It was time to start changing the bad habits and in order for this to work I had to make some serious changes with what went down my gob.
And throw in some regular exercise other than my work.
Like I said the old xmas cheer grabbed a hold of my, well I’m not sure what, but before I knew it I had packed on about 6kgs or a stone in the old language.
Now for this stuff to work I had to change my mindset around a bit and came to the conclusion that taking little steps towards the changes then it would be sustainable, hence the blogs name “Just One Bit At A Time”.
So What Changed At Christmas?
I love food which I’m guessing we all do but I have always struggled with stopping at 1 plate or even worse when my stomach was telling me I’m full.
Instead my taste buds would take over and say “please just one more” and I would think yeah, it does taste bloody good. And so up goes Herbie for seconds, sometimes more.
I was too weak to say no, especially to the beer, prawns, ham, beer, ham, pavlova, prawns, bourbon and coke oh sorry I’m repeating myself but that’s how it was.
No wonder I broke the tonne on the scales. 101kgs to be exact, that was on 10th Jan 2018.
I had full intentions of dropping the excess once I got back to work but my GP sort of told me to hurry it up a bit. Party pooper.
Oh well time to change, that was also the day that Sony and myself decided we could both do with a bit of spring cleaning. Out with the old, in with the new.
Good Bye Yummy Food
Well that’s what I thought but after desensitizing my palate with lemon juice, that’s what I put it down to, I started to enjoy and crave healthy, natural and unprocessed foods.
My taste buds which had be preconditioned to enjoy sweet and savoury suddenly craved food which I used to find boring and unattractive.
Out With The Old In With The New
This is pretty much what we decided to stop or cut back and replace with healthier options.
The Sweet Tooth
We both enjoyed a good cake from the bakery, you know vanilla slice, apple pie and cream, carrot cake, that type of thing and we knew that had to stop.
So we cut out probably 90% of these “treats” and replaced them with fruit, whatever is in season, nuts, plain crackers, that type of thing.
Bananas are good for a snack and sometimes just a bit of cheese and gherkin on some plain crackers. We also tend to have some boiled eggs in the fridge as well, good for you and good to fill your tummy.
The soft drinks, in particular Coke had to go, yep my favourite bourbon mixer but you know what, after a month or two the thought of drinking Coke almost makes me feel ill.
I have probably downed maybe 5 cans of the stuff since January 2018 and boy it feels good. Much easier and cheaper to replace it with the good ole H2O.
Water has seriously never tasted so good, I generally get my 2 litres a day in and quite often it is closer to 2.5 or 3 Lts.
Add in a squeeze of lemon for a nice refreshing hit, not to mention lemon is better for you than you might think. More on that in another post.
The Carbs
Oh the carbs, who doesn’t love a good spag bol or lasagne? What about rice dishes like curried prawns or chicken.
Rice or pasta was actually a big favourite in our house and we would have had a rice or pasta dish about 3 times a week, that had to change.
I guess the pasta dishes have been cut back to 1 every 2 weeks or less and although we may have rice on occasion I tend to replace it with cauliflower rice. It’s a much healthier option and super easy to make too. (Watch out for the gas though).
The Alcohol
Like any Aussie bloke beer is part of the Australian way of life, wine for the better half, so I decide to cut right back.
Instead of a couple a day most days, now I guess it’s around a six each week. A couple on Friday night, maybe Saturday or Sunday arvo on the back deck, but that’s about it.
And to tell you the truth I don’t really miss it that much.
It was far too easy to have far too many over Christmas as everything is a celebration. We have a lot of birthdays from Christmas through to the end of Feb so there’s always a drink to be had.
Summer time makes it harder too as, well its just summer time and cheese and bickies, beer and wine go hand in hand.
I’m not saying we have given it all away, we just limit how much. Gosh you have to have a reward for your efforts now and then.
Time To Get Moving
With so many changes to the diet we obviously needed to add in a bit of exercise. We don’t overexert ourselves by any means but try to get up and moving most days of the week.
We like to grab Gemma, our dog, and go for a nice medium paced walk for at least 35 – 40 minutes. Just enough to get our heart pumping a bit and after a few weeks we actually felt guilty if we missed a day.
Mornings are best for our walks, it seems to program your mind and body ready for the day ahead. Not to mention the amazing sun rises that we have seen on our walks and the joy on Gemma’s face when she hits the beach.
I guess the fact that Gemma seems to get so much more out of the walk makes it so much easier to get up and going.
Conclusion
Just to recap we cut back, not cut out totally, a lot of the things we loved to eat but knew we shouldn’t.
We made a point of drinking plenty of water with 1 glass having a squeeze of fresh lemon in it, preferably in the morning.
Cut back on the happy hours at home, try replacing it for a nice cup of tea. Gee I’m sounding like an old bugger now.
I do still love a cappuccino but I have cut the sugar out and actually enjoying the flavour of the coffee a lot more.
We try to go for a walk at least 5 days of the week. We don’t get hung up about it if we miss a day due to bad weather or work commitment.
I guess it is just about making the changes one bit at a time.
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