New Years Resolutions

I thought it was an appropriate time to discuss New Years resolutions. Everyone is guilty of making them at least one year in their life, how many of us actually keep them? I think the most common reason for this is unrealistic goals.

Most resolutions revolve around health & fitness;

- to lose weight

- to join the gym

- to give up bad foods

Many of us set unrealistic goals, I think the key is to set goals you can achieve.

For example - instead of saying to go to the gym 4 times a week, why not say once a week at least, then if you do more its an added bonus.

If your planning on eating healthier and cutting out bad food completely, why not make the goal to eat healthier and reduce your bad food intake rather than completely cutting it out. Fat & sugar are vital for a balanced diet so it is best not to cut them out completely for the balanced part and also so you do not deprive yourself.

The main point is - do not make unachievable goals, or your setting your self up to fail.



Starting fresh

At some point some people need to take breaks from following an eating plan, due to personal circumstances or because they feel they need a break as they have got stuck in a rut.

 The hardest part about this is actually starting again. The longest time I have taken off an eating plan is two weeks for holidays; however I recently left my Slimming World group to start the plan from home, on my own. In some ways this is similar to starting fresh as I had to find the motivation to keep going and also to keep off my own scales mid week!

 It was hard at first, knowing I was no longer paying for a group and had no consultant or group to share my weight change with it was easy to think I will have a day off plan today and it will not hurt I will get back on it tomorrow.

 I left 2 weeks before Christmas so it was never an easy time to leave however, I lost 2lb in the first week, 2lb in the second and the day before Christmas Eve I lost 2.5lb! This proves to me I am doing the right thing as I have still managed to do it.

 I took time off over Christmas, we are all human and all deserve a break sometime and tomorrow is my post Christmas weigh in, I am expecting a gain of 2lb, but that is ok as I know why and I enjoyed it.

 Lists

When I start fresh my first thing is to write a list of why I want to do it, there is no use in starting a weight loss plan if you do not know why you want to do it. There are always a variety of reasons; you want to be slim, you want to be healthier, you want to be able to run around with your children, you have a big event coming up. Everyone has their own personal reasons so make a list and stick it in your down fall place, the biscuit cupboard or the fridge and you can even accompany it with a ‘before’ photo to keep you motivated.

 Food plan

Every week I make a food plan, it keeps you on track and makes your shopping cheaper as you are not aimlessly buying food; you are buying exactly what you need.  Not everyone needs to plan but for me it is a key to success, you know exactly what you’re having and you know there is something for tea. If I do not plan my weekly evening meals, it gets to 5pm; I turn to my partner and say what do you want for tea? He does not know, I do not know, we have very little in the house and the take away number is being dialled! Plan to succeed!

 Remove temptation

Christmas is over; no doubt you are inundated with bad food – chocolate, cake, biscuits, and cheese. Remove it! Give boxes of chocolate to charity, give all your food away to friends/family or divide it up into syns, cut cake into 5 syn portions, work out the syns for the biscuits, cheese and chocolate and make a note, you can still have them but be in control and know what is in them. I started back on plan yesterday so Tuesday night I put all my chocolates I was keep into food bags with syn values written on, got rid of my biscuits and cheese and even threw out the take away menus so I knew they would not be tempting me.

Food diary

Some people hate food diaries, some people swear by them, I am with the latter. I cannot recommend keeping a food diary enough! If you write it all down, you know what you have had; you are in control and if you do not get what you want on the scales you can look back at your food diary and see where you went wrong. Every time I keep a food diary I have a bigger loss, without one I have been known to go over syns and have more healthy extras as I can’t remember having them.

They are my biggest tips for succeed and starting fresh – they will not suit everyone but these help me to succeed and will help me get to target!

Smart snacking

This post is all about how to overcome those terrible snack attacks!

We all have those, mainly brought on by boredom, whilst we are bored at work, or the kids are in bed or we are snuggled up watching television and just fancy a little something to nibble on.

There are two ways to deal with this;
1. Do something to distract your self
or 2. Snack.

1. If you  are sat at home bored, feeling hungry yet lunch was only half an hour ago then its likely you are bored. Do something! Read a book, go for a walk, even tidy up (extra body magic). But do not just stay sat there feeling bored because the snack cravings will just get worse.

My biggest issue is night time, sat watching a film with my other half and then around 8pm the hunger pangs hit and I want something to snack on. Sometimes I dive into the kitchen and snack, other times I just do something as I know it is boredom, I go out for a walk ( if it is not too late) or play on the wii, there are lots of option.

2. Just snack, not all snacks have to be bad, there are so many things you can snack on without going off plan. A favoured option is fruit or veg - grapes are good for snack or vegetable sticks but sometimes that will not do and you need proper junk food snacks. A way of doing this is save your syns (where possible) for the evenings. I tend to have 10 syns and a day and save at least 5 for an evening snack. There are so many options under 10 syns or even syn free options for snack.

Snack ideas;
- Muller lights
- Mug shots (a lot are syn free, some with minimal syns but worth it!)
- Cous cous (again minimal syns)
- Velvet crunch (4 syns)
- Ferrero rocher (3.5 syns)
- Curly Wurly (6 syns)
- Alpen light (3 syns)
- SW chips
- Snack size chocolates (most around the 5 syn mark)
- Fat free supernoodles ( syn free)
- Pasta & sauced (a lot syn free or minimal syns)
- Savoury rice
- Mini milk ice cream (1.5 syns)
- Multipack french fries, quavers or skips (4 syns)

2012 challenge

I have decided to challenge myself for 2012.

I love McDonald's and struggle to resist their new breakfast wraps and quarter pounder burgers and especially their festive pies at this time of year!!

Some of you will think I am absolutely crazy for this but I am giving up McDonald's for 2012!

McDonald's are so yummy, yes they are not for everyone but to me they are so yummy so this is a big challenge for me, I have at least one a week.

This is not only to try and aid my weight loss but also to set myself a challenge to see how much will power I really have and to make myself proud!

So this blog will not only be my 2012 weight loss journey with no excuses but also my No McDonald's 2012 challenge!

My last McDonald's will be this Friday 30th December 2011 and I will not have another McDonald's until 1st January 2013!

I hope I can count on all your support!

No more excuses

I joined Slimming World on November 16th 2009 weighing 16 stone.
Between 16th November 2009 and December 31st 2010 I had lost 2.5 stone taking me to 13 stone 7.
2011 was a bad year with family bereavements and other personal problems, I gained just 3.5 lbs.
I am now 13 stone 10.5lb and tomorrow I start fresh and to get to target this year, my first target is 10st, that's a total of 6 stone to lose and 3 stone 10.5lb from now.
Nothing is impossible.

This blog is to help me reach target this year. I know I can do it I just need to keep focused and some support from the online community.

I no longer go to Slimming World but I do follow the plan from home, I weigh in on Friday mornings.

I am a student radiographer which makes it easier to stay on plan as I am very busy at university or on my hospital placement on my feet - burning calories.

I decided to call this blog 'No more excuse' as I am sure I am not the only one who makes millions of excuses on a regular basis to no lose weight.

I thought I was share a few of my favourites!

- One bite will not hurt
Yes it will! One bite gives you the taste for it, makes you crave it more. One bite leads to you finishing it all, then craving it more so getting another and then it is all down hill.

- I will start tomorrow
Maybe you will, but why wait? Why not start now, why not start with your next meal? Today is as good as tomorrow!

- I will start on Monday, a new week!
So you spend the rest of the week eating crap before you start, by Monday you are all motivated, by Wednesday your back at McDonald's. As I said before, start now, start with your next meal!

- I do not have time to lose weight
If you are serious about losing weight, there is always time. Granted it takes a little longer but not hours. In your free time, make up a big batch of your healthy favourite food - soups, stews, Curry's etc and freeze so it always handy! If you need to buy from a shop why not choose a salad or a sandwich on wholemeal bread without mayonnaise instead of a calorie laden white breaded chicken mayonnaise sandwich - having a diet coke and salad with it does not undo the calories!

- I cannot lose weight
Every body is capable of losing weight! You need to just try a little harder, put more effort in. No one is going to lose weight for you, it is all about you.

- Healthy food is too expensive
In general, healthier food is more expensive than fast food, especially from a supermarket. But buying a McDonald's breakfast £3, a sandwich, crisps and drink from a shop at lunch £4 and a take away for tea £6, that's £13 a day on food which equates to £65 for one person for a weeks worth of food, excluding the snacks etc in between! You could easily do a healthy shop for around £15-£20 per week for one person, you just need to buyer cheaper items and look for bargains. People are scared of Supermarket branded food - but in most cases it is no different and will save you a fortune!

-I always gain the weight back
People who lose weight for specific occasion are more likely to gain back the weight. For example, for a wedding, a holiday, a birthday. They get to that target and think ah I did it, have the occasion then start bad again and before they know it they are back where they started! Why not just lose the weight for you? So you can have a longer, happier & healthier life? To me, that is the most important reason! Once you get to your ideal weight, focus on maintaining, you do not want to throw all that hard work away.

This year is no more excuses, no more 'I cannot', more 'I can!'