How I could possibly be considered obese was beyond me, but then I had been tucking into the chocolates and fizzy drinks over the Christmas period and was snacking on several biscuits a day while in my office at work.
Now I know its true that few people would call me a fatty, but for years I was around 10.5 stone, even before I went travelling, yet recently my trousers have been too tight to put on and it wasn't that they had shrunk in the wash.
I still walk to and from Victoria train station and my works office in Bond Street most days, so it was not that, thus I knew that something else has to be done.
So, a complete overhall was needed.
Firstly, for general health if nothing else, I started taking daily multivitamin tablets, as I had heard that when people try a diet their forget about the basics that a body needs on a daily basis and so fall ill and end up back where they started.
Secondly, despite there still being several bars of chocolates and packets of biscuits just lying around the place waiting to get eaten, I put them all in a tin and stuck them on a shelf - instead of thinking 'oh, I will start the diet just as soon as I have finished them!'.
All my fizzy drinks I switched for their zero or diet equivalent, which was a bit more expensive as not that many places stock Dr Pepper Zero, but as I like at least one can a day this wasn't really a choice but a requirement.
I bought ultra skimmed milk for home and bought two jars of candarel sugar substitute - one for home and one for the office - as I am also used to having about 6 cups of tea per day and with fatty milk and 2 sugars in each cup, it soon mounts up and eats into my daily allowance of both.
I threw out my chocolate spread, replaced my spreads/jams and margarine for fat/suger low substitutes and increased the amount of vegetables and fruit that I normally bought.
I drew up a detailed excel spreadsheet showing the complete nutritional breakdown of all my daily food and drinks, and studied it to work what was actually high fat or high sugar.
Having calculated what was a true low figure actually was, ( as opposed to being considered low only when compared to a non diet equivalent of the same item ) I was able to figure out what I could eat a little of, what I could eat a lot of and what I was going to have to cut out of my regular weekly diet completely.
I was surprised that some things were extremely high in one or the other, even in items branded as 'healthy' or 'diet' - and also pleasantly surprised that by substituting for alternative brands my grocery bills did not go up by that much.
So now, the specific calories/fat/sugar count I consume on a daily basis has dropped through the floor ( e.g. around 1250 calories compared to the 2000 as suggested for a normal adult or the 2750 that was actually what I was consuming pre-diet ) but you would never know it from just looking at the food I am still able to eat.
I still take a small packed lunch to work along with a can of drink, a yoghurt and a packet of crisps, but they are all slightly different from normal, ( e.g. instead of fatty potato crisps they might be of corn, wheat or rice.)
I was not expecting any overnight results, and in fact I didn't even bother to weigh myself for the first week as I wanted to give my body a chance to adjust and use up the fats / sugars already in my system before I even began to try and chart my progress.
As it is still winter over here, it is far too cold for me to do much running and a monthly gym membership is one expense too many, but at the moment I am losing 1 lb per day and not feeling any negative side affects.
In fact I feel fine and have discovered a whole range of foods I never thought to try before. True, some stuff tastes a little bland and I miss not eating cheese more than anything else, but so far so good.
I also am a non smoker and only a weekend alcohol drinker at best, so giving up a couple of cans of cider on a Friday night have not really been much of a hardship.
I did read up about a reverse diet that seemed to make some sense, ( reverse as in a big breakfast and a small dinner ) but as I already get up ridiculously early in the mornings I did not feel that I would be able to incorporate this into my daily routine without going to bed at 10pm!
Day 8 - weight 189 lbs
Day 11 - weight 186 lbs
I plan on keeping this up until I am able to start doing a fraction more exercise in the summer and once I am back to around 11 stone I will see if I want to get any slimmer and/or maybe think about reintroducing a few medium to high fatty / sugary treats once a week to see how it affects my weight then.
