Praise for Slimming World on my 1st anniversary of joining!!

funcurls

Never gets tired of SW!
Hi troops!

It is exactly 1 year ago that I set sail on my Slimming World journey, so to mark the occasion I thought I'd write a few words to express how I feel about the plan and why I think it's working for me!

I am 33 years old and since the age of 14 have struggled with my weight, bingeing, not recognising when I was full, comfort eating, and basically getting into really bad habits and developing destructive thought processes regarding food! This continued into the rest of my teens and at about 16 I embarked on the yo-yo dieting route! This subsequently continued into my 20s and now into my 30s. I'm not a sporty person and exercise has always been faddy- an all or nothing approach! I did Weight Watchers in my early twenties and went from 13 stone to 11 stone (my target now is 10st 10, so not far off) and was very pleased with myself but only kept it off for 6 months and then gradually it crept up on me again! Why? Because I naively treated it as a quick fix and wasn't prepared to change my habits! I have partially nipped it in the bud over recent years but never again managed to get below 12 stone and in October last year I peaked at 15st 12. I have never had children, I have just had a very disjointed relationship with my body and eating!

When I joined Slimming World on Monday October 26th 2009 I felt ready for it, like the time had finally come, I was going to get to target and nothing was going to stop me! I made a commitment to myself that I was going to change my habits for good, not just for the time it took to get to target! I also decided that I was going to aim for a rate of 1lb per week because this would mean nearly 4 stone in a year. To many people this would feel painfully slow, but in my mind I believed that if I was going to change for good, I might as well enjoy the scenic route and I would still see a substantial weight loss over time. On starting the plan it took me some time to start trusting it and to get used to what and how much I could eat. It wasn't long before I was using the cookbooks, magazines and recommendations from others and realising that I could enjoy gorgeous flavoursome meals that would fill me up and that my husband would enjoy too! And a lot of my meals didn't include syns or HEXs so the thought of having these on top, or integrating them in the meals was very exciting! In short, I didn't have to starve myself and the variety of food was vast so I knew I'd never get bored! It was clear before long that I could carry on eating like this long-term.

The uncanny thing is that I have indeed lost 4 stone in 1 year, which is what I set out to do! Of course there have been times when I have overindulged on holiday, on special occasions or simply when I've just had enough!! But something has clicked in me and I've realised that it wasn't the odd occasion, holiday or comfort binge that caused the weight problem, it was the regular ones that took control of me! I still have 15.5lb to go (hopefully less as of WI tonight) but I am very happy plodding along because I am 100% confident that I will do it! I'm not going to go into all the amazing benefits of losing weight- they're all personal to us and vary massively, and there are numerous great threads on here relating to them (Non Scale Victories springs to mind!) but I am a different person! I am lighter, with more energy and I am gradually increasing my activity levels- walking and swimming are becoming a comfortable part of my life, rather than something I had to force myself to do because I 'should'! My journey certainly hasn't been without its stumbling blocks and bad days/weeks but I think this is just life! We can't see it as black and white, all or nothing, we just have to accept the bad moments and continue with the good ones as soon as we can! I strongly feel that I have been successful in my progress so far because Slimming World is a fantastic healthy and realistic plan that fits in with real life, and also because I made a commitment to myself at the start to take it slowly but to keep it up no matter what, and that's what's happened. I'm very happy!x
 
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Sounds like you now have the right attitude to food. Congratulations on your weight loss.

I've only been doing SW for a couple of months and only had about a stone to lose; have been losing just 0.5-1.5lb a week but I think slow and steady is probably the best way to keep it off.

Denise
 
aww Hevs thats lovely - you are making me think i should write something as my anniversary of joining is this Thursday!!! :D

You have kept me going in the ups and downs on SW, and i think your support is priceless - i hope you do get your story in the magazine and get all pampered for a photoshoot - it would be an excellent reward for your efforts and support you give on here x
 
Fabulous post funcurls

Very inspirational!

Best of luck losing the remaining (very few) pounds
 
Funcurls - legendary post!

Congratulations on your achievements and thankyou for sharing it on here - people like you make people like me keep going.

I've come to realise that with SW nothing is impossible, and I finally feel in control of my life. :D
 
ive got to the stage where im thinking along the same lines. 7lbs a month for me would be great as by September next year ill be at target! I believe its the only way ill be able to stick with the diet by doing it slowly. Thanks for your inspirational post! :D
 
Fantastic post! Congratulations on your loss - 4 stone in a year is brilliant and I am hoping to achieve a similar result (as soon as I've had my baby). Your story has really inspired me and I agree, it'd make a great article in the SW magazine!!

Enjoy every minute of your success, you deserve it :)
 
Funcurls - what a fantastic post, really inspirational and yes, agree with the others, please submit to the SW Magazine! I joined SW on 1 March this year with hubby, and following some quick losses earlier on, we too are both taking the scenic route but are enjoying SW plan so much. Yes there have been holidays and days when we have deviated a little, but (and this is the most important thing), the plan is so easy to get back into - so different to previous weight loss plans we have tried. And, in addition, we have the support from this fantastic site. Should also add, that we have managed to keep on the plan despite not having a kitchen for 18 months or more (delayed house extension and numerous problems), so all food has been effectively cooked on a little Russel Hobbs electric oven with two electric pan rings. My new kitchen is being fitted from 16 November and I CANNOT WAIT !!!!!!!!! (sorry, had to let that out loud). The SW way, will be our way of life from now on (all the better from having a proper kitchen to cook all the wonderful receipes). Only one moan, why on earth did we not discovered SW earlier! Good luck in your next weigh in and all the best on your way to target! XX
 
What a wonderful, positive post...! So good to read for motivation and congratulations on your hard work on shifting the 4 stone... I too hope to be in your shoes when I get to my year next Feb!!

Keep it going, we all can't wait to see you at target xxxxxx
 
Wow - the power of a pound a week. We dismiss it so easily, but it's like chipping the weight away bit by bit. Beautiful post Funcurls - you go girl!!!
 
What a brilliant post.

I'm nearly at 4 stone too - hopefully by my year anniversary in March, I'll have been at target (1.5 stone to go) for a few weeks.

You are an inspiration!
 
I so thoroughly enjoyed reading your journey - it is so inspirational. I have struggled this week and had a STS last week and thinking - should I go tomorrow night knowing that I may STS again or maybe even gain a pound - but rightly so - you know and I know that in the grand ole scheme of things - I am slimmer and feeling much better and more comfortable and a pound isn't a BIG deal at all.

So thank you - I will face my Weigh in tomorrow without dread - because I know too - that this time I am going to do it.

GOOD LUCK to you - best wishes and thank you so so much again for this post.

Gilly x
 
Thanks for always keeping me inspired too and keeping that healthy competition alive :) Well done and you have done brilliantly! My 1 year anniversary is also coming up next month.
 
Awww thank you all for such lovely responses! I'm quite overwhelmed actually! I wanted to write something but didn't actually think that people would stop to read it all (I do go on!!) and find it inspiring! So I'm chuffed!! If there's one thing I've learnt from the process so far it's to be very very patient and see the bigger picture and not to let one or two bad weeks ruin the whole thing for us! Where's the sense in that?! You're all doing great, just keep chipping away and just think where we can all be 1 year from now if we stick at it! I'm hoping to be at target, feeling toned from enjoying exercising (I plan to up my game on this front!!) and feeling the best I've ever felt! Thanks again all, Minimins plays a huge part in my weight loss! It has given me the opportunity to meet so many lovely like-minded people from all backgrounds and cultures and it's great to be able to converse with people who have the same ultimate goal as I do and I've learnt so much here! X
 
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