Things

Things I wish I had known back then – Unique Fatso

Frequently, many people reflecting on their weight loss journey, feel that they often felt alone at times. And how they wish they knew a few things at the start of their journey to better health.

It’s extremely interesting as we live in a world of information, yet a lot of what we find is misplaced or simply outdated!

Throughout my journey, I’ve found that the times I shared I was trying to lose weight, everyone became an expert in the world of weight loss. Even to this very date and after implementing many healthy changes, a friend of mine had the audacity to state, ‘Unique, you should be eating liver! That’s got loads of iron in it. I don’t know why you just won’t eat meat.’

*Coming from someone who spends around £80 per week on takeaway services and claims that fruits and vegetables make them sick. While constantly taking different forms of medication for things such as blood pressure and indigestion.

I feel people become self-identifying experts, just so that they can take some credit or feel some sense of achievement when their friend loses weight.

I feel it’s important to highlight support networks you should consider to assist you during your weight loss journey:

ParkRun: I joined ParkRun, which is a local running group that run 5KM every week! You’re never last as one of the volunteers will always walk at the very end of the group. You can run, jog, walk, mix it up or even attend with your dog or young child in a push-chair.

Why do I like this group?

Everyone is welcoming and friendly, old and young! Wonderful atmosphere and for the first time in a long time, I wasn’t focused on the jiggly parts of my body. I power-walked my first one and it took me over an hour to complete the course. I felt amazing! That was a great accomplishment and I recommend that if you have ParkRun in your local area, to get signed up. IT’S FREE TO JOIN AND PARTICIPATE.

They also time you and e-mail your results a few hours after the run has finished.

I’ve met some amazing people both running alongside me or volunteering to support the free event. Those volunteers make everything possible. You can also volunteer too! I appreciate their words of encouragement when I’m lagging and feeling like I can’t complete the run. A smiling face with positive words come at me and I push forward until the end.

Bookstores: I try not to buy books that everyone is going on about, as a lot of the times they’re very commercialised and highlighting every few pages for the reader to visit the author’s website to purchase exclusive content etc.

I’m not saying that these books aren’t useful. My preference is with more educational books, where I find that not only does it help me to lose weight, but I learn more about foods and the benefits and how to equip myself to become a better version of myself.

Reflective Writing

Reflective writing is a powerful tool to help you on your journey towards better health. It helps you to be honest and open, as you’re not having a conversation, you’re simply writing in a private notebook and reading it later.

At first, this was a weird concept for me. I wondered why I would what to write about things and read it back, reminding myself how I scoffed an extra burger or ate too much food at Christmas time and the years that followed. Reading my own words and understanding how I felt and what trigger feelings of that nature, enabled me to accept my poor eating habits.

Accept the fact that back then I overate and due to writing reflectively, I identified some emotional scars from events/people at a dark time in my life.

At first glance, this ‘thing’ seems basic and ineffective. But I ask you to try it for at least 21 days and evaluate how you feel afterwards. All you need is a nice notebook and a pen.

Hope these ‘things’ help you to become a healthier version of yourself.

Love

Unique Fatso