How To Lose WeightHello everyone.  Thanks for stopping by last week and catching up with my weight loss update.  I really appreciate all the support your giving me, it’s keeping me motivated even on days when things aren’t going quite so well.  It’s also lovely to read that some of you experience some of the issues I do.

As a person who experiences challenges with my relationship with food, I know how difficult breaking bad habits can be.  I think we all know what we should be eating and how we can improve our diet, but something stops us.

We don’t think like thin people do, but it doesn’t mean that we can’t.  But to do it, we have to breakdown our current relationship with food and understand where our habits come from, to give ourselves a chance of starting to form new ones.

Last week I shared an extra post in my Thinking Thin series, called 5 Ways To Treat Yourself Without Food.  I realised that food has become such a quick and convenient way to reward myself after a long or difficult day, that I need to change these habits so I still feel like I’m getting a treat.  I am always going to be faced with a difficult day with the kids every know and then, or a work challenge, so finding new ways to pick myself up from that will make a big difference to my journey.

I’m still working on bringing these new habits into my week.  The thoughts are in my head, which in itself is a step in the right direction.  However, I’m not at the ‘take action’ stage yet.  I have progressed with planning a holiday, but I think the things that will make a real difference are taking some time for a little pampering, and also taking up a new hobby.  I also think some adult colouring in will be very therapeutic.

I have also been thrown this last week by the return of my chocolate cravings.  They were looking like I’d got them all under control, when something happened.  My periods returned!  Now, I’ve not had a period in nearly 2 years, due to having Little Pudding and then going on to breastfeed her.  I stopped feeding her 2 months ago now, but my cycle has taken a little while to catch up.

I think a lot of woman, take a fancy for a little chocolate at this time of the month, and maybe it’s something I shouldn’t deny myself all the time.  I figure there is going to be a few days once a month where my body is going to say, ‘I need a little chocolate’, so how am I best to manage this.  I’ve found great success in the past in picking the right chocolate.  One piece of rich dark chocolate, can satisfy those chocolate cravings, without doing any damage to the weight loss journey.

I will be getting a bar in the cupboard for just those occasions, so that I can have a small piece when my body is screaming, ‘I need chocolate’.  I figure that’s got to be better than the bar of snickers and maltesers I reached for last week!

Now I know it’s coming, I can take action to stay in control of my eating.  The trouble with milk chocolate is the high fat and sugar content.  I know I’m a sugar addict, and it will always be a weakness of mine.  If I don’t take steps to control my monthly cravings, they could turn into monthly binges.  I am one of those people who can’t stop at one biscuit or bar of chocolate, I know I’m capable of eating these things until the point I feel sick.

I’ll be looking out for those chocolate cravings next month, and I’ll be ready with a bar of 70% Cocoa Lindt Chocolate.   I think this will be a far better way of keeping those cravings in check, than dying myself chocolate altogether.

The trap we fall into so easily is, the more bad food we eat, the more bad food we want.  However, on the flip side of that, the more healthy food we eat, the more healthy food we want too.  It’s just about choosing the right path and staying on it as much as possible.

Choosing the right path, is more of a challenge than it sounds though, and deserves a whole post in itself.  All of the issues I’ve covered in this series so far, go back to one thing.  If you want to make lasting real progress, the one thing you really need to change is how you feel about yourself.  Just take a second, and ask yourself how you feel about you, your body, and who you are?  These are pretty big questions, but the answers are equally as big.

If, like me, you’re not screaming, I love myself, I love my body (regardless of what shape or size it is) and I love who I am then this is where the real change is needed.  We have to stop the cycle of self loathing, which will break the the cycle of comfort eating, which will help us all get the body we deserve to have.

We can do this readers, we will change these habits and we will learn to celebrate ourselves for who we are.  In the comments below, I’d love for you to tell me one thing you love about yourself.  It can be anything, something about your body, something you do, anything. I will start us off.  I love my drive and passion for things, it helps me enjoy life and be successful.  Now, it’s your turn, tell me something you love about yourself….

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3 COMMENTS

  1. I hate dark chocolate. I know that it is much better for us than a milk or a white one but for me chocolate must be sweet. All the dark chocolates in the house are always eaten by Mark 🙂

  2. Apologies if my shortbread recipe triggered this 😉 A bit of chocolate now and again doesn’t hurt. I always think that moderation is the key to any diet. If you stop your self having certain foods, you are more likely to binge on them when you’re having a bad day (or is that just me?).

  3. Mmmmm, I love dark chocolate! My downfall is bread and although I don’t want to lose weight, I do suffer from ibs, which carbs/sugar trigger. I’ve been following a clean eating detox which has been amazing and there’s even a clean eating chocolate recipe, win! Good luck lovely, you can achieve your goals and if you want any tasty clean recipes then let me know xx

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