Limiting Beliefs

· Uncategorized · Leave a Comment

Ok, so the cliffhanger from my last blog maybe wasn’t all that exciting, but here it is. The answer to the question: how? How do you bring all that knowledge about living healthy in practice? I’ve read more books about healthy food, losing weight and living a long life then fit my rather spacy book case. And still, most of the time I can’t manage to follow up on all this good advice.

Your thoughts matter

Judith, the author of The Beck Diet Solution thinks it all starts with the way you think. If you’re not successful in your attempts, you need to change this. Although that sounds sensible, it’s not easy. But, with a bit of practice, it is doable, she says.

Limiting Beliefs

The most important thing to change, are your limiting beliefs. Tony Robbins also mentions them, saying you should figure out what they are and turning them around. Because we are masters in telling ourselves the craziest things. A personal favorite: “why can other people eat whatever they want, without getting fat?” Fat BS of course. Sure, there might be some exceptions, but most people that eat what I eat, gain weight too. Ouch. A bit painful to admit, but true. Better to face it then to keep feeling sorry for myself. Better to realize that my actions have consequences.

What to do

So, you want to lose weight? Then you need to change your eating habits. In the next few blogs, I’ll talk about some more of these limiting beliefs. At least my eyes have been opened: I wasn’t dealt a worse card then others, I’m just fooling myself. Or at least I was!

 

Tags

Share this post

The book that helped me to get control back over my weight loss

· Uncategorized · Leave a Comment

Since my holiday almost a year -and 7 kilos- ago, I have been struggling to pick back up on my healthy lifestyle. I wonder why it is so hard to get back on track after a short sinful period. In my case, I think it has something to do with motivation, combined with habit. Once you get that taste of sugar again… At the point where I lost more than 30 pounds, I felt like it was ok to cut myself some slack. Although in fact, I still needed to lose another 20 pounds to reach my goal weight.

The help I needed

It was clear I needed some help. So, I did what I do best: I read a book: The Beck Diet Solution: Train Your Brain to Think Like a Thin Person by Judith Beck. What sets this book apart from most of the weight loss books out there, and what made it very helpful to me, is that is focuses on what to think and do, instead of what to eat. Because I think by now, I have a pretty good idea of what is and isn’t healthy. It’s the actually doing it part that I haven’t got figured out quit yet. The book contains a six-week program, which gives you a new assignment every day. With each new assignment, you also repeat the former ones. The first few steps are sort of organizational. For example, and my personal favorite, to get a notebook. Also, to pick a healthy (!) diet. Now, I’m not a fan of dieting, but that’s ok, because I already know what works for me: just eating healthy and lay off (most of) the candy.

The purpose of the notebook is to write down your meal plan for the next day. You write down exactly what you are going to eat (and drink!) and you stick to that. How that sticking-to-it-part is done, will be revealed in the following steps… to be continued!

Did you know about this negative effect of dieting?

· Uncategorized · Leave a Comment

The diet bomb

I read somewhere: “Once you have followed a (calorie limiting) diet, you can never eat the same as before without gaining weight.” Never. Of course I heard of the yo-yo effect before, but something about this sentence hit me like a bomb. I knew that following a diet is unhealthy, because you gain weight faster afterwards. Unless you keep up with it your whole life. During the diet, your body enters a sort of ‘famine-state’. As soon as you start eating normal again, which you will, your body will put extra effort into storing fat. You know, because it wants to be prepared this time, when the next famine hits. And, there is bonus-effect: your metabolism slows down during the diet (because the fat-muscle ratio changes), so every bite puts some extra weight in (pun intended).

Permanent effect

So now for the shock. The thing I never realized before, is that this effect is Never. Going. Away. It’s like setting a new baseline. Say you could eat 2000 calories before you started your diet. Then you limit that to 1500 calories while losing weight. By doing that, you are making 1500 calories your new maximum. So now, for the rest of your life, you’ll be gaining weight above that number, instead of over 2000. So basically, you’re putting yourself on a lifelong chain by starting a diet.

What you can do

But, there is hop on the horizon. You can do something to eat more than those 1500 calories, without gaining weight. By adding some extra exercise, you can compensate whatever more you’re consuming. Just make sure you don’t get so hungry from working out, that you’ll start eating even more. Lucky me, I was always sort of lazy. So now at least I can make use of this hack and make every step I take weigh in.

My first steps to getting fit: running (part 4)

· Fit, Uncategorized · Leave a Comment

Getting fit will probably not be easy either. So far, the results are: a lot of panting, feeling jaded and being tired all the time. So yes, the conclusion for now is it will indeed not be easy.

My first run

As we had just cancelled out gym membership (which says enough about our physical activity lately), and I wanted to do something that would be cheap and flexible, I chose -like so many others- to start running. There was a time when I could run for 30 minutes on the treadmill, but let’s say there is a reason I wrote that in past tense. I downloaded a beginner’s schedule to build up slowly. Considering I had run before, my first run was a bit of a shock: all I needed to do was run for two minutes at a time, but it took me a lot of effort. Goodbye half an hour, hello 2 minutes.

Shin Splint

After a few runs, I started to get shin splint – which I only knew the term of after I Googled it. Google also told me it was probably either caused by my shoes. Of course, I would not pass on this opportunity to buy a new pair. The salesman at the store told me I had “wide, full feet”. Which I’m pretty sure is a nice way of saying “fat”. He also told me that indeed for this issue -and for this weight, but he left that out, bless him- good shoes were very important. He also told me to switch terrain if possible, so to not just run on hard surfaces. So now, I sometimes run around a little lake. Together with mosquitoes, dogs and horseflies. Half an hour, here I come.

Walk in the park

Although I’m proud I’m running now, I wanted to do more than that. Incorporate more exercise in each day. Because I commute quite a big distance to work, my hours to exercise are limited. I would love to work out on my lunch break, but I tent to get really red. Purple would be the correct word actually. And we don’t have any showers at the office. So I decided to take a brisk walk in the park instead. It takes a bit of adjustment -prepping lunch at home and preferably eat it before my break- and I miss having lunch with my colleagues, but all in all, it’s a good solution.

Lastly, I would really like to start weight training. Because the muscles that you gain, burn of the fat faster than running and walking will do. The thing is, I really don’t want to go back to the gym. Maybe I should buy some weights and see if I have enough discipline to do it at home? I’m guessing this too won’t be easy.

Say hello to health with Hello Fresh (part 3)

· Uncategorized · Leave a Comment

I already decided what not to do. Dieting. Calorie counting. Cutting out carbs. If I would cut out everything I like to eat, I’m setting myself up for failure, because I know I would never be able to stick to that. But, I also know I’m not the “I’ll just take one candy and close the bag” kind of person. Unfortunately, a bag of candy does not last more than a day in my house. So, I will have to build in some sort of self-protect system. Because if not for the carbs, then something else will have to be cut.

Cut the Candy and Cake

My first victims were candy and cake at work. Although that may not sound like a very spectacular change, I’m expecting it to have quite an impact. Whenever a colleague is leaving, we do two things: we eat cake, and we calculate how much wait he or she has gained while working here. Everything is celebrated with cake here. Birthdays (around 30 a year), colleagues that are leaving (also quite a lot, mainly interns that stay only for a few months), a successful project, a new home, a diploma, a driving license, a new dog, a sunny day. Yes, we celebrate sunny days in The Netherlands. Come live here, you’ll understand. I’m not exaggerating when I say we get out the cake knifes at least once a week. Until now, my ‘strategy’ was to join in only now and then. Problem with that is that at the actual moment you have to decide to either eat cake or not, there is always a good reason to eat. Now with my new strategy, I only had to decide once, and be done with it.

Hello Fresh

Another thing we did, was apply to Hello Fresh. They deliver a box with healthy ingredients and recipes (very necessary for a kitchen princess like me, not) for five days. This has turned out to be a really good service for us. Because we used to start thinking about what to eat at 6.30 PM, after work. You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to understand that this is not the best time to decide what to eat, knowing the food first needs to be bought and cooked.

Finally, as the cherries on the cake-that-I’m-not-having-anymore, I decided on not eating on the road and not keeping any candy at the house. That leaves me with parties and special occasions (except for at the office of course!). Luckily, I’m from a big family, with brothers that all provided for many nieces and nephews. So I don’t think I will be experiencing withdrawal any time soon. My only fear is that the host of my next party will be serving healthy snacks.

Tags

Share this post

I want it NOW! (part 2)

· Uncategorized · Leave a Comment

I made my decision
The first step was easy. I made my decision. I set my goal. On July 1st 2015, I will be slim and fit enough to take a golf surfing class. Although this decision will help me reach this goal, I’m pretty sure there will be more to it. I’m going to have to act.
But before action, comes a plan.

The next step
So that will be step two I suppose, a plan. First, I’m going to break up my goals in smaller pieces. Because July 1st 2015 is still far far away. Knowing I’m the “I want it nów!” type, you’ll understand I will not be able to wait for results that long. Can anybody? So, I need smaller steps, earlier deadlines. For example, I break up the weight loss goal into steps of 5 kilo at a time (roughly 10 pounds). Running of course is also easy to break up: 2 minutes without stopping, 15 minutes, 30 minutes…and so on (or to be honest, I will already be very pleased with 30 minutes!). To make sure I don’t lose interest (remember, I want it now), I make sure my first milestone is not too hard, not too far away. Also, deadlines tent to make me work harder.

Rewarding myself
Finally, the fun part begins, linking rewards to my milestones. The bigger the accomplishment, the bigger the reward. For the first few months, I’ve chosen rewards that have some sort of link with the actions, like a new running outfit or a book about surfing. As I expect the effort to become bigger and bigger as times passes, I also made the rewards a bit better. A new laptop for example. For the ultimate end boss…eh sorry, end goal, there is of course the ultimate reward: my own surfboard. Luckily, I will have some time to safe up before then.
And now…time for the actual implementation. Normally, I would already be tired of just thinking about it, but now that I’ve made my decision, I’m actually excited! Better yet, I can’t wait (did I tell you already I’m the “I want it now” type?). If you keep doing what you have been doing, you can expect the same results. So, I will have to change my behavior to reach my goals. Time for action!

 

How making a decision will help me get fit (part 1)

· Fit, Uncategorized · Leave a Comment

I made my decision.
I’m not going to try anymore.
Make no more attempts.
This time, I’ll do it. I will become fit and slim.

I’ve been overweight for as long as I can remember. Sometimes a little, sometimes a lot. At this moment, a little bit too much. So it is time for action. Not that I never acted before. I quit sugar, I exercised, I ate healthy. All of that did something of course, but it never lasted. Eventually -like so many people- I returned to my old (bad) behavior. I think I now found out the reason why though.

The decision

Reading a book about being in charge of your life, it hit me. Simple but effective: make a decision. I’m tricking my brain with these words, because failure is not an option. I will become fit and slim. It’s not trying, like I did before, it’s doing. Trying means there’s an option to fail. When things get tough, you tell yourself you’ve tried and then give up. When you start out with this option in mind, chances are, you will indeed give up.

Another reason I failed before, is that my motives were not important enough. Sure, I wanted to be healthy, but as long as there are no symptoms, it’s hard to recognize the urgency. Then, there is always room for just one more bag of chips. Sure, I wanted to look nice, but there are always bigger clothes to buy, which hide what you don’t want to show quite nicely. Lastly, summer is far away most of the year when you live in The Netherlands.

My motivation

So…I needed something better. A reason to get and keep going. Something I really, desperately want, but can’t get because of my ‘state-of-body’. Something that outweighs (pun intended) the comfort of unhealthy food and laziness. After giving this a good thought, I found it. For a long time now, I have wanted to learn to surf. Last year I took my first and only lesson. It was amazing. The sea gave me a hard time (it was very windy), it was cold (April in The Netherlands), it was exhausting (my level of fitness was on its way from medium to my current bad) and I did not stand up on the board once. But I had the time of my life.

I would love to go to the beach again for another lesson, but I know there is no point. The sea would have no mercy with me, being in the shape that I’m in today. Not to mention wearing a wet suit. A tourist might think a whale has beached and start pushing me back in the water.

That was all I needed to make my decision. I know my destination.
One year from now, I will be fit and slim enough for my second surf lesson.
I don’t need to hope I can do it. I know I can.