Monday 11 March 2013

It all starts here

I'm asking myself the question - "why on earth would I want to start writing a blog?" The answer is simple - I have finally decided to make some major changes in my life, and am optimistic they're going to help me become happier and healthier. My hope is that I'll be able to share my journey with others, and along the way share some of the things which have helped me achieve my goals, and maybe they'll help you too.

 So where am I now? I'm a 40 year old woman, well travelled, have had a successful career and on the face of it doing pretty well. Except that I've battled with my weight all of my life (am morbidly obese), and single. I'm also recovering from a Lis Franc foot injury (very bad break of the mid-foot, requiring three surgeries), which has severely restricted my life for the past 18 months. And on top of that I was laid-off from my job about eight months after my injury. So all in all, not a great place to be.

But the good thing about not loving where you are, is that it can be a powerful motivator to get out of it. A friend shared a great song with me - "If you're going through hell, just keep going" and I decided to take that advice. I'm making some changes in my life to focus on three things: health, career and relationships. I know I'm not the only one who has issues in these areas, so who knows, maybe we can learn something together!


So it's starts with my weight and overall health. I topped out at 290lbs last week, which was personally horrifying to see on the scales. I've always struggled with my weight - in my early 20's I was a full-time gym bunny in order to be 150lbs (am 5'8") but emotional eating, travel and life in the UK and US helped me balloon up from there. I lost 80lbs doing the Lighterlife VLCD (protein shakes and bars only, about 700cals a day) and promptly put 100lbs back on. I had a gastric band inserted, only to find I didn't lose any weight and really struggled with it, so two years later I had it removed. I've tried Weight Watchers, the Atkins Diet, and pretty much every other diet you can think of.

A few months back a friend suggested I read "Wheat Belly" by Dr William Davis, and cut out wheat to help reduce the pain in my foot. I found it worked well, but after my last surgery I was in a bit of a funk, and ate whatever I wanted. But that little voice my head kept saying "you know what you're doing now isn't working, you need to change it" and I decided to go the whole hog and cut out wheat, grains, sugar and dairy by adopting the Paleo way of eating. It sounds quite drastic, but in reality it's just going back to "real" food, and hasn't been that hard at all. It's been a week so far and initial indications are good... am 7lbs down so far. I have a LONG way to go, but I'm happy with that start.

OK, that's good for now. Only time will tell on results, but over time I'll share pics and updates as I go. I've seen lots of success stories for people who've lost 20 or 30lbs, but no-one like me who has 100+lbs to go. I hope to inspire other folk who have a lot of excess weight to lose, and if Paleo works for me, maybe it will work for you too...

I believe we're all put on this earth to shine... so I've lit my match!