Day Ninety Two...

Today marks the end of my third month on Lighterlife. Three months ago I was just picking up my packs on my first session before starting this crazy programme.

I thought I'd just review how I've got on...

I have managed to get this far without cheating. The only things I have eaten have been supplied by my counsellor and I have only had water to drink except for two cups of black tea.

The first week was crap. Not because I was hungry, but because I couldn't stop thinking about food. The second week was easier, but I still dreamt about food and found it hard to walk past fast food places. Now it seems easy. The end feels far away, but so does the start.

It took ages for me, or anyone else, to notice my loss. If I am honest, I still don't notice it in the way I feel. However every day I now get comments about the way I look. I am by no means a normal weight, but I'm getting compliments constantly. I can now see a difference in my body.

I don't see huge differences when I look in the mirror, just little things that add up. For example:

• I've had to add extra holes in my belt.


• I've had to remove links from my watch strap, and do a further adjustment today.


• My collar bones are starting to protrude.


• I double chin is receding.


• A lump of fat on the top of my neck and one at the bottom of my spine have gone.


• My knuckles are more defined.


• My skin is becoming less stretched over my frame.

Things that other people have said:

• My face is slimmer.


• My walk has changed.


• My arms go down, rather than round my body.

My attitudes to food are hopefully changing. I am certainly no longer going to just ignore what I eat. I will be careful going forward. I have increased my activity level. I've restarted my cycling, started to kayak and continued my walking. This will hopefully all help towards maintaining my weight when I finish.

I've had side effects. Constipation, feeling colder, occasional lack of energy after activity, sleeping more and bad breath. Nothing major, but I've noticed them all.

Early in the diet I did some crazy maths which you can check here:
http://guineasblog.blogspot.com/2007/05/walking-to-mexico.html
I think it's time to see how far along I'd have walked if I'd started the walk three months ago. According to my original calculations we can walk 40 miles on a pound of fat. I've lost 76 pounds, so that's 3040 miles. That's almost all the way to New York, but not quite. It is however, the same was walking to Moscow and back again. Perhaps even more impressive, it's the same as walking to Bahrain in the Gulf.

My target has changed. I originally thought I'd aim for a 10 stones loss as 10 sounded like a nice round number. That simply isn't enough. That would have left me with a BMI of 26 which is still over weight. My new target is to lose 12 stones which will give me a BMI of 22.5 which is right in the middle of the healthy range.

Two weeks into Lighterlife I didn't know if I'd make it this far. Now, it seems, as I've said, much easier. It feels so easy now that it seems less of an achievement. Rather than build up my weight loss I am quite modest about it when I talk to interested people. I guess I am just bracing myself for management after the fat is off. This shows my change in thinking. I no longer worry if I can lose the weight, I know worry about how to keep it off.

I have saved a huge amount of money on Lighterlife by not going out for meals, drinking, buying breakfast, lunch and snacks.

I have spent a fortune since I started Lighterlife. I've bought a bike, a kayak, GPS, camera lenses and new fishing equipment. It's great!

So, am I glad I started? Yes, I think so. The proof will be if I am at my target weight a year after reaching it.