Julie's Weight Loss Success Story

AKA "JulieSim" on Weight Loss Resources

Low self esteem meant Julie would eat in secret, often at night. Read how she discovered a love of exercise, gained confidence and lost over 3st.

About Julie

I am a bookkeeper and so my lifestyle is pretty sedentary. I spend my time sitting on my butt so I have to be careful to watch my calories on days when I don’t exercise.

I took up running in 2005 to help combat the lifestyle and also to strengthen my bones as my mother had osteoporosis in her later years and I decided that was not going to be me.

I have a husband and two grown up children so the only restriction on my diet is myself. I have a very sweet tooth and still have a little chocolate most days. When I eat it now I am in control and rarely now, if ever, eat a whole large bar in one sitting or eat a whole packet of biscuits in one go which was always so easy before.

What diets have you tried in the past?

I have used WW and Rosemary Conley before finding WLR.

The Rosemary Conley diet was restrictive in that you could not eat anything with a fat content > 4%. I could not do that.

The WW diet was fairly successful as it was based on points but once I reached a target, I did not find the meetings very helpful in maintaining weight. They were generally focussed on those people losing weight.

Tell us how your weight has affected you

I sunk into a fairly deep depression and it was that that lead me to binge and gain the weight. When I was at my heaviest, my self esteem was very low. I can’t believe how I used to be. I would bake a batch of cakes in the middle of the night, scoff quite a few before anyone else got up and then pretend that I only made a few. I would buy the mega size bars of chocolate and eat it all myself. I used to eat in secret.

It was when I went to the doctor and he sent me to my local gym on a GP referral that I fell in love with exercising. I realised that gyms were not full of beefy muscle men and I was very comfortable being there. I was hooked and had a new focus in my life that was not food.

What has been your main motivation to lose weight?

My main motivation to lose weight was when I was preparing to go on holiday. I tried on all the clothes I had and nothing fitted. The week before I went on holiday I had to go and buy some clothes and I went on holiday with one pair of shorts and one pair of trousers. Since then however I have decided that I simply do not want to be fat in my old age which is creeping up on me, I want to be still running when I am 80.

Which tools and resources on WLR do you find most valuable?

I used the food diary and the recipes when I was trying to lose weight and I have also used the runner’s message board a lot, especially the pledging system suggested and developed by another WLR-ite. Recently I have started to use the Buddy System. It helps to have a personal contact with another person in a similar position as it is easier to tell one person when you are having a bad day than it is to tell everyone.

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Have you purchased or used any products/fitness equipment that have helped to reach your goals?

I purchased a muscle building DVD and I have used it together with some Personal Training. The Personal trainer told me that getting my core fitness stronger would help with my running and all of a sudden one day my running speed came up and I was 1 min per mile faster.

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

I find it very helpful to use the food diary and especially the recipes where I can put in recipes for my everyday foods e.g. Breakfast is cereal and milk. Make the recipe for breakfast and just select the recipe for breakfast knowing it is correct. WLR is available any time of day, even at 4 in the morning and one can generally find someone else up at that time.

Look around all the message boards and you will find someone who has been through or is going through what you are going through and that is very helpful. Especially in the early stages you may not want people to see you, so it’s very easy to use the site but remain fairly anonymous. Using the message boards may not be for everyone but I found my confidence to use them. After just looking at them for quite a long time, I started with a very occasional post. I am still not a great person with words but I have confidence to post messages.

Have you struggled at points in your weight loss journey? Experienced a weight loss plateau? What has kept you motivated?

My struggle points are Christmas. But I now have the mindset that says if I gain a few pounds at Christmas, that’s ok because I know it will come off again very quickly once I count my food again for a few days after.

I decided 2011 was the year for success and I got down to 10st in May 2011 and have successfully maintained since then without recording my food. This coming Christmas will be the test.

It is now 5 months that I have been successfully maintaining and it is definitely the fact that I stay active on the website that has been the key to this. In the past when I reached my goal I stopped using the site and therefore was not focussing on what I was eating. I have also learnt a lot and now I have the tools in my head to make the sensible choices.

Since losing weight can you give examples of how your life has changed?

I can buy size 12 clothes again, off the peg, no need to try them on. I feel more confident and can go out and about without feeling self conscious. The feeling I get when putting on my trousers now and not having to breathe in to do them up, is absolutely fantastic. I am chuffed.

Exercise routines adopted

As I have already stated, I have taken up running and once I could run I was hooked. I also walk a lot and cycle. The extra calories from the exercise also helps, enabling me to eat just a little more, than on the days when I don’t exercise.

What do you love about your body now?

My thighs look thinner when I look at them and my whole body is more supple. My wedding ring is no longer so tight that I can slip it on and off with ease. I can’t put into words the feeling I get when I dress now or shop for clothes, it is just so easy.

Julie's hints and tips

• My most useful thing is the food diary, fill it in every day and use the jotters if you are away from home. I know that it is hard when you eat out, but just look and you will find something on the food database that is close.
• Don’t cheat, as you will only be deceiving yourself.
• Take a buddy to share with and it gives you somewhere to vent your feelings and talk to someone who is in the same position as you.
• Measure yourself regularly, something I did not do, sometimes, especially if you exercise, you can lose inches but not much weight because the muscle weighs more than fat.

The inches don’t show much but the BMI does. I always wanted to be at the lower end of the acceptable BMI for my height. The body fat % was a surprise to me as I did not measure it until now.

Julie's Vital Statistics

	Before	Now
Weight	13st 4lb	9st 12½lb
BMI	25	21.9
Body Fat	32%	28%
Chest	35in	34in
Waist	32in	32in
Hips	41in	39in