Peter Marshall:
Let us not be content to wait and see what will happen, but give us the determination to make the right things happen.

Dhammapada:
Just as a flower, which seems beautiful has color but no perfume, so are the fruitless words of a man who speaks them but does them not.


June 25th - 2009
Having tried numerous ways of losing weight unsuccessfully, I had given up - until I was diagnosed Type 2 diabetic (1996) and then I planned my ...

Peter Marshall:
Let us not be content to wait and see what will happen, but give us the determination to make the right things happen.

Dhammapada:
Just as a flower, which seems beautiful has color but no perfume, so are the fruitless words of a man who speaks them but does them not.


June 25th - 2009
Having tried numerous ways of losing weight unsuccessfully, I had given up - until I was diagnosed Type 2 diabetic (1996) and then I planned my own eating program that, for the past 12yrs has given me control over my sugar levels, seeing them reduce at each test, but having little or no effect on weight loss..
In 2005 I still weighed about 160kg (352lb) though at my heaviest I had been 170kg. During the next 3 ½ years I lost 15kg. This was not intentional, it was a sort of side effect of a healthier eating plan, and averaged out at 0.12kg (0.25lb) a week!!
By Christmas 2008 at 135kg, I had decided that I needed to make yet another serious attempt to lose weight. My knees were causing very restricted mobility, and publicity on the effects of obesity were all round me.
So I joined a plan that was modified low carb. I soon discovered that this particular plan was not for me – my body couldn’t handle the seriously low carbs and I felt that this particular plan was not a balanced way of eating that would be safe for many years. I didn’t lose weight on it anyway!.
I was in touch with a friend who had the same reservations and she suggested Sparkpeople.
I decided it couldn’t be worse so I checked out the web site. That was a life changing decision!! Since I joined I haven’t looked back.
It gave me the tools to plan my own eating program that was balanced, that both my husband and I enjoy, that doesn’t use special foods so is not expensive, that we can live on for ever and that I lose weight on. I was able to do this by both drawing on my previous knowledge as a teacher of Home Economics, though my nutrition knowledge was very outdated, and by reading the wealth of articles that are available on the site. Always before, I had been given diet sheets, menu plans made up by other people that I had found expensive, impracticable and had no results. This time it’s my own diet, and my responsibility!!
It is 17wks since I joined SP - 17wks of friendship and support, information and fun, the like of which I have never experienced before. I have gained so much more knowledge than before, so much more understanding of myself, my body, and my mind. For the first time I am enjoying my journey. I know there will be set backs and plateaus, but I understand that is the nature of the beast, and that I will get through them.
On SP I have lost 10kg to date, averaging out at 0.59kg a week and my weight at this moment is 125kg. I accept that this is very much a work in progress, but I have lost 45kg in total from my highest weight, which translates to a total of 21” lost all over or – 1” off waist, 10” off hips, 4” off top of arm, 3” off bust, 3” off top of thigh. It also makes it nearly half way, since I am aiming for about 70 – 75kg!!
With the support and friendship on SP I know I can get there – my motivation is at the highest level it’s ever been and I am even exercising and enjoying it!!
Already I can see many changes, the elastic waist on my jeans isn’t stretched to full extension, instead it’s a bit loose, I can sit in a chair with arms without feeling I have been poured and squashed in and can get up without the chair being stuck on my bum, and I can see ‘bat wings’ on my upper arms instead of them just being huge all round. Health wise I have higher energy and stamina levels, my sugar levels are dropping, my balance has improved and emotionally I am more stable, less inclined to ‘fly off the handle’ at the slightest provocation, more able to cope with life’s little surprises.
I am, for the first time in my life, proud of what I have lost already and looking forward to being a ‘normal’ weight, looking forward to the journey, the fun, the adventure of the weight loss, and then to the maintenance of that weight and, hopefully a lifelong association with SP and also with the many friends I have made, and hope to continue to make, along the way.

Read More About EMMABE1 (Updated September 16)

Member Comments Page (645 total):  123Next >Last >>