My Before and After

Well, I can confirm I am an expert on dieting, as I've tried millions of them!!!

At my heaviest I was 188lbs. On 2nd November 2009, I decided enough was enough. Not sure how significant that date is, but that's when it started. My final weight loss mission.

I had my 40th birthday looming on 2nd July 2010, and knew I HAD to do something. I wasn't happy and was losing all my confidence. I've tried to analyse where I was going wrong, but I honestly believe there's nothing deep routed or subconscious about my old eating patterns - I just loved food. Not just chocolate, not when I was down or unhappy, I just like to eat, and loved the taste of crisps, veg, carbs, sweets, everything.

But you know yourself when something can't continue. And I knew.....

I started with following a slimming club plan, but not going to class. To be fair, I was motivated enough in myself to do it, and didn't see the point of paying money every week when I knew if I stood on my own scales, they would show me the same result, and that would be reward enough. I wanted to lose a mammoth 4 stone (or 56 lbs), and I wanted to have lost 3 stone (or 42 lbs) by my birthday.

A couple of months on, my husband found this site and suggested it to me. It all fell into place.

My strategy was simple:

1) Weigh myself EVERY morning as soon as I got up, went to the loo, and had taken all my clothes off (that way, the sneaky chocolate bar I had the night before had no place to hide, not having to wait another week for a weigh in). That way the reading has remained consistent.

2) I logged every single thing I put in my mouth on MFP and tried my level best to keep within my calorie allowance.

3) I took a note of my weight each morning in an excel spreadsheet and planned graphs around the readings. Seeing those graphs move downwards was great motivation for me.


4) I joined the gym, going to 4 or 5 spin & step classes per week, and logged those burned calories (which I measured on my Polar Heart Rate Monitor) on MFP too.

That's it. No Rocket Science. No Quick Fix. Just one hell of a slog. I had bad days, course I did, but I tried so hard to counteract those with additional exercise, or reduced calorie intake until I’d recovered the deficit. Or if it was just too bad, I’d write the day off, and start afresh the next day.

Can I tell you all something? I'm happy, and confident, and feel so much better about myself that I ever imagined I would. I can fit into nice clothes. I can look at photos of myself, and think "Hey, that's a good one!" Previously, I looked at photos and thought I looked bad because I wasn't photogenic, not because I was fat!


So that's it. My story, and the photos below to prove it. To anyone who read this, thanks so much for your time. For anyone who now feels inspired, I'm humbled. To anyone who wants a buddy, drop me a friend request, I'll be happy to help steer you on your journey.

Good Luck to everyone who's on this same mission!






IF ANYONE KNOWS WHY THESE IMAGES AREN'T DISPLAYING, PLEEEEEASE LET ME KNOW!! ;-)

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