No reply on other thread so moved it here!!!

[Jubbly]

This is my journey since 2006 in brief. I only put this on here as I'd like to hear other people's journeys in the last 5 years as well and see how we all compare.

In 2006 I started CD in summer aged 26 and 12st7lbs. I lost about 3 and a half stone in 4 months although started going a little crazy and actually got down at one point to 8st7lbs!!!

Over the course of the next 4 years I accepted a little weight gain but then it started gradually coming back on. I can't say for certain how long it took - I know I still looked hot on my 29th if the photos are to be believed but by my 30th I was huge (in between this time had met my boyfriend - I blame him!!). I guess I just kept accepting a bit more weight gain, then a bit more, then, well we know the rest...

Back I went in April 2010 to my CDC. I was 11st4lbs so was still 1st3lbs less than when I started but my BMI was just over 26 but I felt/looked absolutely massive. I was just so disappointed in myself that I had let it get this bad - that I had entered my 30s in the way I spent most of my life in my late teens/20s. I tried again but was really bad the second time and didn't stick to it at all, despite being really rigid the first time. I didn't quite get to target weight and then pretty much didn't follow a maintenance plan at all

Now I've found it's inevitably slipping back on and I'm re-considering which diet to do next. I can't even describe the disappointment that you have for yourself when you keep doing this to yourself. I was so determined to be in the small percent of people that keep it off and I was suceeding for a bit. I know "yo-yo" dieting is so bad for you and I know that I was so much happier when I was thinner but I can't stop eating. Today I've had so much crap food it's embarrassing. And I wanted to be slim and healthy as I got older.

Anyone else recognise this? It's not just hating myself for being fat but hating myself for losing all that weight and doing so well and being so proud and then letting it go back on.

I sound like I'm having a bit of a pity party now and I didn't mean to go on. I just want to know - all those people reading this that started a diet in 2006 and suceeded then, how are they doing now and since then?

Thanks Clare

 

[Jubbly]

Thanks Mari78. I'm guessing my mind is not in a good place at the moment due to a lot of other stuff going on and this is why I am binge eating. I'm finding it hard to embrace myself currently and food makes me feel better I know if I start a diet now then I will throw myself into it 100% but it's the maintenance when stuff starts going wrong in your life that's tough. The thing is, I think I eat a lot when I'm happy as well so can't win either way!!!! x

 

[Lynn_]

Thinking back, I probably started my first diet in 1970 when i was 15 and wanted to be thin. Looking at an old photo of myself then, I was thin, my god i was thin, but i didnt think so at the time. It was the hey day of Twiggy and suddenly thin was in.

If i knew then what I know now, I would have run a mile from anything diet related. What I have learned over the past 40 years is that dieting makes you fat. Once you get on that particular merry go round there is no getting off. Dieting is not the answer, it is the problem. If you force your body to lose weight, unless you totally change your whole lifestyle from that point on you WILL regain it, plus more.

So 40 years later Ive been as heavy as 18 and half stone at various points, and as low as 10.6 which is what I am today. In the process Ive had gall stones and made myself type 2 diabetic, all due to the constant yo yo dieting, and the overall weight gains.

I would beg any young person to think twice about dieting. If you are a size 14 or less, stick with it. Dont diet, but do make healthier choices. Let nature take its course, dont try to make yourself thin. If you keep active and make positive choices when it comes to food and alchohol then your body will settle at a healthy weight for you.

Of course I know this will fall on deaf ears, because I wouldnt have taken any notice or believed it myself back then. I would have wanted the quick fix at any cost, and the cost has been pretty high.