I started my journey this time with no specific "diet" or "fad" in mind. I didn't even plan on tracking any weight loss via scales at first - because I didn't want to get disappointed or be entirely focused on numbers.
For the first 2 months, I didn't weigh myself - I wanted to notice the changes happening in other ways to guide me. Like my clothes getting looser, or belt needing to get tighter.
When other people started noticing, then that was my positive reinforcement that I knew I was going in the right direction. It was only after 2 months, my partner wanted to know how much I lost, so she would look at the scales for her benefit :) Eventually at 3 months I started looking at the scales as well - and believed I had built up a good routine from here.
As for the routine - I wanted to start off by making small changes to my existing diet and adding more incidental exercise to my day. Nothing drastic or overwhelming - just small and progressive changes to try and unlearn years of bad habits.
From a diet perspectice - portion sizes were probably my biggest downfall - I ate for the enjoyment of it. It was easy to have a large bag of potato crisps/chips or half a packet of biscuits/cookies. Oh, don't get me started on sliced cheese.
So from here I specifically still kept these "naughty" foods - but bought the smaller, multi pack varieties of these foods. I didn't want to feel like I was missing out or get so caught up in the "diet" that I'd fall off the wagon like I've done so many times in the past.
Other food items I swapped out for healthier versions, like no more white bread, but using a low carb, high protein version with a smaller size. Then instead of previously having 4 slices of white bread to make two sandwiches, I'd use 2 slices of the smaller high protein bread and use lettuce as the other "slice".
When eating out, I didn't want to miss out or be the awkward person asking for a super special meal with 100 changes. I would reduce the meal size and swap items where possible for healthier versions.
For example, I would still go to KFC every so often - but instead of having a double chicken burger with large chips/fries, roll and potato/gravy - I got a single chicken burger with small chips/fries and shaker salad.
Then this where I implemented by own version of OMAD - but One Main Meal A Day. So if I had a proper meal for lunch, then dinner was something very small and light, or I'd skip all together. And also this is where I kind of did my own version of IF before I knew it was a thing. I normally skip breakfast anyway, and if I was busy I'd skip lunch too and just have a main meal at night.
With exercise, I'm not a huge fan of gyms or programs like Cross fit, etc. I just started increasing my levels of "incidental" exercise instead.
For example: when going to the supermarket, I'd purposefully park the car in the location furtherest away from the front door. Then I would have to walk the extra distance just part of my daily chores.
When walking around, were possible I'd take the long way around instead of the shortest route. At work I'd get up and see someone instead of emailing or calling.
The incidental exercises was really a "quick win" to boost activity levels doing daily tasks that I'd become accustomed to doing quicker yet lazier. Another one was when have to carry multiple items from point A to Point B - I would previously try to carry as many as I could in one go. Now I'll purposefully carry only 1 item and have to make multiple trips (especially going up/down stairs).
Just a lot of these smaller, manageable changes over a period time helped make it still feel "normal" but just slightly improved everytime.
I'm at my first goal weight, and have been maintaining for about 8-10 months. Whilst I wanted to lose more, I think I reached a point where I needed to stabilise and learn how to stay at this weight for a longer period of time.
This isn't my first time losing weight (almost 40kg last time in 2009) - but I'd always think of it as a 'diet' and something I was either 'on' or 'off'. Then the thinking was if I've already eaten this, I'm off the wagon anyway and eat something else to excess. And before long ended up back were I started.
So this time - this is why I didn't want to weigh myself at first, as I was really trying to make real changes without it feeling like I couldn't enjoy anything anymore. So I can eat anything - just in moderation.
I've hovered around 110kg now for a while, and happy that I'm comfortable knowing how to stay here. So I want to at least be under the 100kg mark, and have started tightening up my food choices but not entirely stopping them either.
If you've made it this far, thanks for reading. Here's a link to my current before and after pics showing my progress.
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