Notebooks for Weight loss
I suppose that you could pile them up to form a step, or perhaps use them as dumb-bells. I used notebooks for weight loss in a different way.
How I used notebooks for weight loss
Contrary to what many say, losing weight is not terribly complicated for most of us. There are, of course, exceptions and nothing in this post constitutes medical advice.
I am overweight. I have been for years. While I am certain that there are myriad reasons that I might be pre-disposed to being overweight, there is an inescapable truth at the heart of the issue.
I take in more calories than I burn.
There. I said it.
I make no apology that I like the best food I can find, preferably preceded, accompanied and followed by the best booze that I can find. ‘Bon vivant’, you might say. ‘Fat git’ you might also say.
Getting older, one gradually becomes aware of the multiple ways that the body can fail and take a lot of the fun out of life. This awareness tiptoes up and taps on the shoulder.
In the last few months, my weight has been heading up, not down. Trousers were getting tighter. I began to worry. (Don’t tell anyone.)
I reached for a notebook and started writing. It wasn’t a specific diet notebook, just a plain pocket notebook. And with no conscious effort to write a plan, I wrote a plan.
It began:
Small Changes
Then, still without any real intention or purpose on my part, the list became written.
My weight loss notebook list:
- Drink more water.
- Eat slowly.
- No sweets in the office.
- Hit step target every day.
- Use exercise bike – just a little.
- If it’s in a pack, put it back.
- Take a month off the booze.
I read the list with astonishment. I have to say, number 7 looked a little extreme! A month? Really? Almost immediately, I started negotiating with myself.
I continued to write. Revising and refining the plan.
I went to fridge for a bottle of wine, but came back with a glass of water instead. The act of writing had somehow cemented an intention. I had gone from being a bit worried about my weight, to devising a plan and even implementing it.
If I were a guru, I might explain the power of intent or how the act of writing taps into parts of our brains that keyboards don’t reach. I’m not though.
Some people use diet notebooks to track a food journal, some use notebooks for weight loss by jotting down inspirational quotes to keep them going. I just wrote a list.
The results?
Let me tell you what I am after 12 days.
- Trousers aren’t quite as tight.
- 6KG lighter. 13lbs in old speak.
- A bit fitter.
- Enjoying the exercise bike.
- Pretty much ‘clean eating’ or at least avoiding processed foods.
- Still dry. Really.
- Feeling like a million dollars.
If you had told me that this would be the result of a weight loss plan in a notebook a couple of weeks ago, I wouldn’t have believed you.
Now, I imagine that results will vary wildly. We are individuals, and the changes that I have made are significant. I am not a Doctor or nutritionist.
Getting my notebook out was the all-important first step on my journey to making some changes to my lifestyle…
Just sayin’.
