My Journey With Weight Loss – Learnings (2)

Another running training today. I am up to 2 consecutive training sessions of 2.5 minutes walking and 1.5 minutes running (10 intervals). What I don’t understand is why the running intervals seem 10 times longer than the walking intervals. My husband said, quit, just walk don’t run. You would think after being together for nearly 30 years he would get the fact that isn’t an option.

So what else have I learned? Well, today I want to talk about deprivation. This comes from a message from a friend who asked me if I had completely cut out things like alcohol and sugar. The answer is an emphatic NO! Those who know me know that I like my wine. But, I recognize those added calories don’t help with my journey. So, over the past year in particular I have gone days, weeks and sometimes a month with no alcohol. Really, doing training really helps as the alcohol consumption really impairs your large muscle groups. That means if I am training the next day I really don’t want the added stress to my muscles of working off the alcohol. Having said that, if I am going out for a nice dinner then HELL YES I am having a few glasses of wine. But sugar, really? Yes I still sometimes have a sweet treat but I plan ahead. When I am going to do that I reduce my carbs the rest of the day to allow me to add a bit of sugar to my diet. I should note, to support non-chain restaurants during the pandemic my family does take out every Wednesday and while most times I look for a healthy alternative, last night was fish and chips. So I prepped myself and kept to zero carbs the rest of the day.

As for sugar, I have become a master at low fat, low sugar, and low sodium desserts. Truly I make everything from cookies to cheesecake. I’m not a big dessert person but every once and a while it is a nice treat. Here’s a hint, Hershey’s has sugar free chocolate chips which can be added to anything (using a sugar substitute of course). The problem is that product is only available in the USA so I have to find someone who can get it to me. Sadly right now I am down to only 2 bags but am hoping I can get some shipped to me soon. Also if you are in BC, Charlie’s Chocolate Factory has some awesome sugar free sweets.

I don’t believe in deprivation, to me if you keep something completely out of you diet you just crave it more. Instead, find alternatives. In today’s day and age there is so much out there that can help. And in case you say, yeah but it has so many other problems you are wrong. For example, I make sugar free fruit sauce which has no sugar or substitute but is awesome for toppings such as pancakes or our favourite, cheesecake. And if you want a sodium replacement, MRS Dash can help. I know, that is so old schiik but really it does help spice up bland food.

And now, portion control. Oh yes, the standby of dieting (and I hate the concept of being on a diet). You all remember hearing abut calories in vs calories out right? For me, quite frankly screw that. I never tried to change the amount I ate. Having said that, I all of a sudden realized I was eating less. Yes, your read that right, it just happened naturally. As I lost weight the amount I ate simply got smaller. It wasn’t because that was my goal, it just naturally occurred. My body told me how much I needed to keep going. Yes, I became more cognizant of things like carbs and sugar but my body told me how much I needed to eat. Don’t get me wrong, there were times that I have eaten more than I should but to be honest there was a lot of body rebellion for doing that.

Here’s the bottom line; don’t diet, don’t deprive, don’t measure your plate. Instead, get moving, know what your body needs, sacrifice a little to get where you need to be.