Working from home, I found I spent most of the day sitting in front of the PC. Sitting all day will kill ya. Combine that with the usual holiday gluttony and the fact I spent a week in Germany where I drank and ate like a pig, and by the end of January I was carrying an extra 15-20 lbs and I didn't like how it felt.
Following one last pig-out at my nephew's birthday party, I knew I had to make a change. I avoided scales like the plague, never counted a calorie or read a food label and was completely unaware of how overeating and exercise affected my weight / BMI. I decided to try using awareness as a weight loss tool.
The first step would be a documented weigh-in every morning. I decided to take advantage of my MarioKart machine a.k.a. the Nintendo Wii and monitor my weight and BMI with Wii Fit. Every morning at about 8:45am I step on the Wii Fit Balance Board and monitor my progress. My goal was to lose 10kg in three months, a healthy amount in a reasonable amount of time and just enough to get me out of the overweight section on my chart.
After a few weeks, I could predict my weight loss or gain based on what I ate and how much I exercised. For me, this was everything. I was completely aware of cause and effect. If I lost control on a pizza, I saw the jump the next morning. If I controlled my portions and made sensible decisions, I saw the drop. It's been awesome.
It's worth noting I haven't drastically increased my work outs. I try to walk more, and I do a little more lifting than I used to (I used to do zero lifting), but the biggest change I've made is dietary. I don't snack, I've drastically reduced my sugar intake, my beverage of choice is now water and I try to eat 50%-75% of what I used to when I do succumb to my carb addiction.
It's the awareness that I credit for the 8.2kg I've lost since I made this change in late January. For me, being aware of what happens when I eat poorly or don't exercise prevents me from repeating those mistakes.
