On the left is a picture of the last time I was slim. I was 62 and my husband had left me. That's a great time to slim. Too upset to eat and I went to the gym every morning to stop myself thinking. I worked in the allotment until it was dark and then stayed on to watch the bats. Like most things, you get over it, the dust settles and so does the weight. On the hips, everywhere. I did nothing about it. Chiefly because nutritionists had started pointing out that every time someone lost weight they put it back on, and more. Looking back at my life, this had happened to me. I couldn't afford to weigh any more than I did now, I thought, and so I left it. On 12 December, Election Day, I decided I would do something about it. Slimming World meets at the top of my street every Thursday. I would go along. I would lose weight. |
Slimming World wasn't exactly what I thought it would be - a place to lose weight. It was like joining a religion - a religion I didn't want to be part of. I told the organiser I had no intention of filling in their inane sheets or following their eating plan but she wouldn't take no for an answer. One thing was good. I found that I had maintained a steady weight for three years. I knew this because when I went for my hip operation in January 2017 I weighed 14 stone. I was only 1.1/2lbs over that now. This gave me hope that if I changed my eating habits I COULD lose weight.
In the first week I lost 2.1/2 lbs by my own methods, not theirs. The second week I was disappointed to only lose 1.1/2. They pointed out it had been Christmas but since I don't do Christmas that excuse didn't apply to me.
Last Monday, 30 December, I had a doctor's appointment. While I was there I asked if they had a facility where I could get weighed every week as I didn't agree with Slimming World's methods. "Certainly," he said and showed me the scales at the end of a corridor. When we sat back down he told me that he himself had lost four stones and showed me an app on his phone. "It really helped me," he said, "and I'm recommending it to all my patients."
I downloaded it. It's called Myfitnesspal and it's fantastic. You enter the foods you eat and it works out the calories and tots them up. I've used it for a week now and I've been under the 1500 calories a day allowance every day. I was apprehensive about the weigh in this morning - just how accurate was this thing? Had it been lying to me? I was delighted to find I had lost 3lbs. Now I won't worry about its accuracy and veracity any more, just keep on logging the foods, getting in the exercise and losing the pounds! If all goes well, by the end of April I might achieve my goal of 11 stones. Here's hoping!
In the first week I lost 2.1/2 lbs by my own methods, not theirs. The second week I was disappointed to only lose 1.1/2. They pointed out it had been Christmas but since I don't do Christmas that excuse didn't apply to me.
Last Monday, 30 December, I had a doctor's appointment. While I was there I asked if they had a facility where I could get weighed every week as I didn't agree with Slimming World's methods. "Certainly," he said and showed me the scales at the end of a corridor. When we sat back down he told me that he himself had lost four stones and showed me an app on his phone. "It really helped me," he said, "and I'm recommending it to all my patients."
I downloaded it. It's called Myfitnesspal and it's fantastic. You enter the foods you eat and it works out the calories and tots them up. I've used it for a week now and I've been under the 1500 calories a day allowance every day. I was apprehensive about the weigh in this morning - just how accurate was this thing? Had it been lying to me? I was delighted to find I had lost 3lbs. Now I won't worry about its accuracy and veracity any more, just keep on logging the foods, getting in the exercise and losing the pounds! If all goes well, by the end of April I might achieve my goal of 11 stones. Here's hoping!