I know that I am talking about a touchy subject, weight. But I need to talk about it. Just letting you know that I am sharing my personal experience and you may not agree with it.
As you all know, I got married in June 2011 (God, it has been 10 months already), and I realise that I have put on some weight. I really watch what I eat and exercise regularly but this weight gain has shocked me. I keep telling my husband about it but he keeps on telling me that a few kilo is nothing and I look good anyway. But for me, every time I step on the scales, I get disappointed when I see that I have put on weight.
The funny thing is I am saying NO to all the junk food while AS is enjoying chocolate biscuits and other indulgence. We go to the gym together and he still manages to lose weight easily and I don’t. Some days it makes me so frustrated. I do know that women’s metabolism is lower than men’s but I am not eating as much as him anyway.
We used to have snacks every evening after work and I thought that had contributed on my weight gain so I stopped having my tea and biscuits but still my weight seems to stay put.
I know I am not fat but I am not as skinny as I was before marriage either. I know that because some of my dresses are a bit tight for me now. Ohoo, I can’t even dream of giving all my cloths away if I ever put on weight. Also my husband won’t be happy either as I will have to go on a shopping spree to compensate for that.
The other day, I was watching a show on TV call THE DOCTORS and it opened my eyes as to why it has been so hard for me to lose weight even after I realised I had put on a few kilo and was trying my best to lose it. They explained that man has more muscles compare to women so when they exercise, it is easy for them to lose the weight quickly than women. I think it is not fair but I guess I just have to work harder.
While doing my research, I also found out that women don’t need to eat as much as men but when one gets married or starts living together, because of the love, ones husband will ask the wife to share food with him every time he snacks on any food (so true in my case) and I am sure that is not helping me right now to lose weight either.
The third and last factor I found out is age. As we get older, our metabolism rate decrease so we need to cut down on our energy intake otherwise there is no stopping the weight gain.
I know I haven’t let myself go after the wedding. I am still health conscious and want to keep my weight in check. My dream is to be a sexy hot grand ma in my 70’s. 🙂
Anyway, once I realised the factors I listed above, I have been doing well and have lost 3 kgs. My aim is to lose 2 more kilos before the start of our next holiday.
I know my husband loves me but I told him not to share his snacks with me. I am also watching what I eat. So if you are having a similar problem as I did, this is what I did and it helps.
- Eat Less and Move More
- Don’t eat when you are not hungry even if someone is snacking next to you.
- Increase your exercise time as you grow older.
- Have a goal in mind and weigh yourself every week. Keep a record of how you are doing. Remembering how much you have lost/gain will stop you from going for unhealthy lunch. (This worked so well for me)
- You don’t need to starve to lose weight, just watch your portion size.
- Be realistic on your goal and work towards it. Any loss in weight is better than none.
- Ultimately weight loss is about the balance between calories intake and calories burned
Here are some healthy eating tips found on zenhabits (http://zenhabits.net)
- Water water water. It kick-starts your metabolism. Stop drinking soda.
- Make one change at a time. Don’t cut everything out at once. For example, cut out fried foods. When you’re used to that, cut out soda, etc.
- Lay off the rubbish food, apart from one day a week where you can eat what you like – it’ll help you stick to it and you won’t have the temptation to eat rubbish all the time.
- Be mindful of what you are eating. Keep a food journal or diary. Seeing it in writing always gives it weight and helps reveal patterns or triggers.
- Stop the evening eating. You don’t want to eat and then go to sleep. All those calories just sit there unused while you sleep.
- Eat mostly raw fruits, veggies and nuts.
- Brush your teeth early in the evening rather than just before bed. It keeps you from snacking if you’re not really hungry.
- Portion control used with a 20 minute wait time — wait 20 minutes after eating the sensible portions, and then see if you still feel hungry. Nine times out of ten, you won’t. If you do, get a little more.
- Cut out sugar.
- No fast food. Period.
- Commit to one diet — and stick to it for life. Start by making a list of low-calorie foods that you love, that you find satisfying; and when you’re hungry make sure you eat lots of those foods.
- Eat slow and you will only eat as much as you need to be full.
- Whenever you eat, think about how much food you would waste by overeating. Your body doesn’t *need* all the food that’s on your plate, why waste it? You could eat the leftovers for lunch the next day and save yourself some money, or you could split it with your loved one and have company while you eat. You could give it to the homeless guy down the block who REALLY needs it. Any reason you find not to waste that food is a good one.
- Everything in moderation. If you really want French fries and a hamburger, or ice cream, or a cookie it’s OK to indulge a little occasionally. Key word is occasionally. Better to indulge a little, than to binge later.
- Learn to cook, from scratch. That way, you control what you are eating.
- Observe your hunger patterns. Choose a bedtime that’s early enough to keep you from after-dinner snacking. Stick to that bed-time. If you must snack before bed, have something small and healthful. Maybe a tiny portion of whole grain cereal with milk.
- Eat lots of fibre, it’s surprisingly filling compared to that cupcake.
- Eat as soon after you get up as possible. This gets your metabolism working at a higher rate sooner in the day.
- Cut out alcohol or reduce your intake to one or two glasses a week.
- If you are hungry between meals, try eating a small portion of food that is high in protein. It can be more effective to eat one piece of cheese or some yoghurt or nuts than to eat bread or crackers or other snack foods.
- Go to bed early and get up early. If you stay up late, you will overeat, guaranteed. It doesn’t matter if you are a night person; change into a morning person. When you go to bed early, you don’t think about food all night.
- Instead of counting calories, concentrate on reducing your fat intake. Fat that you eat converts more readily into body fat than does protein or carbohydrate.
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