Aaahhh the joys of weightloss!

Well let me just start this blog with a little disclaimer: Not all blog articles are written by the same person on this site. See Bridget comes in many shapes and forms and we currently have several lovely Bridgets contributing to the blog posts. So what you read may not necessarily be about who you think it is!!

Back to the joys of weight loss!I am feeling particularly pleased with myself at the moment because I am finally feeling (and hearing) the results of many many months of trying to lose weight. Now that I have passed the 10 kgs lost mark people are constantly commenting on how good I look and noticing how much weight I've lost, and generally being really supportive. And I have to say it is so affirming, it just spurs me on to try even harder to keep losing weight. Of course the majority of people making these comments are women, because most men would rather bite the head off a live Brown Snake than comment on a womans weight! But I have noticed more men noticing me, which is an extremely pleasurable ego stroke.

And how have I done it I hear you ask? Well let me tell you all the things I tried that didn't work for me first; meal-replacement milkshakes (although a friend of mine has lost over 30kgs this way), weight-watchers (although an Aunt of mine has had long-term success this way), high-protein low-carb (I put this down to being an A blood group - read the book 'Eat Right for Your Type' it's very interesting), visualisation and affirmation CD's (yeah yeah but it was worth a try), using a personal triner (though I do recommend this if you are initially embarrassed about going to the gym) and various other forms of supplementing binge eating/drinking with excessive excercise, skipping meals and attempting to bargain with God ("I promise I will never ask for anything else if you could just magic me into a size 12 body").

So what did work? So predictable as to be almost not worth mentioning! Smaller meals, daily excercise, and persistence. Yep that's it. As simple as that, with some obvious rules, the smaller meals HAVE to be made up of fresh nutritionally dense foods like fruit, veg, some protein etc, not empty processed so-called food or 'alleged food' as a friend of mine calls it. The exercise has to really push you to your limits for at least 45 mins a day and should vary between cardio and strength through out the week (for me this means walking my dog at a fast pace 3-4 times a week and going to the gym to do a strength class like bodypump or core 3 times a week). And you have to keep at it even if it feels like nothing is happening. It took over a year before I actually lost any weight, at first I toned up and my body shape started to change and then my cardio fitness level improved and then I started to feel more energetic and my mood balanced out, and THEN I started to lose weight on the scales, and boy is it dropping off! FINALLY!!!

So keep at it Bridgets, it really is worth it!