My diet

Now that the first post is out of the way, I can get down to work.  Generally, I struggle with food.  I love fried foods, I love carbs and I like to eat a lot (I am, at my core, a comfort eater, although this is coming under control now).  Thankfully, I am not too keen on sweets and I am allergic to chocolate - so maybe it's not all bad!

I have read that the safest (and surest) way to lose weight is to lose about 1 or 2 pounds a week.  The aim is to lose fat (not just kilos, because you could do that just by losing water or, worse, muscle).  A pound of fat is equivalent to 3500 calories, so you would need to have a calorie deficit of 500 per day to lose a pound a week (i.e., burn 500 calories more per day than you take in).  So that's the theory, and I'm all on top of that, but the practice is where I am having trouble.  

There are two problems.  One is that I love all that unhealthy stuff I talked about above.  Two is that it is really hard to know where to pitch your eating, as it were.  If I need to have a 500-calorie deficit each day, what do I need to do to achieve that?  How many calories am I actually burning per day on the days that I exercise?  And without exercise?  And how much and what should I eat to achieve that deficit?  From experience, I can say that it's no good eating too little - when I went too far in the other direction, I felt sapped of energy.  Plus, I have read that your body goes into starvation mode - it makes you feel more hungry and it burns muscle instead of fat in your body(!).

To help me with the second problem, I have asked my doctor to refer me to a dietician.  Hopefully she should have some numbers I can work with.  The first problem is more complicated.  But there is progress.  Today, I met a friend for an unplanned lunch.  The menu had a lot of tasty sounding fried things on it, and I really wanted the deep-fried wholetail scampi and chips.  A voice inside me said: "have the salad".  But I didn't want to eat something cold and dull.  So I had a pasta with lots of asparagus and broccoli (and I asked for the pesto on the side).  White pasta, so not ideal, but hey at least I didn't have the scampi!

First post and introduction

Hi, and welcome to my health drive blog.  For many years, I had what I thought was a simple objective: to lose weight.  I first identified this desire when I was about 11 or 12 years old.  (Yes, it was early, but I was a rotund child and very conscious of it - it's not exactly like the other kids at school let me forget the fact!).  So, during my teens and early twenties, I tried for many years to "lose weight", through mainly exercise, with some half-hearted attempts at reducing my food intake.  Whilst my weight did sometimes drop, it didn't stay low (for various reasons).  

After leaving university, about 6 years ago, I weighed between 68 and 70 kg (about 150 lbs.).  I wasn't happy with this and continued with my periodic attempts to "lose weight".  My weight yo-yo'ed up and down as before.  Things were complicated further when I started working and my lifestyle became pretty unhealthy - long working hours, little sleep, little time for exercise, eating on the go and social drinking with colleagues.  A year into my working life, because of problems at home, I went through a very low emotional period - and in six months, I comfort ate my way to 82 kg (180 lbs.).  I eventually came out of that low period, and my weight dropped to close to 75kg (165 lbs.) about a year later.  But, then, I started a new job, where the hours were even longer and the health regime went out of the window.  I was back at 80 kg (175 lbs.).  

Finally, in December 2008, a number of things happened, and I realised that my health was just getting worse and that I had to do something about it.  So began my new health drive.  I am now 4 months into the new me, and I am seeing some results.  But, honestly, it is a struggle.  I'm not following any fad diets or doing anything extreme to myself - just educating myself about nutrition and exercise, taking control of what I eat and doing exercise (working out with a personal trainer, going for runs and playing racquet sports).  And I have discovered that all of this doesn't happen easily.

I realised that there must be other people out there who are in a similar position (or who have been in the past) and that they might have some tips, some ideas or just some encouragement.  It might also just be that my experience could help someone else, by giving them some encouragement too and helping them keep working towards their goals.  And so begins this blog.  The current intention is for this to operate as a diary of sorts, but if there is enough interest in the future, I might open particular topics for discussion on a regular basis.  In either case, have a read, and share your experiences with health, exercise, nutrition/diet, well-being, the challenges, the results, what works and what doesn't.  (I would really appreciate it if any comments could steer clear of extreme stuff like medication, surgery and crash diets.)

I should just add that I am not a medical doctor or trained/qualified health professional of any kind.  I am just an average Jane trying to become healthier and hoping to exchange ideas with other like-minded people.  So please don't read anything on this site as advice (health advice or otherwise).  Everyone should take whatever approach works for them, and if it is advice you are after, please consult your doctor.