I must admit, having a personal trainer for my fitness needs is great. I’ve learned a lot from her and I KNOW I have made many improvements to my health and fitness. Just today, in fact, my trainer commented as I was doing some walking lunges how I don’t wobble or lose my balance like I did 5 months ago.
I also no longer have lower back pain when I run. That is awesome.
Add to the trainer my bicycle riding… great for cardio, burning calories and it’s easy on the knees… and I am truly feeling better than ever!
Except (there’s always one of those, isn’t there)…
My weight has not fallen the way I have hoped. I do realize that I have converted some fat to muscle, but overall I should weigh less than I do. And I know the exact cause.
I love food. There’s no getting around that simple fact. I don’t really OVER eat, but I do like a lot of foods that are high in calories, fat, carbs, etc. And my biggest downfall – snacking at night.
I don’t beat myself up too bad, as I am in better shape at 48 than I was at 28, but there are health considerations here too. Already once in my life my blood sugar was trending upwards (exercise fixed that in short order). As we get older and our body and metabolism changes we need to pay closer attention.
A couple of years ago I went the Weight Watchers route and I have to admit, I enjoyed it. I lost 28 pounds by simply following the program and kept it off (until my mother, then niece were stricken with cancer and passed away..).
So about 2 weeks ago I rejoined Weight Watchers and I am very glad I did. Already down about 3 or 4 pounds and I have not yet attended a meeting (tomorrow). All from getting back in to the habit of tracking what I eat, how much and even when. What I have found is if you don’t know these things, how can you hope to change what you’re doing?
There are so many “diets” out there and it is a very competitive and cut throat business so it’s sometimes difficult to really understand what these diets do, how they work and how they affect you. And that’s how they like it. They simply show you pictures of fit models and we swallow hook, line and sinker that THIS can be ME.
Not.
Let go of that whole notion. I mean, come on. From 240 pounds to 185 in only 3 months? And you don’t even need to exercise? Who, in this day and age of readily available information actually believes this drivel? Unfortunately, many do.
The Weight Watchers approach is very simple. You get XX points daily. Points are calculated by their proprietary formula from Fat, Carbs, Protein and Fiber. So when you eat your normal high fat foods, you run through your points quickly. This will (hopefully) force you to start looking for better choices so you can maximize your points with better (and more) foods. When you do you start to see the weight come off regularly. But you DO have to track every day!
Some have claimed that the constant tracking actually makes them think of food more often so they eat more. Logically, I can see what they are saying, but in reality, it’s still your choice to eat, or over eat.
What I also like, is this is not some “exclusionary” diet, like those carb-free type diets. It’s been proven that when you deprive your body completely of something you’re used to getting, the diets don’t last. Then the weight comes back with a vengeance. It’s NOT about excluding foods. It’s about changing your lifestyle to reduce the “bad” foods and increasing the good foods – as well as learning to control your urges.
Tip: Did you know that many of those hunger pangs you feel are actually your body telling you that you need water? Next time you get one, grab yourself 8 to 12 ounces of water!
It takes commitment, but a program like Weight Watchers along with regular exercise and you watch how quick you can be healthy. In the long run it’ll be so much cheaper to be healthy than to be a slave to pharmaceuticals 😉
