Owning Your Actions

All of us have got to this point where we needed help by not owning our actions and making excuses for why we have allowed ourselves to get to the point where we are overweight and sometimes extremely unhappy.  I would always find myself losing interest after a few months and giving up, starting the vicious cycle all over again.  Thankfully the discovery of Michelle Bridges 12WBT has given me the tools to change that.

Why is 12WBT any different you may ask?  Well in my opinion it is more than just a change in what you eat.  It is a lifestyle change with all the tools you need to understand why you are in this position and what you need to do to change that.  No other program I have seen gives you the ability to look at your mindset and make the changes through the help and assistance given by Michelle and her videos as well as her support crew and fellow members.  This is not a fad diet, this is a way to alter your life and empower yourself to make sure you can do it long term.

Out for a 5km morning walk

Now, it also teaches you that what you want to achieve is also up to the individual and Michelle has quite often said that you need to fail sometimes to realise where you go wrong and how to fix it for the future.  This is one area that I feel I have grown in over the last 20 weeks.  The first round was a great period for me, but this round the weight loss has not been as much and this week I actually had a gain.  OMG shock horror, what will I do now.  In the past I would have given up and buried my head in the sand.  Probably grabbed a box of BBQ shapes and a bottle of wine and sat in front of the telly.  This would have started the vicious cycle all over again, then the woe is me crap would start again.

Yes I know that the idea of this program is not to put weight on, but the circumstances here were a little different.  I have been in Bali for the last week on a second honeymoon/40th birthday present for a week with no children.  Our intention was to exercise everyday as per my last post and eat clean.  Now this is easier said than done, especially when a dose of Bali belly visits both of us.  I will say that we did  quite a bit of walking (15kms first day, 7kms the second day, 1000 calories burn for SSS on saturday and then a 40 km bike ride the last day) but a couple of days which were spent doing nothing due to upset tummies killed it.  Yes there were a few beers (maybe more than a few) and a number of cocktails, but the hardest part was finding clean food.  Eating salads in a place where you can't really eat anything washed in the water made it interesting and the hotel only had salads in creamy dressings.  I did find a wonderful tomato salad on the second last day though.  They had very little that I would consider clean foods.  We were also eating out a little when we could and they don't have the same outlook as restaurants over here.   I am not making excuses here, but we were there to have a good time as well.

Me during our 40km ride from Kintamani to Ubud

Now at the end of the day, I failed so to speak in so far as I came home and gained weight, but I have also won if that is possible.  By gaining weight and not allowing it to dictate how I am going on this journey and deeming it as failing I have embraced the fact, acknowledge that it is part of life and that Sh!t happens.  When I get to goal it will happen as well, will I throw my hands up in the air and have a tanty then.  No, I will own it and know that it is just a couple of kilos and in the grand scheme of things it puts me a couple of weeks behind where I wanted to be.  So what!!!  I am not racing anyone, I know I will now get to where I want to be and I am happy that I had an awesome time away with my wife.  I also exercised more in that week away than I have in the last 8or more holidays I have been on, so to me that is a huge step forward.

Julie & I at the Ubud terraced rice paddies

The ultimate goal for me is to get below 90kgs.  That was never going to be a quick fix, but more importantly I want to get there being happy with the person I have become, make sure I am still living life and hopefully as close to the program as I can be, but knowing that the entire time I have been working towards getting to that goal I have also been enjoying life and learning from all the experiences.  In the past that would not have happened and whilst this round might not be as successful as the last in the weight loss area, I feel I have learnt a lot more about my mental deficiencies and strengths than I did in the last when it all happened too easily.  This has been a more successful round for me because I have learnt more about how to make sure I don't fall back into the old me and I will keep moving forward.

We had an awesome week in Bali and I know when I go back next time I will be in a far better place because of what I have learnt over the last week. I look forward to going back and doing more cycling, it was amazing and I highly recommend Celebrity Cycling Tours.  These 2 guys were brilliant and it is supporting local industry.