Happiness 12 October, 2008
Posted by mymblealba in Reports.Tags: happiness, plateau, weight, weight loss
1 comment so far
I stand on the scales every Sunday and now for a couple of weeks I’ve been preparing myself. I’ve been thinking: ‘I must have put on weight.’ Since I’ve been stuck for so long, I’d stopped believing in my method, in myself, if you like. I felt like a sportswoman without her motivation coach (is there such a thing?), mental trainer or whatever it’s called. When you don’t believe in anything anymore, it’s hard to stick to anything.
Last night I ‘knew’ that I’d put on weight, but how wrong I was. I’d finally left my ‘plateau’ and continued on the way down without really noticing. One kilo down. It feels great. Now I’m going to celebrate by going for a walk in the sunshine, bring my little keeshond and take lots of pics. I’ve reached my partial goal. Wish me luck for the next one.
More of the Happy Method 27 August, 2008
Posted by mymblealba in Reports.Tags: body, diet, happy, image, method, weight, weight loss
2 comments
I’m still completely satisified with my ‘method. It never feels like a ‘diet’, even if I sometimes feel cravings for calorie bombs and at times I feel hungry in the evenings. But I should think everyone in my situation does. Since I last posted, I’ve reached an impasse, three weeks when nothing happened. But, though I don’t want to sound like a ‘Pollyanna’ playing at being happy, I know that everyone does. Of course, that knowledge didn’t stop me from feeling disappointed. I really wanted to stay on a roll, for a little while longer. Fortunately, I didn’t give up. I don’t think I will. And now, last Sunday, I had my reward for all the long waiting. I had passed the impasse and the downward trend continued. Happiness. 
Last Sunday, I was halfway to my first partial goal and I was beginning to think about my reward when I get there. Cake? LOL. I don’t even feel the cravings for that anymore. But that got me thinking about weight watchers who would celebrate their success with champagne and AA meetings celebrating their successes with cake. What if someone had had a double dependency problem? They might easily end up switching from one type of abuse to another.
So how will I celebrate reaching my first partial goal? New clothes is one thing that sprang to mind, but it feels as if it would be too soon. I remember from earlier attempts what a bad idea it is to be stuck with old clothes that hopefully will end up being too big for me. I’ll probably wait until I have to get new ones. That will be fun. At the moment, I’d rather not do anything related to my body. Maybe a little outing? Or I might buy stuff for my hobbies? Suggestions would be appreciated.:)
By the way, I’ve always had a weird relation to my own body. I know I’ll never be content with it. Not even when I was a teenager when I was almost too skinny. Despite that, I felt fat. But that’s probably normal. Lots of people feel that way, especially teenagers. But at the same time, I know that if I don’t like myself I can’t expect others to. And it can’t be good for my weight loss.
What can I do about my poor self image? The first step was realizing that I’ll never be completely content. I’m not like that. Then I made a list of things I actually like about myself and the way I look. The eyes are really quite ok and so is my hair. Of course, that’s nothing to do with my weight. Strangely enough, I’m pretty happy about my shape, no, not my flabby belly and arms and – No, I’d better not go there. But I’m tall, I have a proper waist, even if it’s less obvious when I’m overweight, and I have curves where you’re supposed to be curvy. The bottom line is that I can at least trick myself into believing that I’m pretty content.:)
The Happy Method 14 August, 2008
Posted by mymblealba in Reports.Tags: diet, eat, exercise, food, happy, method, success, walk, weight loss
2 comments
It’s not difficult to be thin if you’re healthy, rich and happy. Oh, I know that it isn’t that easy, but the opposite can definitely make you fat. If you’re poor, it’s easier to eat junk food. It seems to be subsidized in our society. The same goes for being unhappy. ‘Comfort food’ is probably something we’ve all resorted to at one time or another. If you’re sick yhou can either put on weight (for not getting enough exercise) or lose weight because of the illness.
You might be wondering why I’m thinking along these lines. The reason is that I’ve been on sick leave for being burned out and depressed and before that I didn’t have the strength for anything but my work. If you haven’t been through this yourself the same thing it might be difficult to understand how it feels. Some days I could hardly get out of bed, let alone go for a walk. My appetite was up and down. I didn’t feel like eating until I got dizzy from hunger, and then I stuffed myself to compensate.
That definitely didn’t have any positive effect on my weight. To say the least. And when I finally stood on the scales for the first time in a very long time, I almost began to cry. That was when I made the decision. This time I’ll make it work. I don’t know if I’ll reach my target weight, but I’m not going to give up.
This is it, my own method for losing weight. Let’s call it the ‘Happy method’.
I made a note of my initial weight, then filled in my partial goals. I’m going to stand on the scales every Sunday and in between I’m going to try and forget my weight.
And now the exercise. I used to think negatively, about how tiresome it was to get ready and how long it took. Now I see the fun in the walk. I bring my camera, look for motives and try to find new places to go to. I used to think ‘I have to, because…’. Now I’m thinking ‘I want to, because…’.
And finally the food. That actually came first – I know it’s being recommended all the time – eating regularly. I’ve considered this a lot, but never managed to implement it before. The idea is to eat five times a day. It may sound like a lot, but I’m trying to even out my blood sugar levels throughout the day. And two of the meals can be half a cracker, or a piece of fruit. No more than one sandwich, no cookies or candy. No sweet beverages. And nothing after 8 pm.
I also try to serve the food in a pretty way. Focus on the colors. Peppers, cucumber, parsley. Other than that I try to reward myself with something fun, not anything to eat.
So there you have it. My own Happy Method 
.
So far it’s worked. Three Sundays in a row with a positive result. I love to see the downward curve, that slowly but surely, approaching my first partial target. And best of all, this is no temporary change. I can live like this all the time.
