I hate calling it 'going on a diet' because as soon as I say "I'm going on a diet" I crave food. I also think going on a diet is the wrong way to approach my health. Starting a lifestyle change is probably a better way of looking at it.
Coward that I am, I actually started a month ago, but I wanted to be sure that I could maintain the change before I announced it as I think the first month is one of the periods where it is easy to slip back.
I'm using MyFitnessPal, logging my food and exercise.
I did this a few years back and did (I think) fantastically well. In fact I berated myself as I couldn't believe how easy it was to lose weight, get fitter and still eat good food. I wished, at the time, that I'd done it earlier.
My silly mistake was to not have a plan for when I'd reached a weight I was happy with, so I got to a point where I felt "YES I'VE DONE IT" and just sort of stopped logging and checking. I know now I should have either gone on a maintenance diet or at least checked myself on occasion but hindsight is a wonderful thing.
I think that the great feeling of having 'done it' rather led me to take my eye off the ball and month by month, half pound by half pound I gradually regained some of that weight I'd lost.
And then, as some of you know, I had a health upset, I had an episode of acute pancreatitis caused by gallstones and lost a large amount of weight in a matter of months due to a highly restricted diet.
Once I had my gallbladder removed I was able to eat 'normally' and I'm afraid my weight ballooned back on very quickly until a month ago I decided enough was enough and restarted MyFitnessPal.
The thing I like about MFP is that it is not 'faddy', nothing except excess is banned, I can eat what I like, when I like and how I like, I just have to try to ensure that the food/exercise ratio means that I end up under my calorie limit for the day.
This is what I got down to the first time I tried it (pic below) and this is what I am at least aiming for now. Except this time I'll have learnt my lesson and will maintain the weight loss indefinitely.
I'm currently 5 pounds down, so early days yet. If anyone wants to join me as a diet buddy or simply wants to share something then go ahead.
Coward that I am, I actually started a month ago, but I wanted to be sure that I could maintain the change before I announced it as I think the first month is one of the periods where it is easy to slip back.
I'm using MyFitnessPal, logging my food and exercise.
I did this a few years back and did (I think) fantastically well. In fact I berated myself as I couldn't believe how easy it was to lose weight, get fitter and still eat good food. I wished, at the time, that I'd done it earlier.
My silly mistake was to not have a plan for when I'd reached a weight I was happy with, so I got to a point where I felt "YES I'VE DONE IT" and just sort of stopped logging and checking. I know now I should have either gone on a maintenance diet or at least checked myself on occasion but hindsight is a wonderful thing.
I think that the great feeling of having 'done it' rather led me to take my eye off the ball and month by month, half pound by half pound I gradually regained some of that weight I'd lost.
And then, as some of you know, I had a health upset, I had an episode of acute pancreatitis caused by gallstones and lost a large amount of weight in a matter of months due to a highly restricted diet.
Once I had my gallbladder removed I was able to eat 'normally' and I'm afraid my weight ballooned back on very quickly until a month ago I decided enough was enough and restarted MyFitnessPal.
The thing I like about MFP is that it is not 'faddy', nothing except excess is banned, I can eat what I like, when I like and how I like, I just have to try to ensure that the food/exercise ratio means that I end up under my calorie limit for the day.
This is what I got down to the first time I tried it (pic below) and this is what I am at least aiming for now. Except this time I'll have learnt my lesson and will maintain the weight loss indefinitely.
I'm currently 5 pounds down, so early days yet. If anyone wants to join me as a diet buddy or simply wants to share something then go ahead.