I’m so glad you asked. Not at all well, as it happens.
This was definitely my failure in 2019. Though I ended the year weighing less than I began it, that was purely and simply because part-way through I realised that our scales are over-stating weight.
This was pointed out by two visitors who both said that they appeared to weigh substantially more at our house than at home. I tested it with some known weights, and sure enough it over-states by about 4.4%. So I’ve been diligently adjusting the figure when I weigh myself, and lo and behold, my actual weight is much closer to what I’m aiming for than I thought. However, that still left me with at least 7 kilos to lose.
Apparently my wish to lose it just wasn’t strong enough to outweigh my wish to enjoy eating all sorts of treats. Intake > output = weight gain. Fortunately the final tally wasn’t quite that bad – it was more like: intake = output = no change.
However. 2020 has arrrived on a much more positive note. Being ill last month (a minor bug, that nonetheless put me off my food for a whole week) kick-started some weight loss, and I have managed to keep it going. I have now lost 2k, and am enjoying eating more healthily and more mindfully – and slightly less.
The main thing that has changed, for the good, is that I have stopped drinking the large quantity of very milky coffee that had become my morning comfort blanket. I’m still having the coffee, but drinking it black, and savouring the taste all the more for doing so.
This has had the added advantage that I have cut my dairy consumption almost in half, making a significant contribution to another of my (failed) 2019 goals – reduce the amount of dairy produce I consume. I don’t plan to cut it altogether – there is a strong family history of osteoporosis, and dairy consumption is a useful way to help counter the risk.
A tool I have found particularly useful in the past few weeks and will continue to use is my FitBit. Until recently I was only been using this to track my activity levels (and very useful it has been). Over the past few weeks I have also been using it to record what I eat/drink. The combination of the two is proving a powerful support in getting that input:output balance right. I can either eat less or do more; the other way around just doesn’t work (obviously). I have become much more aware of days when I am too sedentary, and days when I have eaten more than I should. Achieving a better balance is undoubtedly in my own hands.
Something else that has made a difference was coming across the blog of a woman slightly older than me who, for various health-related reasons, needed to lose a substantial amount of weight. Reading her long struggle to achieve this, and seeing her before and after photos, was truly inspirational – if she can manage to lose 5 stone (and still going), I can surely manage to lose considerably less. After years of losing that struggle, she joined a slimming club and found that helped. That’s not something I would ever want to do (for all sorts of reasons), but I have ‘buddied up’ with a close friend who also needs to lose some weight for health-related reasons, and we support and encourage each other.
So, all around, this one seems to be win-win (for now – I’m not pretending I’m going to find losing the remaining 5 k easy, but I am at least optimistic that I can do it).
the magic jug 