It’s Monday once again and time for a recap on my commitment to lose weight. Last week I re-learned some things about myself that I thought I’d out grown.
Last week was week #2 of this journey and in week #1 I’d managed to resist temptation so leading into week #2 I was feeling confident I could keep this party going.
As the week went on my focus left my eating habits and I allowed myself to be absorbed by the demands of daily living. In the end I did continue drinking water and resisting obvious temptations but I didn’t pay enough attention to healthy eating.
Let me explain how it works here in Julie’s world. I have a brain injury, one which somehow affects my levels of hunger and how my body alerts me to hunger. Because of this I use reminders on my phone to eat. Last week I didn’t respond immediately to the alarms on my phone and ended up feeling light-headed at 2pm too many times.
Rushing to the kitchen to grab a healthy meal just doesn’t work for me, certainly not when I realize I haven’t eaten anything by 2pm. My hand stretched right over the fruit and veggies and landed upon foods that were high in fats and carbs. My bad habits were kicking in. Once again I’d proven to myself the importance of meal planning and my ability to fail when not properly prepared.
Meal Planning is Essential to Lose Weight
Each of us faces different challenges when trying to lose weight, for me meal planning is essential. Personally I need to have a list of foods which are healthy choices and mustn’t forget to shop for the ingredients. I’m unable to think fast and make substitutions, these days I’m much like a turtle in high-stress situations.
This is a characteristic I’ve fought hard against but it’s simply a reality I must plan for. If I take the time to establish a meal plan my chances for success are much better and my moral will stay up.
Last week I did lose 1 pound but overall I don’t see that as a success because I’d much rather have made healthy eating choices. In the long run I want to change my life, somehow retrain myself to choose the healthy items first.
I believe this can be done by establishing habits and the first step comes with awareness…….after last week I’ve got the awareness and this week I’ll be using a food tracker. Whew, ok it feels great to be honest here and recognize my weaknesses. Using the meal planner and food tracker will help me to build up my strength.
How about you, do you have a health goal?
If you are writing about it anywhere feel free to link up.
I wish you success in your weight loss goals. I have lost 33 pounds in the last few years. It has been slow but I am ok with that because what I have lost has stayed off. I have been having dizzy spells also and the idea of an alarm to remind me to eat is a really wonderful and intelligent idea, Julie…thank you :)
Wow Teresa that’s GREAT! The alarm really helps….if you listen to it.
You are doing great, feel free to share you post in Fab Transformations group and let others know you have a linky…there were some great posts this week! I hope we can all support each other.
Oh good idea Lisa, I’ll get on that now
Which meal tracker are you using?? I would be nice if we could motivate each other :)
I too have a tough time making the right choice at the last minute. Preparing meal ideas, shopping for those meals and having everything ready to make those meals would make life easier.
I’m thinking of following your lead and using myfitnesspal…I’ll add you for sure
Setting reminders for yourself is a great way to remember to drink your water, to eat many small meals each day – I have to do this too for myself! You can do this!!!
Julie, setting reminders is a great idea. I’m also using myfitnesspal, feel free to add me and we can support each other.