My Weight Loss Journey.
INTRODUCTION
Over the years, I have had an extremely unhealthy lifestyle. Throughout my 20’s, I gorged myself silly and would then wonder why I put on more of my weight. Doh! I never felt comfortable in my skin and I always seek to fill that empty void inside of me.
TAKE AWAY FOODS
My diet consisted of takeaways such as pizzas (extra cheese), fish and chips, fried chicken and Chinese buffets, eat as much as you like. I have an extreme sweet tooth and fillings to match. When it came to snacking it would be Haribos, chocolate, ice-cream and multiple packets of crisps. Basically anything with high sugar and high fats was my best friend and comforter.
COMFORT ZONES
You have to understand my mentality; I never wanted to do the work that was required to lose weight. For years I fooled myself into thinking that one day I am really going to do it. I was in complete denial about how big I was getting and my coping mechanism was to eat, smoke and drink alcohol. I loved sweet liquors such as Baileys or Archers peach snaps. That toxic combination is a sure way to head to an early grave. I would constantly told lies to myself and fantasised about how I was going to lose weight and with every failed attempt that corroded my spirit, I lost confidence in myself until eventually I gave up and pressed the F**k it button. I no longer believed I had the will power to lose weight and accepted my fat fate for years. I always felt like I was on the outside looking in on the healthy fit people enjoying their lives.
BREAKING POINT
The breaking point came just before my birthday in 2010. My clothes no longer fitted and I was horrified to discover I went up another dress size. I had serve joint pains in my right knee which of course was weight related. I was extremely unhappy and depressed; I knew I could not continue getting fatter and fatter. This was not what God had ordained for my life. I said to myself, no matter what it takes I have to change. Here I am 42lbs lighter and raring to go.
STARTING TO GET FIT
In the early days of getting fit, I use to cry when it came to exercising, why? It was because I could not face it. I was huge and it was such an effort. It was easier for me to lift my hand up and have that iced doughnut instead. Binge eating was what I had participated in for most of my life. Through the tears I would pray and ask God to push me through the pain and help me to go that extra 5 minutes. When I first started walking, the furthest I would go was 10 minutes, my feet would be pounding like a hammer had hit them and I was extremely out of breath.
Gradually walking became easier and I would power walk for longer. My crying before exercise lasted for three months. I was super resistance to exercising, training and changing my lifestyle and found it a major struggle. I was lucky to have Kat François and Erica my two lovely Personal Trainers who got me started. What they taught me about getting fit was invaluable and they trained with me come rain, sun or snow and we went hard. That was the best gift that they gave to me, especially as winter drew close and we could no longer work outside in the park.
THERE ARE NO FAILURES, JUST OPPORTUNITIES
Some people ask me why I wanted to go public with my weight loss story especially as I have not achieved my entire goal yet, what if I fail? When you love yourself enough to change, it does not matter what other people think. People are always going to have something to say. This is a personal, individual transition I am in and if my story can help inspire others then why not. As a public figure my aim is to empower those that step into my space. This is my purpose, I was born to express and encourage others.
THE PRESENT JOURNEY
I am midway into my journey and already I am seeing the massive benefits of losing weight, becoming fitter and healthy. My skin glows and I have more energy to exercise. I cannot wait to reach my target and buy a brand new wardrobe. At the beginning of the year I surprised myself when I went shopping. For the first time in years I can now buy clothes in the high street instead of just accessories, yippee. That feeling overwhelmed me and warmed my heart up, until it overflowed with joy and pride.
CHANGING MY LIFESTYLE
It is not about being on a diet for me, as they do not work in my humble opinion. The secret is about changing my lifestyle. I have not crashed dieted my way here, it has taken me several tough months to get to achieve my 42lbs weight loss. I have felt like giving up many times. I have had to let go of friendships because I realised as I became more confident in myself, I could now recognise their manipulation and toxic behaviours toward me. These so called friendships no longer fit into where I see myself going. Yes it hurts, did I eat? No. When I overeat it hurts me more than it hurts them.
I will always have a tendency to want to overeat when life gets stressful it is my default setting. However I have learnt new ways to channel my emotions. Instead of overeating I choose to express my emotions through tears and use the negative energy in the gym and workout or talk to friends/family that I can trust about the burdens of life.
NOW OVER TO YOU!
· What are your three fitness goals?
· How are you going to achieve them?
· In your heart are you really ready to change?
You have to be ready to do what it takes to achieve your fitness goals. If you are not ready, do not beat yourself up. It took me over a decade before I realised I was ready and I must admit I found it really hard to begin with. However I knew that I was prepared to do whatever it took to get me to goal, that mind-set made all the difference.
I believe in you I know you can do it. Maybe you want to get fit and not necessary lose weight or you might have a goal to fit into that size ten wedding dress. Trust in yourself that you can make a decision to change your lifestyle and I believe you can do it. Email and let me know how you are getting on.
Remember: Change your mind, change your life.
All the best.
Winsome Duncan;)
Over the years, I have had an extremely unhealthy lifestyle. Throughout my 20’s, I gorged myself silly and would then wonder why I put on more of my weight. Doh! I never felt comfortable in my skin and I always seek to fill that empty void inside of me.
TAKE AWAY FOODS
My diet consisted of takeaways such as pizzas (extra cheese), fish and chips, fried chicken and Chinese buffets, eat as much as you like. I have an extreme sweet tooth and fillings to match. When it came to snacking it would be Haribos, chocolate, ice-cream and multiple packets of crisps. Basically anything with high sugar and high fats was my best friend and comforter.
COMFORT ZONES
You have to understand my mentality; I never wanted to do the work that was required to lose weight. For years I fooled myself into thinking that one day I am really going to do it. I was in complete denial about how big I was getting and my coping mechanism was to eat, smoke and drink alcohol. I loved sweet liquors such as Baileys or Archers peach snaps. That toxic combination is a sure way to head to an early grave. I would constantly told lies to myself and fantasised about how I was going to lose weight and with every failed attempt that corroded my spirit, I lost confidence in myself until eventually I gave up and pressed the F**k it button. I no longer believed I had the will power to lose weight and accepted my fat fate for years. I always felt like I was on the outside looking in on the healthy fit people enjoying their lives.
BREAKING POINT
The breaking point came just before my birthday in 2010. My clothes no longer fitted and I was horrified to discover I went up another dress size. I had serve joint pains in my right knee which of course was weight related. I was extremely unhappy and depressed; I knew I could not continue getting fatter and fatter. This was not what God had ordained for my life. I said to myself, no matter what it takes I have to change. Here I am 42lbs lighter and raring to go.
STARTING TO GET FIT
In the early days of getting fit, I use to cry when it came to exercising, why? It was because I could not face it. I was huge and it was such an effort. It was easier for me to lift my hand up and have that iced doughnut instead. Binge eating was what I had participated in for most of my life. Through the tears I would pray and ask God to push me through the pain and help me to go that extra 5 minutes. When I first started walking, the furthest I would go was 10 minutes, my feet would be pounding like a hammer had hit them and I was extremely out of breath.
Gradually walking became easier and I would power walk for longer. My crying before exercise lasted for three months. I was super resistance to exercising, training and changing my lifestyle and found it a major struggle. I was lucky to have Kat François and Erica my two lovely Personal Trainers who got me started. What they taught me about getting fit was invaluable and they trained with me come rain, sun or snow and we went hard. That was the best gift that they gave to me, especially as winter drew close and we could no longer work outside in the park.
THERE ARE NO FAILURES, JUST OPPORTUNITIES
Some people ask me why I wanted to go public with my weight loss story especially as I have not achieved my entire goal yet, what if I fail? When you love yourself enough to change, it does not matter what other people think. People are always going to have something to say. This is a personal, individual transition I am in and if my story can help inspire others then why not. As a public figure my aim is to empower those that step into my space. This is my purpose, I was born to express and encourage others.
THE PRESENT JOURNEY
I am midway into my journey and already I am seeing the massive benefits of losing weight, becoming fitter and healthy. My skin glows and I have more energy to exercise. I cannot wait to reach my target and buy a brand new wardrobe. At the beginning of the year I surprised myself when I went shopping. For the first time in years I can now buy clothes in the high street instead of just accessories, yippee. That feeling overwhelmed me and warmed my heart up, until it overflowed with joy and pride.
CHANGING MY LIFESTYLE
It is not about being on a diet for me, as they do not work in my humble opinion. The secret is about changing my lifestyle. I have not crashed dieted my way here, it has taken me several tough months to get to achieve my 42lbs weight loss. I have felt like giving up many times. I have had to let go of friendships because I realised as I became more confident in myself, I could now recognise their manipulation and toxic behaviours toward me. These so called friendships no longer fit into where I see myself going. Yes it hurts, did I eat? No. When I overeat it hurts me more than it hurts them.
I will always have a tendency to want to overeat when life gets stressful it is my default setting. However I have learnt new ways to channel my emotions. Instead of overeating I choose to express my emotions through tears and use the negative energy in the gym and workout or talk to friends/family that I can trust about the burdens of life.
NOW OVER TO YOU!
· What are your three fitness goals?
· How are you going to achieve them?
· In your heart are you really ready to change?
You have to be ready to do what it takes to achieve your fitness goals. If you are not ready, do not beat yourself up. It took me over a decade before I realised I was ready and I must admit I found it really hard to begin with. However I knew that I was prepared to do whatever it took to get me to goal, that mind-set made all the difference.
I believe in you I know you can do it. Maybe you want to get fit and not necessary lose weight or you might have a goal to fit into that size ten wedding dress. Trust in yourself that you can make a decision to change your lifestyle and I believe you can do it. Email and let me know how you are getting on.
Remember: Change your mind, change your life.
All the best.
Winsome Duncan;)