The Priority Game: I've been given the key

Who knew? Dieting is actually all about priorities. You don't have to sacrifice the food you love but you do have to trade for it.

Let me be clear; how I see it is that there are two tasks ahead of me. Number one is losing weight. Number two is eating 100% healthily. The game achieves 90% number one and 10% number two. I am currently more focused on number one and when that task is complete I will focus on number two.

It is a good, healthy habit to learn that you can't just eat what you want and that balance is the key. However, the priority game isn't all healthy habits.

Over the past 2 weeks I've mastered the game. I have got through my Christmas parties full of food and drink in two ways; firstly, earning extra kcals through exercise and secondly, saving kcals by eating less through the week. 

It's not quite as simple as this because not only is the balance of eat more vs eat less important but it's also important not to eat too little to compensate. Your body is a complex machine and I'm only learning the first chapter of the manual. To take a very masculine example think of a car which as it runs out of fuel it makes you limit your speed and drive more smoothly in order to reduce fuel consumption. I don't profess to fully understand cars and neither do I profess to understand the human body in its entirety. However, I do know if you reduce the kcal too much you will not lose weight as quickly as you will with a more stable energy source. Think of it as the fire of the machine going out so that it can't burn anything else. 

That all said, if you put too much fuel in a car it spills. Fortunately (?!) this doesn't happen with food in the body, we just store it 'for emergency'. Alternatively, in my case, rather than emergency, my body just did it to annoy me! 

So, if we can't reduce very much then the only way to 'find' the extra kcal is to earn it - exercise. This doesn't always mean a run or an exercise class. As I've already mentioned I have fibromyalgia, so I'm in no state to go for a run. But I can cycle on my exercise bike. This is how I discovered the key to the game. 

I did cut 100kcal here and there but at my weight I was getting an extra 400kcal in 30 mins on the bike!! Why would I go hungry when I can earn the kcals in 30 mins!

I lost three lbs each week. 

Lbs lost 39

Lbs to lose 81