I put weight on. Five years ago I weighed 132lb, which is healthy for my height. Then I put weight on; I went up to around 170lbs in a couple of years and I stayed at that weight. No real reason for the weight gain - I just like eating! Then in the last few months of 2017 I went up to 187lbs during the last few months of my PhD. I overate due to stress and craved sugary foods constantly (which is not normally my style - usually I'd pick cheesy garlic bread over chocolate any time).
I lost some of the weight. I defended my PhD in January this year and then I went back down to 170lbs. I thought I was doing it! I thought I was doing CICO. I've been on this subreddit a while. I worked out my TDEE (1800) and I use MyFitnessPal set to 1300 every day. I started running in the summer and finished C25K for the first time. I now run 5k twice a week every week.
Then the weightloss stopped again. I'd got back to my previous normal weight of 170lbs and stayed there. I've weighed the same now for two months. I started thinking of myself of having plateaued, despite exercising regularly for the first time in my adult life and tracking my foods every day. I got mad. I blamed CICO. I decided it was all a pack of lies. My lack of weightloss was CICO's fault and not mine. I started to give up and I started to think, "This is just the weight that I'm meant to be."
But I wasn't doing CICO, not all the time at least. I haven't been counting weekends and I don't count alcohol. I'm basically good during the week and at weekends I overeat significantly and I have a few beers. I went away last week for a city break for my partner's birthday, and before I went I asked in the Ask A Question daily thread here for advice on how to stay on track. I got some great advice! And I ignored it all. I ate and drank all week and I was unsurprised to find that I'd put on weight when I got back.
Today I decided that it's time to stop lying to myself. I put together a small action plan:
- Weekends count! Stick to my daily calorie limits on weekends. Not tracking weekends makes this feel like a temporary change and not the lifestyle change that I want this to be
- Be kind to yourself. Sometimes I'm going to fall off the wagon but I can just get back on. The wagon hasn't driven away and left me behind.
- Start counting alcohol - always. Don't get me wrong, I'm not binge drinking. It's just that I have a couple of beers on a Friday after work with my partner, and then probably also on Saturday night, and sometimes if we go out on Sunday we might stop in the pub for a drink somewhere during the day. It adds up fast.
- Weigh yourself every day. I'd previously not done this because I thought it could lead to obsession over my weight, but weighing once a week was demoralising if I'd not lost weight or even put it on. Before I went away I weighed myself every day and seeing a downwards trend during the week and allowing for fluctuations because of water etc. really helped me feel like I'm on the right track.
And that's my four-step plan to success! I'm going to stick to this for two months and see how I get on - I'll keep you posted.
For the people out there who've been in my position - I would appreciate any advice or words of wisdom!
For the people out there who are doing the same thing - start your real journey with me today (because let's face it, I'd not begun the journey yet. I was still just packing...).
This is my real Day 1.
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