For what seems like the 945th time in my life I am formally doing something about my weight. Why you ask am I boring you with this? Because I am using my blog to add to my accountability regarding this latest attempt. For the first time ever I am seeking help from a qualified (university trained) person – one of the great dieticians who I refer my patients to Jocelyn Hunter-Clarke. Now I have had 2 other major successes with weight loss – at 40 with Weight Watchers where I lost 13 kilos and kept it off for 3 years (until my Mum had her first encounter with breast cancer – I coped with that awful time by making sure I had a Tim Tam in each hand always…), then at 50 when I did Tony Ferguson and again lost 13 kilos and swore this time I would NEVER put it back on again. But sadly 3 years later I was back up there again.
Around February this year I saw a program on TV regarding the perils of sugar and how a celebrity journalist had lost 20 kilos over 8 weeks with just cutting out all sugar. So again I thought –YESSSSS!! I can do that. I had read Sweet Poison a few years ago and had thought at the time: ’No way’- I could not live without my chocolate, juice, sweet chili sauce and all the other delicious Thai cooking sauces, chocolate, cakes, biscuits, Tim Tams, lollies, chocolate, liquorice, desserts and you know the rest of the list. But this time I was ready to have a go and started. And whilst the first 10 days were slightly difficult (wretched), I quickly got into the swing of things and actually started to cope quite well. Water for breakfast instead of juice-nice! And I discovered a sugarless chocolate to die for and 2 squares of that a day kept the mood intact. And after the first 2 weeks I had lost 1.5 kilos. Ok going to plan. I have always exercised since the kids have been older going to the gym 3-4 times a week (always doing pelvic floor safe exercising)and of course my beloved Zumba (the pelvic floor-safe class that Nicoletta runs)so plenty of activity I thought to help burn the calories. But that’s where it stayed. Positively wheelbarrows full of rubbish that I hadn’t consumed and still no more than that first 1.5 kilos gone.
An amazing aside to this sugarless diet – one which will ensure I will never return to the sugar – is that my “sensitive “ teeth and sore gum issues that have plagued me for over 20 years have completely disappeared. When I spoke to my dentist about it, he said that the bacteria in your mouth feed on the sugar and probably cause inflammation and that’s why there has been a dramatic improvement in pain and sensitivity. I wonder whether that would apply to all sensitive nerves in the body???
So back to the current situation. Recently I was talking to a patient about how could she improve her consistency with sticking to her physiotherapy program of regular pelvic floor exercise, the discipline of going with a full bladder, taking regular fibre for good bowel function etc – and I suggested some ladies improve their situation by being accountable. They make 6 monthly appointments so they know I am going to ask if they have been consistent with all components of their program. And I had a light-bulb moment. That’s what I should do. See a dietician and be monitored to help me with my weight loss. Now my experience with Jocelyn has been with the help she has provided my patients with their gut discomfort through a FODMAPS diet and I wasn’t sure if she still dabbled in mere weight loss for a post -menopausal chocoholic. But she has kindly said yes and I am in week 1 and have discovered that my other passion (fresh bread-well any sort of bread- and pasta) is probably where I have been going wrong.
So now I have put it out there. I am on the pathway to a new svelte Sue and let’s see if by Christmas time I can look like this…
Accountability
