One Month Anniversary

You must take personal responsibility. You cannot change the circumstances, the seasons, or the wind, but you can change yourself. That is something you have charge of.

Jim Rohn

 

What a month February was for my goal of getting healthier! Only talking about weight, I lost in excess of 12 pounds out of the 75 of my ultimate goal. The first week, I lost 5 pounds however everyone knows that the first week what you lose it’s not all fat, it’s a lot of liquid too. But the next 3 weeks, I lost 7 pounds, this is more than my goal to lose 1 pound per week but I’ll see in 4-5 weeks if it continues, I’ll eat more. I’m not complaining about this problem, but I gain this weight in so many years, I want to lose it in a slow and healthy way.

My energy is getting better and better with each passing day. To start with, I was not in bad shape, I could play 2 hours of pickelball which is great for the cardio and walk a few miles. 

The other morning, I almost ran to the bathroom, not for an emergency but just because I felt so good and was excited with the changes.

My mental health is excellent; I’m focused and look forward to this health journey.

I changed so many things in this short month:

Refined sugar. I’m the first one to be surprised about that one! I haven’t had any refined sugar this whole month. The last time that happened, I must have been a baby. I love everything made of sugar; Before, I was eating dessert at pretty much every meal. Even at night, there were sweets in my snacks. Now, I don’t even feel like I want some. It’s ok if I decide to have some but for now I prefer to wait until later to be sure I don’t fall off the sugar wagon.

Bread. I’m eating about 98 % less than what I used to. I didn’t target bread as my enemy, but it seems that in my sub-conscious mind, it was a problem, or it’s all those vegetables that are taking prime location in my stomach.

Vegetable and Fruit. My biggest intake of both was from potatoes and I mean French fries and chips. I just didn’t care for those vegetables and fruit. Since February first, I have had less than one serving of Fries and I had a little bit of chips once. What I have now is mainly fresh vegetables and fruits, can’t go wrong with that!

Coffee. I’m cutting down on this dark beverage. It’s not out, it’s just that I want to keep it, so that’s that. However, I did a change in what I put in it, I switched the coffee cream for skim milk. The first few mornings after I switched over to skim milk I didn’t enjoy my cup much. Now I’m used to it and won’t return to the cream. It’s not a big amount of calories I’m saving but it’s a lot of cholesterol. This is just a good example of doing a change for my health in general and not really for my weight. It’s also a good example of changing something and sticking to it. It doesn’t take that much time to be rid of an old habit and accepting and even enjoying the new one.

Dairy. We were already drinking low fat milk but my intake has been reduced to what I put in my coffee. I still have yogurt every morning so I have a healthy daily portion of dairy. I cut down on cheese to only the cheese needed in meals.

Eggs. My doctor told me to stop eating eggs. I will not, with all the good habits we took if cholesterol is still a problem at my next annual exam, I’ll scramble to stop and won’t be over easy about it. I don’t eat a dozen eggs per week, I have about 4. I could cut down to one, as long it’s an ostrich egg :)

Alcohol. For the past 5 days, 13 hours, 12 minutes I haven’t had a drop of alcohol. No I’m not that obsessive! :) We are retired so every day is Saturday for us. The opportunity of having a few is always there. It is good for the cholesterol to have a glass of wine, if that was enough for me, I would have some for (to) my health, but one glass to me is not enough. So I just cut the whole thing. June 1^st I will be off that wagon. In our social circle, everyone has a few around the camp fire and I don’t want to eliminate it forever. I’ll evaluate then. Meanwhile it’s not going to be an issue, the decision is taken and I don’t debate with myself because myself is so much stronger than me!

Meat. I just cut down on the portion.

Snack. Right now the only snacks I take are yogurt, juice, or dry un-sweetened cereal. Boring right? It is but it does the job for me!

Water. This is my biggest problem; I have to force myself to drink more. When I’m good, I’ll have about 1.5 litres and it’s not even enough… I have no problem drinking water when I’m playing sport, but in a regular day, yerk!