Day 14 - Road Blocks & Hiccups - Stop, Take a Breath, and Reset Yourself...

As we travel our weight loss journey, we will encounter a few road blocks and we will have the odd hiccup or two. When these happen, it can make us feel like we don't know whether we have what it takes to carry on. 

I chose to use these times a challenges... For me, I had two small weight gains in my 7 month journey where I put on 200grams each time. I felt like my whole world had come crashing down. I know that sounds a bit drastic and some may even think, how ridiculous. But those of you who are super focused on your weight loss journey will understand what a few grams of gain can do to your head. 

I remember coming home and telling my partner that I had had a hiccup with my weight loss and that I was feeling really low about it. He said to me, why are you so low about that? Think about how much you have achieved so far! It was that moment that I realised. Tiny set backs are just life's way of making sure we are paying attention. 

One of the great things about Weight Watchers, is having the amazing support of your meeting leader and your fellow weight loss buddies. During those low times it is vitally important that you share your feelings and any issues you are experiencing. You will find that you will walk away from your meeting feeling re-energised. Plus you will often find that you are not alone with your feelings. We all have highs and lows and sharing both is important to help you realise that you are not alone in your journey. 

So, instead of beating yourself up about a set back...

STOP

Take a Breath

&

Reset yourself

By this I mean. Stop and take stock of what you have already achieved. Take a breath and reset or re focus yourself to tackle the rest of your journey. Even when we are travelling long distance in a car. We have to make regular stops and some of us have to get out of the car and take a walk around. These road blocks and hiccups are no different.

My advice to you is... Step over the road block and ignore the hiccups as they will eventually go away. Share your feelings with your fellow WW buddies and think about how far you have come and how incredible this journey is going to be. Trust me, it is going to feel amazing once you reach goal!!

Today,

I wish for you...

Clarity and the ability to see how far you have come and all the wonderful steps you have taken to create a stronger and healthier you! 

Day 13 - Barriers - locate them and break them down...

In the 21st century we have so many gadgets and tools to make life easier, yet we still seem to find ways to busy our lives with more and more ‘stuff’. Unfortunately the more things we have to make our lives easier the less time we actually have to ourselves. This in itself is a barrier. 

I am a bit of a gadget girl and I love anything that will make my life more organised, but in the past, this has made my life busier and I have found myself with less time for myself than I had without all the ‘so called’ helpful gadgets. 

A lot of the ‘things’ that we use to make our lives easier are often the very things that create barriers for more important things that we should be doing! 

My tip would be... Sit done and have a think about all the barriers that could possibly inhibit you from reaching goal. Eliminating barriers is necessary for success. This is true in anything that we do in life. Keeping junk food in your pantry, keeping food in your car, spending hours on social media, finding excuses not to do things. These are all barriers and if you let them, they can sabotage your progress. 

What are your barriers? What steps can you take to eliminate them? 

Today,

I wish you...

Honesty, honesty to look at the possible barriers in your life which are not going to help you get to goal and inhibit a successful journey ahead. 

Day 12 - Weight loss toolkit - the recap of the last 11 Posts

It is always good to reflect on your journey and in this instance it is good to do a stocktake of all the new tools that you have in your weight loss toolkit. It doesn’t take long to build up a strong kit of handy tips and tricks to help you get to goal and stay at goal. 

Getting started / setting your first goal - you have taken the first steps in your weight loss journey and you have set your first small goal that you are working towards achieving within a realistic time frame.  

Building your support network / Attending meetings - you have started building your support network of positive ‘like minded’ people. People who have your best interests at heart. If you are a Weight Watchers member you will have attended a couple of meetings and you will have a wonderful support network in your group meetings.

Tracking your food - You may have downloaded an app or bought a journal to track everything that you eat and drink. Tracking food should have become second nature and you will be getting a good idea of the value of points or calories. 

Taking measurements - You should be starting to see some small results with your measurements. Use those small achievements as motivation to see more results in the coming weeks.

Planning and preparation - Planning and preparation will be making your life easier and you should be feeling more in control of what you are eating and when you are eating. 

Exercise - You should start to feel the benefits of regular exercise. It should be helping your fitness and the results at the scales.

Weighing in - You should have had another weight in day... How did it go? how do you feel? This is the time to celebrate your success at the scales or re-evaluate if you have had a gain or no loss.

Making time - You should be feeling more in control of your daily life and finding time to do the things that will help you get to goal. 

Change - by now, some of the small changes that you have made will be making a big change to your health and well-being. 

Hydrate - Drinking water should now be second nature and you should be feeling the benefits of being fully hydrated throughout each day.

Feelings and emotions - your journey is going to be one of many highs and some lows, but remember that each feeling will pass with time and if you are feeling low today, tomorrow is another day. 

Today,

I wish you...

The time to sit and reflect on the last few days and and all the small changes you have made to help your weight loss journey a head.

Day 11 - Feelings and Emotions...

Oh my gosh, when it comes to feelings and emotions, you certainly walk the gamut of both of these during your weight loss journey. For me my journey was filled with incredible highs and some pretty deep lows in terms of feelings and emotions. The highs always outweighed the lows and the lows, looking back, were very short lived. But I think some of that success came from building the best support network (that I could) around me to help with the dull days. It is only natural to have the dull days. the days where you think, “Oh my gosh, is this day ever going to end?” For me they were often the days where I was hungry or couldn’t exercise because I felt unwell and was craving comfort food. Early in my weight loss journey I read a great quote in a magazine... 

“There is always a rainbow at the end of every rain storm, its up to you to look for it!” 

I still hold that quote close to my heart. 

It helped me remember that nothing stays the same, especially not emotions. Rather than tucking into comfort/junk food and sabotaging my results. I would think about that quote and I would distract myself with other things. I loved the Weight Watchers meetings that discussed this topic and it was comforting to know that I was not alone with these thoughts and feelings. They were a natural part of the process. I would always come away from any meeting feeling great and ready for the next week, because I knew how I was feeling was natural. 

The flip side of the low feelings are the feelings of elation and satisfaction for a job well done. Each week - especially on the days that I had a good loss at the scales. I would be feeling great and that motivation just kept me rolling in the right direction. I would use those feelings to keep going and escalate my results. 

My tip would be, prepare yourself for the good and not so good days and keep building your support network around you. If you are a Weight Watchers member, your meetings, your leader and the other members will be a remarkable support for your weight loss journey and together you will share, laugh, cry but most of all you will celebrate. 

Today,

I wish you...

the ability to handle the different feelings and emotions that you will have to endure, both good and not so good throughout the journey ahead. 

Day 10 - Hydrate to lose weight...

Water, water , water

One thing that I was never good at doing prior to starting my weight loss journey, was keeping hydrated. I would go for hours without proper hydration and if I am perfectly honest, the only reason I would remember to drink water, would have been when I was so thirsty I would have to chug water. What I hadn’t realised was that I needed to be sipping water consistently throughout the day, rather than bingeing on water when I was desperate and parched. When I started drinking lots of water, I noticed improved skin tone as I lost weight, I noticed my body was more energised and I didn’t feel as hungry.

The problem with not hydrating properly is you run the risk of water being stored. What happens is the body stores water, because it thinks it is under a threat of survival. Stored water can make us weigh heavier on the scales. Another really important thing to remember is... thirst can often be misinterpreted as hunger!! That is the last thing we want as we are trying to keep our hunger at bay.

The internet is a wash with articles about drinking water and the benefits of drinking water for your daily health, but also to help your weight loss journey. So have a read, and do some research, so you can have all the facts about the benefits and importance of drinking water regularly.

One really great tip and trick I learnt for gaging exactly how much water YOUR body size will need is this - Drink as much water as it takes for your ‘wee’ to run clear when you go to the toilet. If you have clear ‘wee’ then you are hydrated. I thought that was the best hydrating tip ever. My body was so clever that it even had a hydration mechanism. On the contrary if you go to the bathroom and your ‘wee’ is glowing in the toilet bowl or cloudy, then you definitely need to be chugging some water. 

My tip for you is to start hydrating now and continue to make hydration just as important as eating a healthy diet. 

Today, 

I wish you...

Lots of water for a healthier and more hydrated body, as you travel YOUR weight loss journey. 

Day 9 - Change - it is important for success...

Nothing ever stays the same...

Changing your mindset with positive thoughts about your journey ahead, will definitely change your life. I knew that in order for me to get to goal, I would have to make a lot of small incremental changes. I started looking at change as essential for success. Changing and adjusting your old thought patterns to accept new thought patterns is not always easy. In fact, it can be very challenging at times. But if you tackle re-defining yourself as a series of small changes. You will find that, in time, you have made some incredibly big changes to help your health and well-being. 

My tip would be... Make one small change each week that is going to get you to goal. It might be clearing out your pantry of all the foods that you find hard to resist or foods that will sabotage your journey. It might be changing the frequency with which you buy sugar loaded coffees and lattes throughout the week. It could be deciding to sit and eat at the table to eat mindfully each night. It might even be deciding to walk to work a few times a week rather than taking a short drive (if it is possible). The changes you make to get you to goal are endless and as you get further into your weight loss journey, you will find that making changes becomes easier and second nature. 

You will feel amazing for changing your thought process for the better. You will find that all the little changes will amount to a stronger mind, which you will feel you have more control over. 

Today,

I wish you... 

Strength to change your old thought processes about food and exercise to more positive thoughts about your journey ahead and your end goal.

Day - 8 Making Time...

“But I’m too busy, I don’t have time!”

I know that mantra all to well, I used it as my defense mechanism, prior to starting my weight loss journey. But when you really have to do something important, you will always find the time, even on your busiest of days. 

I had to have a good stern talk to myself about making time. At the start of my journey I thought I was a very busy person. I was very busy at work yes, and as a mum yes. But in actual fact, if I was really honest with myself. I was very busy keeping up with social media, watching TV, and ‘faffing’ around with unimportant chores that didn’t add any value to my life! 

We are often really busy doing ‘busy work’ that is not adding any value to our lives. 

I realised very early on in my weight loss journey that you have to make and create the time to do the things that are truly important for change. You have make the time to go to meetings, or debrief your week with a friend, or plan your week, shop for food, prepare your food and yourself for the coming week. You also have to make time to exercise. All these things seem insurmountable when you first start your journey. But change one thing each week and add a new tool to your armory each week and you will be well on your way to thinner, stronger and fitter you!! 

My tip today would be - sit down at the end of each week and schedule some time to fit in another thing that will help you get to goal. It might be, planning your food, portioning your food, exercising with a friend, going to your Weight Watchers meeting or any other great idea that will help your overall success. 

Just one change each week will add up to many little changes, that will become apart of your regular daily / weekly routine. 

Today,

My wish for you is...

You will find plenty of time in your daily life to make small changes that will amount to big changes for your health and well-being, as you get further into you weight loss journey.