Start your engines please…

Outlook – Let’s get it done!

I’m looking forward to the week ahead. I’ve been very bad with food over the weekend but the kids going to stay with their Grandparents has provided me with a break to get back on track. I woke this morning feeling quite ill but I’m guessing that had a great deal to do with the Chinese food we purchased to say thank you to my wife’s parents for being very kind and giving us this timeout.

I’m a little annoyed as I appear to have developed a cough and aching shoulders, which is often the start of a cold for me. This is going to stop the gym workouts, but not cause a problem with food. I’ll be back writing everything down for a while, but only until it sinks into my memory and I just function eating things correctly (about 2-3 weeks normally).

Gym Update

OK so I still find it difficult to get my behind out and into the Gym. It is not the working out I have a problem with … once I’m there I love it. It is the action of getting my mind to accept that it would be a really good idea to go outside, stand in the garage and workout.

I know, it an easy fix but I wouldn’t be the size I am if I could have said … you don’t need that bag of sweets on the way home. It is a question of will power, and it is will power that stops the cubby people sliming and keeps the thin people thin. As an over weight individual I find it very annoying when a friend can just stop eating and say that’s enough, or refuse to eat dessert. My brain is screaming at me clean the plate and make space for chocolate cake (yum!).

Still part of the process is to change the way you think, it is starting to happen. Only yesterday I told somebody I was going to the gym!! The little voice that controls the healthy things I do is getting stronger, and I’m noticing that in the food I consume.

Mother’s phone call

Well this morning I woke to a phone from my long suffering mother telling me to get off my bum and start working out. Interestingly enough I had only just reached a similar conclusion after looking in the mirror and taking a good hard look at myself. I was not a sight I remembered in my minds eye, in fact it was very different. It is too easy to forget what you look like, take the Simpsons when Homer tries to remember situations… he’s always very slim and ripped. However the reality is very different.

So I have cleaned down the gym and oiled the equipment ready for use. The only problem now is getting myself out there and working out. My wife is complaining, my family is complaining, my friends are commenting that I’m a little bit big yet I have a wonderful deflector shield that stops me hearing their advise. So remember my comments about listen and focus… guess what I’ve started doing today.

Journals – Why?

Half the battle in dropping weight, or in fact admitting anything to yourself, is being honest and accepting you have crossed the line into a place you don’t want to be. However we are a crafty race and our brains will provide us with excuses, lies and denial to allow us to function in that dangerous place. You know something is wrong, but routine takes over and you forget.

The solution? To be honest with yourself and write it down. A diary, journal application or blog they are all methods of getting your views and issues out and formed into a documented reality on paper. If they have been written down then it can’t be changed. I have found this to be a great tool for breaking habits, procrastination and general lethargy.

So people, join the revolution and open up a little. You never know it may make all the difference between harm and heal!

Snacking

The old phase ‘little pickers wear big knickers’ is true, however in my case it’s big pants. I was doing really well until at 2am this morning when I found myself in the kitchen hunting through the cupboards looking for a secret snack. So why tell you dear reader, well it is so it doesn’t happen again. I’m annoyed at myself for such a weak level of self control.

My goal at the moment it to remove the hook I have for refined sugar products. I believe that my mood and general outlook is affected by the level of blood sugar in my body. After eating chocolate I feel great for about 10 minutes then crash and become really grumpy (or as my wife points out – fall asleep). I think that would be my body reacting to the high level of sugar pumping about my system.

Therefore I’m avoiding such things as sweets and chocolate. Why? Well you end up on a roller coaster ride of high’s and low’s and the only fix is to eat a little more. I believe that is the reason the Aktins diet worked for so many people, there is no sugar and therefore no bad reaction. Please note that I’m not saying Atkins is good for you, but it does have that going for it.

Therefore the answer is simple:

• Turn on your brain
• Look at what you are eating
• Think about the content and remove the product or yourself from the situation

I’m no doctor but it seems really quite simple to me.