A few months ago I created a blog over at Blogpot to track my weight-loss, fitness and how I was progressing with veganism. Shortly after it’s creation I went out of town for a couple of months to Auckland and stopped posting in it. Now I’m going to revive those subjects in this blog and I plan on updating about one a week on how I’m doing.

A little background info: I lost about 8kg over a period of 6-7 months without really doing anything. Granted, I was a little more active than I had been in a long time, but I made no real changes to my diet or exercise. This loss was welcome and gave me the boost I needed to continue losing weight, but this time being aware of it and making better choices in order to aid the weight-loss and increase my fitness levels.

Since about April/May of this year I have lost roughly 3kg more, from trying, which puts me approximately 11kg less than I was this time last year. I’ve lost nearly two dress sizes since June 2007. Needless to say, I feel pretty stoked!

At this point the major dietary changes are that I’m now vegan, eating more fresh fruit and vegetables, having a much better breakfast that keeps me going until lunch, smaller portions and as many wholegrains as I can incorporate. I refuse the idea of denial, and “I can’t have that” is not a phrase I think and use. Some days I know it’s better for me to avoid all tempting foods, like my favourites — dark chocolate and salt and vinegar chips — because I know I will have a tougher time stopping at a couple of pieces or a few chips. Most of the time, however, I am able to manage with sticking to a couple of pieces and a few chips.

Around the middle of this year I read French Women Don’t Get Fat and French Women For All Seasons, both by Mireille Guiliano. She writes about her own experiences in losing weight and how to keep it off while still enjoying all the things you love and living a life that is not ruled by denial. Obviously this is very appealing to most of us and mastering the techniques she outlines, as well as using our own common sense, is a good way of achieving a more guilt-free relationship with food. She teaches that portion control is really everything. These days we tend to over-feed, so stripping that back to what our body needs in terms of food for nourishment and the amount we eat is important for everyone, not just those who wish to lose a few kg.

So, aside from changes to my diet, I have been trying to get about 30 minutes of sweat-producing exercise a day (yes, I am aware of how unglamourous that sounds). Lately I just use our exercise bike to cycle for 35 minutes on different settings throughout. This does produce the desired result of sweat, I can assure you.
I would like to start doing yoga and some exercises that work the rest of my body, but I need to find some good DVDs or cheap classes for that.

So, stay tuned for more updates on fitness and weight-loss. If you are doing something similar in your blog, do let me know because I would love to read about it!