Notebooks for Weight Loss II

by Stuart Lennon

At the end of June, I wrote a post about how notebooks were helping me lose weight. You can read it here.

I have never found losing a bit of weight too difficult. Eat less for a bit and inevitably, some weight goes. The challenge is keeping the weight off. That's always much harder.

Only fair then, that I update you.

Yes, this is a 'humble brag'. I have lost some weight, and I feel good about that. However, I'm still too heavy and have plenty of work to do. No room for smug here.😁

I have lost 20kg. That's 44 pounds or 3 stone 2.

That's translated into 6 inches off my waist, a couple of inches off my collar and a move from XXL to XL.

I would love to persuade you that the secret to this is to buy lots and lots of notebooks, (and don't get me wrong, I'm all for you buying lots of notebooks), but there is more to it than that.

As with all good things in my life, I owe a debt to the amazing Mags, Mrs PocketNotebooks and to the CEO, Nero.

Mags is a type 2 diabetic. Or rather, she was. She decided to take control of her fate and defeat the disease; following the diet plan publicised by Dr Michael Mosley, "The 8 Week Blood-Sugar Diet". Without getting too deep into the detail, the diet is very low sugar (in any form) and low calorie. Mags has successfully lowered her various blood sugar measures to where she is considered pre-diabetic.

While not diabetic, the potential benefits for me of joining in were obvious. All of the work, planning meals, shopping and preparing our meals from scratch has been done by Mags. I find it difficult to express how proud I am of the way that she has kicked the ass of diabetes.

Where Mags has taken control of the calorie input side, Nero has shouldered the calorie-burden side of the equation. Where we can, we walk to work and back again. That's about 90 minutes each way. Nero loves to sniff his away into town, and I listen to podcasts.

I have also started meditating. Not a lot. But a bit. I meditate once a day for fifteen minutes. I don't focus on anything more than my breathing, but I find that short break in my day invigorating.

Now. Notebooks. What role do they play?

I keep a track of my weight in my EDC. Mags uses her notebooks for meal planning and shopping lists. Having a list of daily weights allows me to remind myself of the nature of weight-loss. It fluctuates.

Today for example, I weigh more than I did yesterday.

Eeeek! I can look back through the list and see how this happens sometimes. I can see that I weigh less than I did a week ago.

I also write notes to myself. This morning for example, I wrote 'fluids'. I'm aware that I'm not drinking enough water. Just making the note is enough to ensure that I'll sip more water today. 

I record targets. These might be weights, or sizes. Writing them down makes them seem more achievable, more realistic. It's encouraging and empowering all at the same time.

Next week, I'm changing things up a bit. There is a gym near my office, so the plan is drop the CEO into the office with Clare, then go for a quick workout (and a shower) a few times a week. Having the gym will also mean that when England's winter throws its liquid weather down, Nero and I can skip the long walk.

Notebooks are all about intention, about focus, about empowerment.