It’s been an incredible
journey and not one I was really expecting when I decided that I was going to lose
weight. At 43 I’ve tried loads of times and
never really managed more than a few pounds and I don’t think anyone, including
me if I’m honest, thought this would be much different but I’d moved to a new
area and decided to combine my weight loss goal with meeting new people and
maybe making a friend or two.
I remember joining the local
Slimming World group, I’d texted the class leader and specifically asked if
they were friendly - which I’m sure made me sound like a mad woman. She was right when she said yes, I’m very
fortunate to have met some really lovely people in class over the last year and
we’ve helped each other when losing weight has seemed almost impossible. There are a few of us that sit together in
class, we cook for each other and I even have a Black Country ‘Mum’ on a
Tuesday night.
My first goal was to lose 3
stone. After being heavy for almost 20
years I never thought I’d get there but in my first week I lost 5 pounds and
never really looked back. I stuck to
plan and was really strict, annoying most of the people around me in the
process. The easiest way to tell my friends
and family was to just say I didn’t eat anything with more than 5% fat as
that’s simple to cater for and less scary to people than explaining the ins and
outs of syns!
I had a lot of weight to
lose, my BMI was 44 and I was in the morbidly obese category. I got out of breath going up stairs, struggled
to cross my legs and was always afraid that I wouldn’t fit in the seats at
restaurants. My bottom was so big I once
knocked a glass of wine over when I got up to leave a restaurant….there are so
many stories like that, as well as small things that cross your mind and hold
you back...will I fit into the seat on the plane, can I find a jump suit when
we’re go karting, am I the biggest person in the room…it’s been strange as those
barriers fall away and I can say them out loud to people. Friends that have always been slim seem
amazed at the things bigger people worry about.
But I got there, I lost the 3
stone and it took a few short months but I still didn’t look like I’d hoped,
Beyonce I was not so I reset my target and kept going. At 5 stone gone I thought
maybe I was done but my body still lost so I kept going, at 6 stone I knew I was
pretty much there and I adjusted my target one final time to 6 ½ stone
off. It was a desperate struggle to get
to that final target so the class leader and I agreed this was clearly a natural
point for me and I’ve stayed hovering around this loss for a couple of months
now.
Sometimes people tell me it
was easy and I never know what to say.
It isn’t easy, not at all, and it never was. There isn’t really a secret (unless you can
count being incredibly stubborn). For me
I found being in a routine helped me so much, I had a ‘set’ breakfast which
everyone that knows me knows is weetabix muffins and a huge bowl of fruit. Lunch is always a salad with meat and a
Muller Light and dinner is usually meat and veggies of some sort. I pretty much cut out fat, carbs, booze,
Haribos and chocolate and something tells me I was an absolute bear to deal
with but for the most part people were great.
Don’t get me wrong, not everyone was supportive and I’ve had some really
unhappy surprises where people are jealous, feel threatened or just plain mean and
it might have caused some tears along the way but it didn’t stop me. I think the strangest thing is that we are
all judged by our appearance, whether we like it or not and it’s been an eye
opener to see how people are different towards me now, bear in mind I am the
same person I was 7 stone ago so when I hear ‘I’m not fat-ist but I would NEVER
have asked you out before but do you want to go for a drink’ even I was too
stunned to come up with a suitable reply that didn’t contain swearing. But that’s other people and the ones that
truly cared about me then care about me still.
As the weight dropped off I found
I could move more, I wanted to and took up fencing. I’m now the proud owner of a custom sabre sword
and am proud of the bruises I get from my weekly sword fighting. I can run 5k without giving it a second
thought and regularly achieve my 10,000 steps a day to make my FitBit happy.
So one year down the line I
did it. I’m healthier, happier and in my
mid 40s I achieved a milestone. I lost 7
stone. I couldn’t do it alone and I didn’t
have to, I had people that helped me every day and to them I will always be grateful…someone
said to me the other day that they’d never met anyone who’d lost this amount of
weight and I was an inspiration. I don’t
think I am but I’m helping anyone that wants to become their own inspiration
which to me is the key.
Whatever your own weight loss
journey all I can say is plan, don’t be afraid to say it’s difficult and be
kind to yourself – it’s not an easy thing to do but you can do it, I promise.
Kathy xx
