The Paper Chain Weightloss plan

It seems that I am my own worst enemy!

I recently had an ‘Oprah Ah ha’  light bulb moment thanks to Gretchen Rubin.  I have been reading Gretchen Rubin’s new book ‘Better than Before’, and I have just realised my problem – I am an ‘obliger’.

An ‘obliger’ is somebody who puts other peoples needs before their own and mums have a tendency to put their family’s needs before making themselves a priority, but I have come to realise the importance of making sure I consider my health a priority.

I feel like I have been reading and thinking about health for quite some time now.  In fact, I made a promise to myself last year, and again at the beginning of this year, that I would get my act together and ‘get healthy’…and to a degree I have been working on this, but I must admit I haven’t made it a priority because I (gulp) have been using my family as my excuse as to why I can’t lose weight. You know, motherhood is busy and all!

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I had an energy shift in my thinking in the last month!

Motherhood is busy.  Homeschooling is busy.  Running a household is busy. Life in general is busy.

However.

I am going to stop allowing these aspects of my life to take up all of my available time.  Last week, I signed up to the ‘‘Healthy Mummy and Lose Baby weight 28 day Challenge’.   We walked 5 out of 7 days, and this week we have walked 5 days, but we are planning to go daily.

I bought a food and exercise diary at Kmart recently for $3, so I’ve started documenting my food and water intake as well as our exercise.  Its amazing how accountable one becomes when one has to write down what one ingests!?

Accountability and scheduling are a good thing, it’s essential for long term weight loss success.

So, why did I choose this particular kickstart weight loss plan?

A few weeks ago, I was up late one night scrolling through my facebook feed.  I had been feeling quite disappointed and quite down about my weight issues, and my impending 40th in a few months time.  Anyway, I noticed an advertisement for the healthy mummy and Lose baby weight website with a picture of a girl who had a tummy very similar to my tummy, so I clicked the link, which of course took me to their website.  The before and after pictures were amazing.

I was so in awe of this girls tummy shape change, I decided to contact her via facebook and ask how long it took to see these noticeable changes.   She replied back almost instantly with her answer -‘4 months…and the changes are real not fake!!’.

For the first time in a long time I actually felt hopeful that my mummy tummy might go down some, so I signed up to the challenge, and I feel really good for it.

I’m not looking for those perfect wash board abs, but I’ll settle for healthier and slimmer.  I have spent time thinking about why I want the weightloss, so I thought I would spell it out here.   I want to feel strong and energetic.  I want to feel free to wear clothes that I don’t feel that I can wear right now.  I long to glam up and wear dresses, rather than pants all of the time. I want to feel desirable, say hello to my healthy forties, and goodbye to the anguish I have felt for my tummy. I’ve realized that my feelings about my tummy have held me back on so many occasions – I have decided not to do certain things, or go certain places because of how I feel about my weight.   I don’t want to go into my forties feeling as though my weight is holding me hostage from lifes wonderful experiences.

The Healthy Mum/Lose baby weight site along with the numerous doco-movies about the food industry, books, articles and blog posts have all helped me come to this place of feeling equipped to put my plan into action.  I have created a schedule for myself, and I’m feeling happy, motivated and enthusiastic about my plan.  I’m actually pleased that I am actually putting my health first, which in turn means that my family are coming along for the ride with me.

I want to create a chain effect where each day I make myself a priority…just an hour a day.  I believe in accountability so I have started a paper chain for each day I exercise for an hour.  I have an issue with breaking the paper chain so I’m planning to end with a very long paper chain.  Its not an idea that will go crazy on pinterest as the world renowned paper chain exercise plan but it will work for me because I don’t want to restart the paper chain!

I have read numerous articles, books, and blogs about weight loss and health.   I’ve also watched a number of doco-movies about the food industry, and got my thyroid medication levels right again. There comes a time when you just have to schedule your time, stop whinging and making excuses and put the plan into action.   I have 119 days until my 40th….I can’t go into my 40’s feeling blah!

The only way to do this is flip my obliging tendency leaf over, and become an upholder.  An upholder is someone who can meet the needs of others as well as their own priorities.  So…does anyone want to join me…. ??