Off the Wagon

Yes, I succumbed to the siren song of Anzac biscuits. But it was Anzac day and it would be unpatriotic to refuse the call. So sweet, so crunchy, mmmmm.
Now jumping back into sugar free with gusto.

Lightbulb Moment

Since I loathe reading labels so much why don't I just stop doing it? If I don't eat things with labels then I won't have to read them. It will mean giving up some stuff altogether and making more stuff myself but that's got to be a good thing. Less sugar, less additives, can't hurt. Gotta be worth a try.

Sugar is Everywhere

I'd almost forgotten how insidious sugar is. That white menace is in just about everything. If I am to have any success eliminating it from my diet I will have to be forever vigilant. I have to admit this is the part I find the most tedious. Once I know where the sugar is hidden I know what to avoid or substitute but until then shopping and cooking is a time consuming drag. Reading every label on every product in a trolley full of groceries seems to take hours. Must persevere and the knowledge will come and with it a lot less time spent reading labels.

Health Goals

The initial point in losing weight for me was to improve my health. Specifically to avoid the family legacy of type 2 diabetes and delay the progression of my (well established) arthritis. Since commencing this blog my efforts have fluctuated with my motivation. So though I might have thought I was being consistent with eating and exercising I obviously haven't. Pain limits my ability to exercise and leads me to break the habit entirely. Weight stagnation, or God forbid, gain, leads me to over or under eat. What I have lacked is consistency.
Having pretty much stayed the same weight for the last 2 months I decided to log my food to see if I could spot where the problem might be. On a whim I typed my diet diary into Calorie King and discovered I eat between 1100 and 1600 calories a day, averaging about 1500. According to all calculations I should be steadily losing weight. But I'm not. I believe this is because not all calories are created equal. However the fact of not actually gaining weight is good and I would not be devastated to accept this is my permanent weight.
However I would be unhappy if I was to remain at this level of fitness, strength and flexibility. I do not want to continue living in pain. And I am terrified of developing diabetes. So what to do?
Firstly-improve my diet. Logging all my food for a couple of weeks has shown me that sugar has crept back into my diet. When I went sugar free I definitely didn't have the level of pain I have at the moment and we all know sugar's relationship with diabetes. So that's my priority. Eliminate sugar.
Since consistency is key I will make a point of daily blogging so that habit, not motivation becomes my driving force.
I will end this year healthier than I started it, even if my weight stays the same.

Holding Steady

After a small initial weight loss the numbers on the scales have pretty much stalled. I must admit to being a bit dissappointed. I'm about 5kg heavier than my usual plateau weight. However, I am plodding along with the regular exercise (bike riding at the moment, running to resume once my leg improves) and maintaining a low sugar/low alcohol diet. So even if the scales are stagnant I know I'm doing myself some good and that's what the weight loss thing is supposed to be about. I'd like to think I will lose the excess weight I'm carrying around but I'm feeling a bit zen about it all at the moment. I can only do what I can do and my body will either respond or it won't. So long as I'm not gaining any more than the half kilo I'm bouncing on at the moment I'm okay with it for now.

Weighing Every Day

So as per my grumpy pants rant I have been weighing myself every day this year. Every morning I hop on the scales first thing and then record whatever number I see.
I know that weight fluctuates daily with differing fluid levels etc and I thought that by seeing that I would somehow manage to break the obsessive hold the scale numbers have over me. Turns out I was right. Instead of weighing myself once a week or month and seeing little or no change I can see that there is change every day. Some days I can drop almost a kilo overnight, others I gain just as much, a few times I've had runs of three or four days with no change but overall the trend is downwards. Slowly but surely downwards.
Seeing the numbers vary is really helping me understand how my body responds to different foods and I'm starting to see a pattern emerge. Lose a little, stabilize, gain a little, lose a lot, stabilize and repeat. It will be interesting to see if this continues.

Breakfast Smoothie

Ingredients-
Half a mango
100g yoghurt
passionfruit
a bit of milk (depending on how thick you like your drinks)

Method
Throw together and blend until smooth

It's like a tropical holiday in a glass. Could there be a better way to start the day?