I decided to plow forward in this attempt. So what if last week I didn't meet a target. I've re-evaluated some of my goals.
Long Term:
1. To get my periods back. I don't know where they've gone, but I miss them. They were a sign that everything was functioning ok. Not optimally, but ok.
2. To be able to buy clothes that look nice. Right now, nothing is available in my size.
Short Term:
1. To work out at least 15 minutes a day, 4 times a week.
I realised that the last time I exercised, I went for the 1 hr work out. I managed, but I was dog tired that day, and had no motivation to go the next day. I also realised that it's stupid to go from no exercise to 1hr exercise, the body really can't handle it.
So now I'm going to push for at least 15 minutes. Hopefully I'll be a little regular with that. Actually, not hopefully, I'd better be regular with that. That and the cooking/eating healthy thing.
Monday, April 28, 2008
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
One Week Later
So, one week is now up, let's see how I did. I've been eating better, cooking and stuff. In the past week, only 1 meal was eaten in a restaurant, but 2 meals consisted of delivered food. There were also home made veggies at these meals, so I feel a little less guilty.
On the exercise front, I've done very badly. Only one day of exercise. The plan was to exercise today, but it's 7:20 p.m. and I still have about half an hour's worth of work left. So it's very unlikely that I'll go to a gym today. Will aim for tomorrow morning.
Any and all tips on how to get to exercise will be greatly appreciated!
On the exercise front, I've done very badly. Only one day of exercise. The plan was to exercise today, but it's 7:20 p.m. and I still have about half an hour's worth of work left. So it's very unlikely that I'll go to a gym today. Will aim for tomorrow morning.
Any and all tips on how to get to exercise will be greatly appreciated!
Thursday, April 17, 2008
The Next Day
Last night was not pleasant. I had planned to go exercise, but had to wait to speak to someone at work, so got delayed. I made it home and planned to eat healthy, sleep early and go to the gym in the morning.
I got home and had a fight with my husband over something. It's something that's important to me, but something he doesn't care about at all. To me, waste is a sin. To him, if you have it, you can waste it. I actually said 'I can't be married to you'. I promised myself that I would not threaten to leave, ever. When we were just seeing each other, there were times when I would threaten, but consciously avoided it after a point.
So... I still cooked, and ate healthy. I also slept fairly well. I wanted to go to the gym, but couldn't get up early. So that's one down.
Let's see if today's better.
I got home and had a fight with my husband over something. It's something that's important to me, but something he doesn't care about at all. To me, waste is a sin. To him, if you have it, you can waste it. I actually said 'I can't be married to you'. I promised myself that I would not threaten to leave, ever. When we were just seeing each other, there were times when I would threaten, but consciously avoided it after a point.
So... I still cooked, and ate healthy. I also slept fairly well. I wanted to go to the gym, but couldn't get up early. So that's one down.
Let's see if today's better.
The Why
I've tried formal exercise. In September 2007, I joined a gym and got a personal trainer for a while. It worked because that girl was waiting for me, I got to the gym. It was for about one month, and I was beginning to lose weight. Then the training stopped and I became less regular. The membership contiues (and it wasn't cheap to begin with) but my attendance is nearer zero than one.
I understand now that I need to lose weight. It is a physical need. I cannot carry around this extra weight but I'm still lazy. I decided that I should start a blog to ... I guess remind myself about why. Also, I understand that motivation is key. It appears that the simplest for of motivation is to get a personal trainer. That way I have someone to meet and cannot bunk/change the proposed exercise time as I feel like. Also, all information on motivation says that I should find some :)
I figure at this point, that I'm going to see for 1 month if I can do this on my own. If I can't, I'm going to get a trainer. There's no point spending money on a gym if I'm not going. So spending more money on a trainer is actually converting bad money to good.
My Long Term Goals are:
1. To lose the extra weight.
Hmm... interesting. Seems like my only need to exercise is to lose weight. Bad idea what? But then I'm lazy by nature, so thinking about running 5km, half marathon, etc - hold absolutely no fascination. Looking good for my wedding - too late.
I think the key is to feel good about myself. So
2. Feel good about my body.
Now that that's done, we move on to the shorter term stuff.
Today, 17th April 2008 is the beginning. I give myself one month to do the following:
1. Go to the gym 3 days a week minimum;
2. Prepare meals at home 3 days of the week;
3. Take lunch to work 2 days of the week.
I notice that there are no weight-loss indicators, but I think this is a good start. I'm also going to take a 'Fat' picture and put it up here. Since nobody else sees the blog, it should be fine.
I'm going to post every day about whether I went to the gym, what I ate and how I feel. The feel part will relate to energy and alertness more than emotional states as I get guilty easily and defensive more easily.
At present nobody else knows about this, as I don't handle pressure from others very well.
Wish me luck!
I understand now that I need to lose weight. It is a physical need. I cannot carry around this extra weight but I'm still lazy. I decided that I should start a blog to ... I guess remind myself about why. Also, I understand that motivation is key. It appears that the simplest for of motivation is to get a personal trainer. That way I have someone to meet and cannot bunk/change the proposed exercise time as I feel like. Also, all information on motivation says that I should find some :)
I figure at this point, that I'm going to see for 1 month if I can do this on my own. If I can't, I'm going to get a trainer. There's no point spending money on a gym if I'm not going. So spending more money on a trainer is actually converting bad money to good.
My Long Term Goals are:
1. To lose the extra weight.
Hmm... interesting. Seems like my only need to exercise is to lose weight. Bad idea what? But then I'm lazy by nature, so thinking about running 5km, half marathon, etc - hold absolutely no fascination. Looking good for my wedding - too late.
I think the key is to feel good about myself. So
2. Feel good about my body.
Now that that's done, we move on to the shorter term stuff.
Today, 17th April 2008 is the beginning. I give myself one month to do the following:
1. Go to the gym 3 days a week minimum;
2. Prepare meals at home 3 days of the week;
3. Take lunch to work 2 days of the week.
I notice that there are no weight-loss indicators, but I think this is a good start. I'm also going to take a 'Fat' picture and put it up here. Since nobody else sees the blog, it should be fine.
I'm going to post every day about whether I went to the gym, what I ate and how I feel. The feel part will relate to energy and alertness more than emotional states as I get guilty easily and defensive more easily.
At present nobody else knows about this, as I don't handle pressure from others very well.
Wish me luck!
The Grand Beginning
I've started this blog (whether it gets readership or not) to document my weight loss program. I refuse to call it a 'plan' as I'm afraid that that is what it will remain.
I've thought of myself as Fat all my life. When I was a child, I had a stomach. So the rest of me was normal, but I always had a paunch. In my teen years, I was very conscious of my stomach (even though I actually looked pretty good). There were other reasons that I was conscious in my teen years, but that is fodder for a different blog. So when I entered university, I was convinced I was fat, I did stuff (like targetted exercise) to reduce particular areas. They worked, they didn't work... so I continued to feel fat. In reality, I was reasonably fit, just not toned in certain areas (like stomach).
When I finished university, I rapidly gained weight. Apparently I was getting a lot of exercise during university that I didn't even realise. In retrospect it appears that my body image has always been 'fat'. So I didn't even realise for a while that I had gained weight. Then it became a bit obvious - everybody told me that I'd become fatter. Around the same time I met my husband. Our typical dates involved eating out - and eating well. I understand that it's not a blame game. But clearly, if our interests were in exercise, I'd have gotten fitter. I was also living on my own. I tolerated my own cooking, but my husband was less than excited. Which meant eating out more.
In mid-2004, I went to Singapore to do a Masters. It was a one year program and the food available locally was not very appealing. Also, I didn't have much money. So I started cooking. Also, I was a student so had to use public transport. This meant walking to bus stops, walking from bus stops etc. It also meant that I had free time. I stayed in an apartment complex which had a pool - a nice, big, pool. My flatmates were enthusiastic about swimming. One is Chinese, the other Vietnamese - so no paunch at all. In three months, I was better - toned and lighter. Overall healthier. I moved at some point, but continued to eat at home and to exercise - not gym type exercise but walking and swimming.
I came back in mid-2005 and planned to continue that way. I got a job and managed to cook and pack lunch. Exercise was much less, but at least my intake was mostly healthy. For a variety of reasons, I gained weight during the winter of 2005. I realised this in early 2006 and did a bit of exercise - mainly swimming, and lost some weight as well. It actually worked as long as I was cooking.
Then I stopped cooking. I also started working harder, staying in office later. So started eating snacks in the office and getting back too late to cook. I gained weight steadily in 2006 and changed jobs towards the end of 2006. I thought that with less of a commute, I'd have more time for a lot of stuff.
Clearly, motivation was lacking. The commute is much less, but then I started getting up later than before. Also, my husband came to live with me in mid 2007, so cooking for 2 began. The downside of this is that one dish rarely lasts for more than one meal. Also, the effort isn't as appreciated as I'd like - so I do it less often. I tried to recruit him into cooking - but he didn't appreciate that at all.
So here I am. It's April 2008 and I weigh about 74 kilos. I'm 5'7" tall. I'm officially 8 kilos overweight. Bordering on obese. I want to have children, but I think I have PCOD - my periods are irregular.
I had very similar issues when I went to Singapore - overweight with irregular periods. But in that year, it all improved. Now it's all back to 2004 levels.
Once more - I am 5'7" tall and weigh 74 kilos. I want to lose weight steadily and maintainably.
In my mind, I know that the correct way to do this is to eat sensibly and to exercise. I know that eating sensibly involves me cooking, or eating fresh fruits and vegetables in larger quantities than I do at present. I know that I must exercise for at least half an hour, at lest 3 times a week.
How do I move from the knowing to the doing?
I've thought of myself as Fat all my life. When I was a child, I had a stomach. So the rest of me was normal, but I always had a paunch. In my teen years, I was very conscious of my stomach (even though I actually looked pretty good). There were other reasons that I was conscious in my teen years, but that is fodder for a different blog. So when I entered university, I was convinced I was fat, I did stuff (like targetted exercise) to reduce particular areas. They worked, they didn't work... so I continued to feel fat. In reality, I was reasonably fit, just not toned in certain areas (like stomach).
When I finished university, I rapidly gained weight. Apparently I was getting a lot of exercise during university that I didn't even realise. In retrospect it appears that my body image has always been 'fat'. So I didn't even realise for a while that I had gained weight. Then it became a bit obvious - everybody told me that I'd become fatter. Around the same time I met my husband. Our typical dates involved eating out - and eating well. I understand that it's not a blame game. But clearly, if our interests were in exercise, I'd have gotten fitter. I was also living on my own. I tolerated my own cooking, but my husband was less than excited. Which meant eating out more.
In mid-2004, I went to Singapore to do a Masters. It was a one year program and the food available locally was not very appealing. Also, I didn't have much money. So I started cooking. Also, I was a student so had to use public transport. This meant walking to bus stops, walking from bus stops etc. It also meant that I had free time. I stayed in an apartment complex which had a pool - a nice, big, pool. My flatmates were enthusiastic about swimming. One is Chinese, the other Vietnamese - so no paunch at all. In three months, I was better - toned and lighter. Overall healthier. I moved at some point, but continued to eat at home and to exercise - not gym type exercise but walking and swimming.
I came back in mid-2005 and planned to continue that way. I got a job and managed to cook and pack lunch. Exercise was much less, but at least my intake was mostly healthy. For a variety of reasons, I gained weight during the winter of 2005. I realised this in early 2006 and did a bit of exercise - mainly swimming, and lost some weight as well. It actually worked as long as I was cooking.
Then I stopped cooking. I also started working harder, staying in office later. So started eating snacks in the office and getting back too late to cook. I gained weight steadily in 2006 and changed jobs towards the end of 2006. I thought that with less of a commute, I'd have more time for a lot of stuff.
Clearly, motivation was lacking. The commute is much less, but then I started getting up later than before. Also, my husband came to live with me in mid 2007, so cooking for 2 began. The downside of this is that one dish rarely lasts for more than one meal. Also, the effort isn't as appreciated as I'd like - so I do it less often. I tried to recruit him into cooking - but he didn't appreciate that at all.
So here I am. It's April 2008 and I weigh about 74 kilos. I'm 5'7" tall. I'm officially 8 kilos overweight. Bordering on obese. I want to have children, but I think I have PCOD - my periods are irregular.
I had very similar issues when I went to Singapore - overweight with irregular periods. But in that year, it all improved. Now it's all back to 2004 levels.
Once more - I am 5'7" tall and weigh 74 kilos. I want to lose weight steadily and maintainably.
In my mind, I know that the correct way to do this is to eat sensibly and to exercise. I know that eating sensibly involves me cooking, or eating fresh fruits and vegetables in larger quantities than I do at present. I know that I must exercise for at least half an hour, at lest 3 times a week.
How do I move from the knowing to the doing?
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