Changing is Hard

Changing habits is a hard thing to do. I had a small success on the weekend: I was watching tv and J was outside with the pooches. I thought, "I need chocolate, I am going to have some while he's outside and can't see me." I got up to go to the kitchen and on the way there I realized that not only did I not need the chocolate, it wasn't actually something I really wanted, but I also needed to stop the thought pattern that accompanies this. I can't always have all the sweets I want, as those habits are what got me to almost 300 pounds in the first place. So change is in the air.

I have sort of become anti-diet. Every single time I've 'dieted' I end up losing a little bit of weight and then gaining it back and then some. In the last year, I quit dieting and my weight finally stabilized. So my approach this time is moderation and slow weight loss. I am focusing on eating healthy, which I will go into more detail on later, and exercising at least 30 minutes everyday. Right now that is walking at lunch, but I will add in resistance training in a few weeks, once I'm back into the groove.

The Canada Food Guide has a pretty good layout for healthy eating (http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/food-guide-aliment/index-eng.php). I am taking a lot from there, trying to eat more fruits and vegetables, lean protein and complex carbohydrates. I'm also hoping to implement a intuitive eating approach that means listening to your body for hunger cues, eating when hungry, not eating when full. That seems sort of obvious to a lot of people, but for me, I get used to eating on a schedule, and I often eat because it's there, or I'm stressed, etc.

This is a new beginning for me. I hope to add links to useful sites that I find along the way. A blog that I found recently is very inspiring for me, in terms of goals, and in terms of my own blog. Check it out at: http://www.dietgirl.org/dietgirl/. In my own defense of just saying that I am anti-dieting, this blog is not a traditional diet site, but a very inspiring story about a woman who lost half her weight, slowly and sensibly.