I attended a conference held by the British Nutrition Conference recently in London and one statistic has stuck with me. 80% of clients who attend an NHS funded weight management programme will successfully lose weight and then regain it back again. Why? How can we lose weight and sustain it? How do we find ways to motivate us again?
In the last few weeks since achieving my first ever marathon in Budapest I’ve come back to work and normal routine, already booked a few race events that I’m super excited about. The first one being Victoria Park Half Marathon in a few weeks.
I plan on doing a blog post on my key 2019 race events. Edinburgh Marathon is already on the list.
Since coming back I’ve focused on following one of the new Fiit training plans that consist of 4 classes a week (mixture of cardio, strengthening and rebalance). I mainly get cardio in my training plan and wow does it work you out hard! Whether it is 25 or 40 minutes you will be sweating.
Unfortunately my dietary habits haven’t been so forthcoming recently. Prior to my marathon I was happy with weight around 10 stone as my journey to weight loss was slow and up and down over the past 3 years where in total I lost 16lbs (8kg).
Currently I’m probably 4kg (~8lbs) heavier, to some may seem like a lot, to others not. To me, I’m not liking the number on the scales, I scrutinise how I look in the mirror, social media doesn’t help but then I think to myself, why am I bringing myself down don’t focus on the number, think about what my body has achieved that 3 years ago was unthinkable. That is my motivational drive.
I’m continuing to exercise regularly plus Saturday morning parkruns and still enjoying running to keep me focused. Just because I’ve gained some weight doesn’t mean I can’t regain control. Balance and moderation are boring words to use but they are key and different for everyone. So my next question is what can I do to make my eating habits balanced again?
From completing a 3 day food diary (which I regularly asked for by clients), I identified:
- Office snacks working there way into mid morning and mid afternoon pick me ups
- Evening glass of wine more regularly (still making sure having 2 alcohol free days a week)
- Eating out plus more wine with dinner
- Puddings after dinner at home
I can hold my hands up and admit these are growing bad habits to reduce as much as possible. Not to say I can’t enjoy the odd biscuit, white wine and soda, chocolate ice cream and eat out with my friends. The key is to be mindful and aware of how often these types of foods are creeping into our everyday routine
So how:
- Office work snacks – I need to be prepared like I used to. Choose a handful of mixed nuts and raisins, keep fruit on me, I love frozen berries that I put in a Tupperware in the morning and it’s all defrosted in a couple hours. One day a week I can enjoy a sweet treat.
- Keep alcohol to the weekends only
- Choosing small white wine with soda water instead of usual large wine when eating out. If it’s during the week remember you don’t need alcohol to have fun.
- If I don’t buy the ice cream then I won’t want it. Keep plain alpro yoghurt so I can make frozen yoghurt when I want. Other alternatives is tinned peaches in juice or individual alpro yoghurt pots.
These are my 4 goals to put into action. If for you working on one at a time is enough then that’s okay. Whatever works for you. Just remember you can work to change your dietary habits at any time. But if we always say ‘oh it’s Christmas soon so I can’t, I’ll just wait till January.’ Think again, we still have 8 weeks till Christmas.
Just remember, no one ever achieves ‘balance’ all the time, in real life situations it’s ok for your life to be a bit mad from time to time.
If you want to do a food diary and discuss it please leave me a comment or send me a message.
Eat For You Dietitian 
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