Suzanne's Weight Loss Success Story
At a low point in her life, Suzanne realised she had to make
some changes to her lifestyle which included looking at her
relationship with food. Using WLR Suzanne has slowly changed her
eating habits, built in a regular exercise routine and lost 6
stone and 6lbs in weight.
Age: 41
Height: 5' 1" ish
Start Weight: 239lb (17st 1lb)
Current Weight: 149lb (10st 9lb)
Goal Weight: 134lb (9st 8lb)
Weight Lost: 90lb (6st 6lb)
Working to Rate of Loss: 2lb per week
Time Taken: 4 years plus
Weight Loss History
I have only tried Weight Watchers and eating healthily on my
own, under supervision of GP dietitian.
Have you lost weight before
and regained the weight?
Once with Weight Watchers, I got down to 11 stone about 10
years ago and then put it back on again. This time I am losing
it really slowly but I really feel like I am more equipped not
to put the weight back on.
How being overweight has affected you…
People assumed I was weak and lazy. I felt unattractive,
hated getting dressed to go out because I felt that nothing felt
particularly flattering, nothing looked good. Even though people
complimented me I couldn’t accept their compliments as I felt
that the clothes didn’t fit me in the same way that it would fit
people who were slimmer.
However, having lost weight I realise that to an extent being
attractive is a state of mind and that losing a vast amount of
weight is not necessarily the solution as loss of weight does
not necessarily equal attractiveness/happiness.
Motivation to Lose Weight
The journey has been difficult because I’m not really a
motivated, disciplined or consistent person by nature to be
honest, and anything that could take a long time bores and
scares me in equal measure.
I was at a really low point emotionally and physically five
or so years ago and quite a lot was happening to me. I was
trying to deal with homelessness, loss of a company, I started
counselling for lack of childhood memories only to discover
systematic childhood sexual abuse and added to that I almost
died a couple of times from asthma and multiple allergies.
I realised that I had to change my lifestyle and eating
healthily was a major part of that. Starting with 7 stone to
lose was too enormous to think about in one chunk. So in the
beginning I just took one day at a time. I almost didn’t think
about the weight loss except for a weekly weigh-in and
celebrating as I got down into the next weight bracket (i.e.
from 16st to into the 15stones etc).
When I lost about 3 stone my motivation was probably at its
highest as I was starting to get compliments about my weight
loss and I could see and feel it. I was also doing a lot of
exercise at the time.
Exercise is a great motivator for me, I
find it cuts my appetite, gives me something else to do and I
really don’t want to eat too much and undo the good I’ve done
exercising.
The hardest time from a motivation point has been the last
year, when I more or less stagnated where I was with about 1.5
stones to lose.
Joining the Christmas Challenge has been a
godsend for me. It has totally rejuvenated my motivation. I
think that knowing that you’ve a fixed period of time to do
something plus the fact that there is a kind of group
camaraderie thing going on works for me.
I think if anything, losing weight has showed me how to
develop consistency and discipline and that has given me
motivation and I now realise that the discipline that I have
learnt through learning to be consistent in exercise and
changing my relationship with food have given me a new set of
skills for managing my life. It permeates throughout my
day-to-day existence.
Discovering Weight Loss Resources
Like a lot of people on this site I was searching on the internet for a calorie
counter, came up with WLR did a free trial and realised it was ideal for
me.
How Weight Loss Resources Helps
I naturally like keeping account of things, and being able to
work out which foods are good and balanced for me. Being able to
plug in my food into the diary before I eat it is great.
Entering 100g of fresh tuna and realising that it puts me over
my ideal levels of protein but leaves me under in terms of fat
and then being able to change that for 50g of mackerel is
brilliant.
Reading the message boards really helps me. If I’m down about
anything reading the boards really cheers me up. Just knowing
that I can post for help on food or other matters is a moral
booster. I get really inspired and motivated by what other
people are doing on the boards.
I was really inspired by the
stories of people on the site who have taken up running and that
together with reading LinsBlake’s success story have motivated
me to start the
WLR 8
week beginners running programme. I’m currently huffing and
puffing through week 4.
I’ve also started to buddy up with a few people and make some
friends and this is making a huge difference. Sometimes the fact
that you know someone will be PM’ing you in the next few days to
find out how you are doing can really stop you eating that extra
portion of something lethal.
Recently I’ve started using the journal and I’m finding huge
correlations between what I eat and how I feel. Plus it’s also
really therapeutic to admit to having a crap day in your
journal.
The Best of Weight Loss Resources
I go through phases with the different sections of the
website.
I do best with my weight loss when I am really strict about
entering my food into my diary. I try and enter everything. I
always enter my exercise, I feel proud every time I see the
exercise calories in my diary.
The message boards really give me support and motivation.
Occasionally I will go into the chat room about 10pm. You can
strike up some mad interesting conversations in there, not
always about food. There are some really interesting people on
WLR! It can be like going to a great drinks party where everyone
is friendly and you are guaranteed good conversation. I’ve never
entered the chat room without virtually every single person in
the room stopping to say hello to me.
Suzanne's Tips for Losing Weight
I don’t think my tips are any different from all the others
that I’ve read (weigh your food, at least in the beginning etc)
but here are some in no particular order that have particularly
helped me:
- Drink water every day. Preferably 2 litres over the space
of each and every day. I really find that a lot of the times
when I think I want something to eat, it’s thirst. If you
don’t like water try build up to 2 litres slowly over the
period of a couple of week. Or replace water with herbal tea.
It will keep your system cleansed and I find that I actually
lose more weight when I’m drinking a good amount of water. If
you can steer clear of the fizzy drinks (even the low cal
ones), they’re just not that great for your poor old hard
working body.
- Do some exercise on a regular basis if you are physically
able. Set your exercise level at something you will be able to
keep up in the long term. It’s better to do a small amount of
exercise 2 or 3 times a week for the rest of your life than
start off doing something 5 days a week but give up after 1
month.
- Eliminate the word ‘diet’ from your brain. Look at using
WLR as a way of eating healthily for life. Don’t look at it as
going on a diet, otherwise when you come off your diet you are
more likely to put back on the weight by going back to your
old eating habits.
- Eat foods that keep you balanced and craving-free. A lot of
the time that we crave foods it’s because we are addicted to
certain products i.e. sugar. If you can cut them out and
replace them with healthy alternatives e.g. fruit sugar
instead of cane sugar, you will find that your body will
become more balanced and you will start to want foods that are
good for your body. Eat a large portion of salad or vegetables
with every meal.
- Look at your relationship with food. I think the biggest
realisation that I had was that I had to change my
relationship with food. I would (and still do sometimes)
comfort eat, especially at night. So now I keep my favourite
fruits (currently strawberries 450g is 124 cals) for a late
night snack. Work out what’s good for your body and when to
eat it. I find that 5 or 6 small meals in a day really works
for me, it stops me getting cravings for things. I also find
that eating raw only after about 8pm really helps me. If I do
go out for a late evening dinner and eat a heavy meal for some
strange reason I wake up the next morning more hungry than I
would usually be.
- Start your day off with a large mug of warm water with
lemon juice. It’s gentle on your stomach, is great for your
skin and cleanses your body.
- Don’t skip breakfast (preferably a sensible one), it
really sets you up for the day.
- Chew your food well and sit down to eat it. Chewing your
food properly gives your brain enough time to know that you
are full and makes it easier for your stomach to digest. I
think we should chew each mouthful 35 times. I still struggle
with this one!
- Know what your weaknesses are and put a plan in place to
combat them.
I’m fine so long as I stay within a good routine
of writing down what I eat, reading the message boards, doing
exercise and not putting myself in stressful or upsetting
situations. But I found that as soon I stopped I would blink
and realise that I’d fallen off the wagon for weeks and
sometimes months.
Now if I don’t enter my food for a couple of
days I try and keep a note of it, and if I’m too scared to
enter the food in I read the message boards until I get the
courage up to go back to entering in my food diary. I also
enlist the help of friends both at WLR and outside to remind
me to get back into a good routine.
- Remember that something done everyday for a month will
become a habit. So build good habits with your food and
exercise.
- Get support to keep you going. I have an exercise buddy,
we meet three / four mornings a week to run in the park.
Knowing that I have to meet my buddy is the only thing that
gets me out of bed in the morning. For me if I have some one
to work with it helps me to keep going, so I have an exercise
buddy and now I’ve found my weight loss buddies on WLR it’s
brilliant. We give each other support when we are down and
it’s great to have someone to celebrate with when you lose
that elusive 2lb.
- Don’t beat yourself up for falling off the wagon. If I
religiously followed all the tips above I’d have been at goal
a long, long time ago, but hey each time I fall off I learn
something new about myself.
I think I’ve talked enough, but if I can do it, anyone can do
it. Work out what’s stopping you losing weight (it’s not always
just as simple as eat less) and figure out how to deal with
what’s stopping you losing weight.
Oh yes and something for when
you’ve “only” lost a pound. Have you seen how much a pound is –
look at a pound of butter, that’s a lot of weight.
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