One Year On!

It’s a year today that I stood on the scales and realised that I needed to take a hold of my willpower and sort out my lifestyle. Not that it was particularly bad; I don’t smoke, drink very little alcohol and ate quite healthy food – but rather too much of it!
The scales tipped at 16 st 10.5lbs – and that was the heaviest I had been for 8 years. I had been as heavy as 19 st and a size 22 about 10 years ago – but after a scare of borderline diabetes and high blood pressure managed to lose 4 stone and had been happy at that – I was a size 16/18 and thought that was fine.

But after meeting my husband 7 years ago, and being content, I had slowly put on nearly 2 stone and was finding that size 18 clothes were starting to strain at the buttons!! My husband was also starting to be a bit concerned about his weight – he had semi-retired from quite a strenuous job and had also seen the pounds creep on - so we made a pact a year ago. It was my 47th birthday then, and his birthday is the 2nd October, so we said we would each do our best to lose a stone by then.

After a couple of weeks, I was flagging already and a friend at work introduced me to MFP – thank you so much Catherine!! I soon found it an absolute boon – never before had losing weight seemed so straightforward. Weighing my food was a shocking eye-opener – how was 40g of breakfast cereal a portion – it barely covered the bottom of the bowl!! And pasta – surely, SURELY - 60g dry weight couldn’t be enough….. but now it is just seems normal. We soon get used to it!!!

So a year on, I may be a year older, but I am 4 stone 5lbs lighter; my husband is 3 stone 7lbs lighter, and we are both so much healthier, energetic and so proud of each other. I am now a size 12/14 and he has gone from a 38 to a 31 inch waist. We look good!! He has reached his goal weight, and managed to maintain it for a while. I still have 5 lb to go – then I will be 12 stone and in the normal range of BMI (as I am 5’9”) for the first time since having my children!! And as the youngest is 21 – that’s a long long time!!!

So after a lifetime of fad diets, starving myself, binging and feeling so guilty at my failures as my weight yo yo’d up and down – mostly UP – I have found that the old fashioned calorie counting and portion size control is really the answer. And I am not on a diet! I still eat cake and chips and enjoy a glass of wine now and then – but I don’t eat to excess, I know that I am capable of surviving on normal portions!!! This is how I will be eating for the rest of my life. I will still have treats and holiday excess (!) but I know that if I 95% stay eating this way, I will manage to keep this weight off.

Happy Birthday to me, 27% less of the person I was a year ago!