Falling Off and Getting Back on the Wagon!

What happens when you have a weight-loss setback?

Ever since I had begun this exercise and weight loss program, I had lost more weight than I ever had. I was also eating healthier than I ever had before in the years prior. It really dawned on me that I was making a big difference with my weight was when I noticed my clothes, which would normally be either tight or snug, began to feel slightly looser and baggy. I felt like I was on a roll – I had had no weight loss setbacks since I started – besides from the occasional plateauing. The most the positive change that really affected me was my improved sleeping – a major side effect of health living, I’ve found.

Since 2019 I have had a real struggle with a sleeping disorder, where I would wake up in the middle of the night and be unable to fall back asleep. Throughout the next day, I would be tired and irritated. In 2020, I was able to strike a balance with prescribed medications Melatonin and Belsomra. This helped me get back to sleep a little bit easier. However, as a result of my weight-loss and exercise, I noticed my sleep improve substantially. I now fell back to sleep almost immediately.

Everything was going swimmingly. Admittedly, the weight wasn’t dropping as quickly as it did when I began my exercise program, but I was still losing weight. I finally reach 103kgs. The problem? While everything remained stable, it also got boring. From eating right to exercising – it all became too routine. The occasional plateauing didn’t help my motivation. I was beginning to lose interest in the whole ordeal.

It got worse when lockdowns officially ended on October 11, 2021. One of the first places I went to, when I was free to travel into the city, was Macquarie Centre. I can’t remember why I went there, but one thing is for certain, I distinctively remember excessively eating in the food court. I didn’t plan to, it just happened. It started with small samples, a small plate of noodles, a few meatballs, a chocolate éclair from somewhere else and more! I thought these small little bites of food wouldn’t be the same as having a large meal, however all of the small purchases I made accumulated into a large three-course meal. I felt stuffed, sick and bloated afterwards. I ate without thinking and assumed my metabolism would simply burn it all off.

I couldn’t have been more wrong. The next morning, I weighed myself and got a shock. I had, in a single day, regained over two whole kilograms. I was embarrassed and mortified. It was a major weight loss setback. I felt upset I had lost weeks of the hard work I had put into my exercise routine, and for what? In hindsight the food wasn’t even that good.

It was the wakeup call I needed to get out of the funk I was in before. I was bored and had been slacking. I pledged that I wouldn’t make that mistake again and that I would start to take my fitness program seriously again. I swore off going to Macquarie Centre Food Court, and decided to remove all of the other temptations in my life I knew I couldn’t resist.

It felt good. I felt good. It didn’t take me long to shred the two kilos I had regained; however it was going to take me a lot more to get back in the game and reach my ultimate goal.

To be continued…

The post My Weight Loss Journey: Part 7 – Weight Loss Setbacks appeared first on WeFlex | NDIS Personal Trainer & Exercise Physiologist.

Plateauing 

My body was getting bored and had started plateauing… but what does that actually mean?

After learning and understanding the science and mechanisms of metabolism, I continued onwards with my exercise routine. As the weeks went by, I went down from 109kgs, to 108kgs to 107kgs. Everything was on the up and up for me. It was only a matter of time before I finally dropped down to that desired 103.

As I continued to lose weight, I began noticing others complimenting my weight loss and how I was looking better than I ever had before. However, the opinion I was most concerned with, was my Aunt Sue, who is not one to spare my feelings and sugar-coat anything. When she told me that even she was noticing my weight loss, that’s when I knew I was really making a difference.

Everything was going as planned, until one day when I weighed myself and noticed that I hadn’t lost any weight. I was confused. I could have sworn I would have lost another kilo just as I had every other week prior. I retraced my steps to try and figure out why. Did I overeat the night before? Did I not exercise like I had been? It didn’t help when I weighed myself a few days later and saw that I had still not lost any weight. I didn’t understand.

I kept my exercise routine, I went for seven kilometre walks, did a vigorous thirty mins on the exercise bike, and I ate appropriately, and yet I was still failing to lose any more weight. I wondered if I even could lose anymore weight. Before, I was worried about losing too much weight when I wasn’t exercising and now, I was worried about not losing any weight, even when I was exercising.

I was getting discouraged, and fast. However, much like last time, I decided that if anyone were to know what was going on, it would be my brother. He explained to me the concept of ‘plateauing.’

“Simply put, our bodies are adapting machines. It’s how as a species we’ve been able to survive so long. If you do things to your body consistently, it starts to prepare for it. If you were to eat dinner every night at the same time, it wouldn’t be long before you are salivating and hungry five minutes beforehand. It’s the same with exercise. If you were to exercise straight after waking up – it might be tough to being with, but before long your body will be waking up with more energy. Why? It’s adapting. However, sometimes your body can get too good at this and you may find it harder to break down the muscle or push your cardiovascular system – resulting in a plateau of performance. It’s for this reason you need to make sure that you regularly (but not too often) mix up and change your exercise regimen. By doing so, you will be challenging your body in new ways, targeting different muscles or the same muscles in a different way.”

My body was getting too bored with the usual exercise routine. It wasn’t burning fat at the rate I was used too. In order to break the plateau, I had to start doing more than what I was doing.

I decided to expand my existing exercise program by, instead of doing thirty minutes on the bike, some days I would do a full hour. I didn’t find this arduous, or difficult, it just meant I got a bit sweatier on some days.

Eventually, I was able to break my plateauing. I went from 107kgs, down to 106kg! By staying consistent and adapting, I would be ready to face the dreaded plateauing when it popped up again.

Everything was looking bright, until one day when I fell off the wagon…

To be continued…

The post My Weight Loss Journey: Part 6 – Plateauing appeared first on WeFlex | NDIS Personal Trainer & Exercise Physiologist.

Keep “Spinning That Wheel”

After the first few weeks of adding the exercise bike into my routine, I began noticing the kgs beginning to drop. I went from 112kgs to 111kgs, then 110kgs, and onwards.

As I watched this positive change happen, I also began to wonder what other alterations I could include in my weight-loss program to assist me even more.

As the weight began to shed, I couldn’t help but taunt my brother by sending him weekly updates on my weight loss – 111kgs, then 110kg, then 109kg! It was like a ticking time-bomb, counting down to 103.

I began noticing my weight dropping on days I didn’t even exercise, or go on the bike, and it didn’t take long before my hypochondria crept in, convincing myself that something had to be up. This consistent weight loss couldn’t possibly be due to my new exercise regimen.

I scared myself into thinking I possibly had a terrible disease, where one of the symptoms was dramatic weight loss. This tempted me into overeating and to stop exercising to try and purposely regain the weight I was now afraid of losing.

Doubt had crept in, and I was about to give up everything – everything I had worked for – until my brother, Tom, stepped in and saved me. He explained to me the laws of metabolism, something I didn’t know anything about.

I was just about to give up everything, everything I had worked for, until my brother – Tom – stepped in and saved me.

After I explained to him my concerns, my brother explained to me the laws of metabolism, something I didn’t know anything about.

As he put it;

“In a nutshell, your metabolism is the process of your body converting what you eat into energy it requires to operate. Everything your body does requires energy, even things like thinking, breathing, urinating as well as more obvious things like moving and playing. Too much food and your body doesn’t use all the energy, which it stores as fat. Not enough food and your body starts making decisions on where the limited energy goes – resulting in feelings of fatigue and other issues.”

“The amount of energy your body needs or the rate at which your body uses (and therefore requires) energy is known as your basal metabolic rate. What your body needs from an energy standpoint to function normally. When you regularly exercise the requirements of your body – again even just to exist, goes up. You also have more muscles to provide energy to! Your body wants more energy as it is used to exercising more. So, your BMR goes up. The higher your BMR goes up, the more of ‘kilojoule furnace’ your body becomes.”

In other words, think of metabolism like a wheel that you spin manually. You spin it around and around, faster and faster. Overtime, it begins to spin so much that you can stop spinning it manually and it will continue on it’s own.

As you exercise more and more regularly, and consistently, your body burns fat at a much higher rate, even on days you don’t exercise. Much like a spinning wheel, eventually it slows down, and your metabolism will lose momentum unless you exercise regularly. You’ve got to keep “spinning that wheel.”

The post My Weight Loss Journey: Part 5 – Metabolism appeared first on WeFlex | NDIS Personal Trainer & Exercise Physiologist.

You Do Make Friends with Salad

After the first few weeks of adding the exercise bike into my routine, I began noticing the kgs beginning to drop. I went from 112kgs to 111kgs, then 110kgs, and onwards.

As I watched this positive change happen, I also began to wonder what other alterations I could include in my weight-loss program to assist me even more.

That led me to reconsider my diet. I began to investigate to see if there was any room for improvement.

As I’ve noted before, I initially planned to stick to a very strict intermittent fasting regime, where I would only allow myself to eat between 12:00PM to 8:00PM. I also set out to reframe from the usual suspects – sugary drinks, fast-food and sweets – the unhealthy top of the food pyramid.

However, while this strategy was effective in helping me avoid unhealthy foods, it didn’t necessarily ensure an explicitly healthy diet either. I still found myself eating high-carb foods which, though not as bad as processed fast-food or sugary treats, wasn’t necessarily the healthiest alternative either.

I started to cut down on high-carb foods such as white bread and pasta. I started incorporating more vegetables into my meals, which led to a newfound appreciation for vegetable soups and salads (see recipes below).

The change was noticeable.

I saw my weight dropping at a faster rate and I also began noticing other positive effects. I was feeling better about myself. I had more energy and had a more positive outlook overall, which made it easier to accept the new changes. It worked as the perfect incentive.

However, as I began to lose more and more weight each week, I started to get a little nervous. My newfound diet and exercise program was working… maybe a little too good in my opinion.

To be continued…

Recipes

Asian Salad 

You’ll need:

• A large, mixing bowl
• 1 cup of spinach leaves (thinly sliced)
• 1 cup of red cabbage (thinly sliced)
• 1 cup of green cabbage (thinly sliced)
• 1 cup of shredded carrots
• 1 large Spanish onion (thinly sliced)
• 1 small tin of corn kernels
• Salt to taste
• Dressing of your choice (I use honey Dijon)

Optional: Any extras you wish to include e.g., roast chicken, heated frozen squid, etc.

Method:

1. Add all ingredients into a large mixing bowl
2. Mix until satisfied
3. Enjoy!

Vegetable Soup

You’ll need:

• A large, steel pot
• Olive oil
• 1 large brown onion (chopped)
• 3-4 Garlic cloves, crushed (optional)
• Carrots (chopped)
• Green beans (chopped)
• Zucchini (chopped)
• Spinach leaves (chopped)
• Sweet potato (chopped)
• Potato (chopped)
• Pumpkin (chopped)
• Any extra vegetables you have (chopped)
• Soy sauce
• Worcestershire sauce
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 liter of beef stock
• 2 sachets of bouquet Garni (still in the sachets)

Optional: Grain bread rolls with some butter. Cheese, roast chicken etc. for toppings.

Method:

1. Preheat the pot at a mid-high temperature
2. Add a slurp of olive oil
3. Add onions and garlic – stir until golden
4. Add all vegetables, beef stock, then the Garni sachets (make sure the sachets are not torn throughout the process)
5. Add a dash of soy sauce and Worcestershire sauce into the mix, as well as salt and pepper to taste.
6. Stir to perfection and wait until it starts boiling.
7. Once boiling, turn down heat to mid-low and let it simmer for 20 minutes, or until the vegetables are soft.
8. Carefully remove the Garni sachets from the pot
9. Once vegetables are soft, turn off the stove. You can either puree the soup if you would like too.
10. Add any additional toppings, such as cheese or roast chicken

The post My Weight Loss Journey: Part 4 – Diet and Nutrition appeared first on WeFlex | NDIS Personal Trainer & Exercise Physiologist.

I did the exercises in the morning, I walked a 7km trail, and kept an eye on what I ate, and yet I was still hardly making a dent in my overall weight. All I had achieved was losing a single kilogram and most of that time was kept trying not to regain it.

It was obvious that something was missing. Even though I was doing everything I needed to not gain weight, I wasn’t doing enough to lose weight. Something had to be done. I needed to do more than what I had originally planned.

And that’s when I discovered the bike.

Now, discovering the wonders of the bike, is something I owe to my beloved aunt. You see, my ailing aunt, who my brother and I visit and help with gardening every Saturday, has always been observant and critical of my weight. She had a habit of aggressively tapping my stomach to remind me that I had to do something.

So, with my aunt tapping my stomach in mind, I looked up the most efficient exercises for losing belly fat. One of the exercises that caught my eye was cycling. The reason it grabbed me was because I had an exercise bike already.

I contacted my brother, who knows a thing (or two) about exercise and weight loss. He confirmed the bike was a good addition to my exercise regimen and gave me the thumbs up.

The first time I went on the bike, it felt exhilarating because I got sweaty and puffed, which is a good sign that you’re doing a real work out. From that day onwards, I decided to incorporate the exercise bike into daily routine. I began doing 30 minutes a day and let me tell you: what a difference it made!

Only after a few days I began to finally see the kind of results I was hoping to see. As I weighed myself every morning, my weight began to drop. I had lost more weight in a week, then I had lost throughout the weeks before I discovered the bike.

I had found the winning strategy for me was to have a consistent exercise program which was manageable and was showing results. The incentive of knowing what works made it easier for me to continue doing the bike every day.

All I had to do was stick to it and stay consistent. As my brother told me, “Long-term consistency beats short-term intensity.”

However, despite figuring out the right physical, exercise program, I realised that I had to re-evaluate and modify other aspects of my weight-loss regimen to make it more effective. So, I decided to reassess my diet and make some changes that would better help me.

To be continued…

The post My Weight-Loss Journey: Part 3 – The Bike appeared first on WeFlex | NDIS Personal Trainer & Exercise Physiologist.