Kelly’s Reflections Week 3

Setting the Pace

“This week I am celebrating the loss of my first kilo! YAY! With uni exams over and stress levels reducing, it’s time to kick this journey into full speed. This week has been all about setting the pace for my new lifestyle. I’ve been active in setting up some practical frameworks and structures to set myself up for success.

One of my biggest hurdles is snacking. I’m a huge ‘snacker’. After some great advice from Lisa, I have put in place specified treat eating times. At 10:30am I eat some nut mix and a piece of fruit, at 3:30pm I eat a piece of fruit (and nuts if I’m truly hungry) and post dinner I have my “prescriptive” piece of dark chocolate with almonds. Knowing that I have a snack treat coming has helped me to decrease my snacking and helped me “crave or urge surf” (as Lisa calls it).

Even though I had put these new structures in place, at the end of the week, I was feeling pretty disappointed in myself. I had a few weak moments and these moments were all I could see through my week. But after taking a look through my food photo journal, I was pleasantly surprised to see that the good decisions I had made throughout the week far outweighed the negative!

If you’re on this Size Fantastic journey, I strongly encourage you to take the time to keep some kind of food diary; it really does make a difference. We tend to focus on our failure moments and so easily miss the moments of success and progress. Find a way that works for you, keep track of your successes instead of failures, it will keep you focused and motivated!”

Top Insights and Learnings so far:

1. It is harder to focus on your health when you are busy or stressed, but more importatnt than ever, especially when it comes to weight management.  So during this time being aware (practising self awareness without judgement: like noticing yourself doing something and observing with an “isn’t that interesting” rather than “that’s bad”), keeping a food diary (take photos if you are time poor) and pre-planning (plan your meals, shop for ingredients and be as prepared as possible) will be beneficial!
2. Focus on the positives and the things that you have improved on, no matter how small.
3. Keep a food diary so that you can track your progress.
4. Plan in your snacks and treats, it helps you to surf your cravings and urges to overeat if you know a snack or a treat is just around the corner.
5. One step at a time and gradual improvements are perfectly adequate.  They are easier to achieve and can make a big difference over time.