Project Excess Baggage

Back in 2019 I lost 12 kgs. Before this, I was the heaviest I’d ever been in my life. Given that I’m quite short (and shrinking fast), that wasn’t a good space to be in. It felt very much (and still does) as though there was a lead weight sitting on my head pushing my boobs and belly out in one direction and my butt in the other. Too much information? #sorrynotsorry

Anyways, I got my head in the game, pulled my trainers on, and did what needed to be done. It was hard work, but I had a holiday to look forward to – 4 weeks of lovely time away from the day job and Christmas in England.

Since then, Most of the kilos I worked so hard to lose have found their way home – and appear to have settled back in… and they’ve brought a few friends who have looked like they want to hang about too. This means I’m within a kilo of being the heaviest I’ve ever been.

Of course, there are plenty of reasons why this has happened – and I won’t dwell on that – but for my health (and, more importantly, my back), the upward drift must stop. Besides, there’s another UK trip on the horizon and not only do I want to take up less of the seat on the plane, I want to be fit enough to walk up hills – if a hill I want to walk up presents itself, that is (I’m looking at you Steep St in Lincoln and Haworth High Street).

All of this can only mean one thing – the return of Project Excess Baggage…

What have I got to lose?

Quite a bit as it turns out.

According to those BMI calculation thingies, I’m walking around with, wait for it, about 35 kgs more than I should be. Thirty-five. That’s over 70 pounds for those of you in the US.

I haven’t been the weight the BMI people say I should be since the day I got married, and let me say this: maintaining that weight wasn’t fun – and nor was I. My body was much happier a few kilos heavier than that – and so was I, so I’m not aiming that low.

In any case, BMI doesn’t consider activity levels and body composition, etc and I am active each day – and pretty much always have been. Plus, my blood tests show I’m mostly healthy on the inside.

These days, waist circumference is a more reliable indicator, and depending on what source you read, women should aim for a measurement of <80cm or <half their height, which, for me, at 158cm, is the same thing.

I’m a numbers person – sorry, that’s my training – so I have a goal weight in mind … and to achieve it, I’ll need to lose 30 kgs.

By When

We’re off to the UK for 5 weeks in March next year, so that’s my first milestone point.

As for the whole 30 kgs? That’ll take me most of next year. I have the attention span of something with a very small attention span, so I can’t see that far into the distance (unless there’s a holiday booked), so I’ve broken it into smaller chunks. Oh, and I have a spreadsheet. Of course I have a spreadsheet #spreadsheetqueen

Why do I want to lose it?

Every decent goal has to have a why, and these are mine:

• My cholesterol and blood sugar readings are excellent, but I’ve been on blood pressure medication for a few years, and I’m determined not to have to take anything else I’d need to declare on a travel insurance form.
• I have severe scoliosis of the sort my chiropractor had previously only seen in textbooks, and while I’ve always lived with some amount of back pain, over the last few years it’s become harder to ignore. It’s vital that I get my weight down and strengthen the supporting muscles if I’m to remain mobile and (relatively) pain-free as I get older.

Mostly, though, I want to look better, although apparently you’re not supposed to admit that these days. Instead you’re supposed to talk about health yadda yadda yadda and while that is important, it’s not my primary motivation. So, I’ll say it louder: I WANT TO LOOK BETTER. There, I’ve said it.

At this point, I should pause and say that I’m coming at this from a place of self-love and respect rather than self-loathing, and it annoys me more than I can say how it’s assumed that if you’re overweight, you mustn’t like yourself very much. I might not like what I’ve done to my body or the choices I’ve made, but I own them.

How am I going to do it?

I don’t, by any stretch of the imagination, have a bad diet.

I don’t eat after dinner, and I enjoy vegetables. I haven’t touched soft drink or sodas for years, eat mostly unprocessed food, don’t have takeaway or ready meals, and rarely indulge in the sweet stuff despite the amount I bake. Except for scones, that is…  and the occasional piece of shortbread (it’s a butter thing). As for chocolate? I’m happy with a square of dark 70% cocoa.

Before you hand out the halo, I do, however, have some dietary weaknesses. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be in this position. I love pasta and rice and adore bread, and by bread, I mean good bread – from a crusty baguette to a sourdough, to a dense and almost chocolatey rye. I regard dumplings as a separate food group, have a weakness for butter and cheese that neither my waistline nor my gut is terribly happy with, and enjoy wine – possibly too much. And we eat out regularly – at least once a week. As for holidays? Well, you’ve seen the foodie pics.

My food might be home-cooked, varied and often delicious, but more of it goes into my mouth than is expended in energy. And, while not all calories can be treated equally – more on that another time – that’s a problem.

While I don’t intend to completely give up any of the things I enjoy – after all, mine is not a quest for Twigginess – compromises must be made, portions reduced, experts consulted, and answers sought. Given that I learn best as I research and write, that’s exactly what I’ll do here – each Monday. 

As for the experts I’ll be consulting? There’s enough science out there – and I read an awful lot of it, much of which is conflicting. I’ll be loosely following the principles of the late Dr Michael Mosely’s Fast 800 and the CSIRO plan, but will adapt my own recipes to fit these.

With that in mind, I’ll be consulting people like me: food writers and chefs. People who, like me, enjoy food in all its glory and who enjoy preparing it and writing about it. People like me who’ve had to balance their enjoyment of food and flavour with the size of their jeans, and, in some cases, the request of their doctors. The way I figure it is if some of my foodie heroes can do it and continue to cook and write about food, then so can I. 

Most of what I’ll be eating will be accidentally healthy foods – where healthy meets delicious – I’ll just eat less of it. I might want (and need) to shed some excess baggage, but life is way too short to compromise on taste and pleasure, so I’ll consult my vast collection of cookbooks for ideas and variety.

I’m not aiming for perfection, and my body type is such that I’ll always be curvy – and I’m completely cool with that. I’ll also be building a few indulgences into my week – so please don’t email me when you see me post something on Instagram that can’t possibly be on my plan. I know myself well enough to know that complete self-denial is the quickest way to send me off the rails – 75% is near enough for me. Saturday is on my plan. It’s sort of like the 5:2 diet but in reverse and in days.

We’ll also be talking about exercise.

I walk a lot, but up until the past couple of weeks I haven’t been doing any resistance work – and I could be working harder and more efficiently.

This series of (mostly) weekly posts is likely to be the most personal that I’ve written – and in writing them, I’ll be making myself more vulnerable than I usually tend to be. I’ll be writing about what I’ve learnt – about myself as well as from others – and, naturally, sharing the occasional recipe. They’ll also be shorter than today’s post is.

Follow along if you want, but please remember that my food story is likely to be different from yours – as is my “why”. What worked for you might not work for me – just as what works for me might not work for you. After all, if there was a one size fits all answer to this question, we wouldn’t be having this discussion. Most of us know what we should be doing – it’s the brain that gets in the way of the actual doing. A fine but important difference.

Edina: Why am I so fat?

Saffron: You eat too much, you drink too much and you take no exercise.

Edina: Darling, Darling… Please…. it is far more likely to be an allergy to something, isn’t it? You know, a build up of toxins or a hormone imbalance.

Saffron: All you’ve got to do is eat less and take a bit of exercise.

Edina: Sweetie, if it was that easy, everyone would be doing it.

(From Absolutely Fabulous… Series 1 “Fat”)

This week’s goals:

• 70,000 + steps
• Lap swim x 2
• Strength x 2
• No alcohol. (Don’t worry, I’m not giving it up for good #lifestooshort just for November)