When someone tells me they’re ‘losing weight’, my mind immediately conjures up horrible things. No chocolate, no cake, no wine, no bacon. No baking days, birthday cakes or long and lazy lunch dates. Endless counting, tracking, adding and earning points or calories or sugars. Restrictive diets that say you must only eat food that was prepared by caveman on a hill with a blunt stick and a small fire. Torturous gym workouts and training sessions that involve the most evil of evils, pink lycra.
Ok, maybe most people don’t take it to that extreme but often, the ‘losing weight’ comes up when talking about food. I know many, many people who have been on weight loss diets and felt sad, deprived, or like they’re missing the giant food-party. Many feel weak or as though they’ve failed some food-judge in the sky, baring down with a giant celery stick gavel and an angry glower. For many, they reach their goal and then it all comes back on. They’ve lost the support, the guidelines or perhaps they just figure they’ve done the work and now they can finally have the damn cake.
What if we changed the way we looked at it? If someone came to me and said ‘I’m gaining health’, I’d see something very different. They might be eating more vegetables, having a hearty breakfast, adding up their fibre intake to make sure they’ve had enough for the day. Maybe they’re meditating, going for walks, playing in the park with the kids. They’d be de-stressing, getting back to their roots, being happy and eating well. Not eating less, not missing out- they’d be doing more.
I want to challenge you to gain health. Throw out the scales, stop depriving yourself and have fun. You know what? I bet you lose weight by doing it. Here’s how.
Eat More
Only 2% of Australians1 eat the recommended 5 serves of vegetables and two fruits per days. Two Percent, yet all these diets people go on tell people what to cut out and eat less of! If you focus on getting in your five and two every single day, having at least a small amount of protein with every meal and eating enough fibre (at least 20g per day2 from food sources) you’ll not only fill up on these super nutritious foods, you’ll be nourishing your body with the nutrients it needs to be healthy. This in turn can help reduce cravings and hunger. Pay attention to beverages too- 8 glasses of water or non-caffeinated herbal tea every day. If you do this, you might find you have less need for sweetened drinks or tea and coffee.
Eat consciously
Ever caught yourself wolfing down a whole packet of tam-tams or something else you ‘shouldn’t’ be eating? Guilty food binges are horrible things but we can avoid them… by just eating the food. Really! Next time you want a treat food, make a big deal of it. Put it on a plate, sit down and remove distractions. Smell it. Bite it. Taste it. Savour every damn mouthful. What’s the point of having it if you’re not enjoying it? Give your body a real treat and nourish your senses. You might find you eat a lot less of that food when you do this, because you’re giving your body time to register you’re eating it. Eating all meals like this has benefits to. Eating slower often means you eat less. You’ll start to notice how foods make you feel- a big hearty vegetable soup warms your soul but a greasy burger might make you feel queasy afterwards. If you stop and notice this you’re more likely to avoid it- not because you have to but because you want to.
Move for Fun
Exercise is hard and boring. Maybe you like running or spin class- if that’s you, embrace it- but for the rest of us it’s pure drudgery. Instead of punishing yourself, think outside the box. Ever wanted to try roller derby? What about water polo? Even just taking the kids to the park for a game of tag or playing tennis with your mum counts as exercise. What matters is that you’re moving. The benefit of doing it this way is you’ll be more motivated to keep doing it! You can make some really good friends and have a blast, all while improving your fitness level. You can also take opportunities during the day for some high-intensity fun. Turn up the radio and have a solo dance off with the vacuum cleaner. Attack that weedy garden bed you’ve been meaning to do since you moved house. Build a pergola, on your own. Do things that are empowering and confidence building, not things that tear you down.
Focus on how you feel
Throw out the scales and replace them with another set of numbers- a ‘how I feel’ chart. List all the things you want to improve- like happiness, confidence, energy, stress or how many stairs you can climb before you collapse. Give them each a score out of ten, then fill this in every week. Chart the changes. You may not notice a difference in yourself until you look back a few weeks later and see the scores have really started to climb. That’s the fun of making a goal- measuring the outcome so you know it’s working. Focus on improving your health, fitness and happiness and the weight loss will follow.
- http://www.roymorgan.com/findings/6003-most-of-us-dont-eat-enough-fruit-veg-201501062212
- http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/fibre_in_food?open
How do you focus on your health?
Article by Amy Hopkins
I cut junk foods years back and happy that I did because my kids do not like it as well. On my figure, people see me as a bit overweight but I feel healthy and confident the way I carry myself. Surely, I would still continue eating healthy food and exercise more to achieve the best me. This is challenging but I am ready to face it.