Rebecca's Calorie Counting Success Story
Rebecca’s Calorie Counting Success Story

Takeaways, convenience food and comforting eating helped Rebecca pile on a massive 8 stone but, calorie counting and exercise soon had her back on the straight and narrow. Read how using WLR tools helped her shed over 6 stone.

Rebecca's Calorie Counting Success Story

My partner and myself liked going down the pub. We got lazy and started to just eat takeaways instead of cooking healthy food.

WLR Member Speccyblue, Age 32, Height 5ft 10in
  Start Current
Weight 20st 13st 7lbs
BMI 36.8 27
Body Fat 37.5% 24%
Bust 47.3" 39"
Waist 48.5" 40"
Hips 48.8" 40"

About Rebecca

We didn't go out at all for exercise. We would drive or catch public transport everywhere; we didn't bother walking anywhere because we couldn't walk down the road without getting out of breath.

We both didn't like where we lived and didn't have too many friends and we just consoled ourselves with food.

I live with my partner of 5 ½ years and we both like our food. My bloke likes the processed naughty food whereas I do like my fresh food.

It was easier to eat what he brought back from the takeaway than cook, we just got lazy.

I used to work in an office and there were always birthdays or the sandwich guy coming around with tasty things to eat and I just gorged myself.

If it was there, I ate it even though I didn't really want it. I had no self-control.

I thought that eating would make me feel better about things but it never did.

My partner worked as a lorry driver so he was constantly snacking at roadside cafes and he got quite fat too.

He now takes a healthy lunch with him and takes books with him to stop him pigging out.

I am now a housewife and have found it difficult not to snack too much during the day due to boredom.

I have signed up to lots of courses, read and try to get out of the house as much as possible and go on runs and walks.

The main thing with me is that I ate due to boredom, so I found a few things to stimulate myself without the need for raiding the fridge.

Dieting history

Slimfast – weight came off quickly but unmaintainable. Got very hungry and very bored with the lack of range of things to eat, some products were just vile.

Weight Watchers – lost 2stone but as I didn't stick to the programme, weight piled on, counting how many points were in things got annoying in the end.

Slimming World – didn't lose any weight. I found the Syns and Red and Green Days confusing and unworkable.

The Exercise Loads and Not Eat Diet – exercised 6 days a week for a couple of hours at a time, was very toned but completely unmaintainable.

How being overweight has affected you…

I have always been overweight ever since I was a child.

My parents brought me up on healthy food and convenience food was not allowed but I just loved to eat.

I was put on a diet when I was about 9 years old as I was very heavy for my age and I found that quite traumatic. Kids wouldn't play with me because I was fat.

My nickname was Sumo even though at secondary school (looking back) I was just tall for my age and not fat at all.

I was teased about my weight from aged 7 until I left school at 17.

I did skinny down when I was in my 20s but I couldn't maintain it.

People said how good I looked but I was exercising 6 days a week for 2 hours a day and was on the verge of developing an eating disorder.

I had no social life. I had men only talk to me because I had lost weight, they had no interest in speaking to me when I was fat and that really screwed my head up.

My mum said that at 11 stone I was now too skinny. I felt I couldn't win.

I maintained a weight of about 11 – 12 stone until about 2003. I was a size 12/14.

I injured my back quite badly in an accident in 2003 and had to stop all exercise and was dosed up on painkillers.

Some days I could not even move for the pain. I could not get dressed or wash myself. I went up to about 14/15 stone.

My partner would bring back takeaways after he/we had been to the pub and we would just gorge ourselves on them.

He did start to make comments about how much I was eating but he never really helped me to lose the weight as he was a junk food addict.

I would be really good then he would bring home the takeaway and my will power would disappear.

My portion sizes were huge and I used to slather on loads of butter, mayonnaise and any other sauces/dips I could find.

I would eat huge chunks of bread and butter with my meals even though I didn't need too.

I must have been consuming about 3000 calories a day at least. I would also drink a lot of alcohol and I LOVED crisps, the really big bags.

I hated myself so much that I couldn't even look in the mirror at home. I didn't want to go out because I was embarrassed about how large I was.

I didn't want to meet up with any of my old friends because I thought how hideous they would think I have got.

I just hid at home whenever I could and ordered in food. I hated myself for becoming so big but I felt so awful that I just ate to help me feel better.

When I did go out, a lot of strangers thought it was appropriate to call me names and laugh at my size. I felt so sad.

My partner and myself used to go clubbing but then the horrible remarks about my weight would appear on this on-line clubbing website and we stopped going out dancing.

I was too embarrassed and paranoid about meeting these people that were having a go at me because of my weight. I thought we were all there for the music but I was quite wrong.

In 2005 I started a job which I first of all loved then began to loathe, as my boss was terrible.

I ate and ate and ate to make myself feel better (which only works temporarily and then you are back to square one) and put on a few stone over the year.

When I saw my parents for Christmas 2007, they were shocked about how large I had become.

I was about 20 stone and size 24. My parents have always been slimish and kept an eye on their weight.

They were really, really worried about me and tried to get me started on the South Beach Diet, which was far too fiddly for my liking.

Looking back, I worked out I had put on about 8 stone over 6 years.

When I joined the gym in February 2008, I really got into my exercise but I was not too careful about what I ate still.

In May 2008, my fitness instructor introduced me to WLR and I was totally hooked and haven't looked back.

Motivation to lose weight?

I had been thinking about sorting out my weight for a few months in 2007 and at a size 24, I had had enough.

I did weigh myself and was nearly over 20 stone and really didn't want to go over the 20 stone mark.

So the accumulation of my dress size, the scales and my parents just kicked my head into a gear that I needed to sort myself out. I just couldn't carry on the way I was.

I also had just been diagnosed with a huge inter uterine fibroid and needed to get down to a good weight before they could operate on it.

I am now within a healthy weight range and I am going to have the operation sometime in Summer 09.

My sex life was also affected in that I thought that my partner would no longer want to make love to me as I was so large and he would find someone else to go with.

I wanted sex with the lights off all the time, which is a real passion killer.

He never did go and find someone else and he never wanted to but it was always in the back of my head.

I have lots more energy for sex now and he finds my new curves very sexy. He can't keep his hands off me, which is a great motivator.

At 20 stone, I felt constantly tired. I ached all over, my back was getting really bad again, and my digestion, skin and hair were bad. I couldn't even run more than 10 metres.

My heart felt like it was going to jump out of my chest and I began to get heart palpitations on a regular basis.

I couldn't shop in any of the high street stores and buy any nice clothes that were fashionable.

I was just stuck with Evans which was quite limiting in what I could buy.

The best of WLR?

I love to use the WLR food and exercise diaries.

I always find them invaluable to keep track of what I have eaten and how many calories I have expended through exercise.

I use the member's forum quite a lot. It is very helpful and most people are so kind and helpful.

There are some great articles to read on the homepages.

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

There are no gimmicks here. It's so simple.

WLR works out how much you can eat for your age, height and weight and all you have to do it just input what food you have eaten.

I find with WLR I can eat what foods I like, no foods are restricted.

WLR encourages you to exercise by giving you extra calories when you have exercised, which means you can eat more as you have earned it, a great incentive to exercise!

What has kept you motivated?

The worst times for lack of weight loss I found was when I had my period or coming up to it.

I had mad and bad food cravings and my weight shot up by half a stone but the good thing was that the weight came off just as quickly as it went on.

I found vitamin B6 helped with the water retention and bloating. I found that as my diet was a lot healthier, my periods weren't as bad as they had been.

I have plateaued and it can be really frustrating. I felt I had let myself down but that's just how the body works sometimes.

The body can be unpredictable on occasion and I've just learned to work with it, and carry on with the healthy eating and exercise.

I don't pretend that I have been perfect and eaten all the right foods and exercised all the time. It has been a real struggle some weeks.

I had weeks where I have just stuffed my face if I had an argument with a good friend or had a rubbish day at work but I remembered how far I got and it snapped my head back into healthy eating.

No one is perfect all the time. If you do mess up, there is no point beating yourself up about it, just put it behind you and start the next day afresh.

I have been kept motivated by seeing pictures of me at 20 stone and pictures of me now. I am also enjoying the compliments from people and I don't want that to stop.

Lifestyle changes?

I have loads more energy now and love going out socially. My skin, hair and digestion are so much better.

Now I am out and about, many people who I haven't seen for a couple of years comment on my weight loss and I am loving all the attention.

I find I get a lot of attention from the male of species, which I find really strange still. I am mentally still fat. I haven't quite got used to how much I have changed.

I can shop in high street shops now. I no longer hide in clothes shaped like tents.

I sometimes buy clothes that are too big for me because I forget that I am a smaller size.

My partner and myself do have takeaways but limit ourselves now to one every couple of weeks.

I refuse to have bad food in the house because I will just eat it if it's there even though I am not hungry.

When I was losing weight, my partner got motivated by me losing the weight and he lost 2 ½ stone, so between us we have lost about 9 stone, that's one person!

Exercise routines adopted?

I run about 10 miles a week with my partner. I also do my own work out at home, sit ups and using household objects as weights for toning as I can't really afford the gym at the moment.

I now walk to and from town instead of catching the bus and carry back food shopping, which has really helped with my stamina.

I walk wherever possible and walk up and down stairs instead of using the escalator or lift.

We also go on long walks together over the weekend for up to 10 miles at a time. We want to do some more challenging walks in the Peak District when our fitness gets to a certain level.

My bloke wants us to do the London Marathon next year, not sure about that yet!

What do you love about your body now?

I love all of my body now, stretch marks and all.

I have developed toned legs and it's great having a waist. It is a novelty to see my feet when I looked down.

Rebeccas's tips

Plan meals and just get lots of healthy food in the fridge.

Give away all your bad food. If you do have a snack attack, then at least the damage isn't going to be as bad as if you had a load of junk food in there.

Never deny yourself naughty food, you can eat it but just in smaller quantities than you have been doing.

Log all the food you eat, be honest with yourself, and weigh your food if you are not sure. I found digital scales really useful.

Sometimes you will get people trying to sabotage your efforts and temptation will get in your way but you will learn to say no. Just stick in there, they are only trying to tempt you because they are jealous of your efforts.

I started to eat breakfast. I found scrambled eggs on toast really filled me up. I brought in my own lunches to work, which saved me a fortune.

I found soup was really filling and made myself huge salads with chicken and low fat sauce.

I do like my fruit and I still indulge in crisps. I love Special K bars if I have a sweet tooth. I find dates also a good thing to snack on because you don't need many of those to eat before the sweet tooth is satiated.

If you can't afford the gym, I find walking is an easy way to burn up those calories and it's free.

Be focused on what you want to achieve and even if you do slip up, keep on going and believe that you can do it. I never thought I would ever be this weight again. It has taken a while for the weight to come off but it crept on over years, so it's not going to come off over night.

Find yourself hobbies to do which get you out of the house if possible. Perhaps find a gym/diet buddy and you can motivate each other when you are going through a bad patch.

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* Note: The success stories published on Weight Loss Resources are written by WLR members, past and present, telling their own stories in their own words. As you will see if you read more than one or two of them, everyone's story is different and they have reached their success from a variety of starting points and lost weight at varying rates. Individual results may vary.

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