My Fitness Story... - Dave

Today's guest poster is Dave, who answered my plea for posts. Dave's take on weight loss is probably one familiar to many people - losing weight in the face of temptation of foods that aren't any good for you. His battle with himself appears to be the hardest of all. 

So weight loss. Its no easy thing. Going from a shocking 44inch waist to a 31inch waist in around 2 years might sound like a long time....but when your love of sweets, cakes, pizza and beer is as big as mine, it's tough. When I first started living on my own, it was take aways and pints every night or a trip to my local pub where you get pizza 2 for 1 and beer at the same time. Then I found it.....a love of hill walking and a tough other half who makes me hit the gym 3 or 4 times a week.

Ahhh the gym.....a place where folk in spandex make you feel bad by looking so good in it...and that’s just the guys. I try to hide myself away in a corner in my baggy shorts and XXL t-shirts to hide my smaller but still there gut.

A down side to this weight loss. Finding lumps under my skin, apparently a downside to being large and getting slim. They are merely lumps of fat left over that will be the last to go during my extreme slimming but upon feeling one on my what were rather large breasts, panic hit and I ran, nae sprinted, to my GP. Left feeling like a plonker with some antibiotics.

Weight loss is an uphill battle. The temptation of food, beer and sweets is far too much for me some days and I give in which results in feeling bad and having to work extra hard the next day to take it all off again.

So, yeah, I'm the man in your spin class that sweats too much and pants a lot...next time you see him, give him some respect; it's taking him more energy to drag his fat ass about trying to do something about it.

So moral of the story is “A big mountain of sugar is too much for one man. I can see now why God portions it out in those little packets.”

Thanks very much to Dave for taking the time to write this post. What I think this post demonstrates is the phrase "the road to hell is paved with good intentions". We all want to do the right thing, we WANT to do the right thing, but can we do it? Not always! 

Please do share experiences in the comments below. My guest posters really do appreciate the messages of support they get from readers.

If you would like to share your fitness story, then please contact me on Twitter or email me on the address on the About Me page. All contributions are really appreciated so do get in touch, even if you feel yours is not a worthwhile story. If it's a personal experience, it is. Do please join in - or ask your friends if you know someone has a story to tell, even if they don't blog.

I'll have a new episode in the My Fitness Story... series next week.

My Fitness Story... - Jenny

Today's contributor only wishes to be known by her first name. Jenny responded to me on Twitter when I put out a plea for posts.She has agreed to tell her story but doesn't want it associated with her tweeting because as she said in an email to me, it's "just not necessarily an image I want to project right now". I'm happy to respect her wishes.

Her story is about how she overcame an eating disorder which affected her for a long time in her teens and early twenties. Eating disorders affect many people in the UK - it is believed that more than 6% of adults suffer from some form of eating disorder, and around 40% of those are bulimic. Yet, it is rarely talked about, so I am really grateful to Jenny for writing her story in the hope it will help others. Over now to Jenny to tell her fitness story...

My Fitness Story... - Dave

This week's story is a bit different. I put out a general plea on twitter last week for more posts and Dave got in touch. He outlined the nature of his story and I was intrigued. I wasn't disappointed when Dave emailed me this post. Y'see, Dave had a serious problem with an addiction - to crisps. In his post, he tells how giving them up changed his approach to healthy living. Over now to Dave...

My Fitness Story... - Annie

Hello, it's My Fitness Story time again. I didn't think I was going to have a post this week but I put out a plea on Tuesday and I was deluged by offers so I'm pleased to say I've got a few posts lined up for August now. Please don't let that stop you submitting your own - you can never have too many posts lined up, I've found! 

My Fitness Story... - Penny

My guest post contributor today is Penny, who describes herself as "writer, blogger, vlogger, mother, wife and arts practitioner in residence at AlexanderResidence. My background is in teaching drama and film. My blog is a creative filing cabinet to reflect on the ups and downs of life with small children, and where life permits, life beyond them." Penny promised to write me her story. It's not a tale of a huge loss, but it's familiar to many - the story of an amount of weight that seems to creep back again and again. Here, she tells how she tackled and finally got to trips with it, thanks to something that has been creating a bit of a stir in the blogging world for a few months, the Slimpod. 

Enough of me, here's Penny's post which she has chosen to call:

My Fitness Story... - Fay

Today's guest post really made me feel humble when I first read it. I've read it through a few times now and that feeling has not diminished one bit. It's written by Fay, who blogs at Glass Half Full, which is a particularly apt name. Fay has remained incredibly positive throughout this year despite being diagnosed with cancer. In this post, she tells how she struggled with her weight in the past, how the extra weight may have contributed to her illness, through to her recovery and weight loss. 

This is my story which has beginning and a middle but no end yet; that has still to be written.

My Fitness Story... - Sharon

It's Thursday and there's a post so it must mean I have got myself some more contributors to My Fitness Story... Thanks for everyone who read my post last week and offered to help. I always need new contributions so please don't think your story is not worth telling - be brave! 

Anyway, my willing volunteer this week is Sharon, who blogs at My lot. Sharon always seems to be out running - but it wasn't always the case. Here she shares her story of how and why she came to start running and complete her first marathon, the first being the hardest of course. 

So, without further ado, here's Sharon's story. 

My Fitness Story... - The story so far, and a plea for more posts

I'm writing this late in the evening when for the first time, I've had to admit defeat. This week, I have no lovely guest post to share with you. I'm quite sad about that because until now, I've always managed to convince someone to tell their story.

If truth be known, I didn't know if it would last more than a few weeks so to get this far is fairly impressive. I've had 23 posts so far and they've ranged from light-hearted to deadly serious, those making small changes to those transforming their lives and coming back from the brink. We've had life-saving surgery and
gastric band surgery - which, let it be said, is by no means the easy option for losing weight.
I admire the bravery of those who have chosen to tell a story of which others might not approve. The determination of those overcoming serious illness to become fit and healthy people again, and those who have had large amounts of weight to lose and achieved it.

My Fitness Story... - Ian

I've lost track of the number of weeks this has been running but welcome back to My Fitness Story... anyway. This week's guest contribution is by Ian who blogs at Northern Blokes Ramblings and his tale of how he motivated himself to train for the Liverpool marathon. So, here is Ian with his tale, which he has called:

My Fitness Story... - Tracy

I'm very grateful today to my guest poster because she wrote this for me whilst away from home. I had no post lined up until I put out a request on Twitter on Monday for some new contributions - or the series would have had to take an enforced holiday. I know Tracy has been thinking of submitting her story for a while to me, and I'm glad she took the time to write all down for me. Tracy struggled with her weight after having children, suffering the cumulative effect of weight gain that successive pregnancies can bring, until she resolved to lose the weight for good last year. In total, she lost 5 stone in 8 months, which is pretty incredible - especially as she did it all by myself and all for herself, which is great. This story cannot fail to inspire you if you're struggling in any way with a diet or fitness programme. Over now to Tracy to take up her tale. 

My “struggle” with my weight goes back to my early twenties. I had been a size 8 – 10 and put on weight after university having money, driving a car and eating out. I increased to a size 14. When I look back, this seems like nothing, but I felt bad about myself. My self-esteem has always been related to my size, and I didn’t feel good. So I read a book, “Stop the Insanity” by Susan Powter and I followed it. It was a way of thinking about food and exercise. It motivated me and I stuck to it. It was mainly about watching the percentage fat content of food and increasing your exercise. I became obsessed, both with food and exercise, until I lost lots of weight and got down to a size 8. I felt great about myself, but I couldn’t maintain it. I was exercising before work, running for 40 minutes, then swimming 30 lengths, and doing classes after work. In all honesty, I got too thin and I don’t think I am meant to be that size. My weight started to increase again, but stabilised at a size 10 – 12. I still felt good about myself at this weight.

Me in 2007

I was this size when I met my husband, 11 years ago. I was just under 10 stone when we got together. We met and married in the space of 10 months, but in that time I went from a size 10 – 12 to a size 16. My wedding dress was a size 16. A couple of months after the wedding, I became pregnant. I saw this as an excuse to eat, and put on 4 stone during the pregnancy. I had a difficult and traumatic delivery with my son and it took me a long time to recover, physically and emotionally. It wasn’t until he was 3 years old that I felt able to do anything about the weight. But, in 2004, I got a new job and decided I wanted to make a new start so I began the Atkins diet. Once again, I was obsessed. I followed the diet to the exact letter. It worked. I lost weight, and fast. Within 3 months I had lost over 4 stone and I felt good again. The feeling I got when everyone asked how I had done it, commented on how good I looked and complimented me on my achievement was wonderful. But it didn’t last for long.

Christmas Day 2009

I maintained for 4 months but became pregnant with my second child. I immediately started eating whatever I wanted again, and of course the weight started to pile back on. I put 3 stone back on during the pregnancy, and 8 months after the birth of my second child, I was pregnant again! This time, there was no time for weight loss and I just carried on eating, putting on another 2 stone. I was now a size 22 and 15 1/2 stone. I did not know what to do. I lacked motivation to do anything about my weight and suffered from post natal depression. It wasn’t until I resolved some of the issues relating to the birth of my children through counselling that I felt I was in a place where I could do something to tackle the weight again.

Christmas 2010

I was at work New Year’s Eve 2009, wearing my size 22 uniform and could not do up the trousers. I made a New Year’s resolution. In 2010, I was going to lose the weight. I was determined. I had been given a Wii Fit for Christmas and I intended on using this to keep me on track and hopefully be a fun way of exercising. On New Year’s Day, I stepped onto the Wii Fit for the first time. My BMI was right at the top of obese. I was mortified. I weighed 15 stone 8 lb. However, instead of feeling depressed, this motivated me, I had to do something! I started doing Wii Fit every day. For the first time, I was able to exercise with the children around because they enjoyed watching me do it, which resolved a major issue for me. I had found it very difficult to exercise. I couldn’t fit it in during the day, and was too exhausted by night. The Wii Fit resolved this. I know it is very low impact, but I was so unfit and lethargic, it got me moving more than I had done in years. I started to follow my own diet plan. Not as radical as I had been before, but combining things I had learnt in the past. I had porridge and juice for breakfast, chicken and salad for lunch, fish and vegetables for dinner. It was low carb again, but not in the extreme way that I had been with Atkins. I had “bad” days, particularly around my period, when I would lapse and have chocolate and wine! But this time, instead of thinking that I’d failed and blow the diet, I would get back on the Wii Fit the following morning and carry on. Pretty quickly, I saw results. The weight started coming off and my BMI started coming down. I carried on wearing baggy clothes and didn’t talk about what I was doing to anyone because I was doing this for myself. By August, I had lost 5 stone and my BMI was 24.6. I was thrilled. I started dressing completely differently and my work uniform was no longer the size 22 that wouldn’t fasten, but a size 12 that was a bit baggy. I felt so much better about myself.

After my 10K

I set myself a new target and entered a 10K race. This was my next challenge. I had lost the weight - now I wanted to improve my fitness. I had never done any running before, but I entered the Tatton Park 10k in September 2010 to raise funds for the Bobby Moore Fund for bowel cancer research. I enjoyed training - it gave me a real sense of motivation, having something to aim for. As a complete beginner with asthma, I knew it wouldn’t be easy. I tried to follow a training schedule and enjoyed going out from my front door for an hour, exploring the local area doing run/walks. I did the route in 1 hr 16 minutes but the time wasn’t important, it was just doing it. My children looked so proud, and I felt a real sense of achievement. I couldn’t have imagined, only 9 months before, that I would’ve been able to run for a bus, let alone a 10K.

9 months later and so far, I have managed to maintain. I fluctuate a bit, and I have to watch what I eat, but I still feel good about myself. I am a size 12 – 14, and I am OK with that. I know, if I pushed myself, I could get down to being a 10 – 12 again but in my heart of hearts I don’t think this is where my natural weight should be. I am stable where I am, I don’t want to get big again, and I am happy to maintain where I am now. As I sit here, I am on holiday, and I have a glass of wine. I am planning on getting back to “sensible” eating again next week, after my holiday. Until then, I will not be worrying about it. The next challenge? Who knows. Maybe a marathon for my 40^th birthday next year?!

What a great story. I'm sure lots of mums (including myself) went through similar experiences after they had children. I think Tracy's success can be summed up in this sentence: "instead of thinking that I’d failed and blow the diet, I would get back on the Wii Fit the following morning and carry on". We all have bad days - it's just how you react to them that decides if you succeed in the long run. I think it's an important lesson for us all - failure on a diet/healthy eating plan is not about one day. 

Feel free to share experiences, as always, in the comments below. My guest posters really do appreciate the messages of support they get from readers.

If you would like to share your fitness story, then please contact me on Twitter or email me on the address on the About Me page. Posts can be partly or fully anonymous, or if you are happy to be named, I will link back to your blog. All contributions are really appreciated so do get in touch, even if you feel yours is not a worthwhile story. If it's a personal experience, it is. And I mean that even if you have failed at something, because it is still YOUR fitness story and you learned from it. If you want to read previous posts in this series, click on the My Fitness Story... tab above and they are all linked on that page.

Thanks for supporting My Fitness Story... and do come back for another guest post next week.

My Fitness Story... - Lottie

Today's fitness story is from Lottie, who has a gorgeous blog at Lottie Loves. Lottie has recovered from serious illness and major surgery and faced a struggle to return to full health. On top of that, she moved last year with her family to California and that has had a major impact on her approach to fitness and her fitness regime. I'll let Lottie take up the story...

In July, it will be three years since I had major surgery to remove my bowel and rectum and to make an internal pouch called a J Pouch. This surgery was the last hurdle after ten years of living with Ulcerative Colitis which disabled my life completely. Since this time, I have been on a journey to become fit and healthy AND improve my confidence and feel more feminine (bowel disease has a tendency to destroy all of these things). I talk about this a lot on my blog, particularly as part of my Finishing School which shares some of the things I've learned on my journey to being feminine and fabulous, in the hope of helping others do the same.

Me just after my operation

I thought I'd check in here today and tell you about part of my journey to become fit, which has become an even bigger part of my new life, new because I moved from the UK to California, USA.

When you suffer a long term illness, which culminates in major surgery, your life and health become that much more precious and you take far less for granted. You are never more acutely aware that being fit is essential to maintaining good health and/or improve on bad health.

This doesn't come easily for me as I HATE exercise. Loathe it. Would rather eat a sticky bun and veg out with a good book then step foot in a gym but, unfortunately, this doesn't make one fit.

As well as recovering from my op, I had also started to suffer headaches that would see me popping ibuprofen and laying down far too much. I don't have the luxury of swooning onto a fainting couch and being revived by my servants with smelling salts. No sirree. With two boys, five and seven, demanding my attention, and a determination that I will not let another health issue beat me, I knew I had to be proactive in tackling my health and fitness.

After a few trips to the Drs and eventually a trip to an Osteopath, it became clear that my posture was to blame for my headaches, and my surgery and years of doubling over in pain had completely destroyed any good posture I may have had. I did a little work on it with the Osteopath and it improved, but you know, I hate exercise. 20 minutes a day in my lounge doing stretches......sooooo dull.

I wanted to be free of the headaches, be more generally fit and improve my posture which aside from causing me pain problems also looks dreadful and for a lady who loves to wear vintage as I do, looking hunched over is not an option.

Then I got lucky and six months ago, we moved from the UK to the San Francisco Bay Area, Northern California. Well, it was all change here. There's no evidence of the USA's obesity crisis in this part of America. They're all flicky haired, yoga bodied, fitness freaks. Freaks is not too strong a word. To see someone around here wearing anything other than gym gear is unusual and the things they do! You see them riding all sorts of strange contraptions, running in shoes that look like gloves, cycling up mountains that I couldn't even contemplate walking up and generally living a life which goes something like this:

· Yoga
· Coffee Shop
· Zumba Class
· Coffee Shop
· Play with the kids
· Coffee Shop
· Gym Class
· Coffee Shop.

It's a hard life eh?

Me now

Well, you know what they say 'If you can't beat them then join them'. So, I have. I now have a gym membership and I have started Yoga. I LOVE it. I absolutely love it. It bloody kills me and every time I do a class I feel like I might just die at some point during the proceeding two days, but it's amazing. My posture is vastly improved, I have zero headaches, I look and feel so much fitter, my body is more toned and frankly I look hot............well, the sweaty kind of hot at least.

It helps enormously that I happened to make friends with two ladies who love the gym and yoga and they helped introduce me and ease me in. I'm (surprisingly) super unconfident when it comes to doing things like this for the first time.

Okay, and the sunshine helps. A little.

And the fact that around here, exercise comes hand in hand with a low fat version Yerba Mate (pronounced martay don't you know!) helps too.

I have discovered that there's an exercise for everyone, even me. Right now, I favour yoga; for you, it may be swimming, or dancing, or football, or running. I've had to try a lot of dull exercise to get to one that works for me and who knows - yoga may stop working for me but until it does, I'm going with it.

My physical and mental health are THE most important things to me as without them everything else falls down. I believe that if I can bounce back from an illness, get fit and be healthy whilst being a Mum to two small children, anyone can. It takes determination and probably a lot of support but if you're reading this and you're not there yet, I urge you to keep going as it really is the best thing for you.

I'm now off to kill myself with some flow from Down Dog to Yogi push ups. CLEARLY I'm insane..........but fit and healthy with it.

Firstly, thanks to Lottie for telling her story today. I'm sure you agree that she has transformed her appearance in a relatively short time. What her story proves - in my opinion anyway - is that, once again, the things that work best are different for everyone. Most importantly, it's things you enjoy, that you'll keep doing even when the chips are down, that work for you. The challenge is finding what that is for you! 


Do you have any experiences of recovering your fitness and health after a major illness? Feel free to share your experiences via the comments below. My guest posters really do appreciate the messages of support they get from readers. 


If you would like to share your fitness story, then please contact me on Twitter or email me on the address on the About Me page. Posts can be partly or fully anonymous, or if you are happy to be named, I will link back to your blog. All contributions are really appreciated so do get in touch, even if you feel yours is not a worthwhile story. If it's a personal experience, it is. And I mean that even if you have failed at something, because it is still YOUR fitness story and you learned from it. If you want to read previous posts in this series, click on the My Fitness Story... tab above and they are all linked on that page.

Thanks for supporting My Fitness Story... and do come back for another guest post next week.

My Fitness Story - Laura S

Hello and welcome back to My Fitness Story... , my weekly guest post slot where people share their stories about fitness, diet, weight gain, and weight loss. This week's story is about the last of those - but it's not just about one person's battle with weight loss, it's about two people. Laura, who blogs at cakeandteablog, has agreed to tell the story of how both her and her husband lost weight (over 15 stone between them), their slide back down the slippery slope when a baby came into their lives (when doesn't it?) and how they have overcome it by fitting a healthy lifestyle around a baby. It's a really inspiring story, so please do settle down to have a good read as Laura takes up the tale.

David and I met in 2001, when I was 18 and he was 21. We were both morbidly obese, and had been heavy right through our childhoods. Through the next few years, we talked a lot about losing weight. We started diets for a couple of weeks at a time before getting bored and even had a couple of lapsed gym memberships. But nothing ever really stuck- life got in the way, motivation faltered, and somehow we just couldn’t get the momentum going to make any real lasting changes.

We got engaged in 2005, and set a date for our wedding in 2008. Finally, in August 2007, something clicked. With just under a year to go until our wedding, we both joined a gym. Coincidentally, our jobs were both changing around the same time. David was a salesman, on the road every day and living on junk food from service stations, but he was becoming more office based. I was leaving my prestigious, high pressure graduate training scheme which had me staying in random hotels for weeks on end, to work locally in a job with much more sensible hours. Suddenly, we had the time and the motivation to really do something.

This is us the month before we started out:

Looking back, I think it’s fair to say that we were both blinkered to how big we actually were. I was a dress size 26, David was struggling with size XXXL. We had fooled ourselves for a long time that everything was fine. It wasn’t.

We started slowly at the gym, beginning with some gentle cardio sessions, and upping the intensity gradually. David found the weight fell off him to start with, I found it came off slowly and steadily, which was frustrating because it felt like I was lagging behind! But the more we did it, the more it became part of our routine. We didn’t do anything special with our diet to begin with, we just started making healthier choices, and these eventually became normal for us.

By the time our wedding came around, I had lost 4 stone and David had lost 6. We looked and felt like different people. And when we got back home, we kept going. We started to do WeightWatchers online, which gave our weight loss a boost, and we looked for new fitness challenges to keep us interested, and started to run together.

To start with, that little voice in my head that said I would never run. It told me that people as big as me didn’t run. Eventually, I told the voice to shove it. So, here we are the start line of the Silverstone half marathon in March 2009. 18 months after starting to lose weight, I am about 7 stone lighter than the first picture, and David is almost 8 stone lighter.

And this is us in May 2009. Just before I got pregnant, and it all went a bit wrong! This is the lowest weight that either of us have ever achieved (so far!) in our adult lives.

When I got pregnant, very little changed at first. We didn’t change our diets too much, and I kept an eye on my heart rate when I worked out. Then I started making excuses... oh, I’ll just have this one takeaway, this one packet of Maltesers, this bucket of crisps, because I’m pregnant. That had an effect on David, who would help me with said takeaway/Maltesers/crisps. Then, as I eased off the exercise, so did he, because we just weren’t pushing each other anymore. Then it got even worse- I spent the last 2 months of my pregnancy going in and out of hospital with gallstones. I couldn’t really eat anything during that period, but David was stress eating- going back to an empty house with a convenient kebab, and worrying.

Just after I gave birth, I weighed 3 ½ stone more than at my lowest weight, and David had put on about the same. But of course, the last thing you can cope with through the sleeplessness and mayhem is of the newborn period is thinking about diet and exercise- thinking about basic personal hygiene was enough of a challenge! Plus, I had to wait three months to have my gall bladder removed, then it took weeks to recover from surgery enough to exercise.

We each had a few goes at losing weight at different times, but parenthood brought a new set of challenges. Every time we got some momentum up, something would happen, usually teething or a bug, that would disrupt sleep to the point that healthy living went out of the window. And where we’d always taken so much strength from exercising together, we now had to do it separately, so that there was always someone at home looking after the little one. With so much more to juggle, it was just harder.

Finally, we made New Year’s resolutions to start again in 2011. This time, it’s working. I have lost 1st 8lb since 1st January, and have 12lb to go to get to my pre baby weight, then another 2 stone to reach my ideal weight. David has lost 1st 11lb so far, with a stone and a half to go to his target weight. It’s slow, and it’s hard, but we are determined to get to the goals that we didn’t quite reach the first time around!

We make time for exercise - and sometimes that involves planning our evenings with military precision so that we both get to do what we need to. It’s tiring, but we are both happier, more confident, and healthier for it. We have learnt to stop making excuses and make time for ourselves, even when life is hectic. We have learned that losing weight is a long and frustrating process, but success will always come, as long as you never give up. And we have learned that getting fit alone is a hard and lonely battle - we need each other. Even if we can’t exercise together much anymore, the support is still there, and we keep each other going.

We have our son to set an example for now  - and if he has good role models, enjoys a healthy, active lifestyle, and never has to battle with weight like mum and dad, then it’s all been worth it.

Thanks to Laura for telling their fitness story today. Both David and her should be really proud of their achievements, even with their slip ups along the way. They have learned that slip ups happen, but the key is not to let it destroy your progress but to get back into it as soon as possible. As ever, and this is a common theme with the successful dieters who've written for me, they have made their regimes work for them, and found a way to build healthy eating and exercise into the lifestyle they have. I wish Laura - and David - the very best of luck in achieving their ideal weights. I'm sure that will happen very soon. 

As usual, please do comment to show your support or share similar experiences in the comments below. If you would like to share your fitness story, then please contact me on Twitter or email me on the address on the About Me page. Posts can be partly or fully anonymous, or if you are happy to be named, I will link back to your blog. All contributions are really appreciated so do get in touch, even if you feel yours is not a worthwhile story. If it's a personal experience, it is. And I mean that even if you have failed at something, because it is still YOUR fitness story and you learned from it.

Thanks for supporting My Fitness Story... and do come back for another guest post next week.

My Fitness Story... - Laura W

This week's story is a bit hot off the press! On Tuesday night, one of my Twitter friends, Laura, tweeted about her weight loss. I don't think it was just me that said "Wow!" when she said she'd lost ten stone. Laura then sent me a DM to tell me how she did it and I told her she should write her story. She was a bit reticent to do so but I talked her into it.

The reason for her reticence is that she had gastric band surgery which has helped her to lose weight. This is a controversial area; many people think that it is the lazy route to weight loss and she was worried of the reaction to her story. I hope that her story, which takes her from a weight of 301lbs and BMI of 42.14 to a weight of 160lbs and BMI of 22.40, demonstrates that it is far from an easy option, and you will give her your full support because it is an incredible achievement whichever way you look at it. 

Before - side view

Last night was the first time that I had weighed myself in a year. Sheer stupidity forced me to tweet about my weight loss but after a little natter with the lovely Kate, I agreed to share my story and dark secret…

At 28 years old, a mother of three, 6ft and weighing 300lbs, I was often referred to as 'the big one', ‘Hagrid’, 'fatty', 'gibblet' and 'her that looks like a rugby player’. At the age of 16, I thought I was sexy and had confidence in my body. I was never skinny but I was toned from playing football and had a great shape. However, this all buggered off when, aged 16, I became pregnant. I couldn’t decide what was worse; no football, getting fat, or both!

After my son was born, I managed to stick at Slimming World for many years, my weight yo-yoing up and down until I got married in 2004. After the wedding, I gave up; child number two came along and before long, number three too. I ignored what I looked like and never looked in the mirror. My confidence was low and paranoia developed every time I left the house. I tried to look for a new job to be closer to home but I felt that I was being penalised at interview for being fat. My husband suggested I speak to the GP about weight loss surgery, he had been reading up on it. The GP recommended the local Spire hospital as a good starting point. My hubby decided to foot the bill (he wanted a sexy wife, he said) and next thing you know, I was in for a consultation.

Before - front view 

The consultant wanted me to opt for a gastric bypass, but hearing so many horror stories, I opted for the gastric band. If Anne Diamond and Sharon Osbourne could do it, then so could I. I started the pre-op diet pretty quickly, which consisted of drinking Bovril, Bovril and oh, more Bovril for 14 days. The band was fitted under general anaesthetic using keyhole surgery so they had to ensure that the fat around the liver was non-existent, hence a liquid pre-op diet.

On 19th April 2008, I went into the Spire at Macclesfield not knowing what to expect. I was a scared young girl who just wanted to be thin. I awoke, still a fat person who wanted to be thin, with the additional bonus of being in absolute agony. I didn’t realise that they ‘jack’ your liver up out of the way while they stitch the band to your stomach. Gas is also used to inflate the chest cavity…painful. For days, I was walking like Nelson Mandela through pain and burping for Britain from the gas. Since the pre-op diet started, I had lost 16 pounds but I was still a fat person wanting to be thin. Two weeks after having the band fitted, I had lost 2 stone!I felt amazing, clothes were falling off me and I felt so confident and sexy; even at meal times when eating my baby food tubs of puree chicken and veg.

Since then, I have lost a whopping ten stone. Trust me, this was not easy. There have been days where I have cried over food, days where I have been so sick with every mouthful and days where I have just refused to eat. I guess the key to having a gastric band is to not rely on it to do the work for you. It took me over a year to work this out, maybe longer. Instead of building my repertoire of foods up from puree to more solid balanced meals, I was eating rice pudding, melted chocolate and angel delight. Well it was sloppy wasn’t it - the band won’t stop those foods getting through!

I went for regular band fills at the hospital and lied to the dietitian about the band not working. I wanted it tighter and tighter. Each time, they would pump more saline solution in to tighten it up (through a port under my skin) and each time, I would complain that it wasn’t working. It was only when I realised that I was cheating myself and not them that I kicked myself into gear and started eating a healthier, more ‘solid’ meal.

Doing the midnight walk

I also began to exercise. That first day when I mounted my new bike, I felt so proud. That was until I rode off the drive, big grin on my face, got past next door's drive then collapsed in a heap from exhaustion, turned around and hid the bike away. I told myself off. £300 on a bike and I wasn’t going to use it. The next day, I cycled for 5 whole minutes! The day after, 15! Two weeks later, I was cycling nearly 20 miles a day and loving being on the open road, the baby behind me in his seat and the biggest grin on my face ever.

If I couldn’t cycle, I would walk. I entered myself into the St Luke's Hospice Midnight Walk in June 2009 which was 13.1miles through Crewe and Nantwich starting at midnight. I could do that. I remember training for it, tweeting my friend Richard as I was walking through town night after night. I was so proud of myself. I raised over £400 and walked the 13.1 miles in under 2 hours (1hour 59 to be precise!). Unfortunately, due to illness, I couldn’t do the walk last year but I have signed up again this June. I’ve been advised to take it steady so I won’t be breaking the 2 hour barrier this time.

You see, it’s not that band that does the work. It’s the person inside. Mind over matter. Some days, I still cry when food makes me sick. I get angry when I’ve cooked Christmas dinner and can’t eat a forkful of it without dashing to the toilet to bring it back up. But what I remember is that at least I am eating ‘something’ and that ‘something’ is healthy (shhhh, don’t tell Kate I’m eating a Twix right now). I have days where I eat chocolate and nothing else, I am still human after all. But those days, I get up and get out and, rain or shine, I will walk the dog briskly or hop on the bike. I even bought myself a cross trainer last year that is fantastic for hanging clothes on (though I do use it at times).

After

Another thing I keep in mind is that everyone is different and that goes for band wearers too. I had a lovely message from Anne Diamond once (I was a regular on her website) telling me to stick with it and not give up. She said that what works for her might not work for me. It was these words from Anne that snapped me back into shape last year when I became ill. I couldn’t exercise as much as I wanted to and the weight was piling back on. If I wasn’t starving myself, I was making myself sick after every bite of food. It wasn’t good. I remembered Anne’s words and not only do I still believe that we are all different, but I also believe that for a band wearer, every day is different. Yesterday, I ate a party sized sausage roll; tonight, I tried one and it made me sick. Last week, an apple made me sick; today, it went down fine. It’s trial and error, like weaning really. Just stay relaxed and don’t worry if you have excess food left over - you can always feed it to the dog!

I've stopped fighting against food now and just accept that I can only eat what I can eat without making myself sick. If my children want a McDonalds, I no longer look longingly at the cheeseburger, instead I take a bite and feel satisfied that I've had a bite. OK, perhaps it's not the way that we've been taught to live with the band but it's worked for me - sometimes that bite is enough for my lunch and that suits me fine.

I'll leave you with my golden rules, none of which are any massive secrets.

- don’t drink for at least half an hour after eating
- chew food thoroughly
- drink plenty of water
- don’t skip breakfast

I hope you'll agree that Laura has been brave and honest in writing this post. I think that it demonstrates that it's not just a case of getting a gastric band and you'll be slim without effort. Like everything, you need to learn how to make it work for you. And work at it, you will - it still demands a healthy lifestyle to get the best results. 

Whatever you think of gastric bands and other forms of weight loss surgery, and whether it's for you or not, Laura's achievement is incredible. She's worked hard and is still recovering from illness, whilst trying to complete a degree as well as being a wife and mother. I wish her all the best with her recovery and at maintaining a healthy lifestyle. If you're interested, Laura has recently started a blog called Daydreams and Diaries, which is worth a visit too. 

As usual, please do comment to show your support or share similar experiences in the comments below. If you would like to share your fitness story, then please contact me on Twitter or email me on the address on the About Me page. Posts can be partly or fully anonymous, or if you are happy to be named, I will link back to your blog. All contributions are really appreciated and do get in touch, even if you feel yours is not a worthwhile story. If it's a personal experience, it is. And I mean that even if you have failed at something, because it is still YOUR fitness story. 

Thanks for reading and do come back for another guest post next week.