The ongoing weight struggle

This process of improving lifestyle and losing weight is far more difficult to navigate than I would have expected. It is all well to lose the weight and do the right thing for your health. But at some  stage goals, or significant parts of goals are met. This is the tricky stage because it is so easy to ease up the stubborn streak that keeps me eating well and exercising.

At the end of January last year, I started on an improved health and fitness lifestyle. I started pretty small and worked my way to doing regular exercise and a much improved diet. This was spurred by an out-of-range blood sugar level, which was later confirmed as type two diabetes. Over the course of about eight or nine months, I lost nearly 20 kgs. I had setbacks due to injuries but even when not exercising as well, I was still eating well. I plateaued over the next months.

In December, I did holiday cooking for the first time I can remember. My diet was essentially fine but I added in quite a few extras with the baked goods. I added a couple kilograms during that holiday period, had a reality check which got me going in the right direction and stayed put for that time. Over the February-March period, I found myself drifting back to the compulsive eating habits that got me into the really bad weight issues that I had reached at the beginning of last year. I’m still nowhere near where I was but I find I’m struggling against those old habits. My loss has been decreased to about fifteen kilos now and some of the clothes I bought to eventually fit into are now getting tight. A couple days ago I discovered the jeans I was wearing were leaving marks, which hasn’t happened in quite a long time…

So I am making an effort to get back into regular exercise, even if it’s just a half hour walk each day. That’s mostly how I started last year so I think that must be the way to go. I need to try to stick to lots of walking and bicycling to avoid using the exercise machines too often which has led to injuries in the past.

My current goal is one kilo a month, which should be easily attainable. On a positive note, my overall blood sugars have been quite impressive so the previous weight loss is still of great benefit.