Monday, January 29, 2007

Changes for Life

I went to the doc today for my liver function tests that I was supposed to have a week after the last hospital visit - the week before Xmas!! I took the opportunity to have a chat with him about my weight, my blood pressure, my fatty liver and motivation etc. It was great. He chatted to me about my cholesterol, which is perfect by the way. He said I am in no danger of having a heart attack at my age but that I have the markers there for it to happen in 15 years if I don't do something now. He said that I have every thing in my favour for turning the blood pressure and fatty liver around as my cholesterol is low and that means my fatty liver can reverse. Then we got onto the subject of my motivation. He put it out there that I have to make my walking and healthier eating a priority in my life and not put it off because I was too busy. I explained how I have lost a bit here and there over the past couple of years but whenever the going gets tough I put it right back on. He explained that I am an up and down sort of person and that, when I put my mind to it I can lose the weight but that is only when I am revved up. I said I had contemplated doing the whole Liver Cleansing whole foods only approach and he said that I just wasn't in the right place to try and go completely against my usual eating pattern. He said the stress of trying something so rigid and then failing again, would be more detrimental then helpful. He told me to just approach it in a baby steps manner but the changes I make need to be made for life, to be there in stressful times and good times. So we came to the conclusion that I should try to walk the kids the 2km to school at least a couple of times a week, even if we are running late. He said it was more important for me to walk than it was for the kids to always be on time to school. He stressed how extremely important the exercise was. So I have decided to do a wee start up plan to kick start me into the next 4 wks. If I want a wedding then I need to put the $20 a wk towards that so I won't be going to weight watchers. Instead I will get a good set of electronic scales.

So this is my start up plan, starting Feb 1st 2007:

On fine days, walk kids to school.
Try to implement more incidental exercise into my daily activities (vaccuum every day etc)
No snacking on biscuits or processed crap. Have carrot sticks and nuts on hands (not roasted nuts)
Drink 2L water a day.
Cut out fizzy drinks, lollies, chocolate etc as everyday items.
Takeaways only once a month (this is for money saving as well as low fatness).
Have a good breakfast every day.
Base my days around 28 points (while I am breastfeeding) but don't dismiss my hunger, as that can be bad when breastfeeding.
Be positive. Positive things happen to positive people.
Weigh once a week on a Thursday morning, starting Feb 1st.

3 comments:

Chris H said...

So, everything you are going to implement is good, old fashioned common sense stuff... just like weight watchers! You can do this Jules, you will be feeling so much better once you have dropped some weight! And walking to school with the kids is a fantastic idea, don't know about vacuming every day tho, that's a fag.

Zanna said...

Sounds like a really sensible plan - so wish you all the best as you tackle it. And your doc is so right - anything you do needs to be something you can incorporate into your life so eventually it just becomes routine. Will pop in regularly to see how you're going
Take care
Z

Zara said...

I love your plan and that you went to see your doc and had a sensible talk.

Oh, and you forgot to put "Email Zara" on your list. You selfish whore!