I've tried to lose weight many times over my life. Sometimes I've been successful, and sometimes I haven't, but either way I ended up weighing more than I ever have in my life less than a year ago. I've lost nearly 20lb so far over the past eight months (with blips back up in the meantime) but still have another 20lb at least to go. I clearly need to do something different this time if I'm going to lose the weight and keep it off. I think I may have found the secret, and it's twofold: 1. Get as into nutrition and healthy eating (as opposed to just low cal/carb) as possible, and 2. Stop comparing myself to anyone else. The second one is the topic of my first blog post today.
Everytime I go to the gym, it's not hard to notice that I'm the fattest person in there. Maybe it'll change in January when new years resolutions inspire more people to go, at least temporarily, but for now, my gym seems to be entirely populated by the thin, the fit and the muscly. And me. That's the kind of thing that's hard to ignore, and which may have put me off before. I'm not as thin or fit as them, I can't run as far or as fast as them, I can't lift my own body weight, and I leave the gym drowning in my own sweat instead of looking like a supermodel; who am I kidding, I could think - I'll never look like them, so I may as well stay at home with the curtains drawn where they can't see me. Maybe I'll eat a pizza and some Ben & Jerry's while I'm there.
What I'm hoping will be different this time, and what will ultimately help me succeed, is that I'm not comparing myself to anyone else any more. I'm setting my own goals and am feeling proud of myself when I achieve them, not beating myself up because I'm not as fit or as thin as other girls. I'm ignoring the fact that the girl on the treadmill next to me is running at 11km/h for over half an hour, and am congratulating myself on my hard work for being able to run for 5 minutes straight for the first time in my life at 8km/h. I'm ignoring all the girls who clearly weigh about 9 stone at most, and am proud that my weight is getting closer and closer to 12 stone and hopefully even under. My own goals are what I need to concentrate on - after all, they're the only things that matter. The girl next to me on the treadmill is not going to lose this weight for me. She's not going to make my legs run 5k for me. I'm the one who's going to do that. So I'm the one I need to focus on.
So that's what I'm going to do.