I know I have campained for the larger lady, complaining about fat girl shops and the small changing rooms but ultimately loosing weight has always been a lifelong goal for me. I was large as a kid, being a big baby and chubby toddler, and being surrounded by my mother's fabulous cooking and baking didn't help. I know people often blame society, their metabolism, their genetics or their glands but even I think that's a load of horseshit.
Your genetics can determine how tall you will grow, what colour eyes you have, what diseases you may be more susceptable to (like diabetes and certain cancers) but being overweight is directly linked to eating too much and doing too little. I know people may see that as an over simplification but I won't turn my nose up at uncomplicated answers.
I come from a long line of heavy set, big armed farmhouse type women. Their size was determined by the heavy, stodgy food that graced the table each evening and the fact that they could be called upon to drag a cow out of a ditch at 3am without a moments notice. A skinny, undernourished weakling afraid of breaking a nail wouldn't last long in our family.
I have inherited my mother's smile and her laughing eyes (that twinkle with merriment) my father's height and his crackly knees. Everything else is my own doing. My weight, if you hadn't noticed, is a big issue for me (excuse the bad pun) and taking responsibility for it has been the biggest and hardest decision I have ever had to make.
The fact is: weight means nothing, it is a number on a dial, same goes for dress sizes. How I feel is crucial now in by bid to change my eating and exercising habits forever. And I feel fantastic. So far I've lost nearly 50 lbs and gone down three dress sizes but the real measurement of my success is in how much energy I have.
My Khai Bo class stopped over the summer holidays and I found a Spinning class at my local leisure centre to trial for those six weeks. I loved it. I have never worked so hard, sweated so much or felt so buzzed from exercise before and this is the girl who hated PE at school (didn't we all - it's not real exercise is it?) and couldn't run for a bus never mind my life this time last year.
I'm now doing the spinning class, and running twice a week and will probably add the Khai Bo back in when it restarts in September. I have loads of energy for my little girl and can often be found throwing myself head first down the twirly slide at the park (to show her how it's done - of course) If that isn't slimming success, I don't know what is.
