My Love Of Food & Absolutely Not Dieting!

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‘Diet’ has always been a dirty word for me, growing up I have always loved food and always enjoyed my food. I have never dieted and I never will! Although I have never looked ‘overweight’, my actual BMI has always been over the recommended and once I had Mia I have found that I’m the heaviest I have ever been. I have problems sleeping and with my nose which means at night I can’t breathe very well and I end up keeping poor Mario up at least 3 nights a week. After having Mia I decided to do something about it and ended up at the Queens Medical Centre doing sleep tests and finding out the reasons for my problems. One of the main causes I find when I look up breathing problems and speak to specialists, is weight and since my BMI classes me as ‘obese’ this is always the first thing that is pointed out. My love of food!

About 6 weeks ago, I came down with a sickness bug that hit my body hard, it took me 2 weeks to get over and I ended up losing 6lbs just by simply not being able to eat much. This scared me and so I decided that once I felt completely better, I would start tracking the food that I consumed each day and see where I could make a change. I looked to google to give me an insight into managing my weight and as someone who has never dieted; there was a ton of information. I initially looked at paying for membership to companies that help you with portion sizes and make life easier for you but I quickly decided that as a (fairly!) intelligent person, I could do it all myself for free and so I settled on the NHS losing weight website. It has plenty of information about managing weight; from how many calories I should be consuming a day, to great little podcasts that aim to get your fitter and running 5k in 12 weeks.

Although I don’t follow the NHS exercise plan exactly, if I want a quick 30 minute workout, I do one of the running podcasts as they are easy to do and follow. I also found that I needed to track how much water I’m drinking and I decided to also track how much fibre I’m eating. A great piece of advice I read on the website was to wait 20 minutes after eating something to see if I’m still hungry instead of going straight for more food….and it works! I have also been using a fitness tracker for the last few years (FitBit Review Here) which tracks my steps each day, sleep length at night, exercise, and when teamed with myfitnesspal (My Fitness Pal), my daily calorie intake. This is great as my every move is recorded, tracked and remaining calories calculated, all for me. I sync it all on my iPhone using the apps really easily so wherever I ‘am I can see how I’m doing. My aim is to walk 10,000 steps a day and most days I reach 8,000 just by running around after the kids!

After a few days of seriously counting my calories I realised that along with my portion sizes being massive, I was consuming far more calories a day than I ever thought I was. From then on, I have tracked all food I eat and tried to do at least 3 bits of exercise each week. I now feel confident that although I’m still eating slightly over the amount I set myself in order to lose weight, I’m in control and that control allows me to decide if I’m going to have that extra bit of dinner or a whole chocolate bar instead of a half.

Since starting to take control of my eating 5 weeks ago, I have lost 5lbs and for me that is amazing! I have never dieted, never wanted to, and never will but just by keeping track of my calories each day and being a bit more informed, I’m able to make my own choices. An important thing for me is since doing this, according to the NHS BMI rating, I’m now no longer classed as ‘obese’ but ‘overweight’ so I know I’m going the right way! I have yet to notice a difference in my sleep problems however, it is early days and if I can carry this on then I’m pretty sure that we will see a difference soon! Believe me, if I can do this, anyone can!

Update: I have been using my Fitbit and MyfitnessPal for almost another year now and I have really been successful in my challenge to lose weight. Apart from having the opportunity to try out Exante meal replacement, Jane Plan‘s diet delivery service, and Forza’s ‘Shake It Slim’, I have been ‘eating less and moving more’ and have now lost almost a stone and a half and i’m feeling great!