Losing Weight the Filofax Way – Part 4

I have written previously about using your Filofax to help you lose weight.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

I was so delighted to see that the lovely Cloudberry has been using a few of my tips plus very many of her own to successfully lose weight. She has built up a super system which works for her.

The nice thing about using a Filofax is that you can have a new start whenever you like – you can remove pages, shuffle them around. You can have it in any size you like from a tiny go-with-you-everwhere mini to a stuff-to-the-gills-on-the-kitchen-counter A5. Or you can have both.

One thing that worked for me was taking a photograph of myself every Monday. I hid them away at first but once I had lost a significant amount of weight they provided proof, even on bad days, that I had come so very far. I also put a rather unflattering photo of myself in the back pocket. Nobody could see it but it was the turning point for me – someone took a photo of me on my 25th birthday and I was horrified of how I looked. I realised that I had to make changes and that for my health I could never let myself get like that again.

If you need inspiration, ideas for graphs and diagrams and some motivation – here are some photos. With a paper punch you can use any paper, dismantle any book (with sewn ones use an unpicker to cut the threads), and create anything that suits you.

If you change binders you can just take your diet sheets with you. Or if you want to give yourself a nice new filofax as a treat for losing xxx amount of weight, that would be a great motivator.

One thing I would recommend is writing down everything you eat – even just in the beginning. It helps pinpoint bad habits and weak spots. It is also invaluable if you have lost a lot of weight and the scale starts creeping up again – it is very easy to get blasé about portion sizes and nibbling. If you are the kind to obsess about these things once you start (perhaps to an unhealthy level) Filofax means that you can just rip the pages up, throw them away and start again.

and finally, a poem that I have in my healthy eating Filofax. I hope it can help someone else on their weight journey

Don’t Quit 

When you’ve eaten too much and you can’t write it down
And you feel like the biggest failure in town;
When you want to give up just because you gave in
And forget all about being healthy and thin;
So What! You went over your points a bit;
It’s your next move that counts…So don’t you quit!

It’s a moment of truth, It’s an attitude change;
It’s learning the skills to get back in your range;
It’s telling yourself “You’ve done great up till now;
You can take on this challenge and beat it somehow.”
It’s part of your journey toward reaching your goal;
You’re still gonna make it, just stay in control.

To stumble and fall is not a disgrace
If you summon the will to get back in the race;
But, often the struggler’s when losing their grip
Just throw in the towel and continues to slip
And learn too late when the damage is done
That the race wasn’t over and they still could of won.

Life-style change can be awkward and slow
But facing each challenge will help you to grow;
Success is failure turned inside out
The silver tint in the cloud of doubt.
When you’re pushing to the brink, just refuse to submit;
If you bite it you write it… But Don’t you quit!