“Every accomplishment starts with the decision to try”

So where did my journey begin, and what do I believe, is the “secret to my success”? Unfortunately, there is no simple answer, and before you ask, let me stress, eating well and exercising are a given to lose and/or maintain weight, but through trial and error I have discovered what works for me and may also work for you. I am not an expert by any means and probably no different from you, juggling a myriad number of balls over the years…career, relationships, children and finances, but I am finally at peace with myself and my body.

So a little bit of background about me…like many women I have had a love hate relationship with my body since I was a teenager. I used to look enviously at those girlfriends who could blithely consume copious amounts of junk food and still retain their slender build, as I at times “starved” myself  and exercised obsessively with no significant change registering on the scales. I have now been on that notorious dieting merry go round for 30 years, with brief periods of happiness that have been interspersed by lengthy periods of unhappiness (or dare I say it…even depression) in respect to my weight.

Five years ago at my 40th birthday party, I made a speech expressing my belief that I could not be fitter, healthier or happier than what I was at that very moment…that my 40’s were going to be even bigger and better than my 30’s. I started off taking up running more seriously and racked up a handful of half marathons which fuelled my obsession with exercising and Paleo dieting.

Initially, this seemed to work and I could maintain my weight by being super strict during the week and relaxing on weekends. It was the perfect recipe…for disaster!! Eighteen months ago I came back from an overseas holiday and as was my normal routine threw myself into excessive exercise, restricted my food intake to only protein and good fats and naturally, reduced my alcohol intake to nil. After a month of no social life, I had unbelievably not even lost 100 paltry grams!! I panicked and ramped up the exercise even more to twice a day, talked about food incessantly and stressed that I would never lose the excess kilos.

Twelve months later, after another fun summer holiday came and went, I thought I would give it one more shot come February 1 and try a different approach to budge the excess weight. Five months later and I have lost between 6 and 7 kilos (lightest weight since my teen years) and have a body fat reading of 11.5% (as you can see in my photo, I definitely am not sporting bulky muscles but only lean muscle mass). The thing that really excites me is that once I reached my goal weight (in actual fact, my target loss was only 4 kilos), I have been able to increase my calorie intake and also enjoy my weekends out with friends and family without beating myself up for having indulged with a glass of wine or a piece of cake.

How did I do it? Over the coming weeks, I will post a number of blogs which share my tips on how I achieved this state of nirvana in my quest to love my body…