The Slimming World organisation has two striking visual aids. One is a parcel weighing 2 lb., which is quite heavy. If you lost 2 lb. in a week, that might not sound very much, but it is awfully heavy if you hold it in your hands.
The other visual aid is a parcel weighing 1 stone. This is so heavy you almost can't lift it. After much effort, I've now lost over 4 stone off my top weight. When I think that for a long time I carried around the equivalent of four of those parcels strapped to my body, it almost blows my mind.
I am very relieved to have got these 'parcels' away from my organs. I happen to come from a line of long-lived females, and want to be fit in my old age. To start with, weight loss was very slow, and it took me a long time to get down out of the 'obese' category, but, having done that, I slipped down fairly rapidly through the 'overweight' into the 'normal' category, and have now been on target for around 2 years.
I had been too heavy for over 20 years, and now I feel decidedly fitter than I did 20 years ago. It is like being given a second youth, and I feel I am living in magical times. I cannot believe what now looks out of the mirror at me in the dance studio. It's marvellous to have a waistline again! And it gives a tremendous boost when so many people come up to me and comment, often incredulously, on the amount of weight I've lost. And, no, I don't intend to disappear altogether.
Since reaching my weight target I have had the pleasure of winning various local Slimming World competitions, such as Woman of the Year in 2008 (very surprised when I was nominated) and Miss Slinky in 2009! The latter competition is shown in the photo you see here - I went along in my ballet gear for fun. Once I would never have imagined myself qualifying for this kind of sash, but my experience of losing weight eventually snowballed into wanting this title.
If anyone reading this is overweight, be assured that it's worth the slog to get rid of this millstone. And you will do it with more chance of success in the company of a slimming organisation who will keep an eye on you and applaud even your minor successes.
Rather than carrying weight around, it's better to lift weights - even small ones - to increase bone density through exercise.
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