Success Story: Diane

AKA "DianeUK" on Weight Loss Resources

About Diane

I am a retired senior lecturer in nursing, and had previously been a theatre nurse for many years. This means I am a free agent and could eat all day if I so choose. And I did choose for a while hence the weight gain.

Cooking is my raison d’être so this has been really hard. I have little interest in my appearance or what people think I look like but I care deeply about their opinions on culinary skills.

I garden mostly to produce good vegetables, keep chickens for good eggs and try to source every ingredient as freshly as I can. This means that low fat and low calorie readymade products are an anathema to me. But I have made some compromises so that I can control my calorie intake and still get some enjoyment from my food. I tried at first to do without, but eating became just refuelling and this depressed me terribly, so I made the compromises and have managed to find a middle road that suits my conscience and me.

I am married to Mike and have 2 sons who have long gone. One is in Thailand teaching English and the other is a policeman. I have 2 Jack-Russell/border terrier cross dogs called Nip and Tuc who are a joy and have been well trained so are usually obedient. I have 2 hens, which I keep for laying purposes, so only fresh eggs for me! I would dearly love an Italian Spinone pup for my 60th but Mike is very anti and probably being sensible!

Weight Loss History

You will not like this part; I gave up smoking for 6 mths and also adhered to the WLR diet but lost no significant weight despite hours at the gym. My husband could no longer stand the way I was and in desperation went and bought me a packet of cigarettes. Since then I have not looked back, and I am happy not suicidal!

I also tried the Atkins diet for a while which was wonderful, everything I LIKE. However, after the initial weight loss it does become boring and the weight loss slowed right down.

How being overweight has affected you…

Because I was taller than my peers I have always viewed myself as big, and surprisingly when people ask me now how I feel I can honestly say that I don’t feel different. My body shape might be different but I am still the same person inside. Yes, buying clothes is easier but I still hate it and have little or no interest.

Am I more confident? No if anything I am more conscious of peoples’ reactions and comments, again something I don’t like.

Am I fitter? Certainly. My blood pressure has dropped and I no longer take medication. I can do more and for longer. This means my work rate has increased so my garden is looking beautiful and my dogs are fit, healthy and tired.

Motivation to Lose Weight

1. To prove to myself that I could do it

2. To prove to myself that my understanding of the physics of weight loss is correct

How Weight Loss Resources Helps

I love the databases, which take the headache out of calculating calories in and out.

The Best of Weight Loss Resources

I use the Happy New You recipes regularly as well as the facility for calculating my own recipes.

Lifestyle Changes

I find calorie counting rather like budgeting, and some foods are just not worth the price. For example, pastry, cakes biscuits, butter, cream, cheese, mayonnaise.

I now use some St Ivel grotty grease instead of butter, and Hellmann’s extra light wallpaper paste mayo. Both of these ingredients are awful but you do get used to them in time. And the mayo makes a salad edible and not feel like grazing, and the St I'vel makes it possible to spread Bovril on hot toast, as it doesn’t melt!

I used to belong to a gym but hated every living minute of it with the exception of the steam room and swimming pool. I would either find myself pounding a tread mill while looking out of the windows at the lovely scenery or thumping some other machine watching brain numbing TV. I then realised I was paying for this torture so cancelled the membership.

I now walk miles with the dogs in the fresh air with the music I like on my iPod. I pick wild rocket, garlic, mushrooms, rose hips, samphire and blackberries on my walks, all of which are added to the diet.

I also do Pilates with Darcey Bussell and have been keen to do the LBT exercises.

I have also taken up cycling with the dogs on harnesses or running loose alongside depending on the venue.

Why do you think WLR has helped you lose weight where other diets have failed?

The discipline of seeing things in black and white, and having to weigh food made me realise that my estimates are usually rubbish.

Diane's Tips for Losing Weight

Plan, plan, plan and only buy what is on the plan. My OH and I sit down and do this on a Saturday morning. Once the week is planned we make a shopping list so that we have everything we need for the week. I do sometimes impulse buy, after all I am human, but it then has to be fitted into the regimen. If it blows the calorie limit then extra exercise is added to the menu.

As a totally committed foodie, whose hero is Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall, I found it very difficult at first to make the changes to recipes, especially some of the classics such as mayonnaise, Bolognese sauce etc. I have, however, come round to cooking incorrectly to save calories.

My best investment was a good quality non-stick frying pan, which allows me to cook using minimum oil.

I have also had to draw my horns in with some of the other things that I used to do. I haven’t made sausages or salamis for ages as we very seldom eat them. I haven’t smoked any salmon this year for the same reason. Making a Parma ham has been put on hold until I reach my target.

I’m hoping that I can get back to cooking properly once I have lost the weight though I do know that it will all have to be severely limited if I am not to regain the weight I have lost.

This may sound negative but not really. I have learned a lot, and have transferred some of my passion for cooking to more gardening. I still make my own bread and yoghurt, and I am about to start using a desecrator to dry some fruit when there is a glut.

I invite guests more often as this gives me the opportunity to cook to my full potential even if I don’t eat it and my friends and neighbours are delighted with my new found skills in making croissants.

I do get fed up from time to time when I ruin what is potentially a delicious meal in the interest of weight loss, but I am loosing weight which is the object of the exercise so I console myself with the fact that I am succeeding!

Diane's Vital Statistics

	Before	Now
Weight	15st 4lb	11st