Some of you may have read my post last month where I committed to losing 15 pounds by March 31st. I was absolutely not expecting that post to resonate or motivate so many people, and each and every comment meant so much to me. I really had a different feeling when I posted that than I did the past few times I’ve tried to lose weight - I was so motivated that the idea of deviating from my diet felt like it wasn’t even an option. Desserts, fried foods, candy - none of it even tempted me, because I was sick and tired of feeling sick and tired and just wanted progress.
I weighed in 1/1/21 at a starting weight of 189 (5’9 27F) and committed to NO cheat meals for the first 28 days. My thought process was that as someone who binges, I’ve struggled to just have one cheat meal - it always leads to a week of binging. I figured I could shock my system so to speak, giving myself only healthy food for 4 weeks in hopes I’d lose the cravings, adapt to my new healthy meals, and break my snacking habit. And for the first four weeks, I was a machine. On January 28th, I weighed in at 179.8 and let myself have a cheat meal.
That same day, I went on medical leave from work due to immense stress from my job causing daily migraines, panic attacks, etc. I’m on leave for 4 weeks and from that first cheat meal, I totally fell off the wagon. The break has helped my migraines and panic attacks as I hoped it would, but it doesn’t help my diet that I have much less structure in my day now. I’ve had days where I still follow the plan, but they are few and far between - maybe 2 or 3 days out of the week at best. This morning, I weighed in at 181.6 lbs. Today was supposed to be my third day in a row back on track. Now, here I am writing this after indulging in pasta takeout, once again breaking my plan.
It’s a journey and I have a ways to go - I especially need to work on moderation. I would love to be able to have ONE cheat meal a week - it’s something my all-or-nothing brain struggles to moderate though. It’s worth noting I have diagnosed OCD, so eating for me feels very compulsive at times. Halfway through, I’m still aiming to hit my goal though. I want to make this community - and myself - proud.
So here’s what I need to work on:
- moderation
- rekindling the motivation I felt at the new year
- reducing stress in other areas of my life
Here’s what was working well for me throughout January:
- 2 large meals a day, no breakfast, no snacking after dinner
- light exercise - I’m recovering from a knee injury, so am only approved to do light yoga and limited walking - but sticking to my deficit means I don’t need to burn a lot more calories. Light exercise is really just for my mood.
- baths at night. When I have a strong urge to binge, sometimes literally trapping myself in a body of water until it goes away is a nice substitute
- habit pairing. Throughout January I challenged myself to write a new guitar riff every day, and posted it to a dedicated Instagram. I met new online friends, and it filled my evenings that otherwise would have been spent in front of the TV snacking
That’s all I got. For everyone who joined me, I hope you’re still in this - but if you fell off, let’s get back up together. Thank you for reading and being such a supportive community.
[link] [comments]
source https://www.reddit.com/r/loseit/comments/lme51l/last_month_i_posted_about_my_quest_to_be_a/
No comments:
Post a Comment