When I was about 18, and living in New Zealand, I went on a Jenny Craig diet. I don’t think Jenny Craig has ever made it to the UK, it’s an Australian invention. It was so long ago that I can’t really remember how it works, although I recall having to buy Jenny Craig products at first, and only eating those, and after a while I was allowed to introduce “normal” foods from the supermarket gradually into my diet. I also tried Weight Watchers back in NZ once, when I was about 20, but after a couple of months I had to go into hospital for an operation, came off the diet, and couldn’t be bothered going back on it afterwards!

Have you lost weight before and regained the weight?

On the Jenny Craig diet I did lose quite a lot of weight and ended up fitting into Size 11 (they have in-between sizes in NZ!) jeans, but never quite got to my goal weight because I got extremely bored being told what to eat all the time, so I quit and put all the weight back on again within the space of a year.

How being overweight has affected you…

When I was bigger I kidded myself that I was happy at the weight I was, and if people didn’t like it that was their problem. And while that was true to a certain extent, I look back now and realise how much happier I am today. I actually like what I see when I look in the mirror! I used to hate going into clothes shops like Top Shop, etc, because I felt as though everyone was looking at me and wondering what a fat girl was doing in a shop like that. I’m sure they weren’t thinking that, but at the time I thought they were.

I also found it quite hard to exercise when I was large, and have joined several gyms over my lifetime! I would start out feeling very enthusiastic but then after a couple of months I would wonder why I wasn’t losing any weight, and would start to feel downhearted and then would eventually stop. Now that I look back I realise I didn’t lose any weight because I was still eating more than my body needed, despite the exercise. Now I absolutely love exercise and have taken up running which I never, ever thought I would be saying! I have seen myself go from strength to strength which helps keep me motivated. I started off only being able to run for 1 minute at a time, and I’m currently able to run for 40 minutes non-stop. I feel fantastic!!

Motivation to Get Slim

My motivation to initially lose weight came about when I was very sick with the flu. I was bedridden for a week and when I finally started to get better I noticed that my clothes were quite loose on me. Naturally, I started eating “normally” again and within a week my clothes were back to feeling tight. Something suddenly snapped inside me and I realised how confident I felt when my clothes were loose and wanted that feeling back again.

Also, my fiancé proposed to me a couple of months before I got the flu, and I already had it in the back of my mind that I didn’t want to be a large bride. My dream was to get married in a size 10 wedding dress, but I was a size 16-18 back then. We are getting married in February 2007 in New Zealand, and I’ve already bought my wedding dress – in a size 10!! What more motivation do I need?

Discovering Weight Loss Resources

I started off trying to lose weight on my own but after only losing a very small amount of weight over a few weeks I decided I needed a bit of help in order to shift the pounds more consistently. I did a search on the internet for information on how many calories were in different foods, and how much my body needed in order to lose weight, and found WLR. What a God-send!! I signed up for the free trial, and when that was over I signed up permanently straight away. I have never looked back, and know for a fact that I would not have lost all this weight without the support and knowledge of WLR.

How WLR Helps with Slimming

Although I was quite a healthy eater before I joined WLR (I’ve never really been into junk food, as I’m a Type 1 insulin dependent diabetic, so have always had to eat fairly healthily).

I didn’t really have a clue just how many calories I was managing to put away each day! WLR has totally re-educated me and I can’t believe how much I have learnt about certain foods. I now know what foods to go for in the supermarket in order to take in less calories, and always go for low fat/calorie brands of everything!

I eat loads and loads of fruit and vegetables every day now. I have about 4-5 pieces of fruit a day, and cover about ¾ of my dinner plate in the evening with vegetables. Being diabetic I have to have a certain amount of carbohydrates with every meal, but I used to have 2-3 times as many in the past of things like potatoes/rice/pasta, whereas now I eat much less of that and fill up on veggies instead.

I’ve also started to eat a lot of vegetarian products instead of meat, not because I dislike meat but because there are less calories in the vegetarian products, like Quorn, and they taste just as good if not better.

Because I’m eating less carbohydrates, which can raise your blood sugar levels considerably, the control over my diabetes has dramatically improved. I now take about half the amount of insulin that I used to, simply because my body doesn’t need so much of it now to break down all that sugar in my blood!

The Best of Weight Loss Resources

I use the food and exercise diary every single day, I’d be totally lost without it! I only have access to WLR during work hours so I miss it on weekends, but I’ve learnt to calculate calories from food and exercise manually now, and find that when I programme in my food and exercise from the weekend on a Monday at work, it pretty much equates correctly.

The message boards have most definitely helped me as well. I used to post on the main message board every day, but work has become too busy lately to allow me to do it anymore. I do still read the messages in my lunch break but unfortunately don’t have as much time now to post my own messages.

However, I do post daily on the runners board as that keeps me motivated to keep on running. Without the support of the lovely people on the runners board, I most definitely would not have progressed as much as I have done. When I was following my running programme and progressing a bit further each week, they were all so supportive and encouraged me so much. Thanks guys!! I still seek their encouragement each week and it spurs me on.

Erin's Slimming Tips

I think one of the most important things is not to beat yourself up if you slip up and have the odd treat, which inevitably will happen. I see so many people posting messages saying how bad they feel because they went a bit mad the night/weekend before. I’m sure the guilt does more damage than the actual food you’ve eaten.

The beauty of WLR is that you can just get straight back on the wagon if you fall off. I’ve had several occasions since joining WLR where I’ve put on a bit of weight after a “naughty” weekend but I’ve now learnt that this is simply part of leading a normal life, and so long as you get back on track the weight will come off again. I went to New Zealand for 4 weeks back in June and put on 6 lbs while I was there. But I certainly didn’t beat myself up over it, on the contrary I saw it as an enjoyable challenge to be able to lose that weight again, and I did so within 3 weeks. Oh the satisfaction!

I’ve also found it absolutely crucial that I complete my food and exercise diary every day, as honestly as possible. No point excluding the odd bit of food here and there and then wondering why you haven’t lost weight that week!

Try and get in as much exercise as possible. Finding the right exercise for you is very important, as you’re more likely to stick to something that you are getting results from and enjoying. I simply couldn’t exist without exercise now, and I never thought I’d say that! I started off as seeing exercise as a way to be able to eat more, and although I still look at it like that to a certain extent, I also want to do exercise now because it makes me feel good. I just love those endorphins!

If there is one piece of advice I can give to anyone who wants to start losing weight, it’s to never look at it as a diet. It’s a life style change. That’s why so many fad diets fail, because people don’t learn how to eat properly while they’re on the diet. They just follow the plan, and naturally they lose weight, but at the end of it they go back into old habits. I have learnt to look at the way I eat as a permanent change, and I know for a fact that I won’t put the weight back on once I’ve reached my goal. My next challenge will be to maintain the weight, and I know it will be easy given all the knowledge I have gained since joining WLR. It’s just become a way of life for me now.

Also, try not to weigh yourself more than once a week. Every now and then I slip into this bad habit, especially if I’ve had a naughty weekend and have put on a pound or two. I tend to stand on the scales every day I until I start to see it go down again, but this is really counter-productive. If only I could follow my own advice and stick to doing it once a week! I am getting better though.