Ok, so I'm now 2 weeks into my fat loss diet - 14 days of counting calories, increasing my steps and trying to cut down (not out, never cut out!) on the things I love that I know are calorie-laden - chocolate, cake and ice-cream!
Why haven't I lost 2 stone yet??!!!!
Don't we all feel like that when we start a new diet plan? It feels like we have been dieting FOREVER, when in fact, it's only been a few weeks or months!
Losing fat isn't the hard bit, it's sticking to it long enough for you to notice it yourself and feel like it's working, that makes it difficult.
Ok, so I want to tell you about my week, before I tell you this week's results, and there is a reason for this!
So my week started off well, I was still on a high from my scales loss the previous week (-1.7kg in week 1) and even though I knew my period was imminent, mentally I felt in a good place and I wasn't in my pre menstrual rut of wanting to eat ALL the food like I usually get.
On Monday I met up with Eleri, one of my incredible clients who has completely transformed herself this year! She joined my Group PT in January and the fat loss programme end of February. She has now lost over 10kg in just over 6 months!!
We met up for a 5k walk, as she struggles to get her daily steps in as her job is mainly working from home and sedentary, so getting her activity levels up are hard.
Meeting up with friends is something we often put on the backburner as we have busy lives, but sometimes going for a walk is the best thing to do socially.
Even better if you have kids as you can let them tag along on bikes and scooters like mine often do, and we tire them out too - it's definitely win-win!
Eleri is currently unable to exercise due to having laser eye surgery, so walking is the only thing she can do safely.
Sometimes we get a spanner in the works and even best laid plans sometimes go awry. It's important during this time to not use it as an excuse but to work around it!
Tuesday & Wednesday of last week, the heaven's opened! My lord did we have some rain.
Yet again another bloody spanner in the works!
I had to cancel my outdoor 1:1 PT session with another client as the weather was dreadful and although I still hit my steps target with my active job, I found getting extra steps in hard!
On Wednesday I went to the gym (in the rain) and had a little walk on the treadmill after my workout. It wasn't ideal but at least I hit my steps target that day still and didn't let the rain affect my mood (why does it always make you feel like crap?)
The thing I always tell my clients is that it isn't motivation that makes me get my steps in, or go to the gym. It's just discipline. Even if I feel like I can't be bothered, I remind myself how I will feel if I don't go, and how important my goal is to reach.
The rest of the week was fairly uneventful, although the combination of getting my period, feeling extremely tired as I wasn't sleeping well and catching my daughter's cold by Sunday, meant making the right choices felt so much harder than usual!
Weeks like this can be so tough when you are trying to stay 'on track' and it would be so easy to slide into old habits and have snacks here and there. Eat some chocolate to 'cheer myself up' or a few glasses of wine to chill me out and help me sleep better.
Thing is food and alcohol is such a short term fix - might feel good at the time, but we immediately regret it! Try not fall into that trap!
Getting outside and feeling the fresh air in my lungs is a much better way of cheering myself up and I did just that on Sunday. Even though I'd only done 3,000 steps by 2.30pm, I put on my walking shoes and got out with Maggie to do a 5.5k walk. It took us just over an hour and a half and we got 8,300 steps in!
Eating wise I counted all my calories and stuck to my target for most days, with the exception of Saturday. We had a family day out so we ended up doing lots of little activities and eating where we could (a lovely little farm shop in West Wales) and then ended up in Krispy Kreme at Bridgend outlet and I'll be damned if I'm not sharing a doughnut with my children!
One of my die hard rules is not letting the kids know I want to lose weight.
I grew up attending slimming classes with my Mum and my whole childhood is flooded with memories of my Mum saying 'I can't eat that on my diet!' or telling me I'm not allowed the strawberries in the fridge as they're for her diet only.
I want my children to know that food is fuel and all a calorie is, is a unit of energy.
The doughnut I chose was 275 calories and around 125 calories less than the one I actually wanted.
The kids had no idea why I chose that doughnut and I don't want them to pick up on me looking at calories on a menu. It's unnecessary and would only encourage disordered eating and I don't want them going down that route.
I want them to grow up without calories and syns and diet in their vocabulary!
So, all in all, a super challenging week. Shitty weather, shitty hormones and shitty germs!
I navigated it all though, did my best and remembered my focus.
I averaged -
- Over 14k steps per day
- Under my weekly calorie target
- 3 gym workouts + 1x yoga session
- 122 grams of protein per day
And after ALL of that... I stayed the same on the scales... Yep, exactly the same!
The thing to remember with fat loss, is that it doesn't always show up on the scales.
The scales are measuring WEIGHT LOSS, not fat loss.
I know I have lost fat this week. I have done everything right.
I have actually lost CM's so my fat loss is reflected in my measurements.
Your weight is affected by so many variables -
- Fluid balance
- Water retention
- Hormones
- What you've eaten (salty meals hold onto water)
- Sleep
- Waste products/ constipation
- Stress
- Time of day
It's important to remember this on your weekly 'weigh-in' and try to focus on the bigger picture. If you've done everything right, there is no need to panic. And most certainly no need to throw in the towel because you think 'it's not working!'.
I have to tell clients this most weeks, and many come from slimming club backgrounds where the ethos of not losing weight in a week is almost always, 'what can we do better next week?' or 'what did we do wrong this week?'
This narrative is almost always bullshit!
Don't let the sad step take away everything you have achieved that week! Focus on the bigger picture and know that as long as you are really focusing on the basics, you are making a difference!
I'm ready to enter week 3 with the same focus and determination as the last 2 weeks and hopefully with my happy hormones on their way in (yay for oestrogen!) and my period on the way out, I'll be feeling even more positive in a week's time!
Don't forget the next 6 week fat loss programme starts on October 22nd - if you're interested in booking on, I'd love to help you on your journey!
