Since starting this blog and the new, healthier lifestyle, I have realised that choices are a huge part of what I do, what we do as people trying to live healthily or simply to lose weight. I choose to climb, bleary eyed, out of bed at 4.30am every morning. I don't have to, but it gives me a chance to wake up before anyone else, to have a shower, take the dog for a walk and generally spend a little time with me without the wife or kids around. Don't misunderstand me, I love them all, but I like the me time that 4.30 am until 6.30am gives me. But it is a choice. And this is the same as everything we do.
After 20 days of eating the right foods but also allowing myself to have the not-so-good stuff in moderation, I am finding it easier to make the right choices without having the craving for the rubbish food I used to cram into my mouth at every opportunity. And that's because I have given myself the choice: I can have it...or not. Simple. Thankfully, by doing this I am, 90% of the time, choosing the right thing and not feeling bad, not wishing I hadn't or without having a craving every few hours (which is what it was like during the first week).
Then there is the whole diet thing. Some people I have spoken to completely advocate the High Fat Low Carb (HFLC) diet, where carbs are reduced to practically nothing and proteins and fats (the right sorts) are pushed. There is a plethora of evidence that this diet works; and many people to whom I have spoken have said the same thing - that it is a game changer. And this is good for them, they have made a choice to follow a diet that has proven to work and that works for them.
The problem is that at this point, when mentioning to them that you eat carbs they pounce on you (in a massively supportive and friendly way because it worked for them and they want you to get the same brilliant results) and try to push you to follow this or that way of eating. and this is the same with all people who have followed a way of living or eating that has worked for them. However, this is still a choice and I have chosen not to go down that particular road because of a few reasons.
Firstly, I like carbs. I can't help it...I like bread, toast, pasta, crisps, porridge etc and I want to keep eating it. I also like a lot of other foods too, and alcohol. My problem was, and always has been, portion control. I start and then cannot stop. So, for me, understanding this and figuring out how to make the right choices about when to stop was the way forwards (in terms of eating right and getting enough exercise). I count calories, I exercise, and use up more calories than I take in to reduce my weight. But I also eat more greens, more salad, more fruit but I now moderate and think before I eat anything or make my pack up.
Secondly, I am in this to make myself healthier first and foremost and lose weight as a natural side affect of that. The HFLC diet is a diet (in my opinion) and therefore not conducive to a healthy way of living that can be life changing, in the sense that I will live on it forever. I don't think it is sustainable (although I am sure that there are some that will advocate that you can - this is still simply my opinion).
Finally, it's my choice. I can follow it or not and I have chosen not to.
Everything I do is a choice. I can choose to have a drink of beer, or choose not to. I can choose to stop at two biscuits or choose not to. I can choose the biscuits or choose fruit. I can choose to have toast for breakfast or I can choose porridge, or bacon and two eggs. I can choose to park in the school car park or choose to park three streets away so that I have to walk to and from school for that little bit of extra exercise. We make so many decision during the day that it does become exhausting (hence the rest day yesterday) but it does get easier.
After 20 days of doing this, I no longer have to spend ten minutes weighing up the pros and cons of eating a biscuit instead of fruit, a beer or tea, a slice of cheese or a bar of chocolate, walking the dog or watching tv. Instead the choice now takes just a few seconds, because making the right choice is becoming a habit; and the little voice inside my head that tells me that the chocolate tastes sooooo nice, that it's much more preferable than a piece of stale fruit - is gradually being pushed out by the automatic reaction of actually eating the fruit - of making the right choice.
Don't get me wrong, as you know I sometimes do reach for the biscuit or beer or cake...but that's ok. I make that choice, choose to do it moderately and carry on without feeling guilty and crushing a craving that was slowly building up. It's my choice.
Whatever you decide to do to lose weight, eat healthily, exercise...make sure that it is what you choose to do. Follow a plan or don't, find an amalgamation of several plans or don't, devise your own or don't; just whatever it is you do decide to do, choose to stick to it. Be driven to choose to stay strong despite the setbacks and inevitable fails along the way. By sticking to your decision, you are doing what is right for you: it will fit in with your personality and your lifestyle. Choose the fruit, choose a snack, choose to take the dog for a walk, choose to go to the gym, choose to run the couch to 5k, choose to walk around the block, choose to eat a slice of cake on occasion but make your choice and stick to it.
After all, it's you that has to choose to do it and keep doing it day after day after day.
Thanks for reading.
Stay Strong.
Sean