Surprise weight loss- I wanted to share and hopefully help others

I never had any interest in writing weight loss advise posts as I’m certainly no expert and don’t want to claim to be. I have had an up and down weight battle the past few years but nothing has surprised me more than the past few days. One thing I am good at is sharing my experiences so let me begin…

I have had health issues which began in 2009 and has led to a huge weight gain. Refusing to let it beat me I took to fitness and healthy eating and although it took over two years by summer 2012 I was looking and feeling fabulous. Of course, getting it off is one thing, keeping it off is an entirely new ballgame.

For those of us who are up and down like a yo-yo, you know what I am talking about- fad diets, following trends, joining groups, paying for gyms and never going- it’s endless. At the end of the day whether we like it or not the ONLY thing that works is healthy eating and exercise. 

Exercise can be anything from a walk, to hovering your house, to sex. It’s all physical, it’s all active. As some of us may not be lucky enough to get the latter, a good old fashioned run, walk or cycle will have to do (I also hate hovering). Of course there are plenty of forms of exercise you can do and plenty of gyms and classes you can go to. I would very much recommend joining a fitness club also as not only are you losing weight but there is a fun social aspect to it too.

At this point I want to give a hat tip to Longford Triathlon Club and Orlagh McGrane Fitness. Longford Tri club were the main reason I got fit and kept it off for so long, the kept me driven and focused while having a lot of fun. With them I completed six triathlons, one duathlon and four aquathlons.

Orlagh is a fantastic personal trainer who really keeps you on your toes. She gave me the added extra core workouts and kept me on my toes in bootcamp when I wanted to fall over. Combined with her fab healthy eating advice, with her you will get the best workout at the highest standard at the lowest price. 

Since I moved to Galway my motivation has rapidly deteriorated. While it is a wonderful place to live, it is primarily a party town. There are tons of classes, gyms and trainers. I follow Pat Divilly’s   page extensively for food plans and fitness tips. The problem with all the facilities in Galway is that for a student like myself everything is too expensive.

In Longford, Orlagh’s classes were so affordable (€50 for a week-long bootcamp guaranteed to drop the pounds and inches) while with the Tri Club once you had your membership the cost of the training was minimal.  In Galway, the Tri Club has all sorts of extra costs that makes it an in-affordable hobby (€63 extra for turbo training- it’s FREE in Longford). Pat is fantastic with freely sharing easy to follow tips and tricks which I have been keeping note of. I would encourage everyone to follow his pages. As soon as I get back to work I will be attending his classes.

For someone like me, I needed the group, I needed the push and I liked the comradery of the club and having a few people to go for a jog with. I’m odd in a way, I would have to know what you’re like to run with to run with you. There are only a few people I will train with incase I cannot keep up or worse, you can’t keep up with me. I like to go on my own but I have to be in that training frame of mind to feel motivated enough. So it is no surprise I fell into bad habits, I stopped exercising, healthy eating went out the window and the pounds piled on.

When I say I stopped exercising, I mean I completely stopped. I went from training 5/6 days a week to just walking to and from college (which is a ten minute walk away). Again, it is no surprise that on New Years Day, approximately four months since I moved to Galway, I stepped on the scales to discover I had put on TWO STONE! Horrified! Originally, over those two years I mentioned the weight loss, I lost three- so in four short months I had nearly put it all back on.

The student life of drinking, eating pizza and eating sweets had taken its toll. Do I regret it- no, not one single pound I have had the time of my life and I am happier than ever however that is not to say I am silly enough to say I like being this weight or being unhealthy. Fun is one thing but taking care of yourself is more important.

You would imagine I jumped on the New Years resolution bandwagon but no, I didn’t. I gradually started eating better, did a jog or two- actually, I did two! and soon fell back into the bad habits. I did manage to lose a few pounds but it is hanging in the balance. It is now March and summer is looming. The idea of these extra few stone in the summer is not exciting as I have a lot of lovely clothes I would like to fit in to.

I have signed up to do the Ross Carr 100km Cycle where I will embark to take on 100km of the beautiful Longford countryside accompanied by my wonderful family and friends. Of course, this means training. I have done a little but not near enough. It is where my new weight loss journey has begun.

So now I (finally) get to the point of this post. The socs ball is on April 1st, I have never been to a ball and I desperately want to fit into a beautiful dress I wore to my college graduation. A week ago it wouldn’t zip up, two stone will do that to you. St. Patrick’s weekend took its toll and we partied like savages all weekend. One thing that was mentioned was “how fit Rachel is”, I quickly corrected them “was”. My friend then said “the best thing about Rachel though is one day she will wake up and go “Right I’m doing this” and she will”. That day was Tuesday.

Hungover, sick and barely able to eat all day I swore the usual “never again” and “detox time”. The day had come where it was time to get this weight off and get my healthy lifestyle back. After FOUR DAYS I looked at myself in the mirror and was shocked. I thought, I’m actually after losing weight. I tried on the ball gown which I remind you did not zip up last week and guess what- It nearly fits perfectly, just a tiny, tiny bit off! I’m not lying.

So I went off made my breakfast, lunch and dinner which I do every morning as I spend long days in college so usually bring the lot with me and it dawned on me; the healthy eating worked. I need to share this with people. I have no weighing scales, I have always refused them as they drive me mad, I’d get on it every day if I had one. I do have a measuring tape and I am shocked to say I have lost two inches from around my belly these past four days.

How did I do it? HEALTHY EATING. I have been too tired all week to exercise. I have gone to bed at 8pm every night this week, got up early, went about my day and eat well. I wasn’t completely good, I had two biscuits one of the days and my house mate brought me back a packet of pastry and syrup sweets which I devoured but I have made a few changed and they have worked. I also own a pair of Zaggora Hot Pants which I wore for two days this week. You’re supposed to exercise in them but I just wore them. They work like those weight loss wraps you may have seen before except they are shorts.

I have to say I am not affiliated with any of these groups or companies I have mentioned, I really just want to share my story with people who may feel as if they are struggling. Below is a photo of the food I have for today. I have been eating these same three meals with some variety all week.

Breakfast: Hard boiled egg, Avacado, Grapefruit.

Lunch: Supergreen Smoothie

Snack: Berries, Grapes, Kiwi

Dinner: Veg, spinach, white fish.

During the week I have also had porridge with berries for breakfast, a tuna salad and  pasta. Sometimes I eat my dinner at half twelve or one and will snack on the fruit all day. It depends on how hungry I am at a point in the day but I never usually eat past six. I don’t usually stick to a traditional breakfast/lunch/dinner and any time I have had successful weight-loss I have just snacked on small things all day.

It’s important to note I have stopped drinking too much tea. In the morning I have a cup of black tea and during the day I drink green tea. I’m not a coffee drinker. I have also upped my water dosage and include slices of lemon, cucumber and ice to make it a little more exciting.

I will most definitely be cycling this weekend and I have spinning class on Tuesday so I can weigh myself there to discover if I have had any weight loss. I will keep you informed.

This post has become a lot longer than I had anticipated but I really wanted to share my story. I’m a bit baffled I have gotten on track so quickly but it is the motivation I need to keep going and I hope I can help others to do the same.

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