The last few pounds I need to shed are proving very hard to shift. I could just say fine, I’ll stay where I am. But that feels like giving up and having come so far I do want to go the whole way and get to my goal weight. How to get rid of those stubborn pounds? What could I possibly do when I was already doing everything?
It gets much harder the closer you get to goal weight as any seasoned dieter will affirm. The answer came by accident. After a lovely long walk last week and feeling refreshed and invigorated - but also very hungry - I decided to have something to eat then rather than wait for the time I usually have my evening meal at 6.30pm. It was just before five o’clock and I simply couldn’t wait another hour and a half. I worried it might mean I’d go over on my calories but needs must. So I had a piece of toast liberally spread with crunchy peanut butter. And I didn’t feel hungry again that evening. I simply didn’t need my evening meal. That piece of toast was quite sufficient. Calories wise it was a bit less than my evening meal would’ve been but even so I was surprised at how full I felt and continued to feel.
The next day when I got on the scales I had lost two pounds! Then I remembered this was a trick I used to use many years ago when I kept a much stricter eye on my weight. If I went over one day I’d have my evening meal much earlier the next to make up for it. And it usually worked. The earlier in the day you can have your last meal the easier it is to lose weight. The very worst thing for a diet is eating late at night as you just don’t get the chance to burn it off.
It’s not forever!
If you have a busy social life and eat out a lot and/or you have a family to feed or a partner who likes to eat late it’s very difficult to have your last meal at 5pm. I’m well aware of that and I appreciate this isn’t something everyone can do. You could try having a snack at 5pm or thereabouts and then a very light evening meal. Or you could just eat separately. It’s not forever. It’s only while trying to lose those last stubborn pounds.
It also makes it much easier to follow the 16:8 eating pattern where you only eat during an eight-hour window. If you have an earlier evening meal you don’t have to wait quite so long to have your breakfast the following day. Anyway it’s working for me and it may work for you.
I now have just three pounds to go to get to the right BMI but I’m not planning to stop there as a much better measurement is waist size and my waist is still a stubborn 33 inches - women need to be no more than 31.5. (For men the figure is 37 inches). So while getting to the right BMI is a big goal for me an even bigger and much more important one is getting my waist down to where it’s supposed to be for optimum health. BMI while a useful metric isn’t the most accurate way to assess how healthy your weight is. And you can tell if you’re overweight can’t you? If you can pinch more than an inch as we used to say in the Seventies!
Happy losing! More next month.