This week has been harder due to a combination of things, eating out a couple of times which I find really difficult to make healthy choices, wine and struggling to exercise.
The whole point of my weight loss attempt is to improve my chances of holding off hernia surgery. Since my last operation to create my permanent ostomy I have developed 2 hernias but I just can’t deal with the thought of more operations right now and so I thought losing a bit of chunk and getting fitter would help.
So this week I lost a grand total of 0 pounds. Honestly, I am a little gutted, but I know why this is. I have eaten out at an Italian and been to a wedding this week. When I am in the house, I am finding it easy to eat well and healthily, but out and about I really struggle!
I think the main issue this week is that I only managed my 10,000 steps on three out of the seven days. I have struggled because my hernias are achy and sore, I am wearing support underwear and an ostomy hernia belt but it has been difficult. I have also felt very tired this week, I am not sleeping very well, I wake 3-6 times a night to empty my bag and so I wake in the morning feeling exhausted. This makes it hard to have the will power to get out walking.
I did manage this twice, but I want to be walking every day… I filmed one of my walks early in the week…
So this week, my aims are to walk every day and get to 10,000 steps. It is my birthday this week, so I have the feeling I may go over calories a couple of times.
I am not stressing too much about it, I know I am making positive and healthy changes to my diet and exercise, if I lose weight then that is a bonus, but mainly I want to be fitter and have a stronger core to help with these flipping hernias.
So after my news last week that I now have two hernias, I decided to try and lose some weight. I am adamant that I do not want surgery until it is absolutely necessary and so I spoke to my doctor about the benefits of me losing weight and we agreed that it would really help with the hernias. Thus begins Operation No Operations!
I looked at groups such as Slimming World and Weight Watchers and though I know that they are great for some people, I thought they weren’t for me for a couple of reasons. One is that I don’t want to go to classes and two is that my medical history scares the bejesus out of most people and I wasn’t sure as to whether they would understand. On a side note, if you are interested in Slimming World, take a look at the very lovely Wit Wit Woo and her 5 month weight loss journey.
I bought myself a fitbit that tracks my steps, heart rate, sleep and through the app, I can log my food and track my calories. I aim for 1400 calories a day, but I don’t freak out if I go over and I am doing 10,000 steps a day. I am finding that the fitbit and app are keeping me on track, on days where I am well under on my steps, I am forcing myself to get out and get my steps up. It is a huge boost to my will power to have a watch that is gently reminding me to get moving. I even filmed one of my dog walks when I had to force myself to get out even though it was raining!
I haven’t been hungry this week at all, I am making sure I eat three meals a day and just avoiding snacks, though last night the desire for a Feast ice cream was just too strong and so I had one and enjoyed every bite! I have been really shocked at how many calories are in things, it has made me realise why I am overweight. 170 calories in a gin and tonic, yo!!!
I am also looking at my portion sizes and weighing out my food, I realised that my average bowl of cereal is twice the recommended portion size! I am finding that I appreciate my food a lot more and I am enjoying eating. I have always had a thing about clearing my plate and so often would carry on eating even after I felt full just because there was food still on my plate. Smaller portions mean I eat well and then if I am still hungry, I can always go back for a little more.
The thing that is important to me is not denying myself anything that I really want. I was so limited with what i could eat when I had my jpouch that now I hate to be told I can’t eat something. I am very lucky with my current ileostomy that there is nothing so far that I can’t eat. I just chew everything well and drink plenty. Even though I am limiting calories, I have found it quite simple to still eat filling and delicious food.
So how has it gone? Well here’s the numbers.
Starting weight – 16th May 2016 – 13 stone 13 lb
Week one – 23rd May 2016 – 13 stone 8 lb
I lost 5 lb this week!!! I can’t believe it! I have eaten well and never once felt hungry, an example of my diet this week…
Breakfast – Granola with 0% fat natural yoghurt and sliced mango, strawberry and pineapple
Lunch – Salami, parma ham, mozzarella, feta, humous and fresh bread
Dinner – Baked potato and sausage casserole
Snack – satsuma
I am drinking plenty, either water or no added sugar squash, tea and coffee. I do like fizzy pop and I am trying to reduce the amount I am drinking, but it is sugar free. (I know, I know, it’s still bad!!)
I don’t feel strong enough to exercise yet, my hernias scare me and so I am walking a lot, I am aiming for at least 10,000 steps a day and also doing some work in the allotment. I am trying to be active every hour, which is something the fitbit encourages. I am wearing support garments from Vanilla Blush or just a pair of strong support ‘fat’ pants, you know, that underwear that is supposed to suck you in?
So there we go, that was week one of weight loss. I wasn’t sure whether to blog about this, I am not an advocate of dieting and think women are pushed into weight loss all the time. I am a size 16-18 and classed as overweight, my BMI was 28.7 which is on the verge of obese (which I find ridiculous as I do not think I am obese!) Despite what society tells me, I love my body, I don’t mind that I am bigger than some, I genuinely feel happy in my own skin.
But this weight loss is for my health and so I feel I must go ahead with it. I am so terrified at the thought of more surgery that I really want to do everything I possibly can to have positive affects on my health. I don’t think we all need to be the same size and shape but I do think we all need to be responsible for our own health and for me, right now, this means dropping a few pounds and putting less strain on my stomach and hernias.
For anyone thinking of losing weight, especially those of us with IBD or other medical needs, do speak to a health professional first and make sure the changes you make are healthy and positive.
