Ever Had A Goal but Not Achieved It? You Know What to Do, But for Some Reason You Just Don’t Do It

Recently we attended a trivia night where some of the staff from AMC had a team. Each participating team was asked to come up with a team name. I was on another team and unknown to me the AMC team called themselves the “Bring back fat Ron team”. This was in response to the staff at AMC having to listen to my lectures on their diet at lunch breaks.

I can talk about weight gain and weight loss because I have been there and have almost achieved my goal weight. I can tell you that while it has taken me 10 months, the satisfaction of achieving the loss of 25 kilos has more than made up for any perceived hard work that it has taken to get to this point.
What do I mean by perceived? I realise now that it was not hard work at all.

What did I do? I finally put into action all the advice that I knew to be correct but was basically too frightened and essentially too lazy to put into practice.

What do I do differently now? I walk 30 minutes each and every day, I walk up and down stairs rather than take the lift (just three flights). I have reduced my carbohydrate intake to a minimum and have increased my vegetable consumption.

For a couple of months I simply avoided potato, rice, bread, pasta, cakes biscuits and reduced the amount of sugar in my coffee and tea. I used to have three spoons of sugar, then reduced to two then down to using a sugar free sweetener equivalent to one spoon per serve with no carbohydrate content! I now have a slice of toast up to twice per week and enjoy lower carb fruits such as strawberries and blueberries in snack size quantities most days as well as small portions of walnuts and almonds. I was never a fan of nuts or fruit other than the odd banana but I so look forward now to eating the nuts and low carb fruits in a way that I never thought possible.

What is the biggest hurdle to losing weight? One mentioned, is the perception that it is hard work. Probably more vexing and difficult to avoid is the lack of real support from those around us who somehow seem to want you to fail. You know those people. They are the ones who say – “just have the one piece – it won’t hurt you to have just one”. The trouble is, that the one piece is one piece each day and, probably at each meal because the people encouraging you to do this seem to be around at these times. There is always someone. Or, there are those who simply want to bring back fat Ron!

A friend of mine who is always dieting, recently told me of a friend of hers who is quite overweight and is always placing a cookie or piece of cake on her desk with the usual comment – “just have the one, it is so delicious – I am having two, so one won’t hurt you.”

I don’t think for one minute that our friends are out to bring us down deliberately but can’t help but think that it has more to do with them feeling better about being overweight themselves if we too are carrying those extra kilos.  It’s a bit like those who want to give up smoking but find that their friends are always offering them a cigarette. If you find your friends or loved ones are making it more stressful, acknowledge that is it often more about them and if necessary, ask them to sign an agreement to ‘not tempt you’. This is very direct, but sometimes it is called for, after all this is about you, your health and your goals. Perhaps it is time to become equally as forthright.

Another hurdle is the belief that we just can’t do without rice or potato or bread. Well guess what? You can! Although it’s not so much as giving up, as having these things less often and in smaller portions especially as you start to see the benefits. This spurs you on and pretty soon you start avoiding the high carb things and start to look for the low carb or no carb foods and even start to crave them. Imagine craving onions or tomatoes? You will be surprised at how a small amount of low fat cheese melted over your vegetables or even a small amount of low carb mayonnaise can transform broccoli, cauliflower or Brussel sprouts into a tasty delight. You don’t have to be fancy – just more discerning and aware.

At AMC we have wonderful, helpful Nutritionists, Naturopaths, Doctors and Clinical staff on tap who can help you with advice and support. If you are already in any treatment program for hormonal symptoms then this help and support is already part of your program and ready for you to access at no extra cost. If not, then we do offer an initial free consult and affordable options for weight loss.