Age: 35
Start Weight: 17st 9lb
Weight Now:
11st 13lbs
Weight Lost: 5st 10lbs
Rate of Loss: 1lb / week
Dieting History
All of them. Lots of slimming clubs including
- Weight Watchers (not enough food)
- Slimming Magazine Club (closed down)
- Slimfast (starving)…
I could go on. Typical pattern would be to lose weight for 2 or 3
weeks then binged and burned.
I lost weight down to goal twice in the 1980s when the fashion was
for very low calorie diets (below 1000 cals) and no exercise. Stayed
at goal for about one week before piling it all back on. Have been
obese for over 10 years.
On Being Overweight…
This is the list I made when I started, of reasons why I wanted to
lose weight
- My diabetes is out of control and getting worse
- My self confidence is at rock bottom
- I have no energy. I feel old and tired
- I'm becoming more and more reclusive
- I'm letting Paul and the kids down
Finding the Motivation
At the same time I wrote a list of what I wanted to gain from
losing weight
- I want to be healthy
- I want to happy and confident – I want to glow!
- I want to be normal
- I want to shop on the high street
- I want to wear a strappy dress at Paul's Christmas party
- I want to stand on top of Helvellyn
- I want Paul and the kids to be proud of me
Discovering WLR
I found WLR through an article in Zest magazine naming it website
of the year
How WLR Helps
It puts me in control, rather than being controlled by my eating. I
plan what I'm going to eat each day and it encourages me to exercise.
The whole family's eating patterns have changed - no more takeaways
and I finally understand how to achieve a balance by learning about
the components of different foods, this is not a diet that will stop
when I reach goal, it's a way of life.
The Best of WLR
The message board because it saved me from throwing it all away
more than once. When I first threw all my big clothes out I freaked
out completely. The advice on the board was that any change is scary
even if it's a change for the better. That piece of advice really
helped me to re-focus on why I was making this journey.
Joath's Tips
I have been successful this time because my mantra has been
"mind, mouth and muscle", whereas before I only ever
concentrated on mouth!
- Mind - through the message boards and using "Lighten
Up" by Pete Cohen (which was recommended to me by someone on
the message boards
- Mouth - the Food Dairy and database puts me in
control
- Muscle - the Exercise Diary. I also used links from the
home page through to a running website for a couch potato to 5k
training plan. Using this I ran a Race for Life 5k, and am now
training for 10k. Wouldn't have achieved this without the links
and support on the fitness message board when I was starting out.
Enjoy the journey. Life doesn't begin when you get to goal, there
are so many thrills and experiences along the way. From shopping at
M&S for the first time, to standing on top of Helvellyn two weeks
ago, and knowing I was on top of the world!
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