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Diet Progress
Sep 2007 Stats
5'5"
BMI 22
Weight 132lb
Hips Size 10 UK(6 US)
Bust Size 12 UK(8 US)
This is my
story of my fight against flab, my attempts to diet and the final
realisation that the word DIET should be used to mean a way of life, not
just something we do to lose a few pounds, or more as the case may be.
If you still want to think of a diet in this way, either read on with an
open mind, or don't bother.
If you want a quick fix diet for the
summer, you will be 'dieting' every year and I'll bet that every year
you will have to diet harder because you will have more to lose.
For traditional diet advice go to the bottom of the page for links (if you
really must).
I'm going to
be using the word diet a lot, because that's what most people that land
on this diet page will have searched for.
July 2004
These are these are the pictures that made me realise I had
to do something to get my weight down, ie the dreaded word,
DIET.
They were taken in the Canaries July 2004. I was
still struggling badly with ME/CFS. The only thing that
kept me going was the swimming. I took my instructors
qualification in 2003 but several relapses before, during
and after that, meant little exercise and the will to diet
or should I say change my diet to healthier options was
absent. Here I am at my worst, about 182lb or 13 stone.
I've never gone on a diet in my life before and here I am,
age 52, and I've only just realised that the weight has gone
on gradually since my teens and quicker since I got ME/CFS
when I was 45.
May 2005
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I started a diet by simply
cutting down shortly after that holiday and by
May 2005 I'd made some progress. As you
can probably see in this photograph, I am thick
over the ribs and my tummy bulges like I'm
pregnant. Dieting doesn't seem to do much to
alter my basic shape. Bear in mind that I'm
holding my tummy in here <grin>. I am now about
147 lb, 10 and a half stone. By some people
standards, I'm not that bad, but I know I was
naturally VERY skinny in my teens, and if I can
hide my tummy, people think I weigh a lot less
than I do.
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November 2005
The beginning of 2005 and I am starting to think about my
diet more seriously. It's not just about how much I eat but
what I eat. August 2005 I am about 140lb (10 stone) and
finding it hard to keep up the weight loss. I am exercising
intermittently, swimming regularly but hampered by frequent
relapses with the ME/CFS. I am beginning to see the sense
of a low carb diet and I am aware that at 140 lb about 4 or
5 lb of that will go straight back on as soon as I come out
of ketosis. By November 2005 I manage to get to 128lb but
that's while I'm ketogenic so let's call it 132lb. I don't
stay in ketosis for longer than 2 or so months at a time but
frequent holidays mean weight gains and diets to get back to
square 1.
And 132 lb is where I stay, up and down with holidays but
struggling to get much below that point, even on a low carb
diet. I've cleaned up my act with food somewhat, and a good
vitamin C intake sees improvements in my health. I've been
dipping in and out of
AbcBodybuilding
and I'm beginning to take on board some of the stuff I'm
reading there. Diet and nutrition begin to take on a whole
new meaning and I start toying with the idea of
weight-training. No I don't mean I want to be a body
builder but I'm beginning to see the sense of much of what
bodybuilders do. Taken at it's very simplest, removing the
competitive side of things, aren't they doing what I would
like to do? Get rid of the fat, get fit, lean and healthy
and, here's the crunch, understand how to achieve whatever
goals you set yourself.
OK I'm a 55 year old grandmother and I can hardly compare
myself with a 30 year old body builder (might like one as a
toy boy
- oops hope hubby doesn't see this!) BUT is there any
reason I can't learn from them?
August 2007
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So here I am still 132lb and the last 2 years
have been very mixed. Ups and downs with my
health but worst of all, hubby and I have been
SKIing, better known as Spending the Kids
Inheritance. We decided that when Dave was
forced to retire with arthritis, we would take a
couple of years out and holiday. Great fun but
not so great for the waistline.
Low carbing isn't helping much now, nor is
calorie counting. I'm now committed to the idea
that exercise is the key to everything. I've
invested in a new gym room
which should be finished by Christmas. I have a
multi-gym, elliptical, treadmill, rower, weight
bench and crunch bench. On the left is what my
gym looks like at the moment. Through the
scaffolding is the stream and I have great plans
for inside and out. To cap it off I snapped a
rainbow from that spot and if that's not an omen
I don't know what is.
I've read much of the advice on
AbcBodybuilding and whilst I'm never going
to go for big muscles, I think I've learned
enough to keep me from losing muscle when I drop
this stubborn last few lb of fat. I have a good
grasp of what I need to do to achieve my goals.
Can I do it?
My big problem is going to be the 5 weeks
holidays I have planned between now and
Christmas and of course, Christmas itself. My
plan is to rev up my metabolism and try to hold
even while I'm away. Luckily my first holiday
in September is with my sister and she wants to
lose some fat too. October I'm in Egypt with my
husband and December with hubby and my brother.
If my vertigo improves, I intend to scuba dive.
A quick note here for anyone with ME (CFS/CFIDS.
Don't ever let anyone tell you you can't do
things like diving. There are loads of
places that will offer you one-to-one
tuition and guiding in the quiet times, and
you don't need to carry tanks EVER. You can
kit up in the water where the tanks are
weightless. YOU CAN DO IT!
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September 2007
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Tummy |
Aaaargh |
Love
Handle |
Thigh |
Calf |
Upper
Arm |
 |
So now I bare all, well not quite all, in the
interests of total honesty. I am asking the
guys on
AbcBodybuilding to help me estimate my body
fat and give me some advice. I feel very silly
wearing the skimpiest thing I can find.
I think I have my diet worked out. I am going
for a 1000 calorie deficit each day on average,
500 from calorie restriction, 500 from
exercise. I'm calorie cycling so my body
doesn't go into starvation mode. I'm eating 5
'meals' a day, protein in every meal with no
carbs late at night, and avoiding carbs and fat
together. I'm still keeping lower carb than the
bodybuilders as my activity levels will be
nothing like theirs.
I am wearing my Polar heart rate monitor for a
while. This has been my rock in getting out of
the 'I have ME - I can't exercise' rut. I've
used my heart rate to guide me as to when I can
do stuff and when I am in danger of a relapse.
It rarely lets me down whereas stopping when I
feel tired and carrying on when I feel OK, can
be misleading.
I have a new model that measures under 90 beats
a minute and it seems to give me a very accurate
result on calorie expenditure over 24 hours.
Last year I logged all my food in Fitday for a
while and used my Polar to record my calorie
output. Weight loss and increases were
mathematically as calculated.
The last few days I have been trying to rev up
my metabolism. I love the Pump-it-up DVD with
the Eric Prydz stuff but I can only manage 5
minutes before my heart rate gets to 170. I
need to build this up slowly. Even so, my daily
calorie expenditure as of September 1st is in
excess of 2400 a day. I calculate my sedentary
figure to be about 1400, that's when I'm on a
downer with the ME, and about 1900 if I'm active
but not exercising regularly.
So my average calorie intake is going to be 1400
when I'm not on holiday. My output is going to
be a minimum of 2400, more when I'm on holiday.
That's the theory anyway, and so far my Polar
says I'm getting there. |
| Week |
Target Weight |
Actual Weight |
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Sep 2
Sep 9
Sep 16
Sep 23
Sep 30 |
132lb
130lb
128lb
128lb (no loss while on holiday)
126lb |
132lb |
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Oct 7
Oct 14
Oct 21
Oct 28 |
124lb
124lb (no loss while on holiday)
124lb (no loss while on holiday)
122lb |
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Nov 26 |
122lb (no loss this month due to
operation and 4 weeks recovery) |
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Dec 03
Dec 10
Dec 17
Dec 24
Dec 31 |
122lb (get back in shape)
122lb (no loss while on holiday)
122lb (no loss while on holiday)
120lb
120lb (no loss Christmas) |
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Info. for women from other sources
Diets - For losing weight quickly, dieting the
right way.
at "So
Feminine" .co.uk
• Losing weight the easy way
• The McKeith diet
• The diet calorie counter
• Which sport for weight loss?
• Which diet will suit you best?
• The anti-diet weight loss plan! Part 1: Getting in
shape
• Anti-snacking solutions
• Get savvy with sweeteners
• Bikini countdown: SOS beach diet
• Potatoes: your secret weapon for weight loss
• Lose your winter weight!
• Sporty or sedentary? Weight-loss plans for everyone!
• Weight loss by age: your needs
• Sugar, starch and fat: friend or foe?
• Introducing the Forking diet
• Losing weight as a family
• Drop a dress size without dieting
• Weight loss for your body shape
• Why have you put on weight?
• Diet soup recipes
• Anti-calorie tips
• The keys to weight-loss
• Streamline for summer
• Zoom on diet meal substitutes
• Your diet analysis
• Don't go it alone: find a diet buddy here
• Is your diet balanced?
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