not just to control my eating but to resolve the issues that have caused it in the first place. 

Taking Aloe

I’ve a friend who is an independent Forever Living consultant, and she raves about their aloe vera juice and how good it is for you. Apparently it can help to curb the appetite, as well as a billion other things… I’m trying it out as of today, so watch this space!

Thinking Slimmer

I have a Slimpod which I keep forgetting to listen to – and it’s one of those things that really only works when you remember it every day! So I’m trying to make it part of my daily routine.

Meditation

I’m on the “Oprah and Deepak” mailing list and a little while ago they sent out a mail about a free meditation course. I’ve downloaded their app, and am doing their daily weight loss meditations. This actually seems to be helping; I noticed the change on the first day.

Learning to Love Myself

I really believe that the way to lose weight and keep it off is to deal with the reasons I put the weight on in the first place. I’m reading a book at the moment called I Heart Me;  it’s about learning to love yourself. I know it sounds a bit self-help-y, and it probably is – but I think a lot of the problems in our lives stem from the fact that a lot of us don’t love ourselves; we don’t even like ourselves that much! The book is not about weight loss, but there is a section on it… Here is a quote from it:

If we do reach our ideal weight, because it was motivated by a lack of self-love, the new weight doesn’t solve the problem. The sentiment of not enough usually runs so deep that a change in appearance is only a temporary sticking plaster that washes off the first time we step in the shower. 

This is what I was talking about in last week’s blog post; I know that counting calories and what have you will only work for as long as I can be bothered to do it. I need to fix the root of the problem, which is my dodgy self image. And that goes back years (and years, and years). I don’t expect it to necessarily be easy, but it’s definitely worth it because perhaps if I can unravel my own issues, I can avoid piling them onto my daughter’s shoulders like Philip Larkin predicted…

 
If you have used any clever methods to lose weight (ie not calorie counting, or any of the fad diets that seem to be so ubiquitous these days) do please let me know!