Let me start from the beginning. I am British Nigerian and was born in Liverpool in the late sixties. As a child I was considered cute (I think) and skinny with big round eyes and at some point my brothers nicknamed me Twiggy. I was slim in my childhood. I think I first became conscious of my weight as a teenager but I was also very active. I enjoyed sports but never got into any significant teams in my secondary school, so I learnt to run, played tennis, badminton, did aerobics, danced a lot and dreamt of one day taking up weight training seriously. I still do – dream about serious weight training that is – what can I say – each to their own!
Anyway my weight began to yoyo in my late teens and early twenties. I would put on what seemed like a lot of weight at the time – say 5 lbs and then during the long summer holidays I would run it off and slim down again. I did not consciously diet or weigh myself frequently as on average I weighed about 50 kg which is about 110 lbs approximately I think. I was content with my lot even though my waist line seemed to be always about an inch wider than my 2 sisters. Amazingly, I was and remain fairly body confident. By that I mean that although I recognise that I am no beauty queen I am content with my lot physically and happy to conceal less desirable parts of my body by picking the right clothes for my body type. In other words I think that God played his or her part in putting my body together but I struggle with my end of the bargain in terms of looking after my body by keeping my weight and by extension health in good nick.
Since my teenage years I have had the ability to dress my body reasonably well at any weight up to about 135lbs so it was a shock when I hit 140 lbs in my early twenties. Being 5 foot 4 inches in height I am not even medically overweight at 140lbs but I looked a lot different and not in a way that I liked. My face was rounded and my belly became much harder to disguise.
Once I reached about 140lbs I would work hard and usually lose anything from 14 – 21 lbs. The trouble is that I continued to yoyo through my twenties, then thirties and now at 48 it feels like I am destined to struggle with my weight for ever.
In my thirties I tried the Atkins diet and had stunning success. However the diet made me feel unwell and I had to give it up. In my forties I tried the Cambridge diet with initially stunning success also. However it did not work for the next two attempts and I am lactose intolerant which made it really hard for me.
Progress has been the slowest on my current weight loss journey that commenced September 2014. I am not on any specific diet and just try to exercise portion control and up my protein intake for key meals like breakfast. Unlike in my teens and twenties I no longer have long summer holidays when I can work off the excess weight doing lots of exercise which I love anyway. To add insult to injury for the first time in my life, I think that I might have sustained a sports in jury which is in the process of being investigated and hopefully sorted out. Before my injury stopped me exercising I had come down to 156 lbs. However the combination of Christmas and no exercise has seen my weight shoot back up to 163 lbs. That’s another yoyo of 7lbs!
I am hoping that my recent yoyo which saw me gain 12lbs will be my last. I want to break the habit of a lifetime in 2016. I also hope that sharing my story helps others to escape or avoid the yoyo altogether. If this resonates with you, please join me in my journey.
