Many diets I have tried in the past look at working hard, sticking to a set schedule of meals plans and eating six times a day and the pounds shed quickly. I hated those diets, got great results and once I stopped and started to move back into reality, the weight slowly came back. I tried many of them, but the weight always came back. It left me frustrated and feeling very upset.
Incorporating diet and exercise worked for me too. But as soon as I stopped doing one or the other, the weight slowly came back. When I lost my job, I quit my gym membership, insomnia started to set in and one day I looked in the mirror and stepped on a scale, 40 pounds overweight. I realized that more importantly than diet and exercise, I needed to look inside me and ask a few truthful question.Then I did some research to validate my personal revelations.
1. Why am I overweight? This is one of the first questions that popped into my mind and I came up with several reasons that I figured out were excuses and not really the main source of my weight gain.
- The first excuse was I canceled my gym membership. Millions of people exercise everyday without a membership to the gym. Here is Southern California there are plenty of parks and tracks and neighborhoods to walk around, job around and exercise.
- The second was I was too busy looking for a job and didn't have time. Looking back, I think this was one of my biggest cop-outs. Really, just because I didn't have a job didn't mean that I didn't have time, I had more time.
- The third is my ongoing battle with insomnia. Diet and exercise would have helped my insomnia, but hindsight is 20/20 right?
So when I realized I could no longer fit into my favorite clothes and had to get bigger pants, something had to be done. I am unemployed, can't afford a new wardrobe, I feel bad and do not want to anymore. I realized I needed to reform my lifestyle and design the life I want. I want to be healthy, I want to eat food, not be hungry because my body is starving for nutrients, and lose weight. I will be posting in the next few days some of the ideas around my lifestyle design. I hope it helps you and others to figure out what you want to change and together we can help each other.
CC