I’m the last person to give anyone advice on losing weight – your weight is your business, but my Twitter timeline tells me that dieting is a very popular topic. We live in times when we are offered so much – huge portions, so much choice and everything with added sugar, fat and carbs. It’s really hard to eat healthily when these days what that looks like is so much less appealing than the full fat/everything added versions.
I’ve been everything from a size 6 to a size 14 – I’m 5ft 3 so size 14 was definitely too much, but I don’t even own a set of scales. I judge my weight from how my clothes look and feel, and usually, once a year, drop a size or so by completely cutting back. It’s kind of how it works for me – I’m not weight obsessed, but have to admit to feeling happier when I’m thinner. When I do decide to cut back I make it severe. At least, it feels severe. In fact, what I convince myself that my body needs when I’m not on a cut-back back is so much more than it actually does! This time I cut out wheat – anything at all with wheat which pretty much rules out everything nice; cakes, biscuits, sandwiches – all gone. But, because it has been so effective (and I haven’t replaced with gluten free anything), I’ve stuck with it.
For me, the key to losing weight is mind-set. Convincing myself that nothing bad will happen if I feel hungry – and, other than a mis-calculation on my part in accepting a very large glass of wine at lunchtime with no food to soak it up that left me so drunk I had to phone a friend (who gave me an extra large YooMoo with all the toppings he could get on it to sober me up), nothing ever has other than mild discomfort. At any first signs of hunger, I have a hot drink and if that’s not enough, I have another, to distract and go a bit longer. Skinny pop-corn has been my salvation along with porridge and Bircher museli. It seems you can eat any amount of Bircher and not put weight on!
I thought craving salad was a myth – but since giving up anything with wheat, I do actually crave salads (nicer with oven chips, though, we can’t deny that!), something that is a first for me. I don’t need to eat anything til about 11am and then it’s porridge with added ground almond and blueberries. That will see me through until at least 4 or 5pm when I’ll have some skinny popcorn, and then eat a proper meal at around 6.30-7pm. I have a lot of hot drinks in between, though, but I can’t say I ever have unbearable hunger although am often peckish. In the time I’ve been doing this (about 3 months) I’ve shimmied into a size 8 skirt when my previous size was a 10/12. Everything feels more comfortable, but I have absolutely no clue what I weigh, and I pretty much don’t care.
Someone once told me that you should stop eating at the first feeling of fullness, and I do pretty much try an adhere to that. There is nothing about losing weight that is easy – it’s horrible not having everything you want, but if you know that it’s your head that wants it and not your body, it’s a teeny bit easier. That’s my experience anyway, but everyone has their own way of dealing with it – buying tablets or slimming drinks certainly isn’t any kind of solution.
Do you have any mind over matter tips?
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