Firstly, apologies for the lack of a post yesterday, I hope i didn't have anyone worried that I'd pulled the plug on the whole project! I wanted to make sure I had time to properly reflect on the first week with so much having gone on in such a short space of time, and to have my first 'official' weighing since I started 7 days ago (despite actually having weighed myself about 4 times this week!)
I set some ground rules on the weighing to avoid any variations, so its always first thing, after I've been for a 'gypsy's kiss' and sans any clobber.
125.8kg. 4.9kg / 11 lbs lighter than this time last week
It's a not insignificant loss, in fact it's a lot more than I was expecting in the first week (its almost 50% of my overall target for the month) but as with so often this week I'm in the grips of a powerful spell of lethargy. It's a little worrying to think that I'm looking at that figure and going 'Meh' as its the sort of loss that could only really normally be achieved by lopping off a limb or 2. But for the time being, apathy rules and I'm thinking about increasing my activity levels to help speed up the process. Nothing too significant for now, as training and desire for pizza have always seemed to go hand in hand so anything too strenuous is likely to push me over the edge, but enough to start putting a bit of definition back in my arms & shoulders.
I'm aware that I'm very much downplaying what's a pretty epic achievement in the timescale, but the reasons for this are twofold.
1) The aforementioned apathy.
2) I'm a moron when it comes to weight loss.
I'll expand on that second point. My weight has always fluctuated and so diets & losing weight are very much a recurring theme in my life. What's also a recurring theme is that as soon as I lose a bit of weight, I start to feel that the job is done and that I can just go back to normal.
I've been seriously battling that feeling again yesterday and today. 'I've lost nearly a stone, I should go back to eating again...' I always judge the weight lost in its own merit, rather than in the context of the total I need to lose. Yeah 11 lbs is loads on its own, but as a percentage of the long-term amount of weight I want to take off its less than 20%. It's important I keep that in mind or I'll drift back into the 'that'll do for now' mentality and I've got way to far to go yet to start thinking like that.
To summarise the last week, it's been a combination of dizzying highs and physically & mentally exhaustive lows. I've played with the idea of quitting a lot, not least last night when I was hit but a huge pizza craving (Both a huge craving for pizza, and a craving for a huge pizza!) so I've introduced a raft of new coping strategies to keep myself motivated:
- Deferring gratification
- Game Life
- Aggressive motivators
- Going public
Deferring gratification.
Pretty straightforward this. It's much easier to cope psychologically with 'I'll have that later' than 'I can't have that ever' So when I get hit with a craving I'm adding it to a shopping list that I'll buy at the end of the month. 'Ah' I hear you say 'but then you'll just put all the weight back on, you're an idiot' Not so, naysayer, say I. Once the end of the month comes the list is likely to be so full of gumpf that 1) I couldn't afford it & 2) I won't want such a huge pile of junk food. However as a coping mechanism it's already working very well.
Game Life
So my love of computer games has been well established, and applying the videogame risk-reward strategy to daily life can be very rewarding as well as fun! Computer games increase in difficulty the further along you progress, however the subsequent rewards for achieving the increased difficulty goals also progress. So apply that strategy in any scenario and you have a great motivator (particularly if you're tuned in to that sort of process by many years spent staying up till stupid o'clock in the morning with the computer gamers mantra 'just one more level. Just this bit then I'll go to bed...') So for completing week one, I will pre order GTA V as a reward. For completion of the 4 weeks, I'll treat myself to a short break (I've already got some holiday time booked off in early September) I'm still pondering the week 2 & 3 rewards but they are likely to involve a nice budget for new (smaller) clothes funded with all the money I've saved by not buying snacks & food when I'm out and about and not having any takeaways.
Aggressive motivators
Not so much fun this one as it requires a certain level of mental fortitude to be able to apply without getting depressed about it or it deteriorating into a serious eating disorder. This involves aggressive reminders when I feel my motivation waning. A great example of this in action is a few days ago when I was surrounded by baking & cupcakes. They smelt and looked amazing so I was severely tempted, but to overcome this I just grabbed a handful of my stomach fat and reminded myself 'this, this is why your juicing, you're fat so no cakes for you' It's an unusual and easily the most brutal of my motivating tools but it's also one of the most effective. Standing side-on in front of the mirror is another one, re-affirming the difference between my perceived self image (what I think I look like) and reality. You'd be surprised how big the gap between those 2 can get.
Going Public
Effectively thats what this blog is. As well as talking to people about it at work, at home & on facebook. When everyone is aware that you're working towards a goal, personally I find it makes you all the more determined to achieve that, regardless of the feedback being positive or negative. Obviously positive is better, as when you've got friends and family in support, you don;t want to let them down. Also, the idea of giving anyone who thought you were going to fail a big 'fuck you' by succeeding can be a great motivator (and ultimately very satisfying)
So thats a roundup of how I've got through the first 7 days, hopefully I'll keep these in mind over the next 3 weeks and be able to push on to completion.
Anyway, enough of me rambling, yesterdays juices.
Breakfast.
So after yesterdays ass-fireworks, a day of gentle, easily palatable juices.
5 Apples
2 Grapefruits
Large portion this one as Katie was up early that morning so thought I'd treat her to breakfast :)
Very nice juice, very sweet and tasted like breakfast.
Lunch
4 Celery
1/2 Cucumber
2 Apples
1 inch cube Ginger
I'm starting to run low on supplies at this point and my shoppings coming tomorrow so apples instead of lemons in this one. Again, nice and sweet but containing stomach-settling celery & ginger
Tea
7 Carrots
2 Apples
1 inch cube Ginger
A recipe from the www.rebootwithjoe.com website this one (prompted by the fat I had a load of carrots I needed to use but no idea what to mix them with) This was really, really good. I can see why it came so highly recommended on there. I'll be making this again.
I'm starting to get a bit bored with the green juice despite knowing how good it is for weight loss so I'll be varying the juices a bit more next week, look out for the bruschetta juice I've found a recipe for, that should be an interesting one.
Have a great weekend all!
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