Day #160 - Evolution

When I started this process 160 days ago I knew it would be hard to change.  I knew there would be challenges, ups and downs, and the occasional setback.  What I didn't expect, however, was a complete change in the way I approach losing weight. 

This is an expansion of my last post in which I declared that I'm done focusing on losing weight and instead I am shifting my focus to living a happy, healthy life.  Though the difference can appear subtle, but it's fairly significant from my mental perspective.

Here's a comparison of my old and new way of approaching the problem:

Old Plan - Focus on losing weight

• Carb cycle 6 days a week - Eat 6 times a day with no carbs on "low" days and some carbs on "high" days
• Unrestricted day on Sunday
• Drink a gallon of water every day
• Weigh-in every week and record on spreadsheet
• Blog every day for accountability

New Plan - Focus on being healthy

• Try to avoid processed foods and refined sugar
• Try to eat a wide variety of foods that I enjoy
• Eat only when I'm hungry; stop before I'm full
• Practice awareness eating and slow down
• Drink water when I'm thirsty
• Weigh-in once a month
• Blog when I have something to say

Under the old plan I ate as part of a "regimen" whether I was hungry or not.  On my unrestricted day I inevitably would eat way too much, trying to get it all in before another 6 days of restriction.  As I got to the end of the day if I didn't have all my water in then I started drinking it faster to get it all in.  The only measure of my success or failure...the scale.  When I didn't feel like blogging, I did it anyway because I said I would.

It just wasn't working, I wasn't happy, I had to try something completely different.

I've been following this new plan for the last 10 days and I feel great.  I feel like a weight has been lifted off me.  I might not lose weight as fast this way, but I'll be happier through the process. 

More to come

Stay Strong!

 

[Photo: Flickr / Bryan Wright]

Day #150 - I'm Done Trying to Lose Weight

Today marks the end of 5 months of focus on improving my health with 7 more to go!  So far I've managed to quit smoking and drastically reduce my alcohol consumption.  Today I add something new, I'm going to quit trying to lose weight!

Yes you are reading correctly, I said that I am giving up on trying to lose weight.  Now don't get me wrong, I'm overweight and I recognize that I need to lose close to 150 pounds.  I haven't stopped caring about my health and I have no intention of staying at my current weight, I've simply decided to shift my focus.

My entire adult life has been spent focused on trying to drop pounds on a scale.  I've tried weight loss plan after weight loss plan.  Some have been successful (for a short while) and some have been total disasters.  Ultimately the one thing they all had in common was that eventually, whatever weight was lost came back and in some cases a few pounds more.

The best way to solve a problem is to focus on, and eliminate the root cause.  For years my focus has been on losing weight, but in reality, my weight isn't my problem.  My weight is the result of the problem, not the problem itself.  I've spent so much time trying to fix the effect instead of focusing on the true problem.

So what is the true problem?  The true problem is that I do not treat my body with respect.  Because I do not treat my body with respect I am overweight, I have sleep apnea, I have knee pain, etc. 

So why don't I treat my body with respect?  Well, that's what I need to focus on.  For one, I don't think my life is fulfilling.  I also don't deal with stress real well.  There are probably a great number of things that I need to work on and hopefully in the months to come I will identify them and work on getting better.

So what do I mean when I say I'm not going to try to lose weight and instead focus on treating my body with respect?  It means that I will no longer spend time developing restrictive eating plans to follow or exercise regimes.  It means that I will no longer obsess about what the scale reads and I will not zone in on just one measure of my health.

I'm trying something new; my belief is that if I can focus on treating my body with respect and fix the things that cause me to abuse my body, then the weight (and all my other health problems) will begin to take care of themselves.  I know this might seem a little hokey to some, but is it any crazier than trying over and over again to lose weight only to end up with the same result.  

In the days ahead I will post more details about where I'm going.  Your welcome to come along for the ride... who knows where it's going to end up.

Stay Strong!

Day #149 - Impressive Trip Home

I'm happy to be back in Virginia!  The business trip was terrible and all I wanted to do was get home.  I mentioned in a previous post that I bought an audio book for the trip, it was called "What are you hungry for?" by Deepak Chopra.  I wish I could say that I highly recommend the book, but I can't.  It was OK in the sense that it really got me thinking through the trip, but I struggled with the fact that the author chose to do the audio (with his fairly strong Indian accent) and the book felt like it jumped around.  There were 2 sections that I really enjoyed and 3 sections that I just didn't care for at all.  The first part of the book put a lot of focus on understanding that a lot of times we don't eat because we are hungry, but rather, because we are missing something in our lives.  I enjoyed that section.  There was also another section dedicated to stress and stress eating coupled with awareness eating (and living). The rest of the book jumped around a little and it spent way too much time focused on the different "tastes" as well as the healing power of certain spices.  Unabridged didn't help either as the author often would call out all the foods from a list, something that would have been glazed over if you were reading instead of listening.

As I said it was successful to the extent that it got me thinking about myself and I'll be posting about some changes I'm going to make in the coming days.  I've already began to work on these changes which included my eating on the trip home.  I was able to stop for a coffee at 10AM and NOT get a bagel or donut.  Under normal circumstances I would, especially since it was on the company dime, but I wasn't hungry.  Lunch turned out to be a great Cobb salad and fruit bowl.  No junk food, no sugary drinks, and no dessert.  Dinner was equally well handled and I'm eager to get rolling again and get back to my healthy living.

Tomorrow marks the 5 month point of my journey.

Stay Strong!

 

Day #148 - Mobile Post

This is the first time that I've posted from my mobile phone. I'm going to keep it short, because this is kind of difficult to do. I am on the road and away from my family, not a whole lot of fun. I have done well eating and trying to drink water oh, but I could also be doing better. I hope everyone else is doing well

Stay strong!