Welcome to AlmostFit. This entry is a personal note on my progress with improving my health through eating real food in moderation. If you enjoy reading this article, please consider subscribing to my RSS feed . Thanks.
In my history with maintaining a weight loss program, the single greatest contributor to failure has always been one thing:
Stress .
I am decidedly an emotional eater with a particular susceptibility to stress; i tend to overeat, or eat all the wrong things to a fault when the stress starts to mount. In fact, my food-related conversations often go something like this:
“$5.00 Venti Mocha with 4 shots? No problem - I need the caffeine. And the whipped cream makes it go down easier.”
“Would I like fries with that? I’ll leave that decision up to you, my fast food friend.”
“Do you have those bonus Twinkie 3-packs? No no - not the ones with the extra delicious treat - I want the pack of three, of the three packs . Get it?”
So how have I fared this time, so far? My work is currently at its most stressful; I’m working about 70-80 hours a week, working through the weekend. This does not including writing in the evenings and early hours for my own projects (like AlmostFit). We are approaching the release of our product, and the demands are more than just time; there are also significant pressures to uphold my part of the team equation in terms of providing pieces that the other team members need.
That said, the very good news is that by mid-month in March, although my weight loss has slowed slightly, I am still ahead of the game. I am currently at 17.6 lbs down for the year, and I hope to start turning the corner to speed things up just a little in the next few days through exercise. I have successfully added the beginnings of an exercise regime by getting out of the house for an hour between meetings (I generally don’t have time for a lunch break) to start walk/running at the track.
The exercise of course helps somewhat with the stress; but more than anything, since I’m not approaching this from a deprivation perspective, the stress has not resulted in the usual familiar pathways of fast food and a bag of chips. I am intensely interested in Gastronomy right now, reading everything on the cultural relationship with food that I can make time for. I also have an incredible support structure through my wife, who carefully listens to my requests when she prepares the meals, and helps me to improve the meals that I prepare with sound advice. Not to mention the inspiration that I’m finding all over the Web in people with a very similar situation, who are succeeding in changing their lives for the better.
In other words, I consider my slower weight loss a rousing success over the last few weeks, particularly as the stress has mounted. This in many ways is a first for me; and hopefully a good indicator of the lasting effects of the habits I’m both creating and destroying.
In gratitude, here are a handful of links that I’ve found particularly inspiring:
IowaAvenue.com
AndrewIsGettingFit.com
GetFitSlowly.com
ThisMamaCooks.com
CrankyFitness.com
Thank you to every one of you out there who are documenting your process and in turn, inspiring others.
In my history with maintaining a weight loss program, the single greatest contributor to failure has always been one thing:
Stress .
I am decidedly an emotional eater with a particular susceptibility to stress; i tend to overeat, or eat all the wrong things to a fault when the stress starts to mount. In fact, my food-related conversations often go something like this:
“$5.00 Venti Mocha with 4 shots? No problem - I need the caffeine. And the whipped cream makes it go down easier.”
“Would I like fries with that? I’ll leave that decision up to you, my fast food friend.”
“Do you have those bonus Twinkie 3-packs? No no - not the ones with the extra delicious treat - I want the pack of three, of the three packs . Get it?”
So how have I fared this time, so far? My work is currently at its most stressful; I’m working about 70-80 hours a week, working through the weekend. This does not including writing in the evenings and early hours for my own projects (like AlmostFit). We are approaching the release of our product, and the demands are more than just time; there are also significant pressures to uphold my part of the team equation in terms of providing pieces that the other team members need.
That said, the very good news is that by mid-month in March, although my weight loss has slowed slightly, I am still ahead of the game. I am currently at 17.6 lbs down for the year, and I hope to start turning the corner to speed things up just a little in the next few days through exercise. I have successfully added the beginnings of an exercise regime by getting out of the house for an hour between meetings (I generally don’t have time for a lunch break) to start walk/running at the track.
The exercise of course helps somewhat with the stress; but more than anything, since I’m not approaching this from a deprivation perspective, the stress has not resulted in the usual familiar pathways of fast food and a bag of chips. I am intensely interested in Gastronomy right now, reading everything on the cultural relationship with food that I can make time for. I also have an incredible support structure through my wife, who carefully listens to my requests when she prepares the meals, and helps me to improve the meals that I prepare with sound advice. Not to mention the inspiration that I’m finding all over the Web in people with a very similar situation, who are succeeding in changing their lives for the better.
In other words, I consider my slower weight loss a rousing success over the last few weeks, particularly as the stress has mounted. This in many ways is a first for me; and hopefully a good indicator of the lasting effects of the habits I’m both creating and destroying.
In gratitude, here are a handful of links that I’ve found particularly inspiring:
IowaAvenue.com
AndrewIsGettingFit.com
GetFitSlowly.com
ThisMamaCooks.com
CrankyFitness.com
Thank you to every one of you out there who are documenting your process and in turn, inspiring others.