“Finally, monsieur – a wafer thin mint” The Meaning of Life

So here it is…my first blog tip on how I set about losing the weight which had stubbornly hung around for over a year, notwithstanding my best endeavours to lose it. In a nutshell, what I did differently and probably, and more importantly, how I have maintained my “happy” weight.

To set the scene, it all started with a February challenge at my local gym and an attitude, in my particular case, that I had “nothing to gain and everything to lose”, so I was completely open to trying a different approach. To be honest, it at times went completely against the grain, in terms of what I had practiced for the last 5 years but I stuck to my guns in my determination to re-adjust my thinking in terms of diet and exercise.

The motivation, in a large part, came from my gorgeous, soon to be, step daughter in law, who had a similar epiphany on our return from a family holiday on the Gold Coast. Without question, it helps to have a comrade in arms, who is on a similar path, where you can celebrate milestone goals reached along the journey and can spur each other on when some days are just harder than others. She is my inspiration, with her dramatic weight loss of over 10 kilos in less than 5 months and culminating in her becoming a fully qualified body attack instructor with Fitness First…her dedication and drive in my opinion is unrivalled!

So what did I do? Before we get started, let me repeat, it is important to eat the right food…nutritious, tasty, well balanced meals are essential for weight loss but I also believe that most of us already know what to eat and not eat. So the first step in my weight loss program, and what I’m focussing on in this blog, is getting the portion size correct. Have any of you watched Lady Mary sip her tea and nibble daintily at her breakfast on Downton Abbey… consisting incredibly of only a palm sized serving of scrambled eggs and a single piece of toast? And furthermore, you can actually see the white of her plate!

Over the years, our meals have grown in size and so has our girth. I believe that if we can get back to eating meals that reflect our energy requirements, we will naturally sit at an appropriate weight which is paramount for our health, longevity and mental/emotional well being. This is the first and most consistent change I made to my diet, that led to my weight loss of 6kgs in just 4 months and what I still practice to this day. In the past, I always ate well…just way too much!! Sound familiar?

In this blog, I have purposely not talked about types of food to eat or delved into the great carb debate, as that will be addressed in a later blog. I have kept it simple, as my next blog is a more detailed focus on how I determined the correct portion size for me to eat to reach my target weight. Please inbox me with any questions you have regarding this blog, no matter how minor or trivial, as I think this concept is very important in anyone starting their own weight loss journey.