Are you bored with your diet?

Sometimes we can get bored of dieting - counting calories, the discipline of exercising, points, syns, lettuce, low fat, high carb, low carb, no carb, lots of protein, no protein - it's repetitive and mundane.

Let me share something with you:

I play the flute (not to a high level, but I've got Grade 5 and could probably skip to Grade 8 with practise - and a teacher). Well, in my early days of flute playing I did tone exercises for 10 minutes every day - slow, boring and repetitive BUT it has helped me to develop good tone!  Scales and arpeggios etc - boring boring boring - up and down,. down and up BUT they are great for helping with dexterity, speed, tone, transposition etc etc. Think of dieting like that - don't look at the here and now - look to the future - what you will become - a beautiful string of lost pounds, playing a tuneful melody. OK seems like a strange analogy, but I hope you get what I'm trying to say! 

Keep going - it will be worth it in the end

xxxx

Lime Pickle chicken salad

Tonight I bought a single chicken breast portion (already cooked) from work - I took the skin off and diced it into a bowl. I then mixed in 2 heaped teaspoons of Lime Pickle! 

In a colander I cut up:
some ice berg lettuce, 
baby spinach
a chunk of cucumber diced
sprig each of basil, parsley and mint
piccolini cherry tomatoes
strands of peeled carrot

wash all of those and then add to the Lime Pickle chicken, mix thoroughly and enjoy! 

Sometimes I'll add diced apple, strawberries, grapes and kiwi fruit to my salads to add some different flavours! You could also add peppers, spring onions, radishes, beetroot etc! 

The salad tonight was yummy :)

xxxx

A Sandy Beach

Was just wondering what to post today on my blog and as I was pondering I thought of a beach! A beautiful sandy beach. I think most people love beaches - whether you're the sunbathing type or more active sporty type. There's something nice about a sandy beach. The sound of the sea lapping on the shore, when the sea comes in, it can be fun dodging the advancing waves. Looking in rock pools for crabs and other creatures. Burying your friends in the sand or whatever. 
Have you ever considered though how many tiny grains of sand make up a beach? Trillions, no doubt.

We can look at our weight loss campaign like a beach - the grains of sand may be tiny but when put together they make something beautiful - it's the same as us - we may only be losing 1lb or even half a pound a week, but those build up and we are becoming shaped and formed. Just think of the smaller clothes we can buy as we keep losing, the confidence we will gain (I have to admit that when I have been slimmer I've had much more confidence!). 

Keep going on your weight loss quest - it will be worth it in the end :)

xxxx

Logging!

No, this isn't a form of limp jogging ;) This is what I've done for the past couple of weeks - Logging EVERYTHING I eat and trying to keep within my calorie allowance. So far it's working because I've lost 4lb since the beginning of July (although my ticker says 3lb - I didn't change my start weight, which was 1lb more).

I haven't done much exercise - the basic walking to work! I need to up my exercise and see if I do better!

OK if you're struggling - don't panic! Log all your eat and be accountable for it - no excuses now! 

Last Friday (11th July 2014) I went on a picnic and knew I'd eaten over my allowance, but wasn't sure how much over - well after logging I was over 500 calories above what I should have been! OK it was a shock, even embarrassing, but, by logging it I was taking ownership and making myself accountable for the excess calories and then I could get back on track again over the weekend!

Don't despair if you eat more - start again the following day and put the blip behind you!

This is a journey - we will encounter hurdles (holes in the road), etc, but the main thing is getting to the end of the journey!

Have a good week folks!

xxxx

Dumper Trash can of Excuses

I'm bumping this one up to the top because that's my problem I use way too many excuses when finding a way out of losing weight!

http://dizzycoolbabe.blogspot.co.uk/2009/11/dumper-trash-can-for-lack-of-weightloss.html

Hope it's helpful

xxxx

In the Same Boat

When we go on a diet sometimes it's difficult to see that there are others who are struggling as well! The word 'DIET' conjures up images of unending lettuce leaves and boring food like that, but it doesn't have to be that way!

Remember my ownership blog post? All of us need to take ownership of what we do in our lives! What food we put in our mouths, how much water we drink, how much exercise we do etc. 

We all struggle, sometimes it feels like the boat is sinking, but remember, you're not alone - although others can't lose the weight for you - the others, who are not struggling at that moment in time, can 'bail the water out' by encouraging you, helping you out along the way, guiding you! 

Let's start bailing out the water by looking at what you eat and drink in a day - log it! I use www.myfitnesspal.com to log my food - I've been on it for just 3 weeks and I'm finding it does help me to take ownership of what I'm putting in my mouth and I can track the calories (OK this might sound boring, but look at your weight loss as a journey).

There's no better time to start than TODAY!