Chase down my motivation and beat it with sticks

Motivation.

I think that one word sums up the whole reason why I have been stable at around 120kg for the last 3 months, and why I have been less than stellar with my blogging.

I went to occupational health a few weeks ago (I have just started a slightly different job) and was weighed, measured and found still full of pie. The good news is that I have lost 10kg. However, to put it another way, I have only lost 10 bloody kilos.

The occupational health nurse was lovely, but slightly scary. Like what you would get if you crossed Dr Hilary with the Stasi. She then, curse her, pulled out this chart:




I am sure that this is a bastard with which most of you are familiar. I mean look at it: how small is the "OK" category. Seriously, if I weighed 80kg, Oxfam would start filming me for their next campaign. I also think they should change the names to (in ascending order): "skeleton", "meh", "a bit tubby", "fat pie-scoffing git" and finally, "order an extra wide coffin"

This is the problem: although we all know that obesity is a bad thing, the BMI is not the best tool for the job, as it takes no account for different body types. Fat percentage is a much more accurate tool, but the BMI is, like a KFC bargain bucket, quick and easy. And covered with grease stains.

But I digress....I know, I have more tangents than a geometry class (maths lulz). The problem with any diet, particularly after the initial quite impressive weight loss is maintenance, especially when week in, week out you barely notice any difference in your actual weight. Having charts like the one above waved in you face do not, in my opinion, really help. My target of 100kg would still put me fair and square in the overweight category. For me to get from where I am to an "OK" weight would mean losing at least an extra 10kg. At this point, it's understandable why people go "ah, feck it, let's get a kebab." Maintaining motivation is a very difficult thing to do at this time.

So, how do you do it? Well, I do not have all the answers but:

1: Life will intervene
Weight loss HAS to be seen as a long term process. Some days/weeks/months you may not have the time to go to the gym or make dinner. The danger is letting a "blip" become something more serious. Counting calories over a week or even fortnight period is better, as it lets you "balance" the bad days with better ones. My Fitness Pal is great for this, especially as if you fail they will pull out your fingernails.

2: Remove temptations
Having just come back from my mother's house with a hundredweight of baked treats, I know that this is easier said than done. However, if you don't have the chocolate/crisps/pork scratchings in the house, then it makes it that bit more difficult to fall upon them like a pack of rabid hyenas.

3: Mix it up
I got a bit bored because my meals were getting remarkably similar every. bloody. day. I swear if I never see another crispbread I will die happy. Although I have a particular diet "bible" (Hairy Dieters) I have started looking at recipes I USED to cook and seeing how I can adapt them to make them tasty but also less likely to kill me. Substitution of ingredients works very well.

4: Resist the urge to kill
Seriously, one of the major problems with being on a diet is that whenever you even look at a plate of tasty biscuits, someone (usually horrifically slim) will pop up and say something along the lines of "hmm...having those on your diet are you?" Whilst beating them into a bloody pulp with their own can of slimfast does burn calories, it does not psychologically help you. Well, not much.

5: Congratulate yourself on what you have already done
I am a classic case in point. I keep focussing on the "bloody hell, still 20kg to go" rather than "actually, you have lost 10kg in under 6 months".


This is a blog where I welcome, nay need, the comments of my peers. Let me know what keeps you motivated when the urge to order everything off the left hand side of the Dominos menu gets too much. I will blog the best replies next week!