My sleep has improved GREATLY and I am now waking up feeling rested and relaxed, rather than always fighting the feeling of being exhausted.
My waist circumference has dropped 3cm - probably water weight and from the reduction in calories, sugar and carbs, but I don't care cause any loss is a good loss.
My water intake has increased dramatically, and I'm finding that I'm losing my taste for sweet drinks. No more iced tea or cordials or even juices -- now, it's about mineral waters with a hint of lemon/lime and/or just plain water. It's so refreshing, where as before I was guzzling drink after drink and still being thirsty.
My skin is getting much better. And by that, I mean, it's gotten really bad as all the impurities and crap and so on come out on the surface. But drinking so much water has helped with the softness of my skin, the elasticity of it, and I no longer look so tired (see also: improved sleep)
Lessons I've learnt so far:
- Listen to my body. If I am thirsty and what I am drinking is not refreshing me -- it's clearly wrong for me. If I am hungry, eat. If I am no longer hungry, stop eating. It's working for me, and I'm finding I'm less and less hungry as the days go by.
- Exercise is really hard to do when you've been off the wagon for a while. It's hard to convince yourself to get out there and just do it when you really don't wanna. I've found myself incorporating exercise into my daily movements, but not yet setting aside dedicated time to exercise. This must change.
- Keeping track of every.single.thing you eat is hard. And confronting. And an eye-opener. Normally, I'd eat to console myself -- or celebrate a big achievement -- or just cause I wanted something. Now, I'm finding that by being accountable, I'm less inclined to eat bad things cause quite frankly...seeing that calorie count at the end of the day is frightening on a bad day, and really, really rewarding on a good day.
- Eating well is more expensive than eating crap food. Carbs are cheap. Supermarkets have sales and discounts and deals and specials on dodgy, processed, low-nutrient, high-sugar and high-fat foods. Eating good, healthy, whole, natural foods is expensive.
- I am a glorious freaking sunset
