It Started With a Dress: No Need To Fake It Anymore

In a new weekly feature, Her.ie newbie Liz is going to share her weight loss journey. She'll be filling you in on fighting temptation, her willpower struggles with the cocktail menu and taking painfully slow steps towards regular exercise. All in the name of a dress.  _____________________________________ Hanging on the wall at the end of my bed is the constant reminder I plan on shedding nearly two stone this year. I also plan on marking the trials and tribulations of ‘trying to be good’ – the favourite saying we all tout, and quickly replace when a cake is put in front of us.  Week 11: Double victory This week I got pretty excited over a pebble. Small, round and since I got to pick the colour, blue. It’s smooth and sits in the palm of my hand while plastering a smile across my face. Ladies, this little blue marvel celebrates my first stone down since joining Weight Watchers. And they celebrate by giving you a replacement stone instead. I’m more than happy to do the trade-off! It wasn’t just my latest accessory from the garden that had me in high spirits this week. I may have (definitely did) buy some new dresses online, which arrived promptly on my desk on Monday morning. The usual nervous ten minutes where I try on the purchases to work out which ones I’m sending back (you never strike out and get it all right) are usually the same ten minutes you do a mental check on every sweet, chocolate bar or glass of wine you might have guzzled over the week leading to the return of said clothing. Not this week… I slipped into dress one, two and three and even tried on different heels to see which will suit each outfit best. I’m sure if my roommates actually saw me walking around the apartment in a prom dress at 1am they’d have questioned my sanity, but I don’t know a better way to hang your washing then by looking fabulous doing it. Conscious that I’m trying to increase my fitness as well as shed those unwanted pounds, I went back into my exercise routine with (and I can’t believe I’m writing this) a little nugget of excitement. I had my ipod ready with my cringe-tastic music and I had a plan to change up the routine every second day. Feeling a little smug I pulled on my runners and headed out onto the road for a run. I was only out about 10minutes when this older gentleman started waving his hands crazily to slow me down. Alarmed I came to a standstill, asking him was he alright? Was there a problem? “You’ve done something to your leg love. Are you ok, does it hurt? I’m not sure you should be running out on it, looks bad.” I was a bit confused. My leg was fine and I told him so. Then it dawned on me. A fact that I had never really considered before – I run funny. Any FRIENDS fans in the house? I could probably put Phoebe’s run to shame. I have no grace when it comes to jogging, and when I aim to plod along at the mini marathon next week there’s a real chance I’m going to be a YouTube sensation if a camera phone picks out my swag amongst the crowd. Where I would have been mortified a few weeks ago, I thanked him for his concern, assured him I was merely gracefully challenged and kept up pace as I headed down the avenue. I completed that run half an hour later and treated myself to a cup of tea and a chapter of my book as a reward. The next day saw me enter the male jungle of the gym. Yes, I’m referring to the weights section. Again, I pumped my ears with some 80s pride, and pulled my little bench to the side to work on my plan devised the week before. It also helped that I left the hoodie at home this week. There were some hairy moments, like nearly putting a dumbbell through a mirror, but I started feeling a little more confident. So much so, that I even went up in weights. I’m now rocking a cool 20kg. I bet even Arnie would be impressed. I’ve heard before that the second day of a diet is always easier than the first.  By the second day you're off it. Well this is when I started realising I was making real lifestyle changes. Where I used to do a fad diet for a couple of days and complain about feeling hungry, or being tired, I realised this time I seem to have a bit more energy. The food I’m eating needs less exercise to burn it off, but thanks to the actual nutritional value of making food from actual ingredients rather than pulling a dish from the microwave, I’m using the positive effects of eating right to go out for a long walk, or stop off for a swim. It feels pretty refreshing to be honest. I’m clearly never going to act like an athlete, and my power ballads are never going to ‘fit in’ with the lads of the weights section, but I realised I don’t care. I really don’t care because I’m feeling good. Yes you have to work through some awkward moments, and ‘fake it ‘til you make it’ but I’ve realised I’m not faking it as often anymore. I now know how to actually use the machines in the gym. I know that getting a stitch means I just need to slow down to a fast walk before I pick up pace again, and I’m happy in the knowledge that there is no way I’ll be competing in a body building championship with the work I actually do buried in the corner. So, obviously I had my weigh in this week, and it was a double victory. I was down a pound (bringing me to 1stone 0.5 lb down), but I actually got an added boost. After stepping off the weigh pad, and picking out my pebble, my leader informed me that I’ve now lost 5% of my body fat. I may have given her a high 5 from excitement… I ran down to Mary and shared my news. She gave me a giant hug and told me if I wasn’t careful I’d slip through the cracks in the floorboards. As if I could love her anymore and then she pulls out a gem like this?! Mary, you’re a legend. This week's stats go a little something like this - Height: 5ft 8 Starting Weight: 174 lbs Current Weight: 159.5 lbs Weight Loss To Date: 14.5 lb Goal: 148 lbs Feeling: Like I’m owning this. The Dress in Question: