Diet Progress 1

Now you have some background about me I should let you know how my diet is going this time. Well, I have been on the diet since the beginning of January and as of yesterday I have lost 1st 9lbs. I gained 4lbs this week!

I weigh myself every Saturday then e-mail a group of friends my progress for the week together with my eating chart for the week.

I have only gained weight on two of the weeks, this week and four weeks ago. A pattern is beginning to emerge. Even though I had a hysterectomy 7 years ago, and my ovaries were retained, I still have my monthly cycle. I used to have terrible PMT and although my PMT is less severe, the desire to over eat is still there every month. Now I know this I can start to deal with it in 4 weeks time, I will take oil of evening primrose for a week before. I found this worked years ago.

I am not going to slip back to over eating all the time again though! I have carried on with preparing my weekly food chart and shopping list, got my weeks shopping in and got back on track again. Watch this space for a weekly diet and weight loss update. My targets are:

lose 10% of my starting body weight;
keep losing weight through to June, when my husband and I celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary by renewing our vows and having our marriage blessed in Rome;
keep losing weight through to my 50th birthday in August, when I go to see Aida at open air opera in Verona; and finally
keep losing weight through to March 2008 when I go to the British Virgin Islands and Antigua.

I want to be a healthier, fitter person when I do these things. I do not want the pain I currently have.

I had began to feel more sprightly and more able to get about (walking). This has taken a backward step this week though with gaining 4lbs - mostly fluid on the ankles and knees. The fluid retention has been greatly improved without having to continue taking tablets or supplements until this week. The one thing I can think of that has had an impact this week is eating processed food - crisps (even though they were low fat crisps), sausage rolls, ordinary chocolate bars, cakes, and an Easter egg. Some of this I have eaten openly, meaning I did not hide the boxes from my husband, but most have been eaten secretly, surreptitiously.

When the children were small they had the ability to eat half a chocolate bar and leave the rest for another day, they could even save their Easter eggs until Christmas! I used to finish the chocolate off and replace it with another bar to avoid being caught, which meant I had to eat even more so they did not realise I had eaten any at all. I used to do the same with cakes. Any cakes left over would be eaten, unseen, and replaced (less the portion originally eaten by the family). I could fool myself I was hardly eating anything, and look as if I was in control in front of my family, but in reality all my eating was being done in secret. I used to leave things to be found (empty chocolate boxes) in the hope that it might help - well it did not help. Year on year I gained stone after stone.

Having two children certainly has not helped the weight, nor has studying for a degree, professional qualification, and masters degree. I have found that studying and eating go together very nicely!!

I have had 2 periods of significant weight loss. In 1979 - 1980, when I met my husband, I lost over 7st 7lbs before going on holiday to Germany. I never went back to the slimming club when I came back with, not just presents, but a stone more weight. The second time was in 1999 - 2000 when I lost almost 8st, but was distracted by the hysterectomy and never got back to it again.

This time I had not realised I had gained so much, all the weight I lost in 1999 - 2000 plus another stone. I could barely walk without pain, arthritis in the knees, and I faced the humiliation of not even being able to clean my own bottom as I could not reach. Losing almost 2st, including a lot of fluid from my ankles and knees, has made a huge difference to me, I can wipe my own bottom!

I cannot go back to what I was like at the beginning of January, I must go forward and deal with this debilitating weight so that I can have a better next 50 years.

Anyway, that is enough for today. I will sign in next week with Diet Progress 2, which will be better than this weeks effort. I will avoid processed food and aim to eat only good, wholesome, natural food.