How I got here

I was always skinny as a child and thin throughout my teens. It was only in my twenties when the break up of a long term relationship coincided with a commencement of shift work that I first gained weight. I ‘blew out’ to a size 12 (oh to be that ‘fat’ now) and made my first half hearted attempt at dieting.
But I was never much of a cook and didn’t have the inclination (or the patience) to count calories and keep food diaries so it’s not really a surprise that within a month I’d given up. I pretty much forgot about my weight and it remained stable for the next few years. Or at least I assume it did. I never weighed myself in those days, so all I can truthfully claim is that my clothes still fit.
It was only when I started having children that my weight slowly crept up. Four pregnancies in as many years left me considerably heavier than I’d ever been before and my post natal check gave me a number to go with it-82kg. And so began over a decade of attempted weight loss.
I lost and regained the same 12-15kg annually, plateauxing for months at a time and never seeming to get lower than that magic 82kg.
Then a few years ago during a routine health check my doctor informed me that I had gained over 20kg in 18 months and weighed over 100kg. This would have been a shock in itself but we could find no reason for the gain. My lifestyle had not changed, my diet and exercise habits were the same as they ever were and test results for a variety of potential causes all came back negative. In fact the blood test the doctor ran showed me to be not only within the healthy range for cholesterol etc, etc, but a little on the low side. The cheeky bugger even checked to make sure he was looking at the right records-he simply couldn’t believe I could have gained so much weight and still be healthy.
He came to the conclusion that I had messed up my metabolism with years of dieting and told me to simply stop it. He suggested that I give away dieting for good and start eating as much as I liked of whatever I fancied, whenever I was hungry. He strongly suggested a healthy breakfast within half an hour of waking where practical and a litre of water a day.
His reasoning sounded good but I was not ready to completely let go of the diet mentality. I continued eating small, healthy meals at regular intervals and increased my daily exercise. Doing so has led to me losing most of the unexplained weight gain. But this time around I want more. I want to get rid of the excess once and for all. So I have decided to take his advice (only a few years later).
Since Alex has made a similar decision to get fit we are going to do this together. She has opted for a more structured method than the one I am using and I think it will be interesting to compare the results we achieve.-Lynn