Louisa's Weight Loss Blog

Everything has an opposite, so the seven deadly dieting sins must do too, which is why I have had a go at writing about the seven heavenly dieting virtues.

This one has been a bit harder as it’s less applicable to dieting than the deadly sins (why are sins more interesting? Who knows!?) but work with me and I’ll try and make this post interesting and informative.

Thing is, the heavenly contrary virtues are a bit boring as they overlap a bit – so I’ve used artistic licence to combine the four cardinal virtues with three theological virtues.

Many people want to lose weight with the help of Jesus – type ‘lose weight with Jesus’ into Google and it returns over a million results which is rather incredible.

I’m not a religious woman but this post is definitely applicable to all dieters, whether they are determined Atheists or can’t get out of bed without saying a prayer.

Happy reading!

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New research by Birmingham University suggests that exercise does not help to alleviate period pain. 650 students aged between 18 and 25 were surveyed with 28% confessing to regularly experiencing moderate to severe period pain.

Researchers took into account weight, general health, mood, ethnicity and whether or not participants were smokers when assessing the results of the study.

Astonishingly, researchers could only conclude that exercise only helps on a case by case basis, i.e. some women may find it helps. Royal College of GPs chairman Professor Steve Field said women with period pain should do what works for them and exercise might make them feel better in general but this is little comfort to the thousands of women like myself who suffer debiliating pain every month.

I have vomited due to the pain experienced, my stomach can bloat to twice its size and I need to visit the bathroom far more often. I’ve missed work as I’ve been physically unable to get out of bed and I regularly experience migraines too. I’ve had a laparoscopy to find out what might be the precise cause of my monthly problems. I’ve been prescribed an awful amount of pain killers and hormones. Some pain killers have made me like a zombie they’re so strong…

Personally, this new study has not surprised me as I have found exercise to be unhelpful to me. Thanks to 11 years of experience dealing with period pains, I have some advice to offer women who are trying to lose weight:

• Keep a diary of symptoms and come to know WHEN they will occur. I get a migraine when I ovulate so I know very soon when one is on its way and if I am not at home, I have time to get there before my vision is obscured and I’m vomiting.
• See your doctor, the contraceptive pill can often help women but I have found this not to be the case. I am clearly a freak of nature – I should be put in a test tube and studied.
• Periods are not an excuse to overindulge in chocolate – see my blog post on chocolate cravings and why women crave chocolate
• Try herbal remedies and aromatherapy before you drug yourself up to the eyeballs with pain killers
• Try gentle exercise like yoga but if you don’t feel up to high intensity stuff, don’t do it! Walking is preferable to sitting on the sofa for a week
• Warm baths are lovely and make you feel nice and clean. If you’ve had a hard day at work, treat yourself with a bath rather than a whole pizza!

It’s been a while since I weighed myself. As I’ve started a new job, I’ve found routines a bit rough as for the first few weeks we were next door to a supermarket and would squeeze though the fence to get food at lunch time. After 3 weeks, we moved to another office with no shops for miles around. This is good as you can’t pick up snacks in weak moments. It is bad because you don’t bother to go for a walk at lunch time.

Now I’m starting to get settled into the job I decided to weigh myself. I had worried that I would gain weight but I had stayed constant at 11 stone (154lbs). I had dared to think that I had lost weight as both Jonny and his mum complimented me last week but alas the scales don’t lie. Unfortunately, I’ve not been taking Proactol either which means my stomach hasn’t been great. This morning I was seriously considering picking up some laxatives on the way home but it wasn’t necessary. Phew!

I feel much more settled now though and ready to commit to dieting properly. Even though I am a healthy weight, I would like to be fitter and slimmer rather than a healthy weight and a little wobbly around the edges. My BMI is in the healthy range at under 25.

Tuesday’s food diary

breakfast: strawberry museli

snack: kit kat senses (165 cals)

lunch: cheese sandwhich

snack: cinnamon bagel with a tiny bit of butter

dinner: half a pizza

Overall, that’s roughly 1800 calories.

I could have eaten the whole pizza but I didn’t want to. It’s not a signal of self-control or strength as some would have you believe, it is a sign that you are more in tune with your body and you should be pleased with yourself that you can stop when you want to, rather than you think you should. I know I am proud of myself!

You’re reading my blog for diet tips. For this I must applaud you as you must be fairly intelligent. Having established this fact, you must be pretty confused as to why the UK government has gone back on it’s advice regarding calorie intake.  According to the latest information released, women and men can eat an extra 16% of the original government recommended daily intake of calories without gaining weight.

Women can apparently safely consume an extra 320 calories whereas men can have an extra 400 calories. To make it easy, that is a small cheese burger a day you can eat on top of your diet. Apparently.

As I said, you’re probably fairly intelligent so you will understand that this advice could blow back in the face of the DoH when the UK is set to rival America in 2012 with a third of adults being overweight if current trends continue. So why am I outraged?

Everybody processes calories and converts food into energy at different rates. What’s good for the goose is not always good for the gander. This is because our current weight and the speed at which we metabolise mean that a blanket one-size-fits-all approach is not suitable when advising adults how many calories they should eat. There are methods by which you can calculate how many calories you can eat to maintain your weight but this is complicated and should be done with an expert who you are fully honest with.

Michael Phelps can eat far more than the average person as he burns calories off swimming to an Olympic standard.

At the Beijing Olympics last year, it was revealed that Olympic swimmer, American Michael Phelps ate 10,000 calories a day. His breakfast was:

• three fried egg sandwiches, with cheese, tomatoes, lettuce, fried onions and mayonnaise,
• three chocolate-chip pancakes
• a five-egg omelette
• three sugar-coated slices of French toast
• a bowl of grits (a maize-based porridge)
• two cups of coffee

However a woman weighing 10 stone may only be able to eat 1800 calories a day to maintain her weight but a smaller woman with greater muscle mass may be able to have 2200 calories a day. A guideline such as this is dangerous  for those who stick to these guidelines but does not have a particularly active metabolism.

Also, studies have indicated that people misjudge the amount of calories they actually eat. This is why you should keep a rigorous and detailed diary of everything that you put in your mouth, including drinks.

If you are currently trying to lose weight, keep a strict food diary and log everything you eat. Yes, unfortunately, you must be clear about your portion sizes too. Weigh your food if it helps. From there you will be able to calculate what you honestly consume in a day and from there you can make your own boundaries.

As even a spokesperson for the National Obesity Forum said, this is not a green light for people to eat themselves silly. In this situation, I wholeheartedly suggest dieters ignore government advise on this issue as I feel they are not only giving out mixed messages, they could further contribute to the growing obesity crisis.

Hello!

My name is Louisa and I’m 23 years old. This website is my weight-loss diary and I will be including weekly weigh-ins and a daily food and exercise record.

Over the past few months my weight has crept up by a whole stone (14lbs) and my clothes don’t really fit anymore. I used to have a great bum and now it just sags. I really want to look my best for my boyfriend and I used to love his reaction to my body. I want my old body back and I want to share my story with you.

You hear loads about the women who lose 100′s of lbs but nothing about ordinary women trying to lose small amounts of weight whilst living a busy life style.

To help me, I am going to take a slimming aid called Proactol which I will tell you more about when I start tomorrow.