With obesity becoming a growing epidemic in many western countries,
it's no wonder that every other month it seems like there is a new diet
or fitness fad that promises results. In reality, the only one actually
seeing any results are the companies that are continually cashing in on
this growing weight loss industry. Having been overweight myself for
many years, I have tried them all in a desperate bid to shed the kilos
and be healthy. The money I've wasted on diet plans and weight loss
regimes over the years probably would've made a nice deposit for a dream
home. Some of these include: Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers, South Beach,
Aitkins, Celebrity Slim, Fatblaster, and of course the 'Low Fat' diet.
Now
I'm not saying you can't lose weight on these regimes, and if you look
at the fine print they all generally say something along the lines of
"take in conjunction with a balanced diet". But there are some major
problems with these 'diets':
1) They are not sustainable long term
2) If you stop you will put the weight back on
3) They can be expensive
4) They don't really teach us anything about healthy eating.
Do
we actually know what a balanced diet is anymore? What does it consist
of? Many would be tempted to go by the food pyramid, but how accurate is
this now with new studies coming out contradicting what we've been
taught all these years. We can go by the blanket comment and say
'everything in moderation' - which in some ways might be true. But at
the end of the day we all know the reality of losing weight comes down
to calories. (I'm sure that is not a surprise to any of you!).
So
I'm hoping to share with you my journey (and maybe the success of others
along the way) of how I am losing weight, becoming healthier, and
saving money. It might not be a new way of losing weight, and it might
be something you already knew about, and that is okay. However, if I am
able to inspire just one person to follow their own journey, then I will
have succeeded in my quest. I say 'losing weight' as I am not where I
need to be as yet - I am only about halfway on my journey. At my highest
I was 84kg. I am now currently sitting around the 73kg mark. I still
have around another 8-10kg I'd like to lose. My ideal weight (for my
height) is between 60-65kg. Anything under 66kg will put me into the
'Normal' category (so yes, I'm currently in the 'Overweight' range).
The
great thing about what I've been doing is that initially I started off
still eating all the foods I loved - chocolate, ice cream, takeaways etc
- and I didn't do any extra exercise. I should note here, that I am a
dancer/performer so I was already doing some form of exercise, but this
doesn't mean I was healthy. I'm proof that exercise alone doesn't make
you skinny! The problem wasn't really what I was eating, but when &
how much I was eating. I love food and the idea of giving something like
chocolate up was not appealing. Sure, I did Jenny Craig a number of
years ago, and happily spent $200+ a week just on my food (+ buying the
extra food that they don't supply, as well as meals for my man to also
eat). I did lose around 8kgs then, but as soon as I stopped and went
back to 'normal' eating I put the weight back on.
This sort of
thing has been going on in my life since I left school. I was quite
active at school, but as soon as I started working I put weight on. I
also have suffered from depression for a long time, which didn't help.
At one stage I was in the horrible cycle of "feeling depressed - comfort
eating - gaining weight" - round and round I went (as did my figure!).
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