Having reached two months of dieting at the start of March, the month was a little more difficult and felt uphill at times as I started the third month of careful eating. I made the mistake of weighing myself at the beginning of the month. Up to that point had I no idea what weighed or what my starting weight had been. It was actually quite a demotivating experience as my weight on the scales indicated that I had been much heavier than I thought before the diet started. I knew I had lost a fair bit already and calorie deficit and basic maths gave me an indication of possible weight loss along with other areas to judge such as clothing size.
A number of celebrations throughout the month meant eating out on a few occasions. While I managed to stay within my calories, I did have one exception. For my birthday, I gave myself a pass to eat what I liked. In reality though, I was way under my calories most days and weeks leading up to that day so it all balances out.
Mid month on the 15th I did struggle, I didn’t plan meals sufficiently on that occasion and bought a sausage roll from butchers when hungry to tide me over (as I had not eaten that day) and it was the afternoon. However, after reviewing similar products I realised that it was likely about an 800 calorie sausage roll. Though lovely, the issue was that this one food to eat was close to half my calorie allowance for the day. It did not leave me much to play with that day and the result was that I ended up eating more calories than I should have. Thankfully I got a grip again quickly and was back on track, even if using my max calorie allowance for a few days. Thankfully I quickly found my motivation again and the app “Nutra Check” that I use certainly helped me stay on track. I do believe that it will be a good idea to permanently use this app even once I have achieved my goal weight. It should then help me monitor and maintain my weight loss.
One additional benefit that I have noticed is that according to my Apple Watch and iPhone, my heart rate decreased along with the walking heart rate. All good news and a useful smart watch feature. My Apple Watch is a series 4 and hopefully at some point when Apple release a version to monitor blood pressure, I will then upgrade.
And while talking benefits, as my wife is also on a diet, we have ended up saving money as we used to spend quite a bit on eating out and take outs. I miss the occasional junk food/take out but the extra money saved is always handy.
By the 20th of the month I was feeling much more motivated again and had increased my walking once more before a small accident that stopped me walking for a couple of days. I had a muscle contusion on my right thigh which was very painful. Thanks to a regular application of “Deep Freeze” it quickly helped a recovery. Once walking again, I was quickly able to complete my daily 2 mile walk which according to internet reports was the ideal distance to aid weight loss.
By the end of the month, I calculated a further estimate of my expected weight loss. I do wish to avoid going on the scales again for a while but should hopefully have surpassed the 2 stone loss point and I should be close to a 2 1/2 stone loss in total. Therefore about half way to my current end goal.
It is important though after all this hard work that I do not go back to old habits and put the weight back on. Already I am thinking about ways to maintain weight loss. I know I won’t be able to stay on a diet forever that it so strict and I have a couple of ideas so far and each still requires some calorie monitoring and a daily 2 mile walk.
- Change the daily calorie target to a weekly target which offers more flexibility.
- Weekends become off days eating as I wish. calories then must not exceed the daily target Monday to Friday.
Each of these options likely requires a weekly weigh in so I don’t lose track of the numbers and awareness of my weight. If a notable weight increase, more rigid dieting could once again kick in for a week. Certainly I am looking forward to fitting into smaller sized clothes that I own.
I wrote this post throughout the month so I would not forget highs and lows. I have to say that as I approach the end of the month, I feel much better. I have roughly lost (I would expect) half the weight I wish to lose. Feeling fitter, clothes better fitter and notice that I am looking slimmer in photos. Feeling motivated again, I know I have a few events in the coming months and I hope some who I have not seen in a while will notice. As 3 months of diet close for March, here is to a successful fourth month in April.
I am holding off going on the scales for a little while longer again until I think I have achieved more weight loss…
