My weight loss journey began on February 24th 2012 - the year I was going to be 50...... I weighed 14 stone and was a size 24. I am only 4ft 9".....
This was the first time I'd tried to lose weight by counting calories and monitoring what I eat - seems simple really, count the calories going in! Most food is extremely well labelled these days, and I use an online database to work out how many calories my food contains.
Many, many failed attempts at losing weight from the age of 9 years (Weight Watchers, Slimming World). Always been overweight. I have a physical disability that considerably restricts my mobility (I use a wheelchair outside of the house), and my already limited mobility was further limited following a leg injury I sustained in an RTA in 2002 - when I ended up having an ankle fusion and my already reduced mobility was further reduced....
Really felt the additional weight I was carrying about in my lower back, knees and damaged ankle. I really wanted to do something about it before it got to the point where another stone had crept on!
During my journey I thought of the additional weight I was carrying around in terms of newborn babies! I was over 5 stone overweight, and therefore if an average newborn weighs 7lb, I was carrying around 10 newborn babies - without a break!!!! Phew! No wonder getting around was hard work!
I have a very supportive husband who's keen to see me fitter and in considerably less pain.... He doesn't need to lose weight, but he enjoys food and cooking, eats what I do and we both eat healthily and have made changes to our lifestyle (eating out less, avoiding too many indulgent "treats").
I got to my goal weight (9st 7lbs) in September 2014. I am now a size 16 and have bounced around between 9st 3lbs and 11 stone.
Maintaining is a challenge! I have been up a couple of stone and then back down - I know I'm going to have to be very careful not to regain the weight I have lost and undo my hard work. I don't want to be 14 stone again. My pain has reduced and I feel more confident and happier. I have more energy. I can move about easier.
I have used 5:2 fasting regularly, and more recently Michael Mosley's 8 week Blood Sugar Diet - which I think really suits me. It involves cutting out wheat products (bread, pasta, cereal, oats), rice, anything with sugar added and ensuring that you eat lots of "healthy" non-saturated fats - full milk yogurt, nuts, small amounts of cheese, oily fish, avocado, etc. Basically a Mediterranean diet. You eat a maximum of 800 calories a day, but because you are eating the healthy fats, you feel fuller for longer. I have found it really quite easy as unlike 5:2, you can eat every day and it's easy to eat out and avoid the "forbidden" foods!
Oh, and I have a blog, that I don't post to regularly enough to. It's about my weight loss journey, exercise and also I share my recipes as I love to cook! flidfit.com