When I first went self-employed, I did the whole New Start thing.
I started eating a lot better (no office snacks).
I did more exercise (easier in summer).
I lost a lot of weight, and I felt a lot better about myself. But then the realities of self-employment kicked in, and I found myself working every second I was awake. I was stressed out, which always makes me eat more.
You can see where this is going.
By the time January kicked in, I was the heaviest weight I’d ever recorded in MyFitnessPal. I was miserable because I could barely fit into any of my clothes, and I was too depressed to go shopping for ones in a bigger size. So I decided to get serious about logging and tracking food.
Which worked fine for a couple of weeks, until MyFitnessPal had a bunch of tech issues. On top of their own tech issues, I was experiencing a different bug with MPF and Fitbit, which they still haven’t resolved and don’t seem to care to respond to me about, despite me following up via two different channels (side note: if you’re trying to sell a premium version of your product or service, make sure the free one is so shit hot that people want to upgrade, not think “Well this version is so bad there’s no way I’m throwing money at the paid one).
So I fell off the MFP wagon for a while. Eventually I decided to buy a little goals book, unhook Fitbit from MFP, and carry on. Which worked for a while, but I’m really not good at looking after myself, especially when it comes to super basic things like remembering to drink water.
This year so far I’ve lost 6lb, but it’s a real struggle to keep at it. I’m trying to apply me new money mentality to my food: I have a budget (of calories), and it’s easier to stick within that and do 10,000 steps a day than to go over and get stressed or spend forever at the gym. I know I have to be more organised around food, but sometimes I get a bit too enthusiastic organising chocolate into my shopping basket!! My biggest downfall is snacks, because I will always go for a snack instead of a meal if one’s available. But drinking lots of water and eating proper meals is the easiest way to stay full and on track. I have no excuses now, since I have my own schedule and can fit in time for cooking and walking if I want to, despite how busy we are and how short the days are!
Next month we’re planning to rejoin our local leisure centre and gym, and I’m going to start over with the Couch To 5k programme. We both love swimming and we really enjoyed going pretty much daily last summer, so we really want to get back into that habit again despite the freezing cold weather. This time I’m super determined to get this part of my life back on track – after all, I have an entire wardrobe of clothes to fit back into!
