When I was about 22 years old, my local GP was concerned about my weight. I knew I was overweight but, from memory, I was a size 18 and looked pretty good for a 'big' girl. LOL if he could see me now!!!! I would nearly kill to be a size 18 again!!! Anyways, he felt that prescription diet pills were the answer. The type of pills that are based on amphetamines and reduce your appetite. I was on them for six weeks before I had my first appointment to check on my progress. Surprisingly, I hadn't lost any weight. He was astounded. I had been eating less as the pills had reduced my appetite, however it wasn't showing on the scales. After much discussion he accused me of lying about what I had been eating and dubiously questioned me as to whether I had been eating in my sleep. Needless to say I didn't appreciate his bedside manner and promptly found a new GP.
The scales tipped over the 100kg mark when I was about 23 years old. I was wearing a size 20 to 22. I was getting married and so I joined Weight Watchers. Like any bride to be, I wanted to look good on my wedding day and, more importantly, in my wedding photos. I lost about 14kg before I started to self sabotage. Previously, I had only ever lost up to 10kg on any diet before the self sabotage set in. Breaking that 10kg barrier was a success. I weighed 101kg (my goal had been to get under 100kg) on the day of my wedding and was wearing a size 18 wedding dress which had been taken in and altered. Despite not being a svelte size 10, I looked good and our photos were beautiful.
I was married. I had already started to self sabotage. It was fairly easy to simply stop attending the Weight Watchers meetings and stop counting points and weighing absolutely everything I put into my mouth. Naturally the weight crept back on, plus some.
After we had been married for a year or two, my weight gain started to become uncomfortable and I joined Jenny Craig. At my first consultation my ideal body weight was calculated as 53kg. At that time I weighed at least double that. I now know I would have been seriously underweight if I had ever reached 53kg. At 168cm tall, and weighing 53kg, my Body Mass Index (BMI) would be 18.8 which would just about put me in the '18' category of "you are very underweight and possibly malnourished". I'm sorry, but what the??? Even though I wasn't aware of the BMI in those days, the mere thought of being 53kg was unsettling. I was never going to be a size 10 to 12. I am big boned and built for strength, not speed! LOL! Despite my misgivings, I started their programme. I don't remember how much weight I lost but I certainly never reached 53kg LOL! Nowhere near that!!! Over time, the expense became prohibitive and I stopped buying the food and seeing my consultant. Of course I regained the weight I had lost whilst on Jenny Craig and the weight gain steadily continued.
Not long after regaining all that weight, my biological time clock started ticking over. I wanted to start our family. I knew I had Poly Cystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS), and although I didn't know it caused weight gain, I knew it would impede my chances of falling pregnant. I also knew I was an unhealthy weight to be pregnant. Where on earth was I going to buy maternity clothes? I desperately needed to lose weight and so asked my GP at that time to refer me to a nutritionist, an actual doctor who specialises in weight loss. I figured that surely they'd be able to help me. Right? Wrong. All the nutritionist did was successfully crush my already flagging spirits by telling me I "was too far gone" and that "the only thing left for me was to go on a Very Low Calorie Diet (VLCD) and replace my meals with OptiFast". At that time OptiFast only came in the form of chocolate or vanilla shakes. Crushed, I went to the chemist and purchased a $100 packet of vanilla shake sachets and a $100 packet of chocolate shake sachets. I tried the shakes, after all we had just invested $200 in them, but they were hideous in taste and texture and did nothing to satisfy my hunger. I had already been skeptical of getting by on only two flavours of shakes but had thought if they tasted okay I could at least give it a go. That wasn't to be and, sadly, many years later when we sold our home and were packing to move, I found those boxes of shakes shoved in the back of a rarely used kitchen cupboard, and lamented not only the waste of $200 but the sign of yet another failed weight loss attempt.
The above is only but a few of my experiences with pills, shakes, points and programmes. LOL I haven't even touched on the multitude of diets I tried over the years. If we gauge weight loss success by permanent, long term weight loss, I was an abject failure. However, every time I tried to lose weight, I learned something about weight loss, nutrition and exercise. Although I eventually maxed out at 155kg, all of my previous weight loss experiences had set me up with the skills and knowledge I needed to turn my life around and lose the weight healthily, and permanently.
Alz
:)
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