Fiona's MovementWise Journey

Tania is one of the best health experts I have ever met.  She has a sixth sense: her power to analyse an issue and identify the solution, together with her infectious belief that you can succeed, is quite extraordinary.  We live in a world of science, not miracles, but Tania’s science makes miracles happen.  She helped me to completely change my posture – turning a slouching, timid chrysalis into a tall, confident public speaker to audiences of 800, 1000, 1300….  Thank you Tania.

My weight loss challenge:
The combination of unhealthy eating (everything slow roasted on a timer to be ready whenever I arrived home from work) and middle age spread (what a taboo!) meant I grew and grew after my husband’s death.
The 2 things that shocked me were :
* A very close friend commenting “you have a pretty face” – and looking at the photos I could see I certainly had an awful body – and in fact a rather horrid fat face and several chins. We don’t really see it as a brief look in the mirror can be ignored.
* My annual walking trips to Chamonix : one year I could barely do up my walking shorts, the next I had to buy a new pair and the next year yet another pair. I do not think they make them any larger.
It was finally that pair of shorts that did it. I had been told about the possibility of having my meals delivered. So I ordered them and started eating differently the first day back home.
I had never believed in “de-tox” but I do now. I felt awful for 3 weeks – terrible headaches and all sorts. But I stuck with it. Then the scales started to give gentle encouragement. The meals service was very supportive – ensuring I liked the food, felt it was enough and not to worry if, after the initial burst, the weight fell more slowly.
The first big breakthrough was 10 weeks later : for the first time in years, when clothes shopping (in Amsterdam) I fitted regular sizes. I found a fabulous and flattering outfit. My cousin and my good friend, I believe, were genuinely encouraging that this was a great step forward – and that I looked so much better.
So what of the food? I am a terribly fussy breakfast eater – so I do my own (fruit, full fat Greek yoghurt and ground seeds). As I got into the eating I found I didn’t want to eat as much – so reduced from a whole banana to 2/3rds of one (plus some soft fruit). One key feature has been being prepared to throw away food – so if I feel I have eaten enough breakfast I bin the remainder.
The delivered food arrives overnight everyday (but I can cancel at 2 days’ notice). I receive a lovely salad for lunch, dinner that takes 4 minutes in a microwave plus 2 snacks which vary hugely from a non-dairy chocolate mousse on many Mondays to gorgeous banana muffins, poached pears, raw fruit with nuts, savoury dips with raw vegetables etc.
The food company also support you as you learn HOW to eat differently, so I can now happily cater for myself when away from home.
But what I have found is that my taste and the cravings of my body, have changed. My “sweet tooth” is hugely reduced. And if I holiday somewhere without a lot of fresh fruit, salad and vegetables, my body really does crave it.
In restaurants (and I eat out a lot) I do not yearn for the red meat, big Savoyarde cheese dish (“oh no!”), so my mind is catching onto what my body wants.
For my lifestyle, the delivery of meals is a godsend: I have yummy food within minutes of arriving home, have no waste, do not have to eat broccoli for 10 days to get through the one head bought in the supermarket etc.
What has been difficult? Well, I’ll answer a different question: (not difficult in fact) the only thing I have given up eating are chips – and I find I have no feeling of loss; but it really helps me in a restaurant when it means I’ll ask for a vegetable or salad. I also do not join the office “birthday cake” rota (no good at cooking and not wanting to eat them!)
And I do not buy cheese (except for dinner guests). That would be my “grazing” downfall.
What I have not given up is partying and alcohol.
What has been reinforcing? Sending huge clothes to the charity shop. And then sending “saved” “bigger” clothes (in case I put the weight back on) to the charity shop.
* Being “happy” to wear swimsuits and shorts
* Seeing photos!
* Buying clothes – fitting “normal” clothes and having a choice.
But most of all…
I keep a log of all my ski touring and summer walks. And in the summer there is one “daily” walk (my “outdoor” gym). So the height gain and path are identical. I used to take 45 to50 minutes, but that rose to 55 minutes. And then, a year later it was 42, 40, 39… and now it’s 35 or 36 minutes. That was transforming in terms of my mental appreciation of the whole issue. I was not fitter (quite the reverse) so the speed was purely down to not lugging so much weight. And the visual of having ditched massively more than heaviest rucksack we ever carry, ski touring.
So, nowadays, although I still have my meals delivered, the reality is that I eat (a lot) and am away from home around 160 days a year. So, in fact, I only eat the delivered meals on, perhaps, 30% of days.
And the mountain guides I ski tour with comment that I am now faster.
And my rowing ergometer 1 hour distance in 2012 was more than before 2008.
 
The threats? Sharing a household without “healthy” food.
 
My weight loss statistics:
8.2009             97kg
8.2010             78kg
8.2011             73kg
8.2012             76kg
Now                74kg
1979                74kg (Rowing Blue at Cambridge University age 21)