Building up the deficit, No more soft drinks

On the calorie-counting part, as a n example to friends who wanna try to lose weight and can consider my method.

U have to try and adapt it to suit yourself, that takes trial and error and lots of self-discovery and awareness.

Up til the 10th Jan,
5 days of deficit,
2 days surplus &
3 days Ok
Nett total % in Jan is Negative 48.75%
Vs Dec of Positive 270%

This is a nicer number cos the deficit is building up nicely. I might not be able to hit 270% by end of Jan cos there's my bdae dinner coming along and I intend to eat a lot of meat until stuffed. So if its a decent overall % deficit, I can continue into Feb/Mar to clear it up.

Of course it's not easy to NOT over-eat at times. A very conscious choice in the meals, snacks and drinks. Cos all these adds to the daily calories. Unless you are super-active n diligent in exercising, I don't propose counting-in the calories lost by exercising. We tend to over-count those.

Also sometimes when we are stressed, and we can and do eat sometimes to destress and reward ourselves, be mindful of not doing it everytime.

Can replace with exercise when stressed. Especially useful and practical, so u don't have to worry about not hitting ur weekly exercise quota. We are kinda stressed on a daily, weekly basis. Eating might not give u the same sense of calmness after exercise does. The body's natural stress-removal chemical, adrenaline helps u feel composed and u can sleep easier cos the mind and body are relaxed and tired. Another way to reduce over-eating from lack of sleep.

The rewarding of oneself, can also be less often Food. Can replace with going out to do a favorite activity eg movie, concert. Go out and explore aimlessly. Defer the eating of favorite comfort food until u really need it then eat it once or twice a month. Just that item, don't over-binge. It's kinda repressing initially but later u realized, u are not that dependent on it in the first place. That 1-2 times a month is also not gonna bust the calories unless u binge.

So these are some measures I take over time. All these are habits, so they require some time and patience to get it right. It's a lifestyle change so I did manage to change some ways of thinking and my reliance on Food for stress. I still have a general weakness for it but I can manage it, so it doesn't thwart my diet effort.

After Christmas and NY, I was surprised, I put back on almost 1.9kg... Monitoring weekly or bi-weekly weight helps build awareness. So I was more careful of my eating and now lost about 0.8kg. Down to that spare 1.1kg. At least I can see a slimmer stomach, can't do 7 belt holes yet. Need time and continued effort. A small success, so it will spur me on to continue.

Tomorrow is Friday, I intend to have a good dinner and drinks. So I will try to eat a lower-calorie but filling breakfast and lunch. I kinda know which are lower-calories but still filling food. This comes from that HPB IDat app, with daily recording of my meals, I kinda become familiar. So I use the knowledge to plan my meals. No starving involved.
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Went to see the sinseh yesterday. I was coughing more with phlegm in the morning when I brushed my teeth despite keeping to the restricted diet mostly, even my Coke zero is lukewarm.

But I OT for 2 hrs before heading down, the fatigue was unbearable, so I drank a Coke zero. Do during consultation, cos my condition wasn't so good hence the cough. I told the sinseh I just drank a soft drink but guzzled it until warm before swallowing, is that any better?

Apparently nope, cos the soft drinks and sweet drinks are 'cold' in nature... Cause phlegm. Err okay... will cut them out even more. Back to drinking water and tea. Will try to resist until cannot tahan, then once in a while I guess. Another lifestyle change, takes time.
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For the second consecutive day, I fell in a deep sleep shortly after dinner from the mental n physical fatigue. Woke up near midnight, wide awake. Last night I only slept at 5am... Very groggy today. Now I better go back to sleep, if really can't, will resort to chugging a beer or cider. Just that not chilled is a bit off-putting.