A tough week this week with some poor choices foodwise last Thursday/Friday.  I won’t elaborate further but I have no real excuse and I am mentally beating myself up about eating what I did. There’s a lot of worry about things what with COVID-19 and what is happening in our world.  My daughter who works with Woolworths has been the target of abuse, people coughing and sneezing on her and when I spoke to her yesterday she was in tears.  She’s 31 years old so not a teenager, but takes things to heart, and as she has asthma she worries about getting sick and losing her income.

But we all have our crosses to bear at this time and I acknowledge that. There’s people in dire straits financially and perhaps living alone so really missing contact with other people due to not being able to go anywhere.

On a more positive note thanks to the stimulus package I was able to buy some clothes for this coming winter, I got my lay buy out of K Mart yesterday and ordered some other items from Big W. Nothing flash, just some comfy clothes to wear around the house and a couple of things to wear when I venture out to do the grocery shopping.  And some books to read! Next thing is to buy some more Optifast products.   I also had the chance to get my hair redone by my hairdresser who works with a barber in a small salon in a quiet leafy street.  She opened up an hour early and any other clients were made to wait outside in her leafy courtyard. So at least my greys are now retouched and my hair trimmed which should see me through the next few months. She even let me wait until I received my stimulus money before paying her for which I was very grateful.

After my poor food choices of a few days ago it wasn’t a surprise to find that I’d only lost 100 grams this week. Still, it was a loss. I’m mentally giving myself a big kick up the rear and ticking myself off, and reminding myself of how far I’ve come and that no way am I going to go back to my old bad habits. 

So that’s it for this week.  Take care and try to remember that ‘this too shall pass’. And as the ads on TV keep saying, “We are all in this together.”

Thanks for reading!

 

Wow, what a week this has been. Our world has truly been turned on its axis. When I go grocery shopping it’s just like I’m on The Walking Dead and doing a supply run, but without the zombies.  Mind you a few of the local population could be……………………

I think it’s times like this that we all crave that extra comfort food and I’m going to confess here and now that I had some milk arrowroot biscuits one day during this week along with 3 cups of coffee. Yes I used Natvia sweetener, not sugar, but I did have low fat milk and not skim milk. There, I’ve confessed.  It was only one day, and I’m definitely back on track and determined. No COVID-19 virus is going to be the undoing of what I’ve accomplished in the past 71 weeks!

I saw my GP again during the week as I forgot to ask her about getting a flu vaccination when I last saw her a week ago, so while I was there she gave me the results of my blood tests from last week. All excellent, nothing abnormal. Vitamin levels that were checked were fine, my iron levels good, cholesterol and blood sugars normal. There’s something called the CRP levels in blood which is typically elevated when there is inflammation in the body and often obese people have a higher level of CRP apparently.  C-reactive protein (CRP) is a substance produced by the liver in response to inflammation. My doctor showed me that in October 2018 (just before I started on Optifast), my CRP was 14 which was elevated.  My most recent blood test showed a reading of 3 which obviously is a lot better than 14.  So there’s no reason why I can’t continue being on intensive as I’m doing well and my body is coping well.

I also saw the exercise physiologist for the first time and she’s given me quite a few different exercises to strengthen my legs as even though I no longer need a walking stick or wheely walker I still sometimes get a bit wobbly and climbing steps without a handrail is very difficult as I need that support. So I have to work on those exercises over the next month or so before I see her again.

Weighing in this morning  was interesting.  It showed quite a pattern for this month with 500 grams one week, then 600 grams, then 700 grams and today a loss of 800 grams.  So while the monthly loss was only 2.6 kilograms the total loss for the first three months of this year is 12.8 kilograms which is a really good number.  So I continue to be pleased with my progress.

 

That’s about it for this week. Please be careful and stay home if at all possible. There’s far too many people dying from this horrible virus. Thank you for reading.

 

Wow, the world has gone crazy in the past few weeks and our lives have practically been turned upside down thanks to COVID-19.  Near riots in supermarkets, the battle to even obtain the essentials such as toilet paper etc, people losing their jobs, businesses facing a huge loss of dollars and it’s only going to get worse I fear.

I know that being on a diet is going to be difficult as the supermarket shelves are bare and frozen vegetables (when you can find them in supermarket freezers) are limited to 2 bags.  Even fresh vegetables have been hard to find in my local supermarket and what’s there is pretty sad looking and expensive.  I was also thinking that because Optifast is made in Germany and with international flights being cut left, right and centre, that it could be difficult keeping stocked with shakes. So I borrowed some money from my son and ordered 6 boxes last week.

I saw my doctor yesterday for my usual 11 week check up and to have bloods taken for testing. She was really thrilled with the amount of weight I’ve now lost, a huge smile on her face as she congratulated me. She went over the results of my last blood test on January 3rd and everything was perfectly  normal which was great news considering I’ve been on intensive for so long and I’m no longer a spring chicken.  My blood pressure was good as well.  I asked her about seeing an exercise physiologist and she has given me a care plan for 3 free visits to see one.  I’ve already made my first appointment for next Tuesday afternoon. Looking forward to seeing some improvement and confidence in my walking. While I no longer need a stick, I’m still a bit ‘wobbly’ on occasion and I don’t like going down any sloping surfaces such as our driveway.

Weighing in this morning to find another loss, 700 grams this week. Again, not a big drop, but still a drop. As long as the numbers keep going down I’m happy.

That’s about it for this week.  This must be my shortest ever blog entry, lol.

Take care everyone, try to stay sane amidst all of the chaos going on in the world around us right now, and be kind to each other.  People are just going crazy and treating supermarket staff like crap, abusing them, not just verbally but sometimes physically.  It’s just so wrong, and sadly a lot of the abusers are people my age or older. Things are difficult now but we have to be mindful of other people.  So keep calm.  And above all, wash your hands and self isolate if you can!!

Here I am at the 16 month mark and still hanging in there. Who would have ‘thunk’ it as they say? Certainly not me.  Not with my track record of diet failures over the decades.

It was my birthday last Sunday and a few people commented on my Facebook page that I should treat myself to some birthday cake because I deserved it. However as I told them, I’d already had my ‘day off’ Optifast about 10 days prior and even though it was my birthday I wasn’t going to cheat again so soon. Maybe I did cheat with some extra roast beef with my salad that night, but that’s about the extent of it. I had a quiet day, just relaxing at home, having my shakes and my salad etc at night. Yes it would have been nice to go and celebrate with a meal somewhere, but it wasn’t going to happen.

I did lay buy a couple of clothing items today, nothing fancy, just a couple of winter tops and a pair of pants. To be able to buy clothing from a regular store instead of having them made especially or buying from the likes of Dale and Waters was a buzz. They were still a big size, 22, but a heck of a lot better than size 34 plus which I had been wearing. I’ll also look in a couple of op shops for track suit pants to wear around the house, the ones I was wearing last winter are swimming on me.

Weighing in today saw a loss of 600 grams. I would have loved to have lost more, but it’s still a decent loss, and just over a tub of butters worth of fat. My dietician says that a ideal loss is from half a kilo to a kilo a week. And it now makes me 102.2 kilograms lighter than I was at the start.

Next Wednesday morning I’m off to see my doctor for my usual 11 week check up to update her on my progress and have blood tests etc done. I’m looking forward to seeing her next Wednesday and telling her how much weight I’ve now lost.  I see her every 11 weeks because of being on intensive for so long, and just to make sure that everything is working as it should as far as liver and kidneys etc go, and that I’m not lacking in anything.  At this stage my plan is to remain on intensive until I get to a weight of approx 100 kilograms and then I will probably try the Active 2 program of Optifast.  This picture explains Active 2 in a nutshell.

That’s it for another week. I hope those reading are surviving the great toilet paper shortage that started here in Australia last week and has now spread to other countries. I also hope nobody reading this gets the dreaded COVID-19 virus. It’s certainly a worry with the speed that it’s spreading and in a way I’m glad that I’m at home pretty much most of the time, not going to crowded public places as a rule. Doing grocery shopping at 7am is a bonus in that regard, hardly anyone around.  Take care all, and thanks for reading my ramblings again.

 

 

Well I certainly enjoyed my ‘day off’ Optifast last week.  To be able to have a bread roll with cheese for lunch was a nice change from shakes. And I did enjoy what I had for dinner etc, but won’t go into it all because it might be a ‘trigger’ for anyone reading who is trying to stick to the program.  It was odd not having the shakes and to be honest I sort of missed having them which sounds really strange I know. When I had a hot coffee I was thinking how nice my coffee shake usually was. I still enjoyed my coffee, but I guess it shows how much I’ve become used to the Optifast shakes. And I guess after almost 16 months now, it’s good that I still enjoy them.  I was straight back on track again on Friday though.

People often ask me how I can stay on Optifast for so long without going stir crazy and I guess my response is because I like the results, and the improved health etc that goes with losing just over 101 kilograms. It’s not always easy but I do get a buzz when I get on the scales and see that I’ve lost weight. Right now I have a bag full of stuff like Tim Tams of different flavours, chocolate and other Aussie treats in the fridge/pantry that I’m sending to a friend of mine in Florida as a thank you for her help with paying for our Golden Retrievers hospital bill when he had tick poisoning a few weeks ago. If I was to take myself back a few years to when I’d been on other diets those goodies I have stored here would be calling my name and I’d be opening a pack and scoffing the lot down without hesitation. Nowadays, even though I know they are there and that I’d really like to indulge in some of that chocolatey deliciousness I can just ignore them. Next week they’ll be sent off to Nora and out of the house, but for now they can stay in their bag and I’ll just pretend they aren’t there.

It’s my birthday on Sunday (62 years old, gasp!!), and my partner has bought me a very practical gift. This little gizmo pictured below has been used by me nearly every day now for the last 10 months or so. It’s starting to sound a bit ‘clunky’, the digital read out no longer works and the tension wheel doesn’t stay set properly. So Paul has bought me a replacement one which should be arriving in the next few days.

I’ve decided that I’m going to split my 5 free visits to Allied Health professionals a bit. I’ll keep 3 for my dietician because I only see her every 3 months now anyway, and try to get 2 to cover me to see an exercise physiologist. While I’m fine walking around the house and shopping is no problem because I have the trolley to hang onto, when I have to walk any distance without anything to use as support I get a bit wobbly and even resort to walking with my feet wider apart, like cowboy who has been sitting on a horse for too long. If there’s any kind of slope or stairs even, where there’s no support rail or anything like that, then I just avoid them as I don’t feel ‘safe’.  My dietician actually was the one who suggested consulting with an exercise physiologist, even just a couple of visits might help, she might recommend certain exercises that I can do at home.  I think that years of inactivity have not helped, and even though I’ve lost a heap of weight and I’m more mobile now than I have been for years, it’s that lack of activity over a long period of time that has affected my confidence and leg strength.

After having my day of indulgence last week I didn’t think I’d have a huge weight loss this week and I was right. I don’t weigh myself the day after a day off, mainly because I don’t want to see any ‘damage’ caused, but getting back on track again I think helps. So I was happy to see a loss of 500 grams. Not a big number, but as one lady on the support page puts it: “That’s a tub of butter!”  A loss is a loss after all.

So endeth another week. Thanks for reading!

 

 

I truly have been blessed by so many people doing kind things for me since I started on Optifast. I’ve had a grocery shop done for me and delivered, I’ve had clothes sent to me so that when my ‘tent’ dresses began to swim on me I’d have some clothes to wear, when I bought shakes off a lady she threw in an extra box for me and even Optifast sent me out some shakes when I’d lost 80 kilos.

Last week, after having lost 100 kilos someone asked me what I might reward myself with and I mentioned that I wanted to buy a pair of sandals with a good non slip sole so that I could go out and not have to wear socks and joggers when it’s boiling hot outside with humidity through the roof. What a shock I had when one lady in the support group I belong to on Facebook said that she had a brand new pair of Merrell brand sandals that she wanted to give to me as she’d ordered the wrong size and couldn’t be bothered returning them and they had sat in her wardrobe for ages.  It so happened that they were in my size which was amazing because I have big feet, size 11 which is a US size 9.  She posted them to me and they were a perfect fit and very comfortable to wear. I wore them today when I did the grocery shopping and visited the dietician and they were supportive and so much better than wearing joggers.  I was blown away by this woman’s generosity as they are not cheap shoes. She refused payment, even refused me paying postage costs. I was truly touched.  Here’s my big feet wearing them. Yes I have a odd looking right big toe, I had so many ingrown toenails that the nail bed was removed years ago.

Because I post such a lot on the Optifast website forum pages I’ve come to ‘know’ (by email) one of the dieticians there and I emailed her last week to let her know that I’d reached my 100kg milestone. I received an email back from her, expressing her delight and another email from one of the other dieticians who said that as a token of the best wishes of the Optifast support team they were sending me out some Optifast shakes. Now they are not cheap products to buy, so to have some gifted to me like that is amazing, and humbling. If that isn’t extra incentive to stay on track and get to my goal, then nothing is. Knowing that I have so much support out there, not just from my family and friends, but other people and from Optifast staff themselves , is mind boggling, and touching.

Today I visited my dietician and she was thrilled with my progress so far. She’d received the results of my last blood test (in early January) and said that everything was fine, all my vitamin levels, iron etc were all within normal limits which was good to hear.  She gives me ‘homework’ each time, usually devising some kind of meal plan with sample meals/menus for when I come off the intensive phase of Optifast and progress to eating ‘real’ food, being allowed extra dairy eg cheese/more milk and fruit etc.  We then go over what I’ve come up with together and she makes suggestions if I’ve missed some food group or not had enough in a day. Simple things like I don’t like drinking plain milk yet I had to have so much dairy product per day. I don’t like yogurt or soft cheeses either, and so on my daily plan was not having enough dairy which of course has protein and calcium which the body needs. I completely overlooked the fact that I could have a ‘milkshake’ using my allowed milk allowance and adding some strawberries or half a banana. Little things like that.  She’s a great resource person and now I only need see her every 2/3 months, but she’s readily available for any questions via email which is good. For now though, I am still on the intensive level and happy with that.

Weigh in today was good, not a big loss, 900 grams this week, but I’ve had a few weeks of losing more than a kilo so I knew a smaller loss was coming my way. Still, it’s a loss and I’m still happy with that. Another another good loss for the month too.

I decided to have my ‘day off’ Optifast today instead of next week. I was just hanging out for a real cappuccino and some raisin toast at the cafe outside our Woolworths supermarket, so today was the day! It was delicious. I won’t go into what else I’ve had in case it’s a trigger for someone who might be reading this, but I’m enjoying my ‘day off’ and will be having a nice dinner tonight. But, it’s strictly back on track again tomorrow and no more days off for another 3 months or so. I know some people can remain strict to the program, but this is working for me, and I know now that I only need that one day off, that I’m not going to fall apart and go completely off track for the rest of the week. Plus it gives me something to look forward to when I do crave something. I just remind myself that on that ‘day off’ I can have whatever it is I want.  And after 15 and a half months I’m confident in doing this.

That’s it for this week. Thank you again for reading!

I had a good week again, and even did some extra housework in the form of vacuuming and mopping to burn off more calories. I generally do that twice a week anyway but this week I did it on my usual Saturday, and also on Monday as well as yesterday (Wednesday). Worked up a bit of a sweat too as it was hot and humid up here in Brisbane.  Plus I did my usual pedaling away on my little pedal machine, pushing myself to do it for a little bit longer each time.

It certainly paid off for me as when I weighed in this morning I found that I’d lost another 1.2 kilograms this week bringing my total weight loss so far to………………………..

……….100.2kgs!!

I am so happy and proud of myself for sticking this out to get to this huge milestone! Of course I know that I still have a way to go, but when I see my weight to goal is now 49.1 kilograms that is one heck of a lot better than the number of 149.3 kilos that faced me at the start of my journey. I look back at my starting weight and BMI and shudder now.  Yes, my BMI is still high, but you have to agree that a BMI of 52.1 is a lot better than 92.5!

People have asked what I plan to buy myself to celebrate this milestone. Well I would like a new pair of summer sandals so I’m not wearing my joggers all the time. Sandals with a decent tread on them so I don’t feel like I’m going to slip on smooth, polished floors. And with winter coming up I do need some new clobber to wear, nothing fancy, just a pair of long pants and top for when I’m going out, and some fleecy track pants/tops to wear around the house when it’s cold out. All my pre Optifast clothes for winter are now miles too big, swimming on me in fact. A couple of winter nighties are also on my wish list.  So once the winter clothing items hit the shops it might be time to do a lay buy on what I need. Nothing fancy or expensive, just something to do me over winter this year.  With my partner just starting a new job with a different courier company and still chasing up money owed from the last company he worked with, finances are a tad tight for a few weeks. Still, as long as I have enough Optifast and veges to keep going I’m happy. Mind you I am looking forward to my day ‘off’ on March the 5th.  I’ve already decided I’m going to have a cappuccino and something nice for breakfast on that day at the Gloria Jeans coffee shop just in the complex where I do our weekly shopping. I’m looking forward to that.

I see my dietician next Thursday morning and my doctor on the 18th of March and I’m looking forward to telling them of my progress.

That’s it for this week. This must be the shortest entry I’ve made in my blog so far.

As always, thank you so much for your continued support and encouragement!

 

 

I can’t quite believe that it’s now been 15 months since I consumed my first Optifast shake. If you had told me back then that in February 2020 I would still be on Opti and apart from 6 ‘days off’, still sticking to the program and continuing to lose weight…………well I would have told you you were dreaming! Even though I knew that I had to lose the weight in order to avoid an early grave it’s always been difficult for me to resist the junk food that I love so much and what brought me to the point where my life was at stake.  As I’ve often said, I have tried so many diets throughout my adult life and invariably having one day ‘off’ led me to completely not just falling off the wagon but being stuck in a pile of quicksand unable to move further while the wagon headed off into the wide blue yonder.  Very few times was I able to just jump back on it again before the wagon disappeared from view.

Exactly why I am more focused this time around I don’t know. Perhaps it’s the thought of ending up as a news headline ‘Fire Department called in to rescue morbidly obese woman trapped in shower after falling, heavy duty equipment required. More on news at 6!” Or ending up dependent on others to help me with showering and toileting. Or ending up in hospital and being told that due to my weight and high risk that they can’t do the surgery/test that is needed to save my life. Because to be quite frank, that’s where I was headed.  Having to have my toenails cut for me, my socks and shoes put on/laced up was close to ending up needing complete care.  And being the caring, loving man my partner is, he would have done that for me regardless. I however, did not want to go down that road.  So this time I have persevered, eaten my veges, drunk my shakes, snacked on things that I could eat without ending up out of control and eating till I was fit to bust.  And to be able to continue to buy food that I used to crave (and eat) for my partner and be able to ignore their presence in the house is testament to my newfound strength.  I no longer make excuses to cancel appointments with my dietician because I’ve cheated so much that I’ve gained kilos and kilos since seeing her last. This time I go in with a big smile on my face and my first words after saying Hello are, “Well I’ve now lost XX kilos and now weight XX. That’s X amount since I saw you last!” I feel pride in myself when I look into the mirror and no longer see that big round moon face with multiple chins. I know that even though I still have a big stomach and it overhangs, it is nowhere near as big as it used to be, that I can comfortably sit behind the steering wheel again, with room to spare.  I no longer cringe if I see a seat with arms on it. Before I’d avoid those seats simply because I couldn’t fit in them at all, or fit comfortably. Now I just plonk myself down and don’t have issues like the arms of the seat cutting into me and my legs going numb if I sit for too long.

If I see my reflection in a shop mirror, yes I still see an overweight mature woman, but I see a woman no longer wearing tent dresses that are a poor attempt at hiding my huge body.  I see a woman no longer avoiding  people and avoiding looking directly at them if they engage me in conversation. The old me would have made a brief response, while not really looking directly at them because I felt so self conscious.  I used to hate sitting in the doctors waiting room, being the focus of attention from very young children. I lived in fear that they’d innocently ask their mum in a loud voice, “Why is that lady so fat mummy?” or just stare at me. So I’d sit there, my head hanging down, just wishing the doctor would call my name so I could escape their gaze. All those things were a part of my life before Optifast.  Those are the things that I have put behind me.  And I’m bloody well going to get to my goal weight because I have had so much support and  have been the recipient of other peoples generosity in many ways.  I keep thinking that I’m not only doing this for me, but for them as well.  When I’m told that I’m an inspiration I tend to brush compliments like that aside, it’s still hard for me to see myself in that light. Yet I see others who have inspired me and they have stuck to the program and reached their goals and I’m sure that perhaps they too found it difficult to accept the praise and compliments from others as they progressed with their weight loss.

I make sure that on a Wednesday I do a thorough vacuuming of the house and mopping, I keep thinking that the physical effort of doing all that is burning up calories and hopefully resulting in a loss on the scales on a Thursday morning. And so far it’s working. This mornings weigh in showed another 1.5 kilogram loss, bringing my total weight loss now to 99 kilograms.  I’m pretty confident now that by my birthday on March 8th I will be at least 100 kilograms lighter, a HUGE milestone for me and a huge milestone by anyone’s standards. I see my dietician again on the 27th of February and would love to be able to tell her that my total weight loss was 100 kilos.   And when I next see my GP around mid March I just know that she will be over the moon with my progress.

My partner is now working 4 days a week, Mondays and Tuesdays with Wednesdays off, and then working Thursday and Friday. 15 months ago he couldn’t have done that as Thursdays were our shopping day and he’d trot off to the supermarket, list in hand, do the shopping, load up the car, drive home, unload it all and unpack it all.  Friday’s he’d do housework and drive me to the doctor if I had an appointment. He’d also have to fit in a trip to the chemist every fortnight as well.  Simply because I was unable to do any of that myself. Now I do the shopping and unpack it all and have it all done by 9am. (I get to the supermarket early to get a good parking spot and avoid queues and so I’m heading home by 8.15am usually.)  Such a simple thing that most people take for granted. So thank you all for being there for me, you know who you are. 

    

 

Thank goodness this week was a better one than last week. Ollie the Golden Retriever has made a fantastic recovery from his tick poisoning and is back to his usual cheeky, happy self, jumping on and off the furniture and playing with his toys. Despite looking sadly at Paul at his usual ‘walkies’ time, there’s no walks yet for him, another couple more weeks of rest at home. Still, there’s always a car ride to make him happy.  Last Friday Paul and I had our hair cut at the salon/barber that my hairdresser now works at. She used to come to cut my hair etc at home, but now that I’m more mobile we decided to visit her salon. She even invited Ollie along for a visit, and he had a big fuss made over him by her when we arrived, then sat quietly on the floor while we were getting our hair cut.  I’ve never known a salon that invited dogs inside before, but Jess had cleared it with her boss and he made a fuss over Ollie too. Being in a quiet location with very little through traffic makes things like that possible I guess.

My son has now moved back home after discharging from the Army and it’s like he never left. His bigger furniture items were delivered last Tuesday and his room is looking good.  Thankfully I was able to help him with things like moving his old bed out so he could have his newer one in, and help him with assembling the bed base. Something that I wouldn’t have been able to do when I was at my heaviest.  It’s good having him back at home again, the furbabies are certainly getting a lot of extra attention too.

Another good week for me on the scales, a loss of 1.5 kilograms. I honestly didn’t think I would have another good loss after losing 1.8kg last week, but it was definitely a pleasant surprise. Getting even closer now to my 100 kilogram milestone.

After 64 weeks of my weight loss journey I’ve noticed that a lot of people both on the support group I’m in and on the Optifast website forum can have unrealistic expectations on weight loss, and I found a weight loss blog that discussed this very topic.  Some things I thought relevant are:

• They have unrealistic expectations. They want to lose big numbers each week and when it doesn’t happen, they give up out of disappointment and frustration.  Or they see other people losing more than they are and get depressed.  Or they weigh every single day and stress if they have a gain of a few hundred grams when they’ve been sticking to the program. The solution? Set a realistic goal. Then weigh in once a week and appreciate every time those scales move in the right direction. Not everyone can lose more than a kilo a week. I’ve had a few weeks where my loss has only been a few hundred grams, even when my weight was over 150 kilograms. Count every loss as a win! Don’t compare yourself to others.
• They think they have to starve themselves to lose weight. Even on Optifast intensive you don’t have to starve. There’s heaps of intensive friendly meal ideas, things to snack on which don’t pile on the kilos. Okay, things like chocolate, biscuits and junk food in general aren’t allowed, but there are other options. Losing weight is about learning to eat more healthy foods and while indulging in high calorie goodies might be satisfying in the short term, the guilt and possible affect on weight loss sometimes isn’t worth it.
• They forget why they started. Somewhere along the way they start to obsess about all the things they’re missing out on by being on a weight loss plan.
  The solution? Get clear on all the things you’ll gain by losing weight – more energy, less joint pain and feeling good about yourself and all you achieve.  So that when you’re faced with tempting food it’s easier to say “no thank you, that doesn’t support the healthy me.” And on a side note – forget doing this for anyone but you, ‘Because my doctor said so’ is only going to keep you motivated for so long.
• They feel unsupported and alone. Trying to get family and friends on board can be a battle and when they become battle weary, they give up because it’s too hard.  Or sometimes they might try to sabotage you by saying “Oh go on, just have a little piece, it won’t hurt.” Or make you feel guilty because, “Oh I spent ages cooking this for you, it’s your favourite and now you don’t want it??”
  Solution? Surround yourself with people who will support you on your journey, on the good days and the bad days, without judgement. This is one of the things that I appreciate so much about the Optifast support group on Facebook.  There’s always people who are there with a word of encouragement on a bad day and to celebrate your wins with you. And of course I have the support of people who read my blog.
  

I had my photo taken last week after my trip to the hair dresser.  I still have a big tummy and flabby upper arms, but when I compare the new photo to one of me at my heaviest, at over 220 kilos, I know which photo looks better!  (and I do look happier in the recent photo.)

Thank you again for reading and supporting me. It means so much!