Oh, How I Love Food (Apparently Healthy Food, Too! Who Knew?)
The year that was 2020. I’m sure more than a few people can agree that it really wasn’t our finest fitness year. Sure there are plenty of people who embraced the chance to workout at home and really watch what they ate, unfortunately I was not one of those people.
Initially I managed ok, I was still enjoying salads at lunch and having a balanced dinner. The trouble started with snacking. If I felt tired or stressed I’d use food as an excuse to leave my desk and go get something to eat to distract myself from the feeling. Working from home meant that it was easy to keep getting snack after snack. i was ignoring my body which was telling me I wasn’t hungry at all.
If you eat more calories than you are burning you will gain weight. Even if you’re eating the most healthy foods possible, too many calories is still too many calories.
Seeing photos of myself and realising how much weight I’d started gaining really took a toll on my mental health. I’d eat when I was sad about it and being so heavy made exercising feel impossible. Not exercising meant I wasn’t getting any of the feel-good hormones that come along with exercise. It’s a vicious cycle that is really hard to break.
The one thing that has helped me break into the cycle has been music and videos. After doing really well in 2018 working towards my weightloss goals I had a big slump after time away. It was actually some motivational speech videos that found their way into my feed that helped me see what I’d let happen and it woke me up to myself. I have some playlists that I turn too when I notice myself falling into these old habits and they really help pull me out.
Another thing that helps me when I’m struggling is planning my meals ahead of time and also preparing them as much as possible. I’m far more likely to eat the right amount of the right things when I’ve done the counting and measuring in advance.
For the longest time I tried to get along without doing the hard work. I’d guess about portion sizes and estimate calories. I wanted to be someone who could skip over the hard part and just instinctively eat well without over doing it. This isn’t something that comes easily to me and that means putting in the hard work of weighing food, counting calories, checking menus before I go out to eat - all of those things. At first it’s painful, I don’t like being difficult when I order food and I don’t like having to focus so hard on food, but until now I haven’t managed to reach my goals. Unless I try something proven to work and I put in the effort to make it work, nothing will change and I wont get to where I want to go.
So people can push their quick fixes, fad diets, and weight loss surgeries, those things are just not for me. I want to evolve into the person I’ve always been meant to be. I’m putting in the time and learning how to be my best self. For me this means healthy fresh foods, planning and preparing meals. Following a calorie deficit and moving my body as much as possible throughout the day.
