I know that as my doctor said it is pretty simple to lose weight but not at all easy. Simple in that to lose weight you have to burn more calories than you consume. Meaning the combination of eating less and exercise has to result in a calorie deficit. Yet for some reason that simple formula has been so hard for me. It involves a whole slew of behavior changes and learning to respond to my emotions differently. I explored some of those changes when I tried hypnosis for weight loss. In that series I did tap into some techniques to help with my way of thinking.
All of it can be quite overwhelming at times. From past experience I know that feeling overwhelmed can be a big trigger for overeating. So to combat that feeling of being overwhelmed I am making an effort to remind myself that life is just a combination of little choices that when added together produce out comes. It is the little things that add or subtract from our wast lines. So here are some facts about the little choices I can make and how they impact my weight loss.
For the last few months I have been walking for half of my lunch on average of 3 days a week. I burn about 125 calories on each walk. That works out to about 375 calories burned a week, 19,500 burned a year, and approximately 5.6lbs lost or kept off each year.
I typically make it to Zumba class every other Friday. I burn about 450 calories each class. That woks out to 900 calories burned a month, 10,800 calories burned a year, and approximately 3.1lbs lost or kept off each year.
I am in no way a gym rat but I do go every now and then. If I get there once a week (in addition to zumba class) and do the elliptical for 30 minutes I can burn about 250 calories in 30 min. That would work out to about 13,000 calories burned a year, and approximately 3.7lbs lost or kept off each year.
On the weekends like a lot of us I will often throw healthy eating to the side and opt for fast food. Fast food meals can easily be 1000 calories or more. Even if I only had one of these meas a weak would work out to gaining or holding on to 15lbs a year. Imagine if I ate it more than once a week :-( If I could decrease this to only once a month that would be a much more reasonable maintaining or gain of only 3.4lb a year.
I have a habit of wanting something sweet every day. Over the years I have managed to switch from having snack cakes that often have close to 500 calories each to those between 200 and 320 calories each. However, this adds up to between 1400 and 2240 calories a week and 70,000 to 116,480 calories a year. This works out to gaining or holding on to 20 to 33lbs every year.
These are all small choices that I make regularly. When I look at them individually I can see how they add up to me gaining losing or maintaining my weight. I can see where it would be the most beneficial for me to make changes. I can see what behaviors are best to continue with.
I calculated my calories burned and consumed using the app lose it from my cell phone. I also used the scale of 3500 calories equalling one pound for my calculations. I like math and seeing things in numbers helps me to understand how all of these little things add up.
Do you ever think about how all of the little decisions you make add up? What small things do you need to change or maintain to get the outcomes you want? What little things are interferring with your joy?