I have been unhappy with my weight for some time, probably for a good year or so and my clothing now all resembles everything loose and flowy (which doesn’t help to be honest!)

The weight has slowly crept on over a long period of time, little by little, until I have gone up a size or two in dress size and now even those are no longer fitting comfortably. Everything I buy is cover up, long, oversized with a vest top underneath to help hold things in. I am on the short side at only 5′ 2″ so any extra weight at all has nowhere to hide. I have felt uncomfortable, fat and self conscious for a while and hate squeezing into clothes that never fit properly. It’s not just the fact I have to go up a size its more the fact I have an awkward shape as I put all my weight on around my middle. This means when I go up a size to fit my middle I end up looking like I’m a kid waiting to grow into my new school uniform!

So why don’t you exercise I hear you all say. Well with my chronic illness M.E/CFS and Fibromyalgia means I am in a position where any sort of exertion can make my symptoms much worse. I still try to keep as active as I can, get out when I can, use the bus instead of driving (that way there is more walking involved) when I can but I do miss the days were I would go out running 2-3 times a week which kept my weight totally under control and let me eat whatever I wanted. I have recently found a great lady online at yoga_mybed_and_m.e who as a yoga teacher and an M.E warrior for many years has recently brought out some booklets with lots of modified yoga ( something I have wanted to try but have no flexibility) poses to help us spoonies even on our bad days. I have also joined my local spa back in Feb/Mar time after a review and try and go twice a week , although it is only once a week at the moment, for a gentle swim and a sit in their gorgeous steam room (which is just great for my muscle pain). So I am trying to stay active but getting older, taking meds that make you prone to weight gain, and obviously bad eating/ snacking habits all combined mean the weight gain is just increasing.

Therefore, having seen lots of IG peeps posting pics of their food I was inspired to join my local Slimming World group this week. So far I have found it an easy plan to work out and follow and I haven’t felt deprived of anything yet as nothing is off limits providing you count them as Syns. The only unfortunate thing is that my group meets on a Monday evening , not a great weigh in day just after the weekend  but I am sure I will get used to it.

Here are a few pics of what has passed my lips so far:

Looks good right? This is only my first week so I am excited and a little worried too to see if the plan works for me and I can shift some of the added weight. I can see it becoming a way of making better food choices most of the time but also that it won’t be the end of the world if I have a bad day and eat something way over my syn value.

I am going to be honest in the hope that it will help me stay on track :

Starting weigh in 11st 2lb

goal weight 9st 7lb  (9 st if I can manage to get that far!!)

My picture below is me today before any weight loss. Posting this photo throws any anxiety into overdrive about people seeing my actual body shape. But I do want something to look back at and hopefully see the changes and believe me this was a HUGE deal for me to publish here!!

So any of you also on a Slimming World journey I would love to hear any of your tips and feel free to leave me your IG name so I can also follow your journey.