My Weight Loss Journey

I'M BACK EVERYONE!!!!

Here I am again....this time sharing with you all my latest conquest!

It was June 2018 and I had my 2 closest friends visiting me in Spain. One of my friends was making a wedding to which we were invited in September in the UK and we all went off to look for an outfit for me to wear.

Now don't get me wrong, I have plenty of evening dresses that I could have worn for this very special wedding, but none of them looked good on me. My shape had changed and I had the usual 'menopause tummy'! Thinking back, the weight around my middle had been building up over the years and I wore leggings and loose tops to cover the rolls!
I managed to still hide the weight gain and had tried constantly to diet trying various different weight loss diets, to no avail. 

I don't remember a time when I wasn't trying to lose weight, going back to my teens I remember working in a hair salon next to a patisserie and drooling over the doughnuts that the staff used to eat in their break, while I was munching on a Ryvita! I used to sneak off to the West End of London with my friends and get injections from a diet doctor to stop me eating! I wasn't fat, but I wasn't slim either and as many of you will relate to, I was never satisfied with my figure. 
I managed to gain 5 stone with both of my pregnancies and after my 2nd child was born I went on a mad diet and managed to lose all the excess weight and some! I think I was at my thinnest then, I was 29!!

I have learned so much about weight loss over the years, and when I was involved in a business selling weight loss capsules for over 20 years I realised that the majority of people will do anything to lose weight, and that everyone wants a 'quick fix'! The weight loss capsules that we were selling at the time were an appetite suppressant and our customers would eventually become dependant on them, believing that without them they would not be able to keep their weight off.
After over 20 years we were no longer able to supply these capsules and the manufacturer closed down and clients were begging us to find an alternative. We set about sourcing a similar product that we could offer to our customers, but times had changed and research and scientific evidence was clearly showing that the fat that we all thought was gaining our weight was not the culprit, it was in fact sugar!

The 3 diets that were always the most popular were 'Weight Watchers' Slimming World' and the 'Atkins Diet' and because we had been so involved in the industry I wanted to try all of them to see which one would create to best results.

So, I downloaded the Weight Watchers app on my phone and followed the diet religiously. There were no 'Weight Watcher's' meetings in Spain where I live, so I couldn’t go along to meet others and cheer when someone lost a pound! 

I was pleased about that as I had done this so many times and this time I was determined to do it myself.

I made sure that I walked the beach every day for 3 miles and followed a sensible eating plan that added up to the amount of points I was allowed. There was one problem though, I had to save up my points for my nightly drink (or 2) of wine or vodka. I decided to drink mostly vodka thinking it had less sugar in it….mmm! I was wrong as you will read shortly.

Anyway, by November 2018 after 7 months I had lost almost a stone, although many weeks I was only seeing a weight loss of a pound or two, it started to add up and I felt great, but it had started to take a toll on my skin.

I often wonder why we are all so unhappy with our bodies, would we ever be satisfied with how we look. After so many years of trying to lose weight how ironic was it that I should lose weight in my sixties when the elasticity in the skin has disappeared! Gradually I was noticing that although I looked much better in my clothes, the skin on my arms and legs began to sag, but it was November and I was now wearing winter clothes so I was covered up!

The worst result from losing weight was how my face was looking. The filler that had been left in my face after the surgery I had done in LA had once again formed into lumps due to scar tissue forming around the areas that were left. Whilst my face had been fuller it was not so noticeable but now I was starting to really notice the lumps and bumps again.

We once again were on our yearly visit to Florida staying with our son Rob when I decided to visit the plastic surgeon who I had used to have my eyes done in 2017. This man had sympathetically listened to my story about the filler and how it had been removed (some of it!) and he was a highly experienced facial and neck surgeon who also performed face lifts. He gently explained that I would always see these lumps unless I succumbed to a surgical face lift where he would remove whatever he could that was left and lift the face and neck so that whatever was left would not be visible.

I wasn’t sure I could justify the cost to spend on myself, especially as my husband and Rob, my son, said they didn’t notice it, but the great thing about having a daughter is they usually tell you the truth & she told me to go ahead with it, which was her way of saying it did show! I would have to think long and hard about making this decision!

Around this time I was having a fun time with my sister for the first time in years, she had moved to Tampa to be near to her grandchildren and son from Miami, and we were just 30mins way in Sarasota, so we could meet up often and be together.

One evening we were all together at an event where she lived in her over 55s community and we took our own alcohol with us. I was a habitual drinker, pouring myself a drink or 2 every night around ‘Happy Hour’ time! I was so used to pouring myself a drink that I think my body had become used to the alcohol and I wasn’t getting much of a buzz from it. So I kept increasing the amount I poured, and then I would often have wine with a meal as well when we went out for dinner with friends. That night I had already had a couple of drinks before we had left to go to the event and I just continued throughout the evening until I just about remember having to leave early as I was very drunk!

The next morning realising that I didn’t remember much about the evening, I decided I had felt like this too many times. Although most of the time I controlled the way I drank , there were too many occasions when I had little or no memory of the evening before and I had to do something about it. I didn’t consider myself an alcoholic after all I didn’t drink during the day except occasionally when we were out for lunch with friends, but I knew I was addicted because the habit had been going on for so many years. How wrong was I though, basically anyone who drinks the way I was drinking is actually classed as an alcoholic, and once I found this out I was horrified.  

I would often wake in the night with terrible acid discomfort and had to rely on reflux medication, never thinking it could be from the alcohol, and I got to the stage when I was looking forward to 6pm (which turned into 5pm) every day so I could have my drink or 2.

I finally decided it was time to stop drinking….never thinking I could do it. I probably would not have been able to do it without the help of a fantastic book that I was told about called ‘This Naked Mind’ by Annie Grace.

I cannot explain why this book had such an impact on me, I think it was because I was finally focusing on a healthy lifestyle of eating and exercise and I was learning about the effects of toxins and what they could do to our bodies. 

To be honest the book frightened me, I read how many illnesses alcohol could cause apart from what it did to the brain and made a decision then and there  to stop drinking until I could break the habit, maybe having the odd drink at a special occasion.

The first week was the hardest, breaking a habit they say takes 6 weeks so during the initial few weeks it felt strange not reaching into the fridge to pour myself a drink, or taking out the nuts to have with the drink. It was really hard when we were with friends explaining that I wasn't drinking, but I tried to make light of it as I didn't want it to be a big deal. I ordered tonic water with ice and lemon when we went out for dinner and asked for it in a large wine glass. I had to face the questions from my friends. The book explained how they would try and talk me round to having a drink because they wanted me to join them, I totally understood this but stuck to my resolve and didn't give in.

After about 3 months of not drinking I started noticing more weight loss, at first I thought it was because I was still being careful with my diet but it was coming off much faster than before. I soon realised that it was the sugar in the alcohol, or lack of it, that was causing me to lose more weight, and before I knew it I had lost a total of 26 lbs.

I had now dropped a dress size and lost the flab around my stomach. I no longer needed reflux medication and I felt, and still feel so much healthier......but my face looked awful!!

See you next blog!