What I'm doing differently this time

First of all I'd like to thank anyone who commented on my last post for the support and kind words. It really means a lot.

I'm just starting my weight loss journey again. I've tried several other times with some success but always gave up and gained the weight back. I realized that if I'm actually going to lose the weight and keep it off I need to do things different, and here are some things I've thought of so far:

1. Cooking actual food and not relying on processed foods. During my previous weight loss attempts I would eat a lot of Lean Cuisine and similar frozen meals. They would always leave me unsatisfied and wanting to eat more. It was hard to stick to my calorie targets when half of my meals were sad and tiny. Since then I've realized that by preparing my own food I can eat a larger volume of for the same or fewer calories and feel full and satisfied. I also realized that a lot of the packaged foods I was eating to try to lose weight had a bunch of added sugar which only fueled my cravings and contributed to my sugar addiction. Right now some of my staples are roasted vegetables (over or air fryer), chicken sausage, couscous, and fruit.

2. Not making exercise into a punishment and/or chore. I realized that if I'm going to stick to a healthy exercise regimen it has to be something I enjoy, not just something I can tolerate. Right now my exercise is hot yoga 3-4x per week, walking, and hiking with my husband on the weekends. I genuinely enjoy all of those things and feel I can stick to doing them.

3. Instead of turning to food immediately when I'm bored, do something fun or interesting. When I feel the desire to eat outside of my meal time, I stop and ask myself if I am actually hungry or just bored. Most of the time it's the latter, in which case I have to think of something to do that will be entertaining. This is also leading me to doing other things with my free time other than just drinking wine and staring at my phone.

4. Not trying to budget chocolate, baked goods, wine, cocktails, and candy into my calories every day. For some people doing CICO this might be fine but I am a sugar addict and if I eat these foods all the time my cravings get really intense. I'm not completely eliminating sugar from my diet, just limiting those super sugary foods to a once a week treat rather than an everyday thing. I also haven't been finding myself craving these things for the past few days either which has been nice. I was an almost daily wine drinker and after not drinking for the past few days I feel a lot better.

That's all for now but I'll probably think of more over time. Working from home has also been really beneficial because cooking for myself is so much easier and I don't have to meal prep. During my previous weight loss attempts I was working in my previous career (working in a salon as an esthetician) and I was stressed and exhausted all the time. I definitely used food and alcohol as a comfort because I was feeling unfulfilled in my career.

submitted by /u/vladimir_poontangg
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