This article was written for Annabel & Grace, which is now part of Rest Less.
It’s now ten months since I started at Fat Club, or to be more precise Slimming World. I’ve actually mastered the idea of losing weight, although it did take a while. Oh no, I haven’t suddenly shed an amazing two stone, like my daughter Heather or good friend Sharon, but I did eventually become the proud owner of a one stone award back in April. (I knew the fatigue of lambing would have some good points.) What I have achieved is a wonderful repertoire of recipes that are easy to make and delicious and would surprise anyone at the lack of calories involved.
My steady weight loss hasn’t been perfect. I’ve put on weight as well as lost pounds, and often wonder why I’m paying for someone to tell me I’ve put weight on – something I already know from standing on my own scales. But I do know that the weekly weigh in stops me in my tracks from putting back the stone I’ve already lost, and rarely do I put on more than a couple of pounds, which generally come off the next week. Even after three days at Devon show, where I indulged in Cornish pasties and Devon cream teas, I had only put on one pound. I can only think that a morning of showing sheep and walking the entire showground several times balanced out the food intake.
Part of the fun is our car trip to the meeting, where we laugh about the struggles we’ve had all week and our return journey when we’re elated at weight loss or determined the increase won’t happen again. It’s amazing how such a small thing can boost and cause such amusement, and laughter is so good for the soul.
Another thing that has always impressed me is that once you set a target weight, and this must be one to suit your individual needs, achievement of this and later variations of just 3 lbs either way allow access to the meetings to be free, and there are many at our meetings who are at target, or around, and who agree this keeps them at the right weight.
This was why I was amazed when one woman told us that when she visited the doctors for blood tests, (as she has high blood pressure and is overweight) she’d been told by the nurse the Slimming World way of eating was not recommended now, and she should go on a keto diet. The lady in question proudly pointed out she had lost over three stone at Slimming World and had changed her eating habits drastically without them affecting her lifestyle and had no thoughts of changing.
A keto diet involves eating no carbohydrates. How on earth can that be sustained? Maybe it helps really overweight people to lose the first few stone, but it certainly cannot be an educated lifestyle. The wonderful thing with Slimming World is that you can eat a little of anything. Fattening items carry a certain number of “syns” and each person has a daily limit of syns to keep them on track.
Some members know exactly how many syns they’ve had and if they exceed their limit will stick to ‘free food’’ – healthy items that can be eaten without causing weight increase – for the next two days and often still lose that week. I’m nowhere near as organised as that, considering I probably use all my syns every day but, by using common sense, I do stick to a healthier diet that still allows me to indulge in a glass of wine and a handful of crisps or a chocolate.
It isn’t a diet, but a way of life, and luckily one that suits me. I know what I should and shouldn’t eat, and with a fairly energetic life farming I rarely have a day when I walk less than 10,000 steps, although I don’t bother to count them. Some do and gain awards for these achievements. That suits them, which only highlights how flexible Slimming World is.
It will probably take me the full year to lose the 1.5 stone I need to. At my age no one wants to look scrawny, but I intend to keep around that weight as I feel far more energetic and healthier than carrying that excess. I really don’t think I could keep to a no carb diet though, but each to their own.
Did you see Grace’s post on this sticky subject?!
If you have any thoughts on dieting / losing weight, we’d love to hear from you in the Comments section below…