Through the door

....and up the steps!

I might just have mentioned that I'm getting married next month, my dress is fitted and can't be made very much smaller. It's not a good time for me to lose weight after all it's been creeping on for such a long time it wouldn't really hurt to wait would it? Well in my case yes it would! I needed to get myself through that door and see what all the fuss was about and if it really was as simple as Mr and Mrs Nogbad promised that it would be.

So on the final May bank holiday of 2014 I sauntered along in the evening sunshine, took a deep breath, pulled open the door ( in hindsight a mistake as it needs a push) and made my way to Slimming World.

With my usual organisational prowess, I managed to miss the New Member Talk, Claire (lovely consultant who was bubbly and smiling even though she was poorly and I was late) suggested I came back the following week but I knew it was now or never so assured her that Mr & Mrs NB would help me out and over I toddled to get weighed..... Yes! In public.... sort of!

I found out that every meeting has a group session, I imagine it's a lot like an AA meeting.... but more fun! It was at that very first meeting that it suddenly all fell into place for me! All those years of various diets, plans, crazy schemes that didn't work or were simply there to find cheats for - and there it was in  front of me, it was so simple! Eat proper food, cook it without adding lots of fatty rubbish, have the nice stuff but don't gorge on it and move a bit more! No counting calories, no working out points, no banned foods - what could go wrong?

The inspiration for it all

I guess I'd decided that losing weight was too much of a tall (heavy? Wide?) order! Yes, I really longed  to be slim again but like I might have mentioned; I'm 45, my hormones are against me, my metabolism works at snail speed and I like eating nice things! 

I have a good friend, we'll call her Mrs Nogbad as it makes me laugh! Around 18 months ago Mrs N would have been about the same height, build and weight as me. We both live with our Very Significant Others and three children; mine are a little older but then, so am I! We both work with small children and we both like eating nice food and drinking nice things.

Mrs Nogbad told me one day that she'd signed up to the local Slimming World group, I wished her well, remembered something about red days and green days and assumed she'd go for a little while and fall by the wayside like I had done so many times before. 

And so it began, Mrs N began to shrink! Little by little, bit by bit there was less of her every time we met! We met quite a lot as our Very Significant Others share a love of guitaring and singing. Each time we met there was food - lots of lovely, tasty, filling food.... there was also wine; and still she shrunk! After not very long at all Mrs N was slim and svelte and giving away all of her clothes as they now resembled small tents - and that is the way that she has stayed for around the last 12 months.

Mrs N first inspired her VSO who also signed up to Slimming World and shrunk at an astonishing rate (You can find his blog here: Nogbad's Blog), they both inspired me and I needed to know their secret.

I decided that if Mr and Mrs Nogbad could do it then so could I.... it's really not a good time! I'm getting married at the end of July and have been warned that if I lose much weight my dress may fall off - but I'm a bit of a "once something is in my head I have to do it" kind of girl. So it came to pass that I found myself, on a warm bank holiday Monday, following the signs and climbing the steps to our local Slimming World group.....which oddly turned out to be more like coming home than venturing into the unknown.

The Great Yo Yo Debate!

Dieting! It's what women do isn't it? Along with jumping on the scales every morning regardless of what they say. When we moved here ten years ago we kept G's scales and chucked mine as his weighed half a stone lighter, so that was a quick way to lose weight!

I've never been someone who's constantly dieting but I've always known that the pizza (cheesier the better), wine, cider, cream cakes and extra tasty ice cream haven't exactly helped!

I went to Weight Watchers when I was 21, I felt fat but the leader of the group said I was at target weight already and couldn't play... so I went to the pub for a swift half before spending 3 weeks living on roast chicken and diet coke (oh the wisdom of youth - back when I knew it all!!)

Fast forward to around 30 years old.. the Prozac Years! Living the life of a single parent to 3 small children my weight plummeted to 7 stone 10 lbs, about a stone underweight for my build. My long suffering mum had taken to not only inviting us all for lunch every week but also insisting she weighed me! Hey! Guess what? I still felt fat! I've worked out why now, and it has nothing to do with weight- but more of that another time!

I met G when I was 33, in the words of the lovely Louisa (Little Red Bird) with "name reclaimed, a place of my own, with humour intact I returned". I felt wonderful, felt loved, ate and drank far too much and went to the pictures or snuggled up instead of moving about much!

Since then I've tried the Tesco ediet - it seemed to involve sticking to set meal plans and a "helpful" mentor used to email me with bits of encouragement after I lost half a stone and put it all on again... irritating really!

Then I tried eating lots of salad - yawn!

In 2010 I did the Atkins diet - it seemed too good to be true (it was!) I was living on lean meat and creamy sauces. I lost 2 stone, was very pleased with the 9 stone 10 me but realised that when I started to crave the apples that I wasn't allowed to eat it was time it was time to stop. Apparently my breath really honked with this too! So thinner but stinky?  Not really the effect I was looking for!

In 2012 I tried My Fitness Pal - lots of logging of food, calories and exercise. It works well for some - middle son, who had spent several years vegetating lost an amazing 7 stone in 2 years. We changed what we ate as a family during this time. I cooked from scratch, switched to low fat sprays and leaner meat, we both started walking. I played the "if you eat it standing up/ on you own/ with your head in a cupboard it doesn't count" game. Boychild #2 however, is spectacularly determined! He's lost weight and he's kept it off. He still enjoys occasional treats but doesn't go overboard and he looks fantastic! A very handsome young man - I'd post his picture but he'd hate that so I won't but I'm very proud of him!

Eventually, with the help of some inspiring friends I stumbled across Slimming World.....

...and so it begins! But Why?

Why indeed!? I'm 45, with three wonderful, just about fully grown up children and a brilliant, loving, compassionate fiancée who I adore and will soon be marrying. I'm happy, content and enjoying life - but it's time to put the demons to bed and become the size that I want to be!

Looking back at photos of my much younger self I was always thin, even after my children were born I stayed around a size 12 and weighed no more than 9 1/2 stone.... but I always felt humongous!  A skinny, bitchy friend followed by a bright, gorgeous friend who all the boys worshipped, followed by a husband with control issues all took their toll and I never really felt quite good enough - for what I don't know but I spent years as someone who outwardly appeared to be full of confidence when really it was all a show. I'm still good at putting on a show for other people "fake it till you make it" and all that!

When I met G back in 2002, I was in a good place - I'd escaped from my dodgy marriage, forged new links with old friends, left the prozac behind, was about half way through my degree, doing a job I enjoyed with people who made me laugh. I was going to Circuit Training every week, as much for the company as the fitness really but I have to  admit, I quite liked flashing my midriff, knowing that it was toned and not too terrifying to look at..... I'd like to tell you that I met G whilst we were both keeping ourselves fit but it was actually fate that brought us together at the local cattlemarket nightclub (besides - First Team hockey was his game.... he was pretty fit and toned too *swoons quietly in the corner*)

So Circuit Training and dancing were replaced by cosy nights in with lovely food and drink, nights out with lovely food and drink, nights out with friends and more drink, treats of chocolate & sweets that it was good to share but even better to scoff in moments of madness.

Working and feeding 3 hungry boys as well as ourselves meant an over reliance on quick and easy to eat food -ie highly processed, high fat, low quality but tasty due to added sugar type food. We'll forget about the takeaways which moved from once a month to fortnightly and then weekly!

Teenage boy hormones evenly spread over the years led to restrictions getting out for enjoyable exercise.... they didn't want to come but left to their own devices would have chosen to fight with each other or "experiment" with matches, sharp things, alcohol etc. Thank goodness we're through those days!

And that My Friends, is how it all began - how I started my journey from someone who thought they were overweight  but really wasn't,  to someone who is totally content but was about 3 stone overweight (I can say "was" now as I am into my 3rd week of Slimming World and there's already less of me than there was!)