After 16 months, I have finally reached my original goal of weighing 13 stone (today I am 12 stone and 12 pounds).
It's been hard in many ways because I wasn't just dealing with weight loss at the time. I was seeing a therapist and trying to regain employment, battling depression, and adapting to an entirely new surrounding. I was friendless in this new location, and I was heartbroken at the same time.
I still don't really know how I have done it if I'm honest. I've avoided up to now sharing the many pitfalls and problems that come with extreme weight loss, but in this, my perhaps final post here, I will share with you some of the experiences that I think those of us who lose a massive amount can relate to.
- I no longer have to choose seating based on my size. I forget this all the time, though, and still scan for anything with a wide base and definitely never wicker!
- Cinema seating is finally comfortable.
- Flight travel is a revelation when you are of average size. I yanked the seatbelt cord out and realized I'd made a mistake, and then, when buckling it up, I could see 4 or 5 inches of space between me and the armrest and just grinned like an idiot.
- Now, when people laugh around you in public, you have to learn that it is no longer at you...as a general rule...you may have something else going on, though, like toilet paper on your shoe or your hair is a mess, but it's not because you are massive now.
- You learn to recognize fellow big losers by saggy skin on arms and necks.
- You lose a shoe size.
- You freak your optician out because your eyesight has changed dramatically due to excess fat leaving the orbital sockets.
- Shopping on the high street that you originally thought was boring is suddenly really interesting, and you find yourself browsing for clothes in a way you never would have before.
- Conversations that arise about weight loss are awkward, and your loss immediately overshadows anyone else's, so you try to keep it hidden as long as you can.
- Showing people the "old" you leaves you detached and as though you can't relate to that person any longer. It also feels a bit cheap when you show them, like you are showing off.
- People are suddenly really quick to call the old you horrible names that they would never have said to you before, and then quickly apologize.
- Romantic partners who enter your life only knowing the "new" you are very uncomfortable looking at the "old" you.
- Your entire family will go to their graves believing you have had a gastric band fitted unless you eat a 5 course meal in front of them.
- People you don't see for an extended period will drive past you.
- Other people will only recognize you because you were "walking your Mum's dog" and it "had to be you".
I did it all with MFP, and I am #MFP4Life
[Updated by Staff, April 2026 - Updated formatting]
