mindset: it’s too hard for old, fat people to lose weight
Next year I turn 40. When I turned 20, I was young and trim and, being at university, my life consisted of studying, drinking, running and socialising – but not in that order, obviously.
Fast forward to my 30th birthday. Still relatively young, but not so trim anymore. Probably about 10 kilograms above my ideal weight. Not enormous, but not so great.
Along came my 39th birthday earlier this year – no longer young and now firmly in the ‘definitely fat’ camp. On my 39th birthday I was 30 kilograms overweight, sitting squarely in an obese BMI.
I decided that I didn’t want my 40th birthday to be a repeat of my 39th. I don’t want to be fat when I turn 40. It’s really important for me to be able to to look back on photographs with my kids and not feel ashamed and horrified by how I look in the photos. To buy myself something new to wear and actually enjoy the experience of going shopping and trying on new clothes. I want to have energy and look and feel younger.
So I set a goal to lose 30 kilograms by my 40th birthday.
And now I’ve spent the last six months lying to myself.
lies, it is all lies!
Since my birthday, I’ve lost a total of about 3 kilograms. At this rate, I will have lost 6 kilograms by the time I turn 40. Not exactly the outcome I was seeking.
I’ve spent a lot of time talking about and planning how I’m going to lose weight. That’s the fun part – the dreaming and the goal setting. But that’s all it has been – talk. And we all know that talk, without action means that you stay in the same place. Never moving towards your goals.
enter the epiphany
I had an epiphany this morning at 5am when I stood on the scales for my official weekly weigh in.
It was a loss.
And a good one – 1.3 kilograms.
And my epiphany?
Weight loss is actually easy.
it is, if you believe it
I’ve spent the last 10 years telling myself that it is impossible to lose weight after 30. That after having two kids, my body is ruined and I will never be a size 10 again.
Your body does what your mind thinks.
By continually telling myself this, I’ve been reinforcing this belief. That if you are fat and over 30, then you are going to look like that for the rest of the your life. That’s pretty stupid, huh? But the brain believes what you tell it to believe.
Until Monday, I still believed this. That I was going to be fat and forty. Not fucking fantastic and forty.
So, here’s what happened. Last week was a really busy, really stressful week. I had to travel to Singapore for work for two days and when I left both my kids were sick with a virus. My son, who is only four, wakes me up every single night. I was stressing about how he would handle not having his Mum there to put him back to sleep.
mini confession time
In Singapore, all of our meals were catered and while I didn’t go crazy, I did eat a lot. The food was so good – hot, catered meals for lunch and one evening we went to an amazing seafood restaurant for dinner. The food just kept coming out – probably 15-20 different plates. I ate past the point of being full.
When I got back to Australia, the kids were still sick and we were all exhausted. We ordered pizza for dinner that night and I ate the leftovers for breakfast on Sunday morning. I also ate a piece of chocolate cake after dinner on Sunday night.
So when Monday morning rolled (hahaha) around, I was feeling defeated and certain that this was going to be, yet again, another failure. Another attempt to lose weight that didn’t work.
friendship saves the day
Enter my good friend, Roxanne. We have been on this ‘weight loss’ journey together. Except she has lost 10 kilograms. Before I left for Singapore she told me that she had committed to giving up alcohol for about two months (I’m sure she can tell you the number of days!). Alcohol for her is like food is for me. A habit, part of the routine of everyday life.
On Monday she told me that she was 10 days without alcohol. A major, back slapping, high five, whoot-whoot achievement and I am so proud of her!
At the same time it was a bit of a kick in the face for me. My own foot, mind you. Here was my friend, alcohol free and clean eating. Here is me, tired from a busy week in Singapore, my son was terribly sick with RSV virus, and full of pizza and cake.
I ended up going home from work early on Monday because that day my husband hurt his back and couldn’t move. I picked up my daughter from school and we went to our local fruit and vegetable market and bought the most delicious and fresh produce – all for less than $60.
then it was time to get organised
When I got home, I pulled up my sleeves and started preparing all of the vegetables I bought – washing, chopping and storing in containers. I don’t know if this ever happens to you, but if I just put the vegetables straight into the fridge, as is, then in a week’s time I will be taking them out and putting them into the bin.
That night I roasted pumpkin, sweet potato, brussells sprouts and broccoli in the oven. At the same time I made the world’s dodgiest dinner – chicken nuggets for the kids and pizza and a meat pie for my husband and I.
But the prep I did on Monday night has resulted in real success this week. When I woke up on Tuesday morning, I had to stay home from work because my son was still really sick and my husband couldn’t move. But that meant that I also had some time. Instead of having to rush out the door to get to work by 7am, I could actually make myself a nice breakfast. Eggs – I never get to eat eggs for breakfast!
That day, when my son was resting on the couch, I went for a walk on the treadmill. I did more than 10,000 steps for the first time in months.
For dinner that night, my husband and the kids ate meat balls with salad and potato. I ate a salad with the roasted vegetables that I made the night before.
repeat habit = success
The next day was the same. I woke up and ate a delicious breakfast that I had prepared the previous day – overnight oats.
When my son rested, I exercised. Hitting 10,000 steps again – two days in a row!
For dinner we ate New Zealand Hoki fillets marinated in lemon, garlic and parsley for the kids and indian-style for my husband and I – lots of chilli, garlic, ginger, coriander and cumin.
When I woke up this morning I felt really good about weighing in. Even though I’ve only been eating clean and exercising for two days, I can already feel the changes in my body. After just two days!
When I stood on the scales and saw a drop of 1.3 kilograms, I realised that I had been fooling myself for years into believing that it was so difficult to lose weight. It really isn’t.
It’s about being consistent and preparing ahead. So that the chaos of life doesn’t take over and stop you dead in your tracks.
