Acknowledging the C word!

1st September 2015

Commitment means staying loyal to what you said you were going to do long after the mood you said it in has left you!

It's only the 1st September, that means there's only 4 months left in this year, I don't know about you but my life is flying by, the weeks are just rolling round, and I'm sorry I keep putting it off but with the kids going back to school this week we've got to acknowledge the fact that Christmas is getting closer, I'm not suggesting you start your shopping or decorating your tree, but if you want to lose weight to feel great at all those parties in December, then you need to start thinking about it, according to the Xmas Clock, it's 114 days and 19 hours at the time of writing this, that's just over 16 weeks which means you could lose up to 32lb if you set your mind to it!  At a pound a week you could do over the stone, sounds like a good ideas to me!  I'd be happy with 1/2lb a week to be honest as long as the numbers were going down and not up. 

WOW, just wow, I cannot believe how quickly this year has gone, having said that there has been some amazing success in my meetings, 16,762lb lost since January 1st, over 50 members achieving their gold weight, 96 receiving their 10lb certificate, 241 getting their 5% and I know for a fact I've ordered over 300 25lb and 50lb certificates, plus a few outstanding achievement ones for incredible weight loss and for maintaining that loss at goal.

Yes we can do this, let's focus on the healthy and happy!  I always say that but what does it mean, well in my world it means brown bread, rice, pasta for a start so I get the fibre.  It also eating plenty of fruit and veg for more fibre and nutrients and drinking plenty of water to help flush that fibre through.  I mostly cook from scratch with good ingredients including lean meats, fish, eggs and other non-dairy sources of protein such as baked beans, brown rice and quinoa .  I steer clear of the sugary foods because I know once I start, I can't stop so I try to keep them out of my way, mom has them but I ask her to put them out of sight so I'm not tempted.  I do use oil in my cooking sometimes, and my oil of choice is olive oil or I have been using coconut oil lately.

So sticking with the healthy, how can I get healthier, well I know I probably use too much salt, I do enjoy salt on my food, although I don't add it to the cooking and I don't buy much processed food but maybe I should look at that, I could also do with  cutting back a bit on the red wine, yes this is my downfall, for some it's chocolate and for others its crisps, but in my world it's red wine, so I'm going to make a commitment to myself to cut back, hopefully it'll also help the numbers on the scales as well as my long term health.

Last but not least, I know I need to get more physically active, according to yesterdays paper a brisk 25 minutes walk each day can add seven years to your life!  How miffed would you be if you did the walking then got home and smashed a mirror!  Joking aside, they said “Exercise buys you three to seven additional years of life. It is an anti-depressant, it improves cognitive function and there is now evidence that it may retard the onset of dementia.” 

I used to walk so much and I noticed over the weekend that people were out and about enjoying walks on Cannock Chase and also Carding Mill Valley both places I've spent many hours enjoying.  So yeah I need to include a bit of that too, we shall be starting that on Sunday when a few of my members and I do the Black Country Memory Walk at Sandwell Valley Country Park, I'm not sure I've ever been there so that could be a first.  We're raising money for Alzheimers, if you fancy sparing a pound https://www.justgiving.com/Mymom here's moms page, I'm of course walking for her! You can donate on the website or text MOMS76 £1 to 70070
(you can change £1 to whatever amount you can spare), we've raised over £2,000 this year and it's just incredible. 

Hopefully that will get my walking enthusiasm back, I'm not lazy buy any stretch, I average just over 7,000 steps a day and I do enjoy spending time in my garden, so just adding a bit of walking would be good for the body and mind. 

Anyway I need to get my day started, a busy week ending in my new meeting open on Saturday which I'm so looking forward to - please help me let others know about my meetings, let's share the success.

Have a great day BeYOUtiful, have a think about what's your meaning of healthy and happy!