So not for the first time – but hopefully the last time I have restarted a diet. I am 17 stones 3lb with a BMI of 41.4 – quite shocking really.
How did I end up this way. Through not recognising that I was becoming morbidly obese and not taking the same level of care of myself as I would my children. In my childhood I had a lot of difficult events happen which have shaped my life in many ways and one of them is that I have not learned the coping skills necessary to manage my own health whether weight or otherwise the way it should have been.
An interesting study down in the US around Adverse Childhood Events – click here if you feel guided to do it ranked my ACE score at 8. I am also resilient but that resilience has been self created rather than built within me by the people around me such as family. I digress what does this all mean to having a BMI of 41.4. They have found that there is a direct co-relation to unhealthy physical or mental health and behaviours with people how have ACE scores and it gets worse as you get a higher score. So my unhealthy behaviour lack of physical activity combined with bad diet choices has resulted in severe obesity.
Does this help me in any way – knowing this is a problem which may have a root cause or trigger. A bit but not fully. At the end of the day I was conscious in the health decisions I was making and choose to do them anyway there was not a mental catch holding me back, which is again not uncommon.
So here I start again with a renewed determination. I have two amazing wonderful children who I love and adore to bits, they are 7 and 13. I want to be here as long as possible for them, I am their primary carer and have full financial responsibility for them so the worry of my health impacting my ability to provide for them is real and present.
I have restarted with Cambridge Weight Plan which is a very low calorie diet. I travel a lot on business and find it very hard if not impossible to balance travel, a busy home life and work with managing portion controlled meals. I also find that I am really sensitive to carbs, probably there is a bit of insulin resistance there. With Cambridge essentially by day 3 or 4 I will be in ketosis where my body will begin to burn my own fat cells as energy rather than the food I consume which will be just under 500 calories a day for the next 12 weeks.
The danger is you put it all back on again. My plan is to follow a ketogenic diet long term if I feel the health benefits. I also need to move from one of my behaviours which is lack of physical activity – that is going to be harder to overcome than losing the weight I feel. Yesterday I walked three times for in excess of 15 mins. This seems small but for me was a massive achievement – so pat on the back.
Yesterday I was really hungry in the evening so went to bed early. Today I felt a bit hungry but okay and not light headed. I fully expect the headaches to start soon which I am prepared for. I know that by day 4 or 5 I will feel much better. Interesting on day 4 I will be away for a one day business trip which will mean being on the go for most of the day in excess of 18 hours. Lets hope I am ketogenic by then.
I will post my measurements later as the CWP consultant is coming but essentially I was 17 stone and 3lbs yesterday. I have a rather huge tummy most of my weight is carried there and this also high risk for issues going forward.
If you are reading this because you also have weight issues see the image below. I found this helpful in identifying my weight problems with other health issues that could be resolved. I have GERD for example and most probably undiagnosed Metabolic Syndrome. I also have indicators that I am heading toward non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, hypertension and sleep apnea. I also have Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome. So its quite a catalogue of things that could be resolved but require my will power and desire to make the lifestyle changes to do it. So I will be blogging as a diary for my own sanity and to help me look back on the changes I have made when I feel like going back to old patterns which are not good for me.
To all fellow dieters or life changers my best wishes and much good luck you can do it I believe in you and I believe in me that I can do this too.
ikidnotblog 