For ten years I didn’t rein my weight in. I kept a good eye on it and despite not liking what I saw I never did anything about it. This resulted in my putting on 10 excess stones.
In the last ten weeks of dieting I attribute my success down to keeping a very tight rein on my progress. A part of this is weighing in every day. While I appreciate that it is not for everyone, it helps to keep me on track. It is not about seeing a 5lb loss each morning, not even a 0.5lb loss each morning. It is about checking my weight and if I have lost then all well and good, a great confidence booster, but if I have gained then it helps me to know I need to rein myself in and keep an eye on what I am doing. There has been research to suggest that this is the most beneficial way of dieting.
Most successful dieters regain the weight they lost. But new research shows that stepping on a scale every day, then cutting calories and boosting exercise if the numbers run too high, can significantly help dieters maintain weight loss…
If you want to keep lost pounds off, daily weighing is critical,” Wing said. “But stepping on the scale isn’t enough. You have to use that information to change your behavior, whether that means eating less or walking more. Paying attention to weight – and taking quick action if it creeps up – seems to be the secret to success.
You can read that article in full by clicking here. Now, I really do understand this is not for everyone, particularly those who show signs of obsessive compulsive behaviour, but this is definitely how I need to control myself. And it seems that a number of you agree, in a current poll on my website side bar, 44% of you admitted to weighing in daily, with only 10% weighing in on the recommended once per week.
I think for anyone who is serious about weightloss then keeping a tight rein is paramount. That is not to say that I think you should all be weighing in each day, I would never be so presumptuous and condescending, but you should be doing what it is that *your* body needs you to do in order to keep a close eye on your progess. For some it might be exercising every day, for others it might be eating well or measuring themselves. For me it is all of the above.
I have lived with this body for 32 years now and I know a little about how it works. I know that I have to have a regimented structure of exercise that I MUST stick to or my appitite sours. I know that I need to weigh daily to keep a close eye on what is going on. I know that I rely on regular check ups with the gym instructor and weighloss nurse to keep my motivation. I know I need to take the tablets to stop me from binging and help me to lose weight at a rate that keeps me motivated, which is why I was so stupid in coming off them so soon.
Xenical has been a God-send to me, as I have said on here many times before. If you can lose weight without medical intervention then this is great but thats not always possible or realistic. The anti-obesity pill feeling around the weightloss community baffles me, it really does. Why would someone not use a pill if nothing else is working? You’d take a pill if another part of your body or functions were not 100%, so why weightloss is any different I do not know. Better to have a pill help me to regain my health than stay morbidly obese and die before I am forty, as seen with Mark Bamber.
It has been put to me the question of if I cannot manage my diet on my own now then how will I manage to stay at goal in 100lbs time? This is a mute question, it’s not even relevant to my using the pill. Firstly, this tablet does not surpress my appitite so the restriction of calories that is going on now is something I have achieved 100% on my own. In fact over the last week of not taking Xenical – that’s how long I have been off it now – restriction of calories has not been an issue, I managed that just as I did while on the tablets. That is how I got fooled into thinking I do not need them. What Xenical does do is help to retrain my eating habits, in exactly the same way that WeightWatchers or Jenny Craig does. It gives you limits and helps you to learn to stick to them. What happens to people who use a diet programme once they have reached goal? Do they have to stay on weightwatchers for the rest of their lives? No! By the time they reach goal they have learned how to manage what they put in their mouths. Xenical is no different. It has taught me that binging is not a way to treat my body. Three months ago binging was a daily occurance in my life. It’s how I ate. Ask anyone that knows me, either irl or online, and they will tell you that already my attitude toward food has done a complete 180 in the last ten weeks. This is down to the Xenical. I haven’t had counselling, or a deep insight. It is all my hard work. So by the time it becomes time to come off the Xenical, in another 60lbs time – long before I reach my goal, I am fully expecting my eating habits to be under control.
I binged last night. I don’t know why I did it. I wasn’t hungry but I was emotional. I have other stuff going on in my life (believe it or not!) plus I was reacting to comments and being made to feel weak for wanting to go back on the tablets and so I ended up self-fulfiling this prophecy. This just adds weight to my arguement that I am not ready to come off the tablets. As it happens, despite this binge, I lost a pound since yesterday and am back down to 17.1 stones. If I’d had not gotten back on the scales for days then I would have remained miserable about my gain and no doubt ended in further binges. As it is it has really inspired me to dust myself down and get on with this job they call weightloss.
The tablets are helping me. The weighing daily is helping me. The exercise three times per week is helping me. Staying away from junk is helping me. I am doing all the things that are helping me and this is what I am going to continue to do.
Groovy Babe 