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Confession Time
Jun. 23rd, 2013 07:43 pmOK, confession time.
( Weight-loss discussion and photos )
I mean it when I said I had to. I was a UK size 22 and I couldn't walk up the two flights of stairs to my bedroom without running out of breath. It took me 29 minutes to cycle four miles to my St John Ambulance division meeting place. That photo was taken after I'd already lost half a stone.
But I quickly discovered that with Slimming World, I could enjoy amazing food and still lose weight - full English breakfasts, pasta bakes and big roast dinners. I make an amazing cheesy spinach cannelloni, you have no idea.
Around spring last year, having shed about 3 stone, I cycled up the hill out of the Mersey valley in Stockport in one go for the first time, and without wheezing so badly one could mistake me for an accordion the way I did the first time.
Last summer, I went away to work in Shropshire, wearing a UK size 14, and I spent six months increasing my activity levels to make up for the slightly unhealthier food that was provided by my employer. In the fresh countryside, my asthma disappeared, and I became fitter and stronger, and I returned home exactly the same weight as when I left.
When I went to BiCon in August, people didn't recognise me. Others did a double take when they saw me a few months later, having had no idea until that point that I'd been losing weight.
In January this year, I bought a UK size 12 dress for the first time since I was a pre-teen. The last time I wore it, it was a little big on me, but fortunately in a way that still looks good:
I now wear a UK size 8-10, and I've replaced my 34" corsets with 24" ones. I'm considering buying myself a Vivien of Holloway dress for my birthday in August because I've wanted one for so damn long.
This is me today, wearing the jeans I wore to my first weigh-in, only now 40.4% lighter (Error: Katie not found).
That wasn't my weight loss goal, by the way, but I'm not passing up an opportunity to make such a wonderful pun.
I've lost 6st 8lbs and seven dress sizes, and that 4 mile bike ride now takes me 16 minutes. Last week, I got a sticker on my record book to celebrate reaching my target weight. More important than that, I've gone from simply liking my shape to loving it, and I've changed the way I think about food - what sustenance is, and what a treat is.
And the best bit about it all for me, apart from being able to eat pretty much what I want to, when I want to? It's easy. I do it without even thinking about it most of the time. And that means I can stick to it for life. I dislike fad diets, I always have, but this doesn't feel like a diet to me. It feels like a change of lifestyle. It's permanent. Healthier food choices, more exercise.
I can now run up two flights of stairs and maintain an average cycling speed of 6mph higher than I could two years ago. I walk faster, too: I did a 10km walk in the middle of the night this weekend in a little over 90 minutes, which I couldn't have dreamed of doing before.
I'm still very much in favour of the Health at Every Size and fat+ movements, only now I've discovered that I wasn't as healthy as I thought when I was bigger, and now that I am healthier, fitter and leaner, I feel wonderful.
I've achieved a hell of a lot for myself and my health, and I wanted to finally share it. So to those who have known what I've been up to and have supported me, thank you. I couldn't have done this without you <3
( Weight-loss discussion and photos )
I mean it when I said I had to. I was a UK size 22 and I couldn't walk up the two flights of stairs to my bedroom without running out of breath. It took me 29 minutes to cycle four miles to my St John Ambulance division meeting place. That photo was taken after I'd already lost half a stone.
But I quickly discovered that with Slimming World, I could enjoy amazing food and still lose weight - full English breakfasts, pasta bakes and big roast dinners. I make an amazing cheesy spinach cannelloni, you have no idea.
Around spring last year, having shed about 3 stone, I cycled up the hill out of the Mersey valley in Stockport in one go for the first time, and without wheezing so badly one could mistake me for an accordion the way I did the first time.
Last summer, I went away to work in Shropshire, wearing a UK size 14, and I spent six months increasing my activity levels to make up for the slightly unhealthier food that was provided by my employer. In the fresh countryside, my asthma disappeared, and I became fitter and stronger, and I returned home exactly the same weight as when I left.
When I went to BiCon in August, people didn't recognise me. Others did a double take when they saw me a few months later, having had no idea until that point that I'd been losing weight.
In January this year, I bought a UK size 12 dress for the first time since I was a pre-teen. The last time I wore it, it was a little big on me, but fortunately in a way that still looks good:
I now wear a UK size 8-10, and I've replaced my 34" corsets with 24" ones. I'm considering buying myself a Vivien of Holloway dress for my birthday in August because I've wanted one for so damn long.
This is me today, wearing the jeans I wore to my first weigh-in, only now 40.4% lighter (Error: Katie not found).
That wasn't my weight loss goal, by the way, but I'm not passing up an opportunity to make such a wonderful pun.
I've lost 6st 8lbs and seven dress sizes, and that 4 mile bike ride now takes me 16 minutes. Last week, I got a sticker on my record book to celebrate reaching my target weight. More important than that, I've gone from simply liking my shape to loving it, and I've changed the way I think about food - what sustenance is, and what a treat is.
And the best bit about it all for me, apart from being able to eat pretty much what I want to, when I want to? It's easy. I do it without even thinking about it most of the time. And that means I can stick to it for life. I dislike fad diets, I always have, but this doesn't feel like a diet to me. It feels like a change of lifestyle. It's permanent. Healthier food choices, more exercise.
I can now run up two flights of stairs and maintain an average cycling speed of 6mph higher than I could two years ago. I walk faster, too: I did a 10km walk in the middle of the night this weekend in a little over 90 minutes, which I couldn't have dreamed of doing before.
I'm still very much in favour of the Health at Every Size and fat+ movements, only now I've discovered that I wasn't as healthy as I thought when I was bigger, and now that I am healthier, fitter and leaner, I feel wonderful.
I've achieved a hell of a lot for myself and my health, and I wanted to finally share it. So to those who have known what I've been up to and have supported me, thank you. I couldn't have done this without you <3
