weight loss

A Work In Progress

~ 50themusical ~ 2 Comments

For any of you reading my blog over the last few years, you will be aware I have had a constant battle with my weight. I have always been a yoyo dieter, with an all or nothing attitude. I am either sticking to a diet 100% or I am completely off it, consuming everything and anything that I think I shouldn’t be eating. I have tried all the usual avenues of slimming clubs, weight loss shakes and online diets. Each time I have lost weight, but always put it all back on, each time becoming heavier

A Diabetes Diagnosis

During the earlier summer of 2024, I started to feel generally unwell. My eating was out of control as I was craving sugary foods all the time and eating far too many processed foods. I was constantly tired, my joints were aching, I was irritable and had tummy upsets most of the time and had started with a pain in the right hand side of my stomach. After going away on holiday a couple of times and feeling unwell i decided that I need to see the doctor. I presumed that it was my IBS that was flaring up, particularly due to my bad eating habits.

At the end of September I went to see my GP, who listened to all my symptoms and carried out a number of tests to check for anything serious. Luckily all the tests came back without any major concerns, apart from my blood sugar being very high and my liver function being poor. The tests for these were completed again four weeks later. At that point my liver function had improved, but my blood sugar had increased (HbA1c test) and was now at 68. It was at this point I was informed that when I had been for a wellness check 2 years prior to this, my blood sugar was slightly high at 48 and I was considered diabetic at that point. Unfortunately no one had ever given me these results and my blood sugar had slowly been increasing over two years.

I was prescribed metformin to try and reduce my blood sugar and was referred to the diabetic nurse for further advice and other health checks which I now needed. The appointment with the diabetic nurse was at the beginning of December. Prior to the appointment I tried to cut down on the amount of sugary and processed foods I was eating. I had just read Ultra Processed People by Chris van Tulleken, which was a real eye opener regarding the ingredients in processed food and the reasons why it was so difficult to stop eating them.

A change in direction

After my appointment with the diabetic nurse, I was ready to start a drastic change in my eating habits. Luckily I had no issues with my feet when they had been checked, but was advised to be really careful with my feet, particularly as I love walking around in bare feet, even outside. I was also referred for an eye screening, which again came back clear.

Once I had made the decision to change my eating habits, I found it exciting exploring what I should avoid eating and the types of foods that I could actually eat, which I had avoided whilst on “low fat diets”. I was advised to eat lots of protein, full fat dairy products, lots of vegetables and not as much fruit. I found it easier to fill up and stay full, without snacking all the time. I thought avoiding rice, pasta, bread and potatoes as the basis for my meals, but once I got going I really started to enjoy it. It was the first time in most of my adult life that I wasn’t concentrating on eating to lose weight. I was now concentrating on eating healthily, keeping full and reducing my blood sugar.

I started to really read the ingredients on packages of food and avoiding anything that had a lot of ingredients in them, particularly ones that I did not recognise the names of. I started really thinking about anything that I might have as a treat and asking myself if it would be worth it rather than just eating mindlessly. I did have a few setbacks along the way and occasionally slip back into bad habits of eating things like cereal for breakfast, toast and sandwiches for lunch, or having a day where I really just want to eat cakes and biscuits.

The really exciting thing about all this was that I started to lose weight steadily but each week my weight was dropping. I was not counting calories, points or sins and I wasn’t starving myself. I was eating good healthy foods, healthy fats, nuts, eggs, dairy produce and adding a small amount of carbs to some of my meals.

Reintroducing Exercise

Once I had lost a little bit of weight I decided that I needed to start introducing some proper exercise again. Although I love walking, I knew that in order to tone up and keep the weight off I would have to do something more than just going out for a walk. My daughter Izzy had just completed her training to become a personal trainer and wanted to specialise in women’s fitness, particularly around pregnancy, post natal and menopause.

I joined the gym and she helped me to build a programme around the areas I wanted to improve. As I was losing more weight, I was unhappy with the tone of my skin and the flabbiness around the areas where the fat had gone. Izzy helped me with some weight training to help build muscle around where I was looking a bit floppy and also concentrated on “functional fitness”, which will help me keep flexible and mobile as I get older.

The exercise and healthy eating has really made a difference. Izzy took photos of me in January and again in April, as its quite often hard to see the changes in yourself. I was really pleased with the changes I had made and when I went on holiday this year and throughout the warm weather through the summer I have felt more confident wearing shorts and other outfits that I would not normally wear.

Just keep going

By March, my blood sugars had come down to 48 and I had lost over two stones in weight. By June, this had dropped to 42 and another half a stone in weight. I was taken off the metformin and was no longer classed as diabetic. I still need to lose some more weight, but I still need to concentrate on keeping healthy, avoiding the sugar and the processed foods. I am still being monitored and remain under the supervision of the diabetic nurse.

I have slipped back into some old habits over the summer months, particularly cold fizzy drinks, ice creams and picnic foods, which are all high in sugar and processed ingredients, However I still eat really healthy meals and try wherever possible to keep within the guidelines. I know that this is not a quick fix, or losing weight for a special occasion, this will be a lifelong journey and in order to keep as fit and healthy as possible I need to just keep going.

Izzy is really great at motivating me, both with healthy eating, exercise and just the general encouragement whenever I need it.

If you are looking for some help with a fitness plan I have copied Izzy’s link below.

https://www.instagram.com/improvewithiz/

My Foodbank Challenge (4)

~ 50themusical ~ Leave a comment

Although I hate to admit it, I didn’t completely fulfil the foodbank challenge. I managed just over three weeks. Why did I give in? Well there were a number of reasons:

  1. I really found it hard to put together a full meal from some of the foods, as there wasn’t always things that went together. A lot of this was probably me being quite choosy about what I eat. This resulted in me snacking a lot on things throughout the day and never really eating a proper meal. I think this ended up with me eating more in a day than I normally would and consuming more calories.
  2. The lack of fresh foods was something that I am not really used to. I don’t eat much tinned or processed food generally, so this was a bit of a shock to my system. I found a lot of the food unappetising, but again probably me being quite fussy.
  3. There seemed to be far too many carbs and not enough protein. In the week that I had eggs or cheese, it was a little easier, but I normally eat lots of fish and vegetable protein as well as quite a few eggs. I ate far too much bread and quite often had unhealthy things on the bread, such as chocolate spread.
  4. There just wasn’t enough milk for me. Even on the weeks when I didn’t have cereal, I found that I was really short of milk. I found myself drinking more coffee too, sometimes instead of eating properly.

After the three weeks, I have now returned to eating what I would normally eat. I have loved cooking foods from scratch this week and have enjoyed eating lots of fresh vegetables and fish. I’m still not the healthiest eater in the world, but I have really appreciated much more variety and being able to buy the foods that i love.

I have also found that I gained weight. I think that this is down to the processed foods along with the snacking. I have heard in the past, people saying things like ” well they hardly look like their starving, they can obviously afford junk food”. I don’t think it’s quite as straight forward as that. The cheaper foods that people buy fill you up and will feed a family on a budget, but they are not necessarily the healthiest of choices. Fresh foods and meals cooked from scratch are so much healthier, but you have to be able to afford them, have somewhere to store them and have a little bit of cooking and nutritional knowledge to put a decent meal together. Unfortunately not everyone is able to do this. Don’t assume that someone has to look skinny to be hungry or malnourished.

People ask why the foodbank doesn’t provide more fresh foods. The main reason is around longevity and storage. There are some fresh foods available most weeks, as well as frozen meats and other frozen foods. On a week to week basis no one knows how many referrals there will be, how many emergencies, whether there will be single people or large families in need. The only way to provide food in these circumstances is to have a good stock of basic tinned, dried and long life foods to ensure that there is always enough to provide for people in need. This can then be boosted with any fresh foods that are available.

Another thing that has reared its head again this week, particularly on social media, are the comments around “well they can afford a TV/Laptop/ weed/cigarettes (etc), why should we be providing them with food?” There is no simple answer to this. Some people cannot manage money very well, some may not prioritise, some may be struggling all the time, some may just be struggling short term. None of us are perfect. Lots of us are lucky enough to afford the things that we like as well as the things that we need. Using the services of a foodbank is not a lifestyle choice. It is a necessity for some people. How it became a necessity is not really for me to judge.

It is a personal choice whether you choose to give to a food bank or not, just the same as it is to give to any charitable cause. I will continue to volunteer and help where I can. I hope that I am never in a position to need the foodbank, but no one knows what the future holds or what help we might need.

Whatever your views, just be kind, try not to judge others who need help and hope that others won’t judge if you ever need help.