The month of May was a very exciting one for me personally as far as my Getting Fit At Last program is concerned. Not only have I lost additional weight as hoped, I have also developed some new and positive eating habits that should have long term value for my good health.
Obviously, I enjoy eating, all too much perhaps, which is certainly one contributing factor to my initial weight problem. The good news for me now is that I am finding new joy in eating some great foods that I enjoy just as much as the fattening foods I ate before, but which add nutrition and good taste without the high calorie count.
Continuing Weight Loss
In the world of music it is not uncommon for a singer to have a remarkable hit and then have to sing that same hit over and over, perhaps for years. Now I may not be going on for years, but just as the musician may appreciate the fact of having a hit become successful enough to never get tired of singing the song, I am happy to sing my song of “four more pounds!”
According to my scale, I actually dropped six pounds this month. However, since my reading on the first of the month was a bit lower than the days before and after, I expect to see a smaller and likely somewhat offsetting loss next month. We will see.
But give or take this bit, I am consistently seeing my weight loss continue at a steady rate. This means that my plan for weight loss has proven itself effective month after month now, for over a year! And, at 189 pounds, I have now lost over 65 pounds!
Eating More and Eating Better
In April I started in a limited way to add new foods to my diet, but in May I decided to do much more. Even though I need to lose another fifteen pounds, instead of waiting until I reached my target weight and then working more extensively on new, more permanent, eating habits I realized that making that change was not going to be a quick and easy one. It seemed better to me to move in small deliberate steps.
Over the course of the month I learned to eat a number of low calorie foods, some that I did not eat before to any extent and some that I did eat but not in the same amounts. Some were ingredients that I added to meals I had been eating before. Others were foods that were totally new for me.
Altogether I anticipate eating a little more food in the days ahead than I have previously. That means a few more calories and may result in slower weight loss over the next few months. But I only expect to increase my calories perhaps 250-300 calories per day or less. Over the coming weeks I will write some posts about the way I am doing this.
The point is that I am transitioning from a weight loss diet to a maintenance diet slowly and deliberately. In this way I should reduce the risk of reverting to old habits that could lead to increased weight gain as I reach my permanent appropriate weight level.
Looking Ahead
Over the next month I want to expand on the areas I have just discovered during April and May. So far I have just been exploring a few new possibilities. Now that I see something of the possibilities I want to widen the application with four particular approaches to moving from a temporary weight loss plan to permanent healthy eating habits.
- add more of some ingredient in an existing ready to serve meal
- add an additional side dish to an existing regular or ready to serve meal
- expand the number of healthy options for between meal snacks
- learn to cook new foods/meals from scratch
Each of these offer numerous possibilities. And, in each of these approaches I have already found really helpful options. I will share a lot more about what I have learned and what I expect to learn in the near future.
Conclusion
This month I have focused solely on reporting my progress in weight loss and changing eating habits. Actually there is little change for me in any other health matters this month, but these two are significant and I wanted to focus on them for that reason. At the same time the new eating options are also, to date, just initial steps. There is a long way to go and I anticipate it will be an interesting journey.