It is day two of the latest instalment of my epic struggle. Actually, it might be about day 60, I can never be sure when it is time to say the last attempt was a failure and that I'm starting again. I've started and stopped continuously for as long as I can remember, and in ernest for the last five years. Yesterday, I started again...
In case you are wondering, I am not talking about my ongoing search for love, happiness and success. Well, not entirely. I am talking about my single biggest battle, the one thing I have yet to gain any traction on, in spite of my other successes. I am talking about weight loss. Yep, my one epic fail.
I have had some short term wins after various attempts at the latest good idea. Notably were the great results I got from Tony Ferguson, however the results only lasted a week or two because the program is almost a starvation diet. It's Atkinsesque zero tolerance for carbohydrates drove me to the point of distraction. I love carbs. Simple. I love breads, I love breads with wine, I love breads with wine and cheese. Take those three things away from me and I have little reason to live! I have also tried a series of other things over the years - from Anthony Robbins detox, some NLP and more recently the Biggest Loser online.
Some of them have taught me lessons - some good, some less helpful. Robbins taught me that humans were never meant to go without meat and bread. Veganism is crazy! Whilst I am sure it is founded in a series of morally good principles, my body has needs and they were not met. Tony Furguson got me thinking about portion control and whilst I was never a big eater I still learned that my small (and indeed everyone else's) was not quite small enough. Unfortunately, I again learned that life without carbs is a life not worth living. The closest I have come so far is the Biggest Loser online. It prescribes a sensible menu, lets me have toast for breakfast and provides a great way to keep track of my daily calorie intake. It even plots it against my calorie burning for the day, based on my basal metabolic rate plus exercise. Alas, it is the latest in my hall of shame. Whilst it is a great system, it is time intensive. It takes time to keep track of every single thing you eat - looking it up on the menu, adding it, weighing portions, etc. If you want to save time on all of that, you can use the eating plan they provide. You then have to print a shopping list and spend hours wandering the aisles of Safeway trying to find 200gms of this and one sprig of that. Then, when you get home and unpack it all, you are faced with the stark realisation that the 4.2 minutes of free time you have in your life each day are now going to be consumed cutting, preparing and cooking. To make matters worse, you then need to eat it and clean up. It gets tough in the mornings having to prepare a whole day of food... and get it to work, and bring the things home and, well, you get my drift.
Enter Lite'n'Easy. They originally didn't deliver to the end of the Earth, or Sydenham. Fortunately, they now come as far as Sydenham which, consequently, is only a stones throw away from the end of the Earth. I've received my first order, an esky full of food neatly packed into "Day 1 Fridge" and "Day 1 Freezer", etc. The excellent news is, I need to grab a bag and go, I just need to heat stuff up. Suddenly, the issue of me being time poor is addressed.
So what are the likely challenges? Well, now I am eating five smaller meals a day - so my metabolism appears to be functioning normally. I have gone from a two meal a day average, and even then I could mostly have survived on one - to developing an incredible hunger that is only just met every couple of hours. Realising this of course is probably a good thing, I battle on.
The only other challenge that I imagine will be stronger than my will is my lifestyle. I will get through this week, get my next delivery, get through that week, then I am off to a conference for a week. Last time I checked, it was hard to get an esky with a weeks meals on a plane and then eat them at a conference. So I'm hoping I can still stick to a decent eating plan and then get back on the wagon when I get home.
The lifestyle thing is the next big challenge. It has made going to the gym really tough so far too. Somehow, in this crazy and hectic life I have created for myself, I need to find some routine - that's a story for another day.
A
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