"but...how did you do it?"

For how ever long I was trying to lose weight, I would always look at people who had lost weight and wonder how on earth they did it. Did they find a machine that they found easy to use, did they find a diet that really suited them, did they wake up one day and suddenly they'd just shedded the kgs. I would even ask them 'how did you do it' like they possessed the magical key to the universe of weight loss, a key that maybe I could possess and open a door to my own mystical weight loss universe.

(this is an image google found me when I searched 'key to universe')

But as far as I'm concerned, there isn't a mystical universe or a magical key. Whenever I did ask these people their response would generally be that they went to the gym, started eating balanced meals, started controlling their portions and so on.

So the truth of the matter is (and this is wholly my subjective opinion, whether you agree or not is up to you) losing weight and getting fit is fucking hard work. Don't believe anyone that ever says its easy. Don't believe anyone that looks nonchalant about their weight loss. Just don't! It takes time, it takes all the commitment, it takes energy, it takes sacrifice and at times it can suck. But you know what, once you start to feel healthier, once your body starts to function better, once you wake up with more energy and once you start to see the change in your body it's more than worth it.

So in my opinion, there is no magical diet, no amazing life changing gym class or incredible machine that will help you lose weight. You will have to be dedicated and it will be hard work but you'll be rewarded for all your effort in the end.

This epiphany occurred to me while I was jogging home today thinking 'fuck this is hard work'.

 

(didn't post it on Facebook...at least it's on my blog!)

Setting goals (screw you S.M.A.R.T)

After I started training, Paul introduced the idea of setting goals to me. I've never been much of a goal setter more of a go-with-the-flow-er but in abiding by my 'listen to everything Paul has to say' rules, I came up with ideas around what my goals would be.

I started to work on some ideas about what I would like to achieve along the lines of losing weight, being able to look pregnant when pregnant (so I can walk down the street and force strangers to rub my belly like a mad woman), having a sport I enjoy and feeling/looking good. So I revisited the idea of writing goals that a S.M.A.R.T (hooray 5 years of study has paid off!).

My first goal was around weight. This meant I'd aim for a specific weight (70kgs),weighing myself every Sunday morning and achieving this over a period of approximately a year. I would do so by training 4-5 times a week and eating well (I can't be bothered checking whether that meets the stringent S.M.A.R.T criteria...but you get the idea!)

Instead of going through all my goals according to S.M.A.R.T (mainly coz I'm concerned my goals aren't S.M.A.R.T at all but more importantly if I have to type S.M.A.R.T one more time, I might go mental!) I'll tell you how I wrote my goals.

Basically I came up with a goal and then wrote it as if it had happened and described how I felt at the point my goal had been achieved. They go a little something like this:

I weigh 70kgs and I have never felt so good. My body is functioning amazingly and I'm full of energy. I love exercising four times a week because it makes me feel fit and healthy. When I look in the mirror I hardly recognise my own body. People comment on how good I look which makes me feel great because they can see how hard I've worked. I feel like I can achieve anything I put my mind to.

and

I box 3 times a week and I have enough skill and confidence to be able to fight. I am so happy I have found a sport that I enjoy and want to pursue. I love that I can participate in a sport that I am good at while also being able to continue to improve. I have made great friends through boxing and look forward to going to classes.

and

I fit into size 12 jeans and I'm so excited I might explode. When I look in the mirror I can't believe it's me I'm looking back at. I'm so proud of myself for all the hard work I have done.

These are just a vague idea of what my goals were. I wrote them out, stuck them next to my bed and read them every night before I go to sleep and every morning before I get out of bed.

In retrospect, maybe there isn't a lot of S.M.A.R.T elements to this goal setting method but it certainly helped me...i think it might have something to do with being able to visualise the end result OR maybe it's boiling it back to accountability and solidifying a goal on a piece of paper where you mixed in some emotion makes you feel like you have to work towards it.

Whatever it is I recon it's worth a try!

In other news, I'm addicted to drawing inspiration from Rocky (even tho I've only seen the first film where you don't get to see much boxing). Here is a cheesy quote to get the motivation flowing...

Tune in next time for some photo evidence that justifies why I love eating well and exercising.

Sal's hot tips!

I've been thinking a lot (this seems to consume a massive amount of energy for me, must think less, my iron is low!) about what it is that motivated me to lose weight and continue to exercise and eat well over the past chunk of time.

 

It certainly isn't like you just wake up one day and have boundless amounts of energy and the motivation to eat well all day everyday. I still have to talk myself into exercise but not like I used to. The initial stages of getting into exercise are the hardest. I remember Paul coming over to exercise with me one time and I knew we would be walking up Awaba in Mosman. On the way up I had to stop at every street to catch my breath and felt overwhelmed with anxiety about going up the next steep incline. We eventually got to the top and Paul started to walk down again. He just smiled and said 'we're going to do it again' and all I could do was burst into tears. (The image below doesn't do Awaba Street justice. You really don't know what it’s like til you've walked up it! It's like being tortured by choice and once you commit there's no going back!)

 

I've tried to think of big words that would describe what helped me along the weight loss/get fit path but I can't think of enough to describe what was useful so instead I'll just describe what I found useful...and maybe the big words will flow from there (I got a university degree how?!).

Keep a food diary. I found this incredibly useful for a number of reasons. I was embarrassed when it was full of terribly bad food and I knew I'd have to show Cind. It helped me correct things that I was doing slightly wrong or very wrong. It helped identify bad habits (not eating breakfast then eating a mars bar and the like). Try the app mynetdiary (this is what I use and find it REALLY helps).

Weigh yourself once a week. This also worked for me on loads of levels. I would weigh myself (still do) every Sunday morning which would mean I wouldn't go on a wild food bender on Satty night as some kind of reward for it being the weekend. I would ensure I ate well so I'd get good result on the scales. It was easy to measure if I was weighing myself once a week. It was measurable!

Have someone who you feel accountable to. This worked very well for me. I knew I had to turn up to training coz Paul and Cind were giving up their time to help me. I could tell them my secrets, my failures, my successes-everything. I would message Paul my weight every Sunday and I would show Cind my food diary once a week.

Tell people (or EVERYONE) you're trying to lose weight. Sometimes people find this one hard. I found this one easy. I knew what I could and couldn't do (somewhat straight forward: don't eat large bigmac meal, do exercise). People are incredibly supportive and helpful and will understand why you are being irritably fussy when you're going out for dinner (or not going out for dinner at all). Mum and Pete were helpful with this part (Pete is still worried I'm starving myself of all that is delicious) and would ensure there was plenty of salad on the table and friends would be happy to go to restaurants that met my needs. This also means that you are accountable to a lot (why isn't 'alot' a word? I think it should be!) of people so when you've announced to the universe that you are on a diet you might re-think eating that tub of ice cream).

Get inspired by other people’s success. I had seen friend lose large amounts of weight and was so inspired by their efforts I wanted to do the same. I’d ask them for their hot tips and they'd happily give out advice! Humans are so cool - I've seen people achieve things beyond belief!

Get excited about results! Every time I lost weight, I'd message Paul in excitement and I always got a message back that went something like 'oooohhhhh shhhiiittt. Proud of you Sal'. These kinds of messages did wonders for motivation (especially mid week when I may be tempted by a whole chocolate cake). Tell everyone what you've achieved, that’s what I did!

Write goals. Paul gave me a book to read for bodybuilders called 'Build muscle, lose fat' and although I didn't want to achieve a body (such as that pictured below) it did have a really good method on goal setting.

 

 

The idea was rather than writing a goal like 'to weight 65kgs' you'd write a goal in a positive affirmation with emotions attached (which we'll explore more in a future blog) so this goal would morph into something like 'I weigh 65kgs and I'm the lightest I've weighed in my adult life. When I look in the mirror I hardly recognise myself. I feel fit, healthy and energised. I am so proud of what I have achieved.' or something of the like. I stuck these goals next to my bed and would read them to myself in the morning and at night.

Reward yourself when you achieve results. This is a key one that needs to NOT involve a food reward. When I first started training I was a poor student so would reward myself with a new dress. It also worked as a double reward coz I'd be buying clothes that were smaller sizes.

Be aware of how you feel. I noticed that generally I felt lighter and healthier. My skin became clearer and I had more energy. I often remind myself to be more conscious about how my body feels after exercise, how my body felt after I ate and the positive always outweighed the negative and this was another good motivator! I also decided that I NEVER wanted to be as sick as I was when I had glandular fever so this was another reason to take care of myself. Here are some photos I keep as a reminder of how sick I was (I had an allergic reaction to pencillin which caused my legs to go this way) and how sick I never want to be again.

 

So that sums up my hot tips. Unfortunately those big words I was initially searching for didn't come to me but I hope this breaks things down well enough.