Weight Loss My Way

No to the 'low fat' Latte!

When you are on a weight loss process, as opposed to a diet, its not about going to extremes. The reason I gave myself twelve months to lose weight, rather than three weeks, was I never intended to deprive myself of the really good things in life. This is obvious in my post Eat Dessert. I also never intended to become too obsessive about it.

I love a good cup of coffee. Just one in the morning, but a really good one. Never after lunch, because then I can't sleep. But a decent 'kick start' to the day is just the best. To be frank, trying to remember to order a 'low fat' or 'skinny' latte makes me crazy. Nine times out of ten I would forget the golden words 'low fat' and then it would be too late to change it. Alternatively, the batista would ask me a billion questions - did you want low fat, skinny, tall, grande, etc etc. The questions in the morning, without having yet drunk the damn thing, totally confuse me.

So my rule is to simply say 'a medium latte please'. If they start with the questions I reply 'just a medium latte please'. Let them work out how they translate that into thier own unique 'coffee lingo'. Further by sticking to my phrase 'medium latte please' I know I am not getting too much, or too little, and I am not tempted by the allure of those sugary flavours hazelnut, white chocolate or caramel. And in the 'medium latte please', there is just a hint of indulgence as its more than likely I will get full cream milk. And frankly I think I can handle those few extra calories just once a day!

 

'I never get hungry because I focus on my work'

97 year old Japanese surgeon, Dr Shigeaki Hinohara says "I never get hungry because I focus on my work." 

Here is his diet:

For breakfast I drink coffee, a glass of milk and some orange juice with a tablespoon of olive oil in it. Olive oil is great for the arteries and keeps my skin healthy. Lunch is milk and a few cookies, or nothing when I am too busy to eat. Dinner is veggies, a bit of fish and rice, and, twice a week, 100 grams of lean meat.

Not only that but Dr. Hinohara plans his life way in advance so he always has something else to focus himself on. His diary is full until 2014! Not much time to worry about food there!!

You can read more on his whole approach to longevity, diet, weightloss and life here.

Richard Branson weighs in

According to Tim Ferris' book The 4-Hour Body, Richard Branson claims he can get four hours additional productivity per day when he works out!! So if your reason for not working out at least three times a week is you lack the time, well do the maths!! Work out one hour a day, get three extra hours!! 

OK so I admit I am not quite there yet, but if the world's most productive and accomplished billionaire hints this is a good way to go, its at lest worth considering, no?

Never shop hungry!

So the rule before "not doing the grocery shopping hungry", is not to buy anything at the supermarket you should not eat. Fried foods, potato chips, white chocolate, processed foods, white bread and rice, etc are no longer worthy of your shopping list. Spend more time examining the labels. How much sugar does your regular juice box contain? Buy real maple syrup, not the sugary one.

But the absolute critical thing is DO NOT shop when you are hungry. Not only will you buy yourself an 'easy to eat' snack to have 'on the go' (notoriously chips or chocolate bar) but you will also buy foods which satisfy your hunger pangs. This is dangerous because you will end up with a trolley full of potato chips and 'easy to eat' treats. Once those 'easy to eat' treats (which are almost never healthy) are in your pantry then you will feel you simply have to eat them or its a waste of money. 

So its simple:

1. Don't buy anything you shouldn't eat at the supermarket.

2. Don't shop when you are hungry so you are tempted to buy things you shouldn't eat!

So shop after a main meal, or eat a piece of fruit on the way to keep the hunger dragon at bay!

Win the Revolution - Get a Resistance Cord!

So of course we don't all have access to a gym, or weights. And carrying barbells when you travel really messes with your luggage limit when you travel. Let me introduce you to my new best friend - the resistance cord. This simple stretchy string with handles is as good as weights and in itself weighs nothing!

Basically you stand on it and pull the handles up above your head (a poor description really but it comes with instructions and a workout DVD). It works because you are pulling against the elastic.

I keep it in the suitcase and do a few rounds every night when travelling. If you can't find time to get to a gym or out for exercise, just use it at home in front of the TV!!

The one I own is from the Gaiam company but Reebok and others also make them.

I don't believe in 'sweats'!

This post is simply to a labour a point which has already been made, but can never be repeated enough. Look the part! I do not believe in sweat pants.

Have you ever noticed in movies that people start wearing sweat pants, also known as trackies, or tracksuit pants when they are depressed, unlucky in love or hungover. What does this tell us? Such attire is really only suitable if you want to feel flabby and lack the motivation to live.

So throw out your track pants. Do not let them be an option in your life. Buy something sexy for the gym, no matter what size you are you will feel better wearing something designed to make you feel great, than sweats.

Sweats are the fast track to slothfulness. You see -  even Eva Longoria does not look that fabulous in sweats!Eradicate 
them from your wardrobe NOW.

Find a Body Role Model

While Nelson Mandela and the Dalai Lama might be the right people to cheer you on in the gym, with all due respect, they are not body role models!! Addison Adrienne Forbes Montgomery is! Have you seen that woman's legs? Well they are actually the legs of Kim Walsh who plays Addison in the TV series Private Practice. But whosoever legs they are - they are to die for!! (Well her whole look actually!!)

So every time I am doing weights in the gym, especially the ones you lift with your legs, I think of Addison's legs and I can manage just a few more lifts.

I discovered you don't have to have just one body model - after all no one really has it all - do they? So for me its Addison's legs, Michelle Obama's arms, JLo's stamina, etc!

Whose body parts are you coveting?

Run with Gay Abandon!

A few months ago I was on a work trip to London and Dublin. We were attending a lot of business dinners and I was getting anxious about how to maintain my weight loss. So I decided better get up 45 minutes early and go out and enjoy the sites in the early morning while burning some calories. I decide to find some tourist destination with a kilometre or so of the hotel, and power walk over there. St Paul's Cathedral was the destination day one - nothing like a goal to motivate me - and the promise of a latte in front of the Cathedral when i got there.

It was pretty chilly at 6am so as I set out I decided I better run for a bit to warm up. You will note to date that running does not feature largely in this blog as I tend power walk. Running was amazing, exhilarating and inspiring. It helped having some pretty rhythmic IPod music to keep me going, but I loved it. I tried it again in Dublin and by the time I hit New York a few weeks later I was running to Central Park and back like a pro.

I decided it takes either gumption, or an "I don't care what they think" type of attitude to run around openly in the streets of any major city, or village for that matter. It helped me enormously to look the part, to disappear into the sound of the music (but to keep an eye out for traffic) and to keep it steady and within reason. I also had to make sure that I was running to a destination that I could manage and could actually make it back to my hotel in time for daily meetings.

Nevertheless running is exhilarating. It kicks in endorphins and if you run with gay abandon, flashbacks of your innocent childhood years will kick in and you will find yourself fully immersed in the joy of it. And here is the best part of all - the calories just melt away. I can't do it all the time, but with the right conditions, I can now say "I run". Who would have thought.... 

Put Your Gym Clothes On When You Get Up!

In my weight loss process I discovered that I was ten times more likely to workout if I was already wearing my gym clothes! There is something about getting the gear on that puts me in the mood!

If when I wake up in the morning, especially on weekends, I put the sports gear on I am much more likely to hit the gym, go for a run or a bike ride. When i get home from work, instead of getting into some 'lounge around the house' attire, I don my gym wear I find I will almost definitely go the gym.

And believe me what you wear counts. Go out and buy sexy gym clothes. Don't opt for the old t-shirt and track pants idea. Looking the part is half the battle. And if you don't believe me, check in with Becky Warren's article "The Debate: Are Cute Workout Clothes Essential?". In short YES, but read it for yourself.

Get sexy, get exercising!

Oprah says - stop eating by 7pm!

This is a handy trick. Its kind of psychological way of having an ending to your eating day.

Its actually not necessary to eat too much in the evening. Light meals are better - sushi, fruit, a salad, something  vegetarian. Ever tried to sleep after a three course meal? Its never a deep sleep as your body is so busy trying to sort out all those calories and work out where to put them.

But more essentially is not filling your stomach right before you sleep, or snacking your way through the evening. 7.30pm was a more  realistic time of day given my lifestyle, but a cut off nevertheless.

After the cut off you can still drink water and tea; green tea the most recommended of course!

By the way if the Dalai lama is not available for your workout, why not evoke Oprah, she has some good ideas!

Think of Sugar as Cocaine

Stop with the sugar!

Its scientifically proven (http://topnews.net.nz/content/213211-consuming-increasing-amounts-sugar-leads-weight-gain) that sugar equals weight gain.

Stop with the sugar!

Its addictive and its in everything - white bread, ice cream, cookies, milk chocolate, white pasta, junk food, sweets (of course), pancakes, cakes, juice, a lot of yogurts, sauces and syrups, a lot of salad dressings. Like I said these days its in everything.

Stop with the sugar!

Think of it like cocaine - addictive and bad for you. And believe me, when you start trying to wean yourself off it, you will know how addicted you are already.

Stop with the sugar by not putting it in your coffee and tea; not choosing the vanilla, hazelnut or caramel lattes; not eating chocolate, cookies or cakes for a couple of weeks; buying sugar free juice and yogurt (hard to find but available); no ice cream; no white bread or pasta; and stop putting it in your cooking.

Stop with the sugar!

Did you know belly fat is caused by sugar and carbs? If you live in a country where processed foods are all the rage, you should read by Jorge Cruise The Belly Fat Cure: Discover the New Paperback. Jorge helps you identify which products have less of the evil sugar drug!

In my weightloss process the only acceptable sugar was the natural sugar found in fruit.

Sugar is the root of most evils - diabetes, heart disease, and BELLY FAT!!!

Stop with the sugar!! STOP!! STOP!! STOP!!

 

Is someone sabotaging your weight loss?

 

 

 

Kind Regards

Eating 10,000 miles in the air!

I travel alot. This was a major issue in trying to manage and maintain my weight. With time differences, flights schedules, meetings over meals, and eating on the run it was near impossible to feel I had any control over what went in my mouth. Well if my year of weight loss was going to work I had to take back the control.

How many times have you eaten the food provided by the airline, just because it was given to you, because you think you paid for it or because you had nothing else to do? Did you have much choice about what you were eating? If you have access to an airline lounge in transit, there is the additional responsibility to eat up all those treats because after all they are free!!

Wrong, wrong, wrong. After each trip where I ate mindlessly, I could see the scales shoot up a few kilos and I would have to work harder when i got home to shed those kilos again. So it was time for a culture shift on my travels.

Firstly I stopped eating airline food, especially I short flights. Its not as easy as it sounds - the flight attendants, and other passengers want to insist you take it. One airline always follows up by asking but don't you want tea or coffee? The answer is a flat NO. Always NO. Once you agree to the tea and coffee you get the whole meal tray anyway.

Secondly, eat a healthy meal at home before you leave for the airport. This will fill you with food you have control over, and won't mean you are hunry when you arrive at the airport. So there is less of temptation to eat at a fast food place, a airport lounge or in flight.

Thirdly pack healthy snacks - nuts, dried fruit, museli bars, dark chocolate, even a healthy sandwich if its a longer flight. With your own food on board you know you have access to things within your diet range, and you can eat when you are really hungry again, not on the timetable of the airline.

Fourthly pack your Ipod, CD player or plug into the airline sound system. In other words distract yourself while everyone else is eating. Enjoy the fact that you are doing your own thing on a flight where you more often feel like herded cattle. Get an aisle seat and use the toilet while everyone else is eating (no meal tray to black you in). Or get a window seat, lay against the wall and have a nap.

Fifthly tell the flight attendent up front that you have no intention to eat, as you would prefer to sleep, so you apprecaite not to be disturbed. Some airlines even provide do not disturb stickets for the top of your seat.

And my last hot tip - if you find you have to eat en route seek out the health options - drink green tea, drink lots of water, order sushi over a hamburger, eat fruit over hot dogs!

Airline food has improved over the years, but it is still mass produced and preserved to feed literally thousands of people 10, 000 miles up! Take back control when you are above the clouds! 

For more tips check this article - http://www.lostgirlsworld.com/2011/03/15-tips-for-eating-healthy/

 

 

 

Eat Dessert!

Deben Sharma's book The Greatness Guide: 101 Lessons for Making What's Good at Work and in Life Even Better advises that if you do three big time workouts a week you can have two desserts a week!!

Since I LOVE chocolate mouse, I use a different rule. OK three big time workouts a week, or regular workouts five times a week, then every time chocolate mousse is listed on a menu, you can order it guilt free!!

A great friend of mine taught her kids dessert night was only every second night!! They often are heard to be asking - is it a dessert night? At least they realize early on there are nights which are not!! I think the point is weightloss is not about complete denial, but dessert has to be balanced with serious exercise and healthy eating most of the time!

Invite the Dalai Lama to your Workout!

 

Sometimes, when I feel like I want to give up on the walking machine, I imagine I have my own personal cheer squad. I imagine Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu, the Dalai Lama and Thich Nhat Hanh are standing around the machine laughing, clapping and egging me on! Its remarkably powerful to have them all there admiring and cheering me. As they are such positive people, who seem to always cheer for those willing to have a go, then I feel really inspired. Sometimes  to impress them I put in another few minutes, an extra 500 metres or increase the speed. That always makes them laugh and cheer louder. I tried inviting people like J Lo and Britney Spears once but they just intimidated me, Oprah made me feel analysed and Ellen made me laugh too much. So it’s this little gaggle of motivating, always smiling gentlemen which gather around as my cheer squad. Try it – who would you invite? Feel free to borrow them if you like, I am sure it’s not sacrilegious and they are always generous with their time!

Beware the humble buffet!

Jerry Seinfeld once explained that he had ended his hit TV show Seinfeld after nine series (rather than ten) because he considered the program like a buffet - people should stop consuming while they are still enjoying it. He explained that it takes just one plate  of food to push over you the fine line between enjoyment and that sickly over-full feeling.

Buffets have been part of our family celebration history. It was always a birthday treat for us to go out to a buffet in some five star hotel with the wonderful notion that we could eat as much as we liked, no holds barred! However Seinfeld was right. We almost always come home feeling bloated and a bit sickly. Afterwards no one sleeps well and sometimes has stomach ache the next day. Initially it is so enjoyable as we survey the array of things we can eat, by the end we can hardly move and feel less lovely than when we arrived.

So we stopped buffets. We started option for boutique restaurants where we might choose our favourite dish ala carte and really savour eating a rack of lamb, or a single but magnificent chocolate mousse, or a steak well done, or a salmon, or bowl of homemade pasta, or a gourmet pizza or whatever! Now we focus on quality not quantity.

The price works out about the same, but we go home savouring flavours and the memory of that particular dish rather than the variety of bits we picked off a table where the food had been sitting for too long anyway!

 

 

Off the track

Well of course everyone was waiting to see if I could maintain my 2010 weight goal of 70kg. For the first weeks of the year my exercise and diet regime had me drop below 69kg so I started relaxing a little.

Then I spent two weeks flying here and there for work. I tried to maintain what I could - walking the hotel stairs, an occasional visit to the gym and when possible green tea before bed! But it was not so simple and as the journey got more hectic I started eating unconsciously. Meetings over meals was the easiest time for this to happen - with my attention on the work, I was not paying attention to what I was eating or how many days passed without any exercise at all!

By the time I got home I was slipping (or rushing headlong) toward 73 kg. OK so that is not the worst thing in the world BUT  I had the feeling I had lost control over the process and that I could slip further, much further.

Not just that but physically I felt horrible. All the benefits of exercise had gone. I was not sleeping well, I felt lethargic, I could not think straight and unnecessary things started worrying me. I needed to get back on track.

So yesterday I jumped on my bike and got busy lifting weights. I took a swim and had a 'conscious' food day. Miraculously, in no time, I am back to 71kg. With another day or two like that I feel I can get back on track.

What did I learn from this little scary episode? Getting off track, or slipping is inevitable from time to time. The secret is not to let it go too far before you cannot redeem yourself. Once you feel yourself on that slippery slide, make an intervention on yourself. Believe me it's worth it. Last night I slept 12 hours, and my anxiety levels are under control today! 

Bike it!

We always rode bikes when we were kids. Up and down the neighbourhood with the other kids. No wonder its easy to keep your weight off when your younger. Exercise is part of your play. I knew I could not walk the walking machine everyday so I needed some variety. And the bike machine just seemed boring to me. I also like exercise that has some other purpose. So I bought a bike. On Saturday mornings I would set myself some tasks which I could cycle to! There is a great bread shop a few blocks from our apartment so I cycle there and get the 'healthy' fresh bread. A good friend also lives a few blocks away so I would cycle over to see her.

Then I decided to up the ante and start riding to work. This required leaving earlier for work as it took longer to get there, and I need to change my clothes once I arrive all hot and sweaty. But it worked out to be worth it - after cycling to work I feel focused and calm and ready to work by the time I get there. 

Drink more water

We hear it all the time that we need to drink more water.  I have read so many times that we should drink 8 glasses of water a day. During my weightloss process I have found this a good way to set myself a daily goal - 8 glasses a day!

But to be honest I find it a bit tedious drinking so much water, so I tried to make 'drinking more water' a bit more desirable! So here are some tips and tricks I found helped:

• Scandanavians apparently drink a glass of water before they start eating a meal. It means your stomach already has something in it so you don't feel you want to eat as much. It really works. If yo u drink another glass towards the end of your meal it certainly fills you up but also gives you a clean, 'washing down the food' feeling! 3 meals a day x 2 glasses of water is already 6!!
• In the wonderful book "French Women Don't Get Fat" the author explains that different brands of water taste very different. Its indeed true so I spent a few weeks buying different brands to determine which I liked better. And to my pleasant surprise it was not always the more expensive ones which were the most delicious. The taste of the water makes a huge difference to how much you can drink.
• For water I do not like the taste of (like the one delivered to my apartment building) I devised a cunning plan to disguise the taste - add a few drops of lemon to a glass or jug of water OR a few drops of apple cider vinegar which is suppose to ward off cancer cells OR add one of the disolving vitamin tablets into a glass of water. The latter usually come in a range of flavours!
• At work I try to drink two glasses in a day - one in the morning and one at the afternoon. This also means getting up from my desk and walking to the staff room to collect the water. It seems anythin 
  g which has a double weightloss function is a bonus!!
• Finally I often cheat and count a cup of green tea at the end of the day as a glass of water!

Keep on drinking! Its good for you! Water that is!

Chew Gum

Sometimes after a main meal, I have the feeling I want to eat something sweet, but actually I usually do not have the capacity or need to eat anything more!! Chewing gum is the key, sugarless of course!! Now I carry it with me all the time. Its a quick fix to cravings for 'sweet' things and can stall your stomach for a bit when hunger pains kick in. Even better if you chew it after  a meal it assists in digestion. My favourite brand are Mentos chewy because they are little like sweets and they even come in green tea flavour! The only drawback is the disposal, but I think you can handle that! Chew away!

Sleep, sleep and more sleep

I once watched Suzanne Somers on Larry King Live share the secrets of her agelessness. She said one of them was sleeping until she woke up! I threw out my alarm clock immediately! Not that we all have the luxury to wake up whenever we want, but I figured I do have the luxury to go to bed earlier so that I get sufficent sleep (generally accepted a minimum of 8 hours) to wake up naturally in good time to get to work! Sleep is critical if you want to curb hunger pains.

Around bedtime, I realised that I often get distracted by a tv show, a book I am reading, email or something else  so I don't pay much attention to getting to bed on time. So on my weightloss process I changed two things:

1. I started going to bed earlier - previoulsy 10 or 11 pm. Now around 9.30pm.

2. I instigated some mechanisms to help me sleep deeper - lavender oil sprinkled on the pillows, bath with relaxing oils  before bedtime, novels not documents before sleep, and the relaxing sounds of waves or rain playing as I drifted off.

At my wedding my father spoke about his belief that the secret to a good marriage is plenty of sleep. Too little sleep does nothing for our moods, relationships or working lives. So too little sleep does nothing to help energise and resource us when we are in a process of changing our diets (especially eating less junk food) and more exercise (burning more calroies). There are three CRITICAL  elements to weightloss - Healthy eating, plenty of exercise and quality, plentiful sleep !

I think we tend to take sleep for granted and consider it negotiable. But I really notice the days when I don't get enough sleep are the same days I crave junk food or sweet things, and feel too lazy to work out.

And here is the best thing, the more exercise I started to do, the less sleep I needed, and the better sleep I had. So food, sleep and exercise are critically linked. Like all things they need to be kept in balance. When one is out of kilter everything else is too!

Feed your brain - watch what you read!

From time to time I like to get good old fashioned women's magazine. However during my weight loss process I came to realise that they are either filled with pictures of super skinny, impossible to emulate women wearing latest 'tiny waist' fashions OR recipes for desserts, festive treats or feasts! OK a light exaggeration but in reality when you are trying to lose weight it helps a lot of if you relaxation reading reinforces the change you are making in your life.

I bought a copy of Shape magazine during a long airport stopover. To be perfectly honest it was hard to part with money for a 'health' magazine, but had not previously thought twice about it for other women's magazines. To my surprise Shape was full of helpful ideas, hot tips and stories of people like me and thier struggle with weightloss and how they prevailed!

I had already decided against a personal trainer but reading books like "Impress the World With Your Body In Seven Days" by Dr. David Madow (which can be downloaded for free into iTunes) really gave good ideas and positive re-enforcement. And of course Oprah swears by Dr Oz who wrote 'You'.  But it was not just weightloss books that inspired me, motivation and time management books helps too like 'The Greatness Guide' by Robin Sharma and 'The Four Hour Work Week' by Tim Ferriss.

It so obvious but while you are busy changing your body you MUST keep feeding your mind!

 

Enlist your friends as allies!!

My friend Fiona lives around the corner from me. I used to pop around for coffee and cake, coffee and chocolate, coffee and baked goods. You get the idea. When I started on this diet, she became one of my best allies. Now she serves me fruit. I didn't want our social time together to end and saying no to her cooking is always hard. But serving fruit and healthy snacks is the sweetest thing a friend can do. No temptations, something to nipple on while we gossip. She even started exploring new healthy recipes like amazing dips to have with celery and carrot. 

But there is an upside for Fiona. I didn't realise until this year how often people give chocolates as a gift. Each time it happens, I ride my bike straight to her house and deposit my milk chocolate gifts with her, to avoid temptation in my own fridge. So maybe I am not much of a friend, but then she is skinny as a rake!!

In the early days of the process I felt very hesitant to share what I was doing with family and friends. Weight loss seems a kind of frivolous thing to share but more than that once yo'let the cat out of the bag' people tend to then comment all the time about what you are eating. So I was careful who I let in on the process - only those who understood how hard it is and who would be encouraging. Over time I discovered others who have struggled with weight loss and we could encourage each other. I am deeply grateful to my 'weight loss champions' (you know who you are) who cheered me on the whole way and never let me give up. I hope I can be there for others as you were for me. The weight loss journey is no joke and practical support as well as lots of positive affirmation makes all the difference.

I did it - 16 kilos lost in 12 months!

On Christmas Eve morning I weighed in at 70.0kg. It was quite a moment as the scale fluctuated from 69.9 back to 70.1 and then like a Christmas miracle stopped on 70.0!! I mean who really cares if I am 100 grammes one way or the other but I think its been such a long journey I just had to see the numbers for myself!! I feel so happy and of course realise the next process is stabilisation!

 Anyway a huge thanks to my family, friends an

d supporters who have played such a huge role in encouraging me, and cheering me on. Seems a stupid thing to share with others, but now I realise that weight loss is not a laughing matter and for many of us ‘really’ hard to do.

HOT TIP - Clean your teeth!

Cleaning your teeth is of course good for your dental hygiene and good breath, but it also helps with weightloss. How often have you said 'oh I can't eat that, I just cleaned my teeth!' Clean your teeth soon after you have finished your meal. It's like putting the lid back on the peanut butter, or a full stop at the end of sentence. It says the time for eating is over and sends a psychological message to your body that the grazing is done! Small and simple trick!

 

 

Like a pebble in my shoe - the last damn kilo!

When I started out the year my intention was to be 70 kilos. I have already written about the plateaux but honestly the last few weeks have been even worse.

Through the course of this year I have been extremely privileged to hear the very personal struggles of friends, colleagues and family about their own weight loss highs and lows. It is way more challenging for some people than others. I have some friends who can eat anything and never fatten up. Whilst others of us have to struggle and struggle. This journey has required immense determination, self discipline and hard choices. It's actually really hard and many men and women struggle with weight loss their whole lives. We should never be flippant or take lightly those who choose to make this journey. We should cheer them on in any way possible.

Having said that I am not there yet - there is this last stubborn kilo to shift. I have been wondering if there is something self defeating now about it - do I not want to reach the goal? Or is it that my new lifestyle has shifted all the weight I can lose. Surely not.

I have been increasing my exercise regime, watching what I eat, drinking green tea, following all my own advice AND still that pebble sits in my shoe - the last kilo!

Just a few weeks to go, I am not giving up yet, but just want to acknowledge the painful struggle weight loss can be for so many of us. I say struggle on and never give up.

The Ipod - your best friend in the gym

 
Why do you think Jennifer Lopex has been repeatedly voted one of the sexiest women alive? Because she works out. What does she listen to while she works out? No doubt her own music!

So I admit this music is not so eclectic but I found the rhythm of these particular songs, and the 'sexy' factor of the music kept me going on the walking machine or lifting weights!I have organised them into an 'Exercise playlist' so there is no messing about on the machine trying to find the right songs.

For a steady but fast walk

    Ooh Ooh Baby - Britney Spears

    Que Hiciste - Jennifer Lopez

    Sexy Body Girl - Shaggy

    Happy Nation - Ace of Base

    Hot N Cold - Katy Perry

For upping the ante on the walking machine

    Waka Waka - Shakira

    Lets Get Loud - Jennifer Lopez

    3 - Britney Spears

    I F eel the Earth Move - Martika

    In Your Eyes - Kylie Minogue

Great for running up and down stairs

    Jai Ho - Pussy Cat Dolls

Fantastic rhythm for weightlifting

Piece of Me  - Britney Spears  

Sometimes I simply 'free fall'  through the Ipod, by just playing anything that comes up on the shuffle. This can be annoying if you get a slow song when you are just getting going, but simple enough to push it on to the next song!

If these don't suit you, SHAPE magazine  often lists great Ipod lists for workouts or have some fun creating your own! Please send your favourites in the comment box below.

The Plateaux

I doubt 'plateau' is the correct term either scientifically, medically or geographically; but that's what they are to me. They are days, sometimes weeks, where you seem to make no progress whatsoever. For me it feels like trekking across the Sahara desert, or the Mongolian steppes or Siberia. I call them plateaux because it feels like you have reached a certain level and you will never reach your next goal. More specifically my notion of 'plateau' is when you have changed your lifestyle, you are exercising regularly, you are eating less and/or better foods and while you were making progress on the scales, suddenly nothing changes. You weigh in day after day, at the same weight. My theory is that it's your body asking for some time to come to terms with the adjustments! I doubt that is medical either, but I felt my body needed some time to catch up to where my mind wanted to be next. For this reason I found it critical not to give up. If you don't keep up your new lifestyle and eating habits you will most certainly slip backwards. Equally, if you stick at it, after sometime you will most certainly move forward. 'The plateaux', as I like to call them, can be depressing, de-motivating and enough to make you throw the towel in. Don't. I promise you, if you keep exercising, eat right, eat less, be good to yourself, then the you will reach the edge of the plateau, and your will reach your next goal. If you like, push yourself a bit harder with five more minutes of exercise, or an extra workout, and you will pass over 'the plateaux' just that much quicker. And, if it helps, think of yourself in some sweeping epic movie, trudging your way across some desert, glacier or plateau, and in the end you will be the hero of your own screen play! A hero in your own mind game! A legend in your own weight loss!

Halve your regular food intake

Some diets involve a complicated system of counting calories, or allocating points for different food items. I tried that once but it did my head in and frankly I have enough to do in a day. Some diets have you write down everything you eat. Awareness is supposed to make us notice the things we are putting into our mouths. That is works for me, except that after a few days I forget to do it and forget what I ate. And again the day just seems to busy to chase my meals about with a notepad! So I applied some of my mother's tried and true wisdom - halve what you eat.

How? Don't change a thing. Prepare or order what you might normally eat, and simply eat half. Package the other half and take it for lunch the next day! If its not the kind of food you can keep overnight, throw it away. Wasteful I know, but after awhile the waste, or your shrinking stomach, will mean you don't need to prepare so much food. It works in almost all scenarios - buy a sandwich for lunch - eat half, save the other half for dinner. Fried rice, noodles, steak, bowl of pasta - simply eat half.

It breaks social conventions in the West to do this, so think like the Chinese - its polite in China to leave food on your plate indicating your satisfied! And besides why let social convention get in the way of a healthier, leaner life!

There is one exception to this rule. If you have a plate of vegetables (exluding roast potatoes or French fries!!) or salad, you are welcome to eat 100%! Its surprising how little we need to address hunger pangs. Research shows that people with the greatest longevity, like the senior citizens of Okinawa Japan, eat small meals. (See  Dan Buettner's Ted Talk on Longevity for more on this)

Forget complicated calorie counts - just eat less!! 

Walk the stairs!

In this day and age, we came up with so many machines to save us time and effort, we managed to cut out the most basic routines for losing and maintaining weight. For example we use the humble elevator to prevent us from having to climb the stairs! Well it stops here and now! People - its time to climb the stairs!

I live on the fifth floor of an apartment building so have started taking the stairs everytime I go out, and 'almost' everytime I come home. I travel alot with my job and was finding on most trips my weightloss goals would get right off track. So I started taking the hotel stairs! I started to realise that the higher the floor the better (not too high of course!). Shopping centres, office buildings and airports often have stairs right along side the esculators. WALK THEM!

Walking the stairs has four additional benefits - you can measure your fitness levels by how heavy you are heaving when you reach the top; you actually save time waiting for the lift to get to your floor; you can feel smug as people see you disappear down the stairwell AND its good for the environment (elevators use alot of electricity)!

Making exercise part of my 'everyday' life, and very routine, actually helped me to maintain weightloss, especially when I felt I had no time to hit the gym. Now I walk the stairs without thinking (too much) about it.

Mind you there are limits - I don't climb the stairs with luggage or the groceries!And here's a secret - if you are having a bad day and walking the stairs is just beyond you - you can occasionally reward yourself with an elevator ride!

An egg a day, keeps hunger at bay!

A few years ago my friend Gill told me that I should reconsider my morning coffee as breakfast and start cooking myself an egg for breakfast. I figured I was far too busy and important for that, so I smiled sweetly and said "Yes I probably should'! And so here I am to eat humble pie, or eggs at least.

An egg for breakfast is absolutely the best thing you can do to stave off hunger for the entire morning. When I eat cereal or fruit for breakfast I am hungry by 10am, but with the protein in eggs and one slice of wholemeal toast, I can go the distance to lunch!

And its healthy! I was worried about cholesterol for awhile, so occasionally I do like a New Yorker - go the egg white omelette! Its the egg white that holds the protein of course! And if you think eggs get boring - tried them hard or soft boiled, fried in olive oil, poached, scrambled, over easy, sunny side up or as I say as an omelette. (Thanks for the egg tip Gill and sorry I am a slow learner!)

Dark chocolate - guilt free pleasure

I have always been a chocoholic. I think it started in my final years in high school when I developed an comprehensive system of Mars bar rewards! I remember when I went off to university the pure joy of being able to have a Snickers for lunch and not having anyone question me otherwise! In my office it was me who introduced the tradition of bringing back boxes of chocolates, anytime someone travelled abroad. My brother in law and I have bonded over the years debating the virtues of white versus milk chocolate and sharing smaples to prove our points! I even kept a little supply of chocolate in the freezer for 'bad' days which my family knew was not to be touched by anyone but me!

On top of all that history, I have always thought dark chocolate to be one of the most unnecessary, disgusting products available in the world today. I just could not get it. If you could eat white Toblerone or Ferrero Rochers, why on earth would you put dark chocolate in your trolley or your mouth for that matter!

Well obviously any plan to lose weight involves some significant change. So I once again bit the bullet and erradicated all forms of chocolate from my life. Oh the agony of passing the chocolate aisle in the supermarket. Oh the cravings!

Then I read about the virtues of dark chocolate for health and decided I best give it a go. The only dark chocolate I could stomach in the beginning was dark chcolate with mint in it. The mint took the edge off the 'dark'. Then I started to discover other varieties - dark with hazelnuts, fruit and nut, orange (not my preference) and even toffee bits (delicious). Lindt mint chocolate is my favourite but I am enjoying discovering the ever expanding range of dark choc available!

Since dark chocolate is technically 'good' for you, you can eat it everyday guiltfree! AND dark chocolate turns out to be satisfying enough after just a few small pieces. In fact its not the kind of thing you can eat chunks and chunks of anyway! Foa scientific perspective on this press here.

But a word of warning - don't go for the 99% cacao - thats like eating dirt. 70% is good enough! After awhile I discovered that I past the 'cold turkey' stage of milk chocolate and I don't crave it anymore. But you can be sure there is a still a supply of chocolate in my fridge - all dark - all delicious - and its not just for emergencies, but for everyday, guiltfree indulgence! ENJOY!

Stepping on the scales is empowering!

There is some part of my feminist brain which always told me that owning a set of weighing scales, let alone weighing myself, was some kind of evil sin. For decades I convinced myself that not knowing or caring about my weight was a strike for women everywhere!

So who could have thought that weighing myself every day through my weightloss process could feel so empowering! I have fallen in LOVE with scales. They are my constant companion providing a steady supply of feedback - "yes the 20 minute walking machine workout paid off" OR "maybe today is a good day to get back on the walking machine"!!

The scales also became a way of telling me what was working and what wasn't. For exmpale I started to notice that after a good night's sleep I weigh less! Definitely after a long walk or ride on my bike I weigh less. When I eat fruit and vegetables and smaller meals for a few days, I weigh less. And of course it's the easier way to know if you are reaching your goal! Not really rocket science I know, but as it turns out the scales are my greatest source of encouragement. Not as evil as one might be led to believe! 

Green tea is key!

There has been so much press about green tea in the past few years. And I say it is still under rated. I could be the cover girl for green tea. I swear it is one of the best weapons in a weight loss process.

Every single night the last thing I 'consume' is a hot cup of green tea. About 15 - 20 minutes later you can feel it go to work - DETOXING!. You can feel it bubble away in your belly. Its FANTASTIC.

I can not drink it all day. Let's face it, it is not the most delicious drink you can drink. But that one cup at the end of the day, I swear, helps.

I try to keep it simple by using tea bags rather than loose leaves in a teapot as that is way too much work. I found Japanese green tea to be one of the best if you can get it. Health food stores always stock quality green tea and also slimming tea. I tried slimming tea just once and to be frank it was a little too much cleansing for my liking and tasted disgusting. Perhpas it was the brand I tried but just plain green tea was sufficent for my needs!

Don't forget to pack the tea bags when you travel!

Green tea - try it - its key!

The Walking Machine the fast track to weight loss

As I have already mentioned I was one of those girls at school who could find any excuse to get out of physical education class or joining a sports team. Not sure if it was self image or I preferred other persuits but the idea of running around the school oval was just hideous.

I think the realisation that if I really wanted to lose weight it would require some amount of sweat and some level of intense movement. This was a huge emotional and psychological hurdle to overcome. A friend had told me that running was the only way to elimite a 'belly' and shed those extra kilos. So I bit the bullet and put it to the test.

I could actually not run at first. I found I was out of breathe and the whole experience was unbearable. So I decided to just start by doing 20 minutes every second day on the 'walking' machine, JUST walking! I tried not to do anything fancy with the machine (mostly because I didn't understand it). I just set it a reasonable level of difficulty and what felt like a fast speed and I walked.

After a few weeks at this level I saw results. I could visibly notice my stomach reduce, especially when I walked in the afternoon, by the next morning there was a difference. But more then that, after a 20 minute session I felt great. I doubt I have ever had the same level of endorphin rush and began to realise exercise was not really about weight loss but the way it made me feel - fabulous! After a 20 minute session I would feel like eating fruit, I felt clear headed and energised and had a sense of calm. This was something they never told us about in gym class!

After a few weeks I upped the ante, one minute more a session! And occasionaly I would make myself walk a bit faster. Now I can do 30 minutes at a time, which includes a few minutes of actual running. I read that mixing walking and running in such a session burns fat quicker. I can't say quatifiably that it did but running for a minute or so, every five minutes, gave the whole workout an extra kick!

On days when I felt lazy to hit the machine I would tell myself I would just do it for ten minutes, because ten was better than none. Well its works a treat. Once you are on the damn machine, you think, well now I am here, I may as well do five more minutes and then the endorphins kick in and you think alright five more minutes and before you know it you walked two kilometres and are feeling great!

I have to admit that at times the walking machine can be a bit dull. In a subsequent blog I will share my favourite workout songs. I found I needed fast beat music to keep the pace and motivate me. I also need to block out any sesne of competition with my neighbours. Initially when someone was on the machine next to me, and ran for an entire hour, I was completely intimidated and wanted to give up the game. I admit this brought back some childhood feelings of inadequacy which had to be self talked out of my head. Who cares that she can run that fast, or for that long? Its my body, my process and my way - my way to weight loss! Who cares what everyone else is doing....

With or without a personal trainer?

A close friend of mine decided to lose weight about the same time as me. Perhaps it was even her decision which inspired me. Nothing like some healthy competition to get the ball rolling.

She had heard about a personal trainer who had moved into our area from Sweden - a body builder and the woman who was known to have trained a number of Swedish super models!! My friend could not resist the thought of having a Swedish super model body so signed up for a one hour session, early morning, five days a week. I was impressed, in fact, in awe of my friend for her commitment and for her willingness to let this body building Goddess loose on her flab! The USD 20 an hour fee seemed reasonable enough although I realised over time that is could add up.

Within a few weeks it was paying off. At our weekly lunches my friend loved to show me her newly found arm muscles and to lift up her shirt and show me her rapidly reducing stomach! Pretty inspiring (although could have done without seeing her belly once a week)... I kept wondering if I should not bite the bullet and sign up too. However I could not get my head around the idea of someone pushing me along every morning for an entire hour and knew that I would not last long with that kind of intensity.

And neither did my friend.

After a few months she had stopped and was back at her original weight. My conclusion is that while my friend was making leaps and bounds with her trainer, it was the intensity and frequency of the exercise she was doing. I was also making progress during this period, albeit slower, but progress. I was working out about half the time, on my own time, at a pace I could manage. I think more importantly I am my own personal trainer, my own motivation. For every session of exercise I did, healthy meal I ate or junk food I skipped, it was because I had decided and was pushing myself. An even greater motivation was the idea that for every hour I put in as my own personal trainer I was saving 20 bucks and even more importantly experimenting and learning what worked well for me.

My friend lost weight quickly, but could not sustain the schedule or intensity to keep the weight off. I am not at all against personal trainers - I am sure they work for many people. I doubt it would work for me. In the race between the hare and the tortoise, I say be your own personal trainer - it may take a bit longer but who knows you better than you know yourself!

Why 16kg?

Well like everyone on New Year's Eve, I resolved to lose weight. But somehow this year I realised it was just like wishing for world peace or that I would win the lottery. Without a lottery ticket its pretty hard to win!

So I decided in 2010 I would make it happen - lose weight. I googled healthy weight for 38 year old women  who are about 168 cm tall! And there was my goal 70 kilos or 154 pounds. At the time I weighed 86 kilos, so 70kilos seemed a long way away.

Also lets face it - I run an organisation, I have a family, I have extended family, I travel alot with work. So who am I kidding - my life is not always my own and I do not always get to be in control of timeframes, food intakes, schedules etc! Thus a nice long timeframe was essential if I was not setting myself up to fail.

So 70 kilos was the goal even if I had to extend the mission into 2011. The approach was to break the 16 kilos I had to lose down into 'biteszes' if you will excuse the term. I made the first 'mini' goal super easy. Lose one kilo! Somehow that first kilo was the hardest and yet most convincing. When I stood on the scales at 85kilos, I knew if I could lose one, I could lose another.

I can say the small goals made all the difference. At 75 kilos I got stuck. It seemed I plateaued and could not get past 75. My next goal was 73 but I just could not make it. I nearly gave up thinking perhaps this was all the weight possible to lose. Yet my thighs, butt, belly etc seemed still so wobbly! So I persisted and slowly, slowly I saw the scale one day tick over and I was on 74...and so I powered on. Reaching the small goals gave me such hope for the big one that I got new motivation not to give up.

So what worked for me - clear goal, small milestones, generous timeframe! 70 kilos here I come!

Sharing How It Worked for Me!

 
I am one of those girls who was lousy in physical education at school, had poor body image, was scared of the gym, love food, never watched what I ate and never, ever stepped on the scales. I thought weighing in was 'politically' incorrect as it was as if I was obsessed with superficial things. Last year I caught a glimpse of myself in a mirror, and a whole of personal stuff happened and I began to realise it was time to face these demons!

This blog is about what I learned along the way, because the most important lesson I learned was that I had to find my own way. There are lots of diets, books, training plans and programs out there for losing weight. I a m sure they work for the person who designed them and there are things we can all learn from them, but I found I had to make lifestyle changes which work for me.

So this blog is far from a 
definitive guide to weight loss. Its just a range of tips about diet, exercise and life which worked for me. Hope you find some of them useful, my journey remotely inspiring and that you find your own way which works for you!