FOOD FOR THOUGHT...

We can't always be positive in life and it is at times of negativity we can ruin what we have achieved. It becomes so easy to give up, to think we can't do it, whatever it is.

Sometimes it is the smallest of things, that at that one moment can seem so big. It's these moments we need to recognise and learn how to cope with. That is not always as easy as it sounds.

This week was my twelfth and last week of my Change For Life classes. I call them classes because in these twelve weeks you are given all the information that you need to eat a healthy diet, to see where you may be going wrong with the foods you eat, and to live a lot more active lifestyle.

I only lost half a pound this week and I really would have liked to have lost more. I really wanted to have lost 2 1/2 stone over these twelve weeks. That's 35 lbs and I have only lost 33! Now, I know there will be some of you out there reading this (especially my family, who are as ever such a great support) shouting out "You have lost 33 lbs!". "Losing 1/2 a pound is better than nothing!". "At least you didn't put weight on!". And you know, of course, they are right!

I think the point I am making is that it is so easy to see what we haven't done as opposed to what we HAVE done. We sometimes set ourselves goals and if we do not achieve them straightaway we feel we have failed, but really we should see we haven't. A great part of any change is in the mind. Learn how to deal with that and you can be more positive in whatever you wish to achieve. In these twelve weeks I have learnt a lot, and I now need to try and be a little more positive towards my weight loss. If I don't lose one week, or even put some on, it doesn't matter as long as I can recognise the triggers of negativity that could send my weight spiraling up again. 

I can still go back every week for support sessions to get weighed which is good, but nobody knows me better than me and I know that if I am going to keep the weight going down and staying off, it's going to be a very steep learning curve.

At the first session I went to after Christmas, I was very positive as many of us are in the New Year, and to make me feel even better I had lost 2 1/2 lbs. In fact, if I am being honest, I have lost weight every week, so really I haven't done that bad, but try telling me that! :)

The first class was about secret eating, which is something we all know about whether it's that little piece of cheese left on the worktop after making sandwiches, that bar of chocolate that doesn't matter because we ate it at midnight or the burger we had in the car, because what we eat in the car doesn't count. Car, bathroom, in the garden, or walking round the car park. You know what I mean.

Most of us have done it at some time and it can send our calorie intake up without us even realising it.

There are 100 calories in half a doughnut, half a small sausage roll, one small packet of crisps, a half pint of beer or lager. The list goes on, and if we eat or drink these on top of our normal daily food, then slowly and surely we will put on weight and wonder how it happened.

That doesn't mean to say that if we want to we can't eat or drink the things we love. We just have to be aware of what we are doing.

If the calories we take in when we eat and drink are greater than the calories we burn in just staying alive and exercising we will put on weight.

So if you want to have your 'treats' you need to be more active, but you need to be aware of those 'treats' you don't realise, for whatever reason, that you are having.

I was one of the worst for licking my fingers if I had butter on them when making sandwiches, licking the bowl when baking, tasting, tasting and tasting food when I was cooking... the list goes on. Hopefully now I am becoming more aware and trying not to do this, by squirting washing-up liquid onto bowls and hands very quickly before temptation strikes. The battle continues... :)

So this week's blog concludes and I hope that sharing this with you has helped me be a little more positive and helped some of you reading this realise you are not alone, and we can all have our moments of weakness.

There is a saying that "Strength doesn't come from what you can do, it comes from overcoming the things you once thought you couldn't". So here we go. Another week of trying...