Diet (yuck) - Weight Loss - Health Stuff

Ok well I was going to be slack and just forget about blogging again after my proclaimed blogging rebirth but yay 2 people out there in the big old internet caught wind of things and so I'd feel bad just abandoning them again.

Anyway I have decided today (and possibly many days) I am going to talk about health. I wanted to say weight loss, but I have to be careful as I don't think that's exactly what I want to talk about. Confused? So am I! But I'm going to tackle this dieting/weight loss/health problem once and for all!

Firstly some background.

I thought I came from a family who just had big bones. My parents were both not skinny. Their siblings also weren't skinny. And my siblings weren't skinny. My Mum dieted like a yo yo like so many women do and in our family we have a bit of an obsessive streak so there was one time I remember she was addicted to exercise and did actually get really skinny but other than that time we were all largish (but short). Anyway now I have a skinny Mum and a skinny sister and I've been skinny myself so the "big bones" argument doesn't really fly. In fact I have quite petite bones (skinny wrists) but I do still claim to have a big frame with broad shoulders and big ribs.

Anyway I grew up being probably slightly heavier than my peers and the gap grew as I got older. Looking back to my intermediate school photos now I looked completely normal but at the time I felt big. When I was 13 I decided not to weigh myself again. Ever. And I didn't for maybe 12 years. I think that was actually a great decision - one of the few good ones I made in my adolescent years. Go me! (Actually I did make other good decisions just not weight related ones).

Ok so... gulp... lets take a look at the photographic evidence.

Phase 1: Growing up (and out)

4th Form - 13 years old well my shape isn't too bad just looks like I had more boobs than others.


7th Form - 16 years old this is typically how I saw myself, not really really fat but heavy.


Uni - Around 21 years old here I'd started running, so wasn't stick skinny but a size 12-14 I think.


Phase 2: Shrinking

Then... I lost weight. By not eating very much. And running. But mostly the not eating much part - running helped but it didn't shift the weight like not eating did. It worked. But it wasn't fun. Who goes to Paris on a work trip and sits in their hotel room eating a mini pottle of baked beans and an apple for dinner instead of going out and buying a pain au chocolat? Me. That's who. Anyway more on that later.

Malta - 26 years old (You'll notice my skinny is no where near a Kate Moss skinny but skinny for me)


Greece - 26 years old


Phase 3: Ballooning

Ah I got pregnant. Remember how I didn't eat anything much in phase 2. Well you can't do that when you're pregnant. Not fair on bubby. So I started eating again. I didn't go nuts, but close to - suddenly I had an excuse to indulge myself in all those things I'd been denying myself for years, and not surprisingly I piled on the weight. I'd put on the same amount of weight in the first trimester that was recommended I gain the entire pregnancy.

Around 8 months - 27 years old


Around 8 months - 27 years old (this shows the first photo is just a pretty bad photo - but still it was a photo of me and the camera don't lie!).


Phase 4: ???

What do I looked like now I hear you ask? Ah well I conveniently don't have any photos ready today but I'll get onto that. Where to from here? That's what I plan to write about.

My goal: is to be able to eat whatever I want and be happy with the way I look.

I know I can do this and I'm going to concentrate on two areas:

1) Changing my attitude towards food so that what I WANT to eat is a healthy balanced diet
2) Changing my body image perception issues so I'm happier with a broader range of shapes and sizes for myself

Stay tuned!