abunaimah's Journal

Need to get back on track
Aug 29 2008 12:10

Over the last 2 months and my trip to Paris last week I haven't been losing much weight. In fact it seems that I've put 3lbs back on in that time. So now I'm back in the overweight zone and for the first time the chart showing CC's prediction is lower then my actual weight.

I have to get back on track. In Paris I did a lot of walking and so the excess food eaten was burnt off. I took my family to Disneyland Paris as well and the kids loved it but it did leave them tired out. Food wise the choices weren't so great so it meant having junk food most of the time. But I was on holiday and it was cool.

The one thing that will help me get back on track is the month of Ramadan (Islamic month based on the lunar calender where muslims are required to fast). It means that I wont be eating or drinking anything during the hours of daylight, there will be long prayers during the night and I will be controlling the amount I eat more then I do every year.

I'm looking forward to Ramadan more for spiritual reasons as I've spent much of this year trying to lose weight. I have had a lot of success with that and I just want to make the final push and get down to my target weight. I am now 5lbs away but was only 2lbs away a month and a half ago.

The one thing during Ramadan is that I wont be able to do my sports - I play badminton and 5-a-side football (soccer) with my colleagues. It will be calorie control mainly. In any case during that month we are not supposed to reverse are eating habits by eating at night what we eat during the day. The idea is to have enough food to keep us going - or as it says in our traditions (hadith) that we should have enough to keep our backs straight.

I just want to get down to my target weight now and then I may set another target to lose a further 7lbs. One thing I'm determined  not to do is let the weight creep back up. I haven't felt this good in years and I'm not about to get back to my old self.

People are still surprised by the amount of weight I have lost and how much younger I look. I still get great reactions from friends and family - especially those who have not seen me for a while. Of course mentally sometimes you think can't they see the extra pounds I've put back on! But I know I shouldn't dwell on that and get back to tackling the weight.

I am hoping that September is a good month for me and soon I can see the weight chart going south again!