I have lost about 2.5 stone since last October and went from a size 16 to a size 12 or a 30" waist although i think these jeans are getting a bit big now. I decided I needed to lose weight when I saw a photo of myself at a party last August and I was shocked at how I looked.
To lose weight, I didn't want to attempt unrealistic or unsustainable things. I bought a pedometer off amazon that measured step count and distance travelled as well as estimating calories and fat burned. I walk about a lot at work (averaging 15,000 steps) and so I tried to make sure I did 18,000+ every day. This meant that if I had a particularly slow day at work, I just took the dog for a longer walk when I got home and on weekends I made sure we went out for a few hours walking.
For my eating, I paid attention to portion size and to fat and calorie content. I am still too generous with portion sizes for things like pasta and rice but I more strict now. When I buy a sandwich, I would always go fr a Marks and Spencers BLT. After my first week of wearing the pedometer I realised that a BLT contains more fat than my pedometer estimates I burn from an average days walking. So suddenly I resented the BLT and choose more heathy options.
When planning meals, instead of making chicken with pancetta and stuffed with mozzarella, I made turkey escalopes in breadcrumbs flavoured with cayenne. So basically I was still eating really tasty food, just trying to be more intelligent with my choices. I cut out full fat fizzy juice which was hard as I hate diet but once I'd gone about a month with no fizzy juice at all, I found that actually diet was alright and now I couldn't go back. I also tried to limit the amount of beer, wine or cider I drank and stick mainly to a spirit with low cal mixer, like gin and slimline tonic. That made a huge difference as well.
At work, I got weighed every week (through choice!) and was losing 2lb-4lbs every week, literally by just doing what I've mentioned. There was no other difference in exercise at all. Getting weighed was a real motivator because it showed how much of a difference I was making but it quickly came to stop mattering because my clothes were hanging of me and the difference was visible. I've not been weighed since about Feb so couldn't tell you what I am now, I just now I'm still improving because of the way clothes fit.
I still would like to tone up a bit and so I'm planning to join a gym in the next month or so. Ideally I'd like to have a fairly toned stomach which is something I never had even when I was young and stupidly skinny. It's amazing the difference this has made to my lifestyle and my happiness though; we go on holiday on Wednesay and it's the first holiday I've been on in ten years. Went shopping for clothes last week and was fairly pleased with the reflection I was seeing in the mirror. Got lots of nice tops, shorts and even a bikini and the style of things I could choose was much wider because I'm now happy with my figure.
That brings me onto another thing though. At a size 12, I am not fat and I'm fairly healthy. I have quite good body confidence and I'm happy enough in myself and have a wonderful life. However, if I was fifteen years old and anything but a size eight, I can imagine a shopping trip would be enough to reduce you to tears. Some of the clothes and styles that the high street are selling are ridiculous and it makes me feel sorry for all the young girls. At least when I was that age, combat touters and baggy jeans were in style and shops like Topshop had a wide range of sort of boyfriend fit jeans for women. Now though it all seems to be designed to show off as much flesh as possible, or if you are covered up then it is skin tight.
It's a real shame and I wish this obsession with slutty clothes and fixation on celebrity figures would stop.
Anyway, I digress. Trooper I think you are doing the right thing, you really don't want to let it go for ages if you'd rather be healthier because I did and it really shocked me when I realised. In my defence I had other issues that were contributing to a lack of confidence but even still, I'm glad I finally acted and I don't like calling this diet because that suggests that at some point I will stop. I won't, I've changed my lifestyle now and I'm so pleased I did.