36lb til Sky Dive!

It's a new year, and a new beginning for me. I have been overweight for a few years now, starting at 18st. A lot of that was down to an unhealthy diet and general lack of support from my ex-boyfriend. Since I've been living alone, and the takeout food was off the menu, things have been much better.

My initial target is to get down to 190lb. This is a very specific weight, as this is the minimum loss required to do a tandem sky dive! This is something I've always wanted to do, but most of my adult life I've been hampered by my weight. As soon as I hit my target, I'll be booking it. Only other thing I have to do after that is raise £500 for a charitable cause. ^^

On and off, I've tried various diets and eating plans in the past, but without success. I've always found them mentally draining. The constant calorie counting, points counting, or even strictly regimented eating plans made me obsess, which stressed me out, which lead to progress being inhibited. That and I obsessed with the scales, which meant that I'd get myself down with a seeming lack of progress!

Now, the scales have been chucked, so I only weigh myself once a week when I see my mum. That's worked for me so far, because I've lost 2 stone over the last year without trying, so some extra changes here and there will see even more weight loss in my future.

Positive steps I've already taken:
- Joined the gym
- Took up hula hooping class
- Took up belly dancing
- Switched meat to quorn & soya
- Eating more fish
- Bought slow cooker

I'm considering doing a detox, as after the festive season I feel a touch run down. Over-indulgence has taken it's toll, but my weight has held steady throughout! Yay for small victories!

My main goal is to change my relationship with food forever. Too often I'll eat when I'm bored, or simply because it's there. And that terrible habit of having to clear a plate because I hate wasting food! Eating healthier is the first step, the next is not to eat if I'm not hungry or full. To break the habit of needing to clear the plate, I'm going to start leaving something, even if it's just a bite. I'm also going to make sure I chew every bite more thoroughly so that I have time to realise when I'm full. In the end, it's all about changing habits, otherwise the weight loss just won't stick.

Wish me luck!

Best of luck with your weight loss journey! You'll be doing that skydive in no time xxx

Thanks a lot, Trixie! Here's hoping you're right!

Well, one more positive step I’ve taken this week is signed up for the KiltWalk! This is a 26 mile walk between Hampden Park (the national stadium located in Glasgow south) to the shores of Loch Lomond in Balloch. It’s a fantastic charitable event, and the proceeds are divided up between 4 different children’s charities. Any other Scots on the forum should definitely think about signing up for this fab even!

As you might have already guessed, I’m a bit of a sucker for a good charity… It gives me something extra to work for as I push towards my weight loss, so that I know that someone else will benefit from my hard work. I just get that extra flush of satisfaction!

Anyway, as this is basically a marathon for walkers, I’ve now got to set myself up with a training regime. At the end of the month when my travel card runs out I’ll also be walking to work instead of using public transport in order to build my stamina again. I used to do a lot of hillwalking and general rambling, but I haven’t been doing it in recent years. I really do love it, so this is just the thing to get me back in the habit.

The only fly in the ointment now is that I hurt my back over the weekend, which is going to cause no end of problems if it doesn’t stop hurting by the end of the week. It also means I may have to buy a back brace to stop me re-injuring my back when I do start training and exercising. Just my luck!!!

Just thought I’d better update this with my progress, of which there hasn’t been a lot due to a few pesky factors. I have lost 2lb in spite of some issues, so it’s not so bad. With any luck, it can only pick up from now on.

Some problems I’ve been facing these last two weeks:

• I had a back injury which was preventing me from exercise (and from taking down my Christmas decorations too, haha!), and I had been relegated to sitting around on my couch feeling glum. Luckily my boredom didn’t lead to over-eating, mostly because I couldn’t move easily to get to the kitchen! Luckily it is mostly back to normal this week.

• Finding time to make myself proper food has been an issue on occasion, but I’ve forced myself to make time by cooking in bulk at the weekends where possible and dividing everything up into portions and storing them in the freezer. It’s made it much easier to have a decent meal at short notice.

• My friend is a feeder. When we have lunch together, she’ll bring crisps and / or muller rice she’s bought for me. It’s really sweet that she thinks of me when she’s buying her lunch, but I bring enough food to keep me full and keep me on target. I don’t keep these foods at home, so I don’t snack on them there. The problem is that she’s overweight herself, more so than myself, and she’s repeating her mother’s behaviours (she works with us as well, and is forever bringing her daughter snacks at her desk). My main problem is I find it hard to turn the food down because she’s gone out of her way to get it, and I feel rude if I don’t take it. I keep telling her not to, but it doesn’t work! I don’t want to stop having lunch with her, but I may see no other choice.

• This week has been hectic, so finding time to go to the gym has been a bit of a nightmare. Next week should be better, but I need to settle into a routine.

On the plus side, I have managed not to go mad at the weekends with my friends (the sore back was a factor in this, but my self control is also improving). This may be a factor in my lack of weight loss, mostly down to the fact that I don’t drink often, but when I drink I really go for it. The other downside of that is I make poor dietary choices when inebriated (post-clubbing pizza or kebab is not a good choice). I usually justify that with the excuse that I pretty much don’t stop dancing from the moment I go into a club until closing time. If I cut back a bit but maintained the same amount of dancing goodness, I’d probably find myself much better off.

When I did go out this weekend past, I managed to nurse a single bottle of wine for 7 hours. I was most impressed with myself. Yay!

On Sunday, I decided to start training for the KiltWalk. I had intended to walk no more than 7 miles, which is a push when you haven’t been walking at speed for a while. Unfortunately, I chose the wrong companion to do this with, as we ended up walking 16 miles. My friend Charlene is like the exercise Gestapo. We did the walk out to East Kilbride, but instead of taking a direct route we followed the bus route, which made it 8 miles instead of 7. I had intended to take a bus back after that, but when we got there Charlene had ‘forgotten’ bus fare. She decided we should ‘push through’ and walk all the way home as well.

I am pleased I was able to force myself to do this, although my limbs were sort and like lead weights by the time I got home. The down side is that it was stupid to do too much too soon, and I’m suffering the painful consequences today. Forcing myself to do this put a strain on my newly healed back, and I’m lucky that it just feels like it’s been over-exercised instead of re-injuring it. My legs are also killing me, and I suspect it will take a few days to recover.

Needless to say, I’ll be deferring to a more reasonable training regime from now on regardless of what my dear Charlene says. I’m in no hurry to injure myself, and I’d like to be able to actually do my hula hoop class on Monday after Sunday training!

So, I’m down to 217lb! Yay!!


My training for the KiltWalk is now well underway. I’ve been speed walking the 3 miles to and from my work, which has left me with some achy muscles sometimes, but I’ve been feeling fitter for it! My current game is to try and beat my time each day, but unfortunately it usually works out to be about the same time these days. Think if I can walk 3 miles in less than 45 minutes my legs might just detach! Haha!


I have no more Sundays until the big day, and I’ve had to set myself a schedule for bringing myself up to an able level. 26 miles within 9 hours is no mean feat, and I don’t think I’ll be able to stop otherwise I won’t get started again! My plan is as follows:


29/01/12 – 6 miles completed!
05/02/12 – 8 miles completed!
12/02/12 – 10 miles completed!
19/02/12 – 12 miles completed!
26/02/12 – 14 miles completed!
04/03/12 – 16 miles completed!
11/03/12 – 18 miles completed!
18/03/12 – 20 miles completed!
25/03/12 – 22 miles completed!
01/04/12 – 24 miles completed!
08/04/12 – 26 miles completed!


[NOTE:If anyone wants to sponsor me for this gruelling task, you can do so at http://www.justgiving.com/kitsune or you can text 70070 with the code KWJW84 £[amount]. I need to raise at least £150, and any donations you could give would be very gratefully received.]




Once again, although I have had a few nights out with friends, I have had very few drinks and am sticking to spirits when I have one. Still dancing my little legs off, which is obviously fun and fabulous exercise, so I’m quite proud of myself!


Challenges I have faced:
Realised that my dear mumsie is a feeder as well! She often points out eating plans and such to me, but after dinner she always asks if I want crisps or cake, even though she knows I’m cutting that out. I’ve asked her not to, but if I know my mum (who often forgets my sister’s long-term wheat intolerance and tries to feed her pasta), she’ll keep offering because she’ll forget I told her not to. >.<


My back has been back to normal, but drifted back into the pain zone after I completed an intensive 10 mile walk this week, although I suspect that it was because I was pushing / dragging my friend Nusrat along the route (she decided she wanted to do the KiltWalk too) which left me feeling I’d been doing a rugby scrum for 10 miles instead of walking it. Need to watch out for that.



It’s been increasingly difficult to sort out my own meals, as I haven’t been in my house all that much these last two weeks. Instead, I seem to be relying on other people to feed me or to feed myself while I’m out, which is a risky business indeed. Trying my best to stay clear of the bad foods, but I’m going to have to get into a better routine.


I’m feeling fabulous, and my butt is looking great in the mirror (oh walking, you toning miracle), so I’m obviously ecstatic! Only another 27 lb until I can sky dive, and that seems so much more in reach now. Wish me luck!

Phwoo, it's been a while!!!

There's been so much going on, I don't even know where to begin. Well, I completed my 26 mile walk with relative ease! There were aches and pains after, but it was an amazing achievement. I'm definitely going to do it again next year. In lieu of the walk, I'm still walking my 3 miles to and from work every day, although some days I get lazy with it and grab a bus or a train. Mostly that's a problem with getting myself out the door in time in the morning. I'm a bit of a procrastinator! ^^

The other thing that's happened is I sailed past my goal before my target date (yay!). I managed to get down to 13 stone 5 lb, but because I'm no longer doing my Sunday walking training, I slowly went back up to 14stone because I'm less active (boo!). It was a mistake to stop it, so I'm going to get together with my friend and start our Sunday walks again. My hula hoop classes have also stopped for the summer as the teacher is off backpacking, the lucky bizzum. I really miss it, and I'm hooping at home where I can. I think I'm going to find an alternative class.

I gave the gym the old heave ho! It wasn't working for me, I wasn't finding the time to go. As I was doing so well without it, I didn't see the point in paying for something I didn't use. I'm looking into an exercise routine called Slim in 6, which costs £60, but I'm hearing rave reviews for it. It's low impact, so it won't hurt my dodgy knees, but I have difficulty sticking to something I don't enjoy - this requires careful consideration. Is anybody else doing this routine?

My fridge has started to freeze food, so without the funds to fix it, I have some issues getting my fresh food. I have to buy food as I use it, which is difficult and sometimes more expensive. I've had a couple of bad eating habits creep back in because of it. I need to discipline myself again. I'm not going to have all my good progress undone by poor willpower and a faulty piece of equipment!


My new goals are:
- Lose the other 5lb so I can sort out my skydive!
- Wear a bikini for the first time in my life next summer, and look good doing it!

Wish me luck!

Really enjoying reading your diary, and well done on completing that walk! What time did you come in with at the end?

Thanks! I started at 9am and reached the finish at 4:30pm, and we must've stopped about an hour at lunch time just because of the queue for the toilet!! So probably about 6.5 to 7 hours. It was fantastic! And the guy from real radio who was on the stage at the finish line said of my friend and I "These girls don't even look like they've done 26 miles!" This made us grin to no end! All the training really paid off. ^^

So... clearly I've been absent for some time. Where to begin?

Firstly, I reached my goal and surpassed it getting down to 13st. However, I did not book my skydive as I managed to re-injure my back for a while and wasn't able to do much of anything. My weight crept back up a little, but mostly plateaued at 13st 5lb. Luckily this injury didn't stick around nearly as long as the last one.

Then, the unthinkable happened! I fell into a fulfilling, loving and supportive relationship. Sadly, with that came the relationship trap of one too many nights snuggling up on the sofa with food that isn't the best for you. But my beloved and I resolved to exercise together and help each other meet our goals. After creeping up to 14st, my weight came back down to 13st. My other half even did the Spartan Race!

The next hurdle came when I fell in to a brief spell of depression. I'd developed nodules on my vocal chords, and was unable to sing or voice act, or even have long conversations without losing my voice. Singing and acting were two things that brought me a lot of joy, but whenever I'd do either my voice would squeak out at the exertion. On my worst days, I'd wake up and no voice would come out at all. It was scary and distressing! I didn't even have the energy to redirect my emotional triggers anymore. I'd just head straight for the kitchen. Luckily it got a bit better after speech therapy, and I've made my peace with the fact I can't use my voice the same way now. But at least I can talk for long spells without losing my voice now, and can sing comfortably for a while at least. At the end of this saga, my weight had gone back up to 15st.

BUT! I did very recently do my skydive. I got back to the exercise and good eating, and managed to get back down to 13st 5lb, and threw myself out of a plane in aid of Yorkhill Children's Hospital, raising £800. I was so pleased with myself. Falling out of a plane is an oddly calming experience... I thought I'd freak out at some point, but I didn't! So I didn't get the adrenaline rush everyone else did, but a weird sort of euphoria. I loved it - my friends said they could hear me laughing before they could see me! I think when I reach my new goals, I'll go again.

After that, though, I've slipped back up to 14st. The problem is I don't control all the food made available to me for eating. I go to my other half's house half the time, and he is not a vegetable fan. I have managed to broaden his horizons, though, and he's become a fan of salads, falafel, and even lentils. Left to his own devices, though, and there's pizzas and pies in the freezer constantly.

I'm so glad I did my skydive, though. I'd do that every day if I could.