My Weight Loss Journey

I started writing this post in 2014, hoping I'd reach my goal weight then publish it, but life happened. Being unhappy at work triggered comfort eating. Fast food, chocolates and biscuits became my coping mechanism. I put on a decent five kilograms of the twelve I initially lost (I weighed 72 kilos at my heaviest in 2011) and that horrified me. I'm now in a positive frame of mind to lose that weight again through the Momentum Wellness Challenge. It's a twelve week (starting tomorrow) program of structured eating and includes two exercise challenges. My entry weight is 63 kilograms and to mark the occasion I have taken two photographs as a means of measuring progress.

 

Here is the original post:

It's no secret that I have battled with my weight for many, many years.

I was a chubby primary school kid (who hated exercise so I was always bunking sports day), and was on Weigh-Less by the time I was 10 years old. Name the diet I have been on it. I even tried chewing each mouthful 25 times before swallowing! Then someone said I'm eating the components of my meal in the wrong order. I should ideally eat vegetables first, then starch and leave protein till last. No word of lie.

Weigh Less was particularly challenging as it involved weighing EVERYTHING I put into my mouth and wasn't very child friendly. You can imagine the hard time my mom had preparing my school lunches each day. Somehow fruit and veggies weren't very appealing when my peers had tuck money or sandwiches. Anyway, we pushed on and I attended every Thursday meeting to be weighed. My mom was a real trooper throughout. She was happy when I lost and supportive when I gained. This trend continued until I reached high school.

At 13, I gave Weigh Less up and tried out Sarah Ferguson's Weight Watchers. This eating plan was so much easier to manage. Each foodstuff is given a point rating, and the facilitator allocates each person a certain number of daily points . How one reaches that target each day is up to them, and the best part was very little needed to be weighed! Unlike Weigh Less, Weight Watchers encourages those little treats and places emphasis on the "everything in moderation" statement. This plan worked wonders for me. I followed it for years and lost a good deal of weight. 

Nearing the end of my high school career, I'd picked up a few kilos and because I wanted to lose the weight quickly (and in time for my Matric Farewell), I tried the Atkins' diet (or high protein diet). It also produced good results, but the high amount of protein gave me headaches, and permitted no carbohydrates or starches so I REALLY missed my cereal. The diet worked and I managed to slim down in time, and even kept the weight off for a few years. I was never rake thin as my African curves would never allow for such a figure, but I was less chunkier.

In October 2012, after seeing the photograph below, I decided that enough was enough and I wanted to lose the weight once and for all. I started a calisthenics class at Simply You four times per week, and although I didn't follow a diet per se, I watched what I ate and slowly the kilos started coming off. 

Have a look at my timeline below.

October 2012 - 67kgs

This photograph was taken at Shannon & Colin's wedding. Seeing my face so round was a real shock to the system and I knew something had to be done.

June 2013 - 64kgs

On holiday in Athens earlier this year. Once we returned, I started walking. At least five times per week, over distances ranging from 2 - 5kms. This cardio really kick-started my weight loss, and you can imagine my elation at finally finding something that has worked for me. I also adjusted my eating and the following was my mantra:

• Drink at least 6 glasses of water per day;
• Cut out carbohydrates at dinner time;
• Eat at least 5 servings of fruit and veggies per day; and
• To avoid tissue drowning (which also makes a person put on weight), limit liquids (other than water) to 7 x 240mls.

I love chocolate, sweets, ice cream, Wakaberry and biscuits and I never cut those items out whilst losing the weight. The key is everything in moderation. So instead of having a whole slab of chocolate in a sitting I only had 4 blocks. Two or three biscuits instead of half the packet. These small changes made a BIG difference.

August 2013 - 62kgs

At my 27th birthday party, wearing a pair of leather pants. This was a bucket list item for me.

October 2013 - 60kgs

At Angie and Roger's wedding. Almost there!

Technically I am at my ideal or goal weight, but I'd like to lose one or two extra kilograms just so that I have some room to move.

What I've lost:

• A shoe size. From a size 5 to a 4.
• 12 kilograms in total
• A bra size
• 83 centimeters across my arms, bust, waist, hips, bottom and thighs

Losing this weight has been a lifestyle change for me, and the best gift I could ever have given to myself (yes I am turning into one of those very annoying healthy people that no-one likes). I am more confident in myself, and for the first time in ages I actually look forward to clothes shopping. I can now wear figure hugging outfits and shorts, instead of the shapeless mid-calf dresses. However, anyone that was ever chunky and has lost a fair amount of weight will tell you, we are terrified of going back to the way we were and will do anything to keep the weight off. It's true that maintaining a healthy weight is sometimes more difficult than actually losing the weight, but I have found what works for me and as long as I stick to it my weight should stay stable. As soon as I stop moving, I put it back on. So now I know - don't ever stop exercising!

A special word of thanks must go out to everybody that has supported me during this journey. My mom, my gran, friends and other family. Even the ladies at Simply You who were never shy with their compliments which motivated me when my weight seemed to remain the same. I thank you all, because without you all I would have probably given up.

Migraines

Yesterday afternoon I had a migraine. My first one in over 16 months and I was unprepared for it.

After being migraine free for so long I thought I had seen the last of them but alas, it wasn't so.

Here's a bit of background info on migraines, according to Wikipedia:

Migraine is a chronic neurological disorder characterized by recurrent moderate to severe headaches often in association with a number of autonomic nervous system symptoms. Typically the headache is unilateral (affecting one half of the head) and pulsating in nature, lasting from 2 to 72 hours. Associated symptoms may include nausea, vomiting, photophobia (increased sensitivity to light), phonophobia (increased sensitivity to sound) and the pain is generally aggravated by physical activity.^[3] Up to one-third of people with migraine headaches perceive an aura: a transient visual, sensory, language, or motor disturbance which signals that the headache will soon occur.^[3] Occasionally an aura can occur with little or no headache following it. 

Migraines are believed to be due to a mixture of environmental and genetic factors.

In my case, it is hereditary. My mom was a sufferer as was my granddad's side of the family. I've had migraines since I was five years old. Triggers would include bright lights (like the flood lights on a tennis court, dietary items (apparently dairy is common but this is unconfirmed, and naturally stress. A typical attack would be brought on by the aura mentioned above, and a pins and needles feeling in my fingers and hands. Imagine electric spider webs compromising your vision, starting off slowly and small before increasing so much that I could barely see. For a young child it's scary. I didn't know what was happening. So I would panic and that would make it worse. The tingling and visual impairment would last half an hour and then the vomiting, diarrohea and headache would start. Once this began, I was man down. It would last two to three days. Eventually I would just lie on the bathroom floor because any slight movement of lifting my head off the pillow would make me dizzy and feel faint. In between the vomiting I would sleep. A dead type of sleep where you don't dream, it's just black. Once the gastrointestinal episode was over, I would be able to eat and sit up in bed but I was weak and sluggish. Only a day or so after that would I start feeling more human and function normally. Back then they lasted a whole week. I missed a lot of school days due to these migraines.

When I was seven years old my mom booked an appointment with a neurologist. After being treated like a typical lab rat with blood work, MRI's, EEG's and other tests he concluded it was definitely migraines and started me on a treatment plan. Dr Terblanche prescribed a nasal spray that I was to to take as soon as I felt a migraine coming on. It was expensive but effective and reduced improved my recovery time from five days to two. Once I knew how to handle the migraines, and as I got older, the frequency of them decreased. I went from having two or three per year to one per year. By the time I reached the end of my high school career I hadn't had an attack in years. 

In the years since then (ten to be exact), I have had small attacks. Most commonly in the past two years. Thankfully they would not be as severe as when I was an adolescent. In these cases, they would come on while I was exercising, yet I know that the real trigger was stress. So, I booked another appointment with Dr Terblanche in November 2012, and ran the lab rat gauntlet once again. He found no abnormalities in my results, and prescribed a series of vitamins to take on a daily basis to balance the chemicals in my brain. I take Stat-10 Choice, Vitamin B, and magnesium slow release tablets. Dr Terblanche also prescribed "rescue medicine". It consisted of a wafer to place under my tongue and a tablet when I felt an attack coming on.

Everything had been going well until yesterday. I had alot on my mind (job, studies, juggling everyday tasks, etc) and had just arrived at the gym when the aura started, and unfortunately I didn't have my rescue medicine on me. Dr T warned me it would only be effective if taken immediately so knowing it was pointless to walk home to get the meds, I decided to continue with the gym class. Thankfully the gastrointestinal phase of the attacks seem to have fallen away in later life, but the headache remains the same. It was right at the base of my skull and every time I sneezed, coughed or bent down, it would throb. I ate a small dinner then had an early night, and woke up this morning feeling 95%. By tomorrow I will be back to normal (thank goodness). 

As unpleasant as the experience was, it reminded me that it is OK to not be a superhuman. Sometimes I need to just relax a bit and let some things slide. No use getting all worked up for nothing.

If anyone reading this has migraines - seek help. Why suffer if you don't have to?

Consult your local neurologist, or The Headache Clinic and improve your quality of life.

Image courtesy of ageonicsmedical.com

Wakaberry Comes to Benoni

It's the fro yo (frozen yoghurt) that has taken South Africa by storm - Wakaberry.

The newest branch in Gauteng opened on Saturday 14 September at the Oakfields Shopping Centre in Northmead, amidst much fanfare. The queue was out the store and down the corridor with customers eagerly wanting to try out the latest culinary craze.

Having sampled a Wakaberry or two previously at Bedford Centre (and absolutely loving it), I decided to wate for the hype to die down and rather go during the week when it would be quieter. So I rounded Linsey up, and this morning we went to get our Wakaberry fix.

What's so nice about the Wakaberry concept is VARIETY. There are so many flavours to choose from:- vanilla, condensed milk, mixed berry, strawberry, creme soda and peanut butter (just to mention a few) and that was only the frozen yoghurt. Toppings are a whole different ball game. One can choose from crushed Oreos, fruit, nuts, sours jelly sweets, smarties, Tumbles, jelly beans and much much more. Top it off with some extra sauce (chocolate, honey or Milky Bar) and you have a winner.

 

                         

The people of Benoni and the surrounds thank you for coming to our neck of the woods, Wakaberry, although our diets may not. Just playing. 

But on a serious note, why no Nutella fro yo flavour?