A good internet friend of mine recently posted about her health and lifestyle (you can find her post here). She gained some weight with her change of location and life just got in the way of her healthy lifestyle that she just didn't care about losing weight anymore.

Over the past year and a half I have been in the same boat. I made a new year’s resolution for 2016 like Ari to lose the weight I had put on and get back in to my healthy eating. I had my fitness under control, not having a car in England made it easier to walk everywhere and I went to the gym at least 3 times a week. But I realised In April I had not made any effort in my eating habits to achieve my new year’s resolution, so I made the conscious decision to change then and there.
About two years ago I was 3kg off my goal weight where I decided to book a one way ticket to London, I didn't have a place to live a job or much money, so spending money on food wasn't on my high priority, buying cheap unhealthy meals was the only option for the first 4 months till I settled down. I then broke up with my long 5 year relationship with my ex and my eating turned in to emotional eating, I put 10kgs on those first few months until I met my current boyfriend. Not long after meeting him I moved in with him because it was cheaper living and I had nothing to lose. After new year’s and that was my resolution that as soon as I moved in I would go back to eating healthy cause I could afford to splurge in a few of my healthy foods… but a few months passed until April came around.

I didn't care about losing weight at all, I was enjoying all the food Europe had to offer, it was exciting. Cakes and chocolate are so cheap here so I found myself eating out and buying crappy food more and more. I was so busy running around traveling, going out socialising, drinking excessively then just binging on unhealthy foods the next day. It wasn't until I had a bit of a health scare in April that made me get my health back on track. Over that month I reflected so much on life and found out I had binge eating disorder, I’m addicted to sugar and I was also severally depressed. Fast forward to now, I still have an addiction to sugar and I am working on my disorder (it is hard sometimes), but I have lost 5kgs in the last 6 weeks which has made me a lot happier and motivated, I still have a long way to go but just like Ari here are some essentials that I'm doing to keep me on track.


Having a fitness buddy and schedule to keep me accountable 
I've always been pretty independent when it comes to training, I like to do it by myself. But for support it’s always nice to have someone with you that is on a similar path to you. Mine throughout my first weight loss journey was my mum she would be up early at 6am at the gym with me 5 times a week. Since moving to the UK I've had to push myself a bit more as my workout partner changes throughout the week, my boyfriend comes with me most days but he likes to work out at night, I also have one of my best friends that lives in London we send each other daily snap chats of our food and both of us doing our workouts, so it keeps us motivated and pushes me to eat healthy and exercise.

Cutting back on sugars, processed food and carbs
I have be struggling with this the most, as I am a sugar addict so cutting out sugar has been a huge hurdle. Carbs isn’t a huge problem for me I can avoid bread and swap out potatoes for sweet potatoes and I can go without pasta, but I have a huge sweet tooth so it’s avoiding sweets and chocolate is what I struggle with. I’m still trying to combat the whole sugar thing. What helps is to have healthy alternatives with you at all time. The times where I find myself slipping up is when I’m hungry and I don’t have enough healthy snacks on me. I get hungry then I eat all the food, then I’m left hours later with nothing and end up reaching for bad food. I also need to keep raw chocolate goodies in the cupboard or fridge. When I cut out processed sugars my energy levels sky rocket so I always need to be prepared just in case. I also make sure I get all my food groups everyday just so I know I’m getting the right amount of protein, fats and carbohydrates. I always make sure I have at least half a plate of vegetables this how I can control my binge eating disorder.

Tracking my progress in all forms
I have always been one to track my progress right from day one. Taking my measurements and photos tracking what I have eaten on a weekly bases. It’s the best feeling when you take a selfie of yourself half naked and you actually see a difference. I also have a Fitbit which counts my steps and I always make sure to do 10,000 every day I weigh myself once a week I don’t sweet it though if I have put on weight, I have learnt water weight and that time of the month can change your weight every week, so don’t stress.

Getting Moving
I know we have all heard of this before but it’s true just get up and move. The more you move the more you burn fat. While I am away in England I refused to buy a car so I have to walk everywhere it takes me 20minutes to walk to work and 20minutes to walk home that 40minutes of exercise and if it’s a nice day outside I’ll go for a walk at lunch time. Because I have a sedentary job and I sit down all day I need to get up and move a lot.