Naturally Curvy

I hardly know where to start this check in…

For the first time in at least five years – probably more like six or seven – I am in the 220s. I’m only just stepping in, but I am there.

I’m a bit gobsmacked about the whole thing, to be honest, but I am so glad that my ‘rededication’ to the plan has paid off this week. My paranoid side was trying to convince me that since I had indulged and gained a couple pounds, suddenly the whole thing wasn’t going to work anymore.

Yeah, not very sane, but you know how it goes…

My husband ‘snuck’ into my blog and posted about our walk this past weekend. I feel so awesome about the walk. I think the husband is starting to get nervous because I’m just a few kilos away from equaling him in weight… Of course, he’s a good five inches taller than me so he will still look fitter than me. But hey, maybe it’ll be a motivator for his fitness. Hehe.

I’m not sure I’m going to make my goal, but I am going to give it all I have. I know that even if I walk in at my current weight, it will still qualify as a fantastic loss.

Who would have thought I would ever look forward to a doctor’s appointment? Truth be told, I’m looking forward to impressing my dietician more. Haha. She’s an awesome lady.

I do plan on getting a lot of questions answered at the doctor, but more of that in the future.

How are you going?

Guest Post by Mr. JM

Today JM and I went for a walk. It dawned as one of those special days Melbourne can put on in the middle of winter, clear blue sky, slightly chilled breeze and a pleasant 14º – in short, a great day to be out and about.

A few years back, when JM first came to Australia, we had to renew her visa so we headed to New Zealand for a holiday. Among other places we visited during a lovely time touring around, was Tauranga a seaside town near Rotorua, a place of sulphur springs (think fart smells) and geysers.

At Tauranga there is a hill out on a point sticking out into the ocean – it’s maybe 350 metres high with a walking track that winds around one side to the top. JM struggled her way to the top, resting when things got too tough, but showing amazing determination – a number of times I assured her she had shown her willingness to strive and that we could head back down knowing she had done a very good thing in getting as far as she did. As usual she was concerned about what I would think of her but I assured her I was already impressed at what she had achieved.

We got to the top; I don’t think I’ve seen anyone ever so proud of themselves. (which brought up a childhood religious issue about being chastised for being proud of things she had done – I explained that pride in achievement is NOT what the bible was talking about)

So, today we set off on a casual walk, no plans for power walk or anything special, just out and about to enjoy the day.

I was quite astonished at how easily she was able to walk at a decent pace. Mind you, she has been improving steadily in pace and stamina over the years we’ve spent together – the gym work and exercises she has been doing have worked wonders. But the difference that’s come from carrying 36lbs less than her normal weight was pretty startling.

Soon I will have to start getting fitter to be able to maintain her pace – up till now, an exercise walk with her has been little more than a stroll for me.

JM is amazing!

Guest Post by Mr. JM

A little while back JM found her path to losing weight. After years of trying that included sabotaged ‘diet’ blitzes in the US, she tried further once she came to Australia. While several times she managed to lose a couple of kilos, mostly it would go straight back on.

And a number of those times were when she broke the successful actions and binged on things bad for her.

So it was depressing for her to consider keeping on but she kept coming back to her reasons for wanting to lose weight – we’d like to have children and the idea that she would be either too overweight to become pregnant or to be able to share her time with growing kids was the best incentive for getting back on the treadmill… so to speak.

Although she did get on the treadmill too. She entered into a contract with a local gym and attended at least 3 times a week for almost a year. I was most impressed! There was some weight loss but it plateaued early – she kept on, getting out of bed early enough to hitch a ride with me as I went to work. Anyone who knows JM would realise that is a sign of dedication.

So recently I was very happy when she found two things that seemed to help her get into a weight-reduction mode while staying healthy. One is EFT, although that seems to have been dropped by the side of the road now and the other was a food replacement program. It seems structured well, with an ‘intensive’ phase to get some weight off reasonably quickly, then a tapering back into a more normal eating pattern.

Across the period of the phases, she is learning to like things healthy for her, to enjoy vegetables for their taste and to reduce the amount she eats.

And the looming threat…? Well, I am a bit overweight myself. After years of being reasonably in shape, I started a job where I began eating lunch regularly and where they have pretty regular morning tea celebrations for birthdays, new starters and a variety of other reasons.

My wife has always weighed considerably more than I do, and now she is approaching my weight at a fairly swift pace – soon I am going to have to do something about my weight or suddenly I will be the one with the weight problem!

Hello all!

This past week I have been feeling like I’ve been off track. I was still doing the meal replacement for most meals and eating healthy food for other meals, but I still had that sense of ‘betraying’ myself and not sticking to the course. While I made good choices, I could feel myself getting closer and closer to stepping over a line that would lead me back to unhealthy eating.

The husband and I had a heart to heart about my eating that really helped me to refocus on what I want. I recognized that I haven’t been reigning myself in as much lately as I should have.

Sometimes all you need to re-inspire yourself and get going again is to say your goals out loud.

Telling my husband all about my next goal and how I’m feeling has really gotten me going this week. I’m back on the elliptical every morning, I have my kick ass attitude back and much more.

The goal I am focusing on right now is getting to the 220 mark by my next doctor’s appointment in August. 220 just so happens to be the 100 kilo mark and I’m all about the even numbers and such.

Not to mention how much I would love to walk into that office three months after my last appointment – the appointment where she said I’d have to go on metformin if I didn’t lose at least a little weight by the next appointment – having lost thirty kilos.

It’s going to be tough, but I think I can do it. And if I don’t get there? I’ve still done an amazing job so far.

How are you going?

If there is one word that could some up this past week, it would be: indulgence. While I have stayed on task during the days, a couple days this past week were feast days. While I don’t regret it, I know that I have to dedicate this week to going ‘by the book’ if I don’t want to slip down the (not-so-slippery anymore) slope of eating things that aren’t so great for me.

But when you’re handed a forty dollar meal voucher, it’s hard to pass it up.

The weird thing about being on a very low calorie diet is the fact that these feast days – done with nutritious food and done only every once in a while – seems to benefit me over all. It wakes my body up and gets it to start using things again. Sometimes I gain a couple pounds initially after eating, but then it just comes right back off soon enough and I’m on my way again.

That’s not to say I haven’t struggled a bit with my 230s. It almost got to the point where I was thinking there was some sort of hidden sabotage point, but it ended up not being that. I just got a bit antsy (which isn’t so bad considering I’ve been doing this for nearly two months) and wanted some ‘real’ food. Which basically meant I wanted some meat in my diet.

All in all, it went well.

As for the rock and the hard place…

I know that the pill does not ‘heal’ you if you have irregular periods, but I think I might have to go back on it. It’s still too early to tell because I won’t officially be a week late until tomorrow, but I haven’t even had a sign. Nothing. Nada. Zip. Sigh.

It used to be that all it took was a five pound loss and bam, there you go. Now I’ve lost heaps and it’s looking like I can’t quite manage it by myself yet. I’m going to give it a while longer, but I don’t have much hope at the moment.

The pill and needing it to keep my lady bits healthy by shedding lining regularly is the rock. Hating being on anything synthetic but being unable to get the factory working naturally, so to say, is the hard place.

GRRR.