A few years ago I started going to Weightwatchers meetings near my house, and I lost 3st in just over a year. I lived on my own at the time, and I did it surreptitiously – I hated to admit I wanted to lose weight, and I pretended it just “fell off” on its own. I have always had a fear of being show to try and to fail, preferring not to be seen to try at all. I also started going to a personal trainer once a week (twice a week during the summer months), who kicked my butt and taught me if not to love, then to like running. I even did a 5k and finished in a decent time.
I think I was lulled into a false sense of security as I was doing quite a bit of exercise as well as watching what I ate. I’ve never been a huge success at keeping tabs on my eating – I’m fine with logging every mouthful, but when it comes time to keep within “restrictions”, I am less than great. I was meant to keep under 21 WW Points per day, and I think in a year and a half I managed this no more than 10 times. When I stopped doing as much exercise, I gained the weight back in half the time it took to lose it.
I met my boyfriend 2 years ago, and in those first few months of lovey-doveyness, when I was taking a break from work and uni, we spent much of it bed eating 2 roasts a day with the full trimmings, pasta and pesto with mountains of cheese as a snack, and drinking wine. It was almost of Henry the Eighth proportions, though we never ordered anyone beheaded. Roman bacchanalian feasts, minus the vomitorium. In that year I also went on the Pill for the first time since high school, and we did little exercise other than going to the shops to buy more food. I gained so much weight, and I became less and less happy. I hated being fat but it was just so hard to get going again. I tried running again, but with the extra weight I hated it. Everything became difficult, even walking to the shops I was gasping for breath. We didn’t go walking anymore, we didn’t do much except eat and watch telly. We became slobs.
This time last year I bought myself an iPhone, and one of the first things I searched for in the App store was a weight loss tool. I had originally set out looking for a WW tool, but there wasn’t one at the time. There were hundreds of Apps that promised to count calories for me though, so I chose the one that seemed the most user-friendly and went for it. The App I chose was MyFitnessPal.
If I am completely honest with myself, I didn’t really do it wholeheartedly to begin with. I logged every morsel I ate, but I still ate whatever the hell I liked. I kept gaining weight or staying the same – since December of last year, I’ve only managed to lose 10 lbs – and much of it has been gained and lost and gained again.
In April of last year, I joined a gym. Twas a very expensive gym, especially as I’d signed up with a personal trainer as well. I went a couple times a week to begin with, but then started going to 3 sessions a week doing kettlebell training on a PowerPlate. I loved it. I actually noticed a difference, especially in my arms and waist, and also in my strength and endurance. My trainer kicked my butt and made me work really hard, and I loved the structure of it. I’ve never been good at doing exercise by myself, as I lose interest so easily. I need a focus, and that is why I have always benefitted when I’ve had a personal trainer.
In August I was injured in an accident on my way home one weekend, and I was unable to continue with the training. I was gutted, but there was nothing that could be done so I just took a break from exercise for awhile. I had some minor depression after the accident and suffered a loss of appetite; I felt queasy all the time and generally unwell. When I wasn’t at work I would just go to sleep. It was a bad time for me, and I’m so happy that period of my life is behind me.
Since then I went back to uni to study full time, as well as working part time at my old job – I’ve always preferred being busy as I get bored so easily. I will be leaving my job to concentrate more on my studies as of next term, so I may have a little more free time – which I hope to spend indulging in some healthy cooking and getting back on track with my fitness.
This is a good week for me to start this new blog. After weeks stuck at the same weight of 11st13.5 (167.5 lbs), I finally managed to shift some of that excess poundage. I lost 2 lbs since my last weigh in, and I met my first goal – I am currently sitting on 11st11.5 (165.5 lbs) and just half a pound away from my first goal of 165 lbs. I think I can manage half a pound this week!
Today I decided to return to WW – I am finding it slightly difficult to be honest, as the new WW site is quite clunky and not as user friendly as MyFitnessPal. The calorie counting thing wasn’t working that well for me though, so I hope this may be the kick I need to get rid of the 30-odd lbs I’d desperately love to see the last of.
So here I am, ready to start losing weight. Welcome to my world!
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