Following on from my previous post: Consumer Reports: Walking to Lose Weight is Key.
Sometimes when coming across an article or blog which really fits within my own walking to lose weight attitude to successful weight loss it becomes a great opportunity to improve what I’m doing. I like the idea behind this research: find out what is successful (or not) for a lot of people (over 22,000). Even with the normal biases from self-responding survey results this is impressive because we can think about what a large number of people have found effective and ineffective in weight control.
Most of what appears in my blog is based on my personal weight issues and success or failures. This stems from decades of frustration with an incomplete approach for what is a lifestyle choice rather than a one-off treatment.
My issues, in hindsight and summary form, have been:
poor eating habits
no exercise habit
situational eating.
What I want now is to use all that I now know to create an easy, healthy lifestyle where weight is not an issue, and my life is active because I want it to be.
Back to some of the findings from the Consumer Reports survey. I agree from personal experience with their findings that you need to get back up each time you “fail”, it takes more than one go to lose weight. For the other keys to weight loss, and this may relate back to the first point, that more than one effort to lose weight is necessary, there are levels at which certain “rules” apply. Some of the stricter requirements are too “heavy” for beginner losers who are not mentally prepared for the discipline and positive attitude required for continued success.
Dieting and Exercise are Both Necessary: I agree with this. It produces a quicker and more attractive result.
However for those with low current exercise levels particularly through illness, long term or disability from overweight, weight loss can start from increasing movement without adjusting diet at first. It is better to moderate what you eat, get into walking and move through any difficulties you encounter initially, and then add stricter calorie monitoring. Calorie intake needs adjustment as your body weight decreases also because a lighter load uses less calories to move around. At the same time muscle maintenance uses more calories than fat so this lower calorie usage may not be as important if only a little weight needs to be lost in the first place. This is part of why you have to be prepared to fail and start over if you can’t take on all the necessary changes at once i.e. making time for exercise, doing it, shopping differently, preparing food instead of eating take away, solving problems as they arise, etc.
Self-Monitor:
I prefer keeping track of my exercise program e.g. pedometer or minutes/distance etc., and to keep noticing how clothes fit better etc. than to constantly weigh myself…except when I’m on target (i.e. I am the weight/size I want) when regular weight checks remind me if I start to stray.
Today after hopping on my Wii Fit to check my weight it confirmed what I had suspected: weight gain of 0.7 kgs! Of course I knew that I had been allowing myself some additional treats over Easter and doing less distance in my walking, consequently I’m not disappointed but I’m not happy. I now need to get back into my regular routine of counting steps and make good choices. And the scales help focus that intention.
But again if I’m in the beginning stages weight measurement can be misleading or de-motivating, when the results aren’t what you want or expected to see.
Use new information to revise some aspects of your weight loss program if it seems like a good idea.
My decision: I’m quitting my gym and using the various tools and walking to lose weight routines I’ve already put in place, to bolster my program.
Why? The gym has been my fall back position. Whenever I feel frustration I want to charge in to the gym and do some dynamite exercise to quickly lose inches. It has been useful but I wonder if my other resources are enough. There are other options to gym-style resources or walking dvds at home and through casual attendance at other exercise classes.
