talkhealth Blog

Having just watched a clip from this programme – which is on BBC 2 this evening at 9pm – I am ready to hunt a man down and show him the sharp end of WLB!

Venice A Fulton, author of, ‘Six Weeks to OMG: Get skinnier than all your friends’, argues that his book does not target teenagers…despite comments in it such as ‘not to tell your parents, not to speak to your doctor, and to buy some scales but hide them from your parents.’ I am frankly appalled that somebody feels that this is an appropriate message to espouse and promote.

Despite his unconvincing arguments that this book is for everybody, as everybody has parents – for goodness sakes…yes, I have parents, but as an adult why on earth would I be given advice to hide scales from them? This man strikes me as a parasite quite frankly. Why on earth he agreed to participate in the show is beyond me. Then again, I have only seen a preview…maybe he will have some redeeming qualities…I am not often proved wrong though and am pessimistic!

Morbid fascination makes me watch these programmes. I know that I will sit there shouting at the TV whilst I watch it, but as I have such an interest in weight loss, I have to do it. My big concern is that all commercial weight loss plans will be painted in a bad light. Some deservedly so, yet there are some out there which really do help people to change their lives. Of course, I am a huge advocate for Slimming World and whilst it is a commercial weight loss plan, I do not see it as anything more than a way of organising your eating into that of the healthy category. No food groups are eliminated, nothing is banned, you are not encouraged to severely restrict calorific intake…I could was lyrical about it for a long, long time!

I appreciate that there are people who haven’t had success with Slimming World, just as there are people that do. The same can be said for all plans. However, last night I was sitting in my aunts garden enjoying a drink with her, my Mum and my cousin. My drink was water, everyone else was drinking tea. After some time, there was a gasp from my cousin. She was staring at her cup and looked horrified…I thought that a wasp was taking a swim in it! It turns out however that she is not allowed to drink tea on her weight loss programme – The Cambridge Weight Plan…formally know as The Cambridge Diet…I wonder if removing the word diet makes you feel any less deprived?!

It took all of my diplomacy not to scream. She reads my blog I think, so I don’t want to offend or upset her at all – as I would love to see her happy with herself. Which shouldn’t take long at all as she is stunning to look at and has a figure already that I would kill for, along with a cracking personality. I cannot – no matter how fabulous the results are that a plan delivers – get my head around why anyone would want to follow an eating regime that tells you that tea is forbidden.

Excuse my language here – but for fucks sake…tea…seriously? This nation survives on tea! Although I don’t drink the stuff, hundreds of thousands of people do…there is nothing wrong with a cup of tea. She seemed devastated though. And I can understand this devastation – the desire to succeed and beat our food demons is so strong. Yet how can we possibly think that we will be able to do this if a simple cup of tea is banned? How do you resist the chocolate, the crisps, the biscuits…goodness knows what else is not allowed if you can’t have tea. Well, I do know that not much else is allowed at all unless it comes in an expensive packet with The Cambridge Weight Plan logo on it!

I am hoping that this is the focus of tonight’s programme – those plans on which only their food is allowed. The ones making big money from the misery and misfortune of people’s weight. This is just so wrong, yet it happens and is allowed to happen because we let it happen. They wouldn’t be in business if we didn’t buy the stuff – if we didn’t fall for the misleading promises of rapid weight loss. If we could only trust the science – the science that tells us that a healthy diet with less calories consumed than those we use is the best way of losing weight.

A revolution is needed – an anti-money-making-jerk revolution! A revolution in which we take back control of our lives, our sanity, our self-esteem. We need to realise that there are no quick fixes – if it sounds too good to be true, then it is! Just because one person in a promo video went from a size 32 to a size 10 does not mean that it works. Just because someone went from 8XL to M does not mean that men should cast aside all sense of reason and start doing all sorts of strange things to their bodies. One success story does not prove anything.

I remember being seduced by the Lighter Life promo video. At the time, I think I was in the region of 32st…lo and behold, a big fatty like me appeared on screen and then morphed into a slender being. That was it, I was sold. All of my doubts about surviving on fluids flew out of my mind. All of my doubts about paying more for milkshakes than I would a weeks healthy shop flew out of my mind. All of my concerns about how I would cope going to the gym with a severe lack of energy intake flew out of my mind. The only thing that stopped me in my tracks was my love of my hair!

I stayed behind to sign up and get the form that your doctor has to sign…your liver function can be impeded by the process of ketosis – a state that your body is encouraged to enter in order to burn fat stores…so you have to be medically supervised to undergo such weight loss plans. During my time with the lady who was encouraging me to sign my life away, I spotted her sparse hair and asked the dreaded question, “Can you tell me about the hair loss associated with very low calorie diets please?” Well, she looked me up and down – with a wrinkle in her nose…and I had worn deodorant AND perfume…and said, “Hair loss is a small price to pay for losing weight, don’t you think?” I know that I have mentioned this in my blog before, but it is too much of a corker not to come back to…it highlights everything that is wrong with these companies. If your body is so starved of energy that it has to stop non-essential functions – such as hair and nail growth – then I am afraid that it is not for me. It shouldn’t be an option for anyone unless a medical professional who has a full understanding of your medical record, and who feels that this is your only option, supervises and monitors you along the way.

My doctor at the time signed the form for me, saying, “Well, you’ve tried everything else, so you my as well give this a go.” Advice at it’s best!

Far more important than the plan for me is the mental state in which your enter into your weight loss journey. You need to prepare yourself – accept that there will be tough times ahead, that will slip up every now and again, that you are unlikely ever to look like Lara Croft…seriously though, you have to work on the head as much as, more than even, the body!

Anyway, I will stop my rant as I am sure that there will be more to come tomorrow after watching the show! Let’s look at the usuals…

I finally got a little sleep last night – woohoo! I was incredibly upset when the alarm went off at 7am…and I dragged myself out of bed to work on my project. We then headed off to see the horses, and then popped to the shops. After lunch, I worked a little more on my Mr Pavelka events and spoke to some lovely people and emailed some more lovely people. I also did some housework – which will shock those readers who know me, as I am the laziest mare when it comes to housework! I love working at the stables, but my house – nope! I then took a look at my nutrition course and did a bit on that…and mooched. Tonight I will watch that show and probably annoy my other half with all of my ranting about it!

Breakfast: Banana porridge (6.5 syns).Lunch: Tomato soup and cheese, spinach and onion toasties (2 x HEA and 2 x HEB).

Dinner: Quorn chilli and sweet potato roasties.

Snacks: Nakd bar (7 syns).

My food has been lush today! Pretty similar to yesterday apart from the sweet potato with dinner, and the Nakd bar. These are something which I had tried in the past and was recently reminded of by the lovely Liz! The choc orange one is delicious – and they are made from fruit and nuts and are kind of squidgy and gooey and lovely. They count as 1 of your 5 a day, are wheat free, gluten free and dairy free…and they are a great replacement for a chocolate bar – try one!

Exercise: None. I have a treadmill engineer coming to service my beast on Monday…I didn’t like a noise I heard yesterday and do not want to set this one on fire like I did with my last one. Although last time it was because my fatness wore the motor out! I will do some weights and boxing tomorrow and have plenty of chores to undertake at the stables this weekend, so I won’t just be sitting in my chair!

Thank you for reading…and let me know what you think if you watch that programme!

Weight Loss Bitch xxx

+447

  

WeightLossBitch

On a health and fitness driven journey to lose over 32st / 448lbs / 203kgs – yes, it is a considerable amount – I am committed to losing my excess weight without the aid of weight loss surgery, diet pills, or quick fixes…as there aren’t any! Changing my eating habits and building up my fitness levels, along with addressing the ‘head issues’ will be crucial in order for me to achieve my goal. Living in England as a 31 year old super morbidly obese woman can be challenging to say the least. I have been shouted at in the street and verbally abused far too many times to mention; hence the name ‘Weight Loss Bitch’…the day I am just called a ‘bitch’ instead of a ‘fat bitch’ will be the day that I know I have cracked my weight loss! With many reasons to lose this weight I am documenting my journey for a number of reasons. Firstly, I would like to keep a record of the ups and downs, the highs and lows, and the challenges I face with such an enormous task to tackle. Secondly, I would also like to inspire and encourage other people who are in a similar situation and to show them that significant amounts of weight can be lost naturally…with a bit of motivation, hard work, dedication and will power. Thirdly, all of the blogging, Facebook-ing, Tweet-ing, Pinterest-ing and YouTube-ing keeps me occupied and keeps my fingers out of the fridge!