New Year, New Body?

The next blogger in my guest post series on the blog is an inspirational lady who has amazingly lost over 10 stones from changing her eating! Jen from Just average Jen blows my mind at just how determined and focused she is to achieve something I have been messing around with for so long. 

Jen writes on her blog about her with loss journey and life with her family.

You can also find Jen here:

      

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New Year, New Body?

Right now I imagine you are snuggled up somewhere warm and maybe reading this with a hot drink. Have you thought about wearing a bikini this summer? I guess not as it is months away isn’t it, still plenty of time to worry about that! What if I told you that in 16 months of healthy eating I lost over 10 stone and I lost the first 8 stone of that in just 37 weeks! Now the idea of losing a couple of stone by the summer sounds possible doesn’t it.

In January 2014 I decided that my New Year Resolution was again going to be to lose weight but this year I also wanted to get out of an abusive and unhappy relationship and change my life completely. I was determined that this attempt would be different and this year I would succeed. For me 2014 was my year, I did it, I stuck to my resolution and started 2015 very differently. I started 2014 as a morbidly obese very unhappy size 30 lady with no confidence. I ended 2014 9 stone lighter, a slinky size 10 and in a new and much happier relationship. I went on to lose some more through 2015 and after 16 months hit my target weight and had lost 10st 4lb and dropped to a size 6-8.

So why do I think that I succeeded this year and not other years, and what tips can I give you all based on that? I think for me the main thing was that I didn’t look at my weight loss journey as one huge mountain to climb, I looked at it as a series of small obstacles. Knowing you have over 10 stone to lose is a daunting prospect because you know it won’t happen overnight. However much you have to lose the thought process is the same, you look at the big picture and it seems impossible.

My biggest tip is to break it down, look at each half a stone at a time and reward yourself when you hit that milestone. Do not however reward yourself with unhealthy food like I would have done in the past as this is counterproductive!

Now go back to thinking about the summer, do you want to be wearing thick trousers and long sleeve tops because you feel so self-conscious? I used to hate summer, sweating in clothes that covered me up because I was ashamed of my body. Not any more, I still have my hang ups with my body but then everyone does don’t they! I wear shorts and bikinis on holiday now, a few years ago I never would have dreamt that was possible. I am not saying that you have to look at getting into a bikini, the choice is yours whether you want to lose weight and how much you want to lose but what I am saying is that anything is possible.

It is possible and YOU can achieve whatever YOU want to achieve in terms of weight loss. Put yourself first and your health and if this is the year that you want to lose weight then you can, believe me I was always the world’s biggest quitter and if I can I am sure you can too. So, where do you start? I lost my weight following Slimming World but essentially eating more healthily and cooking from scratch. By making small changes to your food you can lose weight, here are some little tips to get you started!

1. Stop rewarding yourself with food you are not a dog, food is a fuel.
2. Swap from normal cheese to lower fat cheese.
3. Use spray oil rather than normal cooking oil.
4. Eat more salad or vegetables on every meal, find ones you like so you enjoy them.
5. Vary your meals, if you stick to one thing you will soon quit!
6. Add plenty of flavours to vegetables, meat, quorn etc to make healthy food tasty.
7. Snack on fruit not packets of biscuits.
8. Write a shopping list and stick to it, if you don’t have unhealthy food in the house you are less likely to be eating it!
9. Cook healthy meals for the whole family so you don’t feel deprived or different.
10. Don’t give up after the first bad day, if you cracked your phone you wouldn’t stamp on it and break it completely you would carry on. If you have a slip up and eat some unhealthy foods one day just start afresh the next day, don’t give up you are worth it!

I lost all my weight without doing any exercise so please don’t let yourself be put off by thinking you can’t lose weight without exercising, you can and you will. Of course if you want to exercise that is great. I have started running this year and enjoy it and even ran a half marathon, now that is something that at a size 30 I could only have dreamt of whilst getting out of breath walking up the stairs! In 20 weeks I went from a complete non runner who didn’t do any exercise to completing the Great North Run (13.1 miles) in 2 hours 24 minutes, so anything is possible whatever you want to achieve.

Following my weight loss I have realised I can achieve anything I put my mind to, I just have to be determined, confident in my abilities, have the right support, and never give up. That said as I type this I am still undecided on this years resolution!

Losing weight doesn’t have to be all about exercise and salads, it can be macaroni cheese, casseroles and even cheesecake! I share some of the recipes I make along with more tips, reviews and suggestions over on my blog so if you do decide that this year is the year you want to lose weight and feel so much better feel free to pop over and have a read and follow me on social media.

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Don’t forget you can pop over and visit Jen’s blog Just Average Jen to follow her journey further.