It was January 2006 and I had a birthday bash to go to.I could not believe I needed a size 20 dress.I went to the party and felt a frump,everybody said how nice I looked but it did not mean a thing …That was when I decided enough was enough I had to bite the bullet and seriously change my eating habits.I had always been big but two years previously I had given up smoking and piled on 2 stone so I knew that had to go and more….
THIS IS HOW I STARTED
14 st 12 lb
THIS IS HOW I FINISHED
10st 2 lb
I started by going to the slimming club in my village , but only went twice for the reasons below…..
- It seemed a lot of money to pay when it could be spent on nicer food.
- It seemed more like a social gathering that was not really me(nothing wrong with it just not for me)
- I was paying money for them to tell me I had not lost any weight at all.
- ….and most important… I could not understand their diet plan.It works for most people but i could not get my head around it and you must feel comfortable about what you are doing
I came home after two meetings and decided to make my own plan.I reasoned that the main ingredient that made you put on weight was fat.So with a starting weight of 14stone 12lb I changed my way of life starting with…
- Cutting out all butter on my sandwiches or in my food (I was a lady who liked bread with my butter not butter with my bread)
- The last few months of my diet I cut down on the bread.
- If brought anything in a packet it had to have less than 4% fat in it.
- My cheese which I loved was always half fat.Tesco & Sainsbury do a great mozzarella that is half fat and Marks & Spencer do a wonderful half fat cheddar which is really strong and you can’t tell the difference.
- I love salads anyway but I would chop up all my salad bits in a bowl with the cheeses or chicken and just “graze “at it ….My salad bowls were…huge!!
- Mayo was reduced fat and so was salad cream although I just loved a drizzle of olive oil and a squeeze of lemon.
- I cut out any fat on meat and mainly stuck to chicken & fish .
- I never deprived myself of anything ,even on a Sunday with a roast dinner i always had 2 small roast potatoes.
- I am not a great chocolate eater but do loooove dark chocolate.I “trained” myself to eat just 4 squares a day.
- I cut down on alcohol.
- I love crisps but did not cut them out.I ate quavers or Walkers french fries.(1 packet a day)
- Add flavour to food..spices,citrus etc., makes all the difference.
- I became very keen on couscous..The flavours and bits and pieces you can add to that is amazing .
- Every time I went down a size in clothes I took the large ones to charity.
EXERCISE
I soon realised that the more calories you consume the more you have to burn (nothing too energetic)
I had brought my grand daughter a bike a few years ago and I knew she no longer rode it (if at all) so I decided to “buy it” back from her with the hope of getting some excercise.I ride it all the time now backwards & forwards to work.I am sure that it really helped me with losing weight & now groan if I have to walk to work & back.
Should feel proud, excellent 🙂