Target weight achieved! I set my target at 10 stone 7 pounds when I started this WOE at the end of January. In 23 weeks I have lost 23 and a half pounds, despite a two-week cruise and a ten day holiday in Germany (combined weight regained on those two occasions 13 pounds!) and all the other social occasions which are part and parcel of everyday life. I got on and off the scales three times this morning to make sure that they were correct and the weight just didn't change!
However, there is a 'but' coming along! I have been here before, many times in the last forty years (I am a brilliant dieter!), and each time I have regained the lost weight when I returned to 'normal' eating after following a strict calorie-controlled diet. I couldn't begin to count the number of times the same twenty five pounds have been on and off! So, my real target it to maintain this weight for at least six months and then forever. Only then will I really believe that I have sorted out my eating habits forever.
I feel very hopeful this time because I have not had to deprive myself of any of the foods which I love (cakes, pastry, chocolate, wine, puddings etc.)whilst on this weight-loss journey. After previous diets there has always been an insidious little voice in the back of my mind saying, 'Do you really want to never have a piece of cake, meal out, etc. again?' and because I couldn't imagine a life without those things, I have only maintained my weight for a few weeks before the scales started to show their inevitable rise. With this WOE I can have my cake and eat it and not put my weight back on, so fingers crossed I will still be my current weight in six months time!
My husband has been less careful with his eating since we returned from Germany and is still hovering around the 14 stone 4 pound mark. However, he has still lost just under a stone and is now within the 'normal' range for his 6'4" height, rather than 'obese' when he started. I will keep him company doing 'classic' 5:2 while we nudge him down to about 13 stone 12 pounds.
Good luck to those of you still with weight to lose. Onwards and downwards!