Lose Weight and Keep it Off

While I had intentions to start my squat challenge last week, nothing happened. I set the time in the diary and then all my timings went to pot. I tried this three days in the row, and every day I kept finding myself behind. It got to the point that I was stressed and tired about missing everything that I'd set; that I wasn't even getting any needed breaks throughout the day. For those who don't know, I work from home. I'm a freelance writer and now I've become an editor on a variety of sites. While I completely love my job, it does take up a lot of my time. The more I sit at the desk, the more I realize just why I'm so overweight. But trying to find a life balance in my weight loss journey--or even add my weight loss journey into my life--isn't easy. I'm done beating myself up for not sticking to a plan. Quite honestly, my weight loss is the last thing on my mind at the moment. I really wish I was at least two dress sizes smaller. I want to be ...

I started my June challenge of tracking every day so well. I thought I'd be able to keep up with it and then I stopped tracking for a couple of days. I just couldn't get back into tracking after that. Did you know it takes 6 weeks to set a new habit? I've gone so long without tracking that I've fallen out of the habit and I'm finding it hard to get back into the habit of tracking. I'm finding it hard to stick to goals that I want to achieve. This is completely normal. I refuse to beat myself up for it. After all, my wants and needs over the last two months have changed considerably. I'm actually not following the Weight Watchers diet at all right now. But that doesn't mean I'm eating whatever I want. I'm actually still losing weight, but without Weight Watchers to do it. I'm sticking to smaller portions and a healthy diet. I've cut back on sugar and treats without really thinking about it. When I do snack, I opt for a handful of...

It has been such a long time since I've blogged. I've not got much of an excuse. Mostly, I fell out of love with blogging. This place was meant to be me documenting my journey, sharing tips along the way. Instead, it became more of a weight loss blog with just tips and less about my actual journey. Plus, I was getting to the point where I didn't know what to say. I kept going back and forth on diet plans and I wasn't sure what I really wanted. In January I made the decision that I was ready to lose weight again. I downloaded the Ultimate Value Diary app to track on Weight Watchers (ProPoints/Points Plus but it does have the option for SmartPoints) and did start following the plan again. But i didn't see the weight loss results that I once did. I wasn't sure if it was because of not physically going to the meetings or something else.   Weight Watchers: A Beginner's SmartPoints Guide For Rapid Weight Loss And Clean Eating - Plus 50 Quick and Easy W...

It’s the middle of the month. This is the point where people start to fall off the wagon. They forget about their weight loss goals or may find that their goals are no longer relevant. I’m a great believer that goals are the key to success. You may have found they haven’t helped in the past, but be honest with yourself. Have they not helped because you didn’t think they were worthwhile reaching or because you started making excuses? If you don’t make goals, how do you know you’ve achieved something? How do you know when you’ve reached the end of your weight loss journey? The truth is you don’t! You’re more likely to not even bother because you don’t have goals in the first place. But what about when those weight loss goals are no longer relevant? What about when your life takes a different direction? Back in January, my weight loss goals involved the Weight Watchers diet. I wanted to get back to my pre-baby weight. Eight months later I have completely different goals...

Your weight loss excuses are holding you back. You know it’s the truth, but you can’t seem to stop making them. Did you know that September is a lot like January? It’s a time for people to start making resolutions because they know the holiday season will be here before they know it. The problem with resolutions is they tend to get broke because of all the excuses. We don’t have time There’s more important stuff to focus on Life is just too damn difficult Whatever our excuses are, they’re holding us back. So, I want us all to make a commitment to stop making weight loss excuses. I want us to start finding a way around the excuses—push ourselves to take steps forward. What can we do? Well, here are a few ways around those excuses. Look at the Things We Can Do The excuses are always negative. They give us a reason not to do something. So, it’s time to look at the positives: what can we do? Every time you think of an excuse to go off track or not really ...

Image: Pixabay At Weight Watchers, this week marks the countdown to Christmas. With seven weeks to go, there is still time to lose half a stone or even a whole stone of weight! The whole point of this first week of the challenge is to set small goals for Christmas. Goal setting is a great way to stay motivated, but they have to be realistic. What Are Your Christmas Weight Loss Goals? There’s no point saying that you will lose three stone by Christmas. That’s extremely ambitious, not very healthy and setting you up for failure. Setting a small goal like 7lbs or 14lbs is much more realistic and achievable. Even with a bad week, you can still get back on track to reach the goal. So, what are your small goals for Christmas? Where do you see yourself in seven weeks time? There are lots of small goal ideas, and not all are scales related. You may want to: Fit in that sparkly dress a size down See inches off your waist Fit into that top that has been sitting ...

It’s coming up to Christmas and the New Year, so it’s time to look back over the past year. I’ve already given you tips to handle your Christmas weight loss and next week I’ll be here giving tips for your 2014 weight loss. This year has been a successful one for me. I reached my goal, and I’ve managed to deal big events and control cravings. There have been weeks I’ve gained—and sometimes unexpectedly—but they’ve helped me reassess my weight loss goals and get back on track. There have definitely been points where I've been down. Part of my wishes that I tracked on paper as well as online. That would have allowed me to write my thoughts and feelings, to know if there was a pattern to them. Unfortunately, I didn't, but it's something I'm going to start doing for 2014. I may even use this blog to share those thoughts and feelings more than once a week. Exercise has been the biggest problem. It's not that I don't want to do exercise. I've just ...

Losing weight takes time and it’s easy to lose motivation. Goals will help to prevent this. I recommend setting small goals along the way so that you can see there is a light at the end of the tunnel. But, you also need to celebrate them as they pass. When people think about celebrating, one of the first things they think of is food. They want to treat themselves to a buffet for a job well done but this just leads to gaining weight and ruining all the hard work. Here are my favourite ways to celebrate when I reach my milestones. Put a Pound Away for Each Pound Lost Whenever I lose a pound in weight, I put a pound in cash in a piggy bank. So far I’ve lost 32.5 pounds but there’s £34 in my piggy bank because I put on weight on two occasions so had to lose the weight again. This is a great physical way to see the weight being lost and motivates me to keep going. The money is being saved to treat myself once I reach my final goal – whenever that may be. I k...

This week I gained a pound - but I'm still at the 2st mark! I was a little annoyed but there's nothing I can do about the weight gain - I just have to try and get it off this week. What Happened... I blame Easter but it was really my fault for not trying very hard to control myself when it came to Easter eggs, chocolate, and Easter Monday lunch with the in-laws. I lost track and just couldn't get back on top of it with just one day to weigh-in. I decided to go and see how it would go and then work on getting it off. This Week Isn't Going So Well.. I think I need a kick to get my mind back on the track of losing weight. I've just lost track again and I can't seem to get back on it. It's not helping that we have a load of Easter eggs still in the house but that's not the reason for gaining weight...It's my mentality. I'm not lacking in motivation - I know where I want to be and I'm determined to get there - I'm just strugg...

Set sensible goals for weight loss. Image by Alan Cleaver When you start losing weight, you need to have goals to reach for. Weight loss goals will give you something to work towards to help you stay motivated, even when you feel like packing it in after a bad week. Here are some top tips on setting your goals for weight loss. Make Them Challenging Having goals that are too easy will not give you the push that you need. You have to have a challenge so that you feel the achievement once you have reached it. You don’t need to have a goal each week, this is probably excessive and will not be as challenging. It is worth setting goals for each month. Be Realistic It is easy to set a challenging goal that is simply not realistic or healthy. When setting goals, bear in mind that a healthy weight loss is between 1lb and 2lb per week. Setting the goal to lose 10lb in two weeks is unrealistic and not healthy. It will be difficult to reach that goal in the first place, and ...