Here is a bit of a story of my weight and eating life.

I was never a fat child. Looking back at the 8mm film (yes, I’m not a spring chicken anymore!) clips we have of my childhood I resembled rather a stick-insect at times. I was an active child with horse riding as my hobby. Was out and about and quite good in all kinds of sport.

Never thought too much of what and how much I ate, never was on a diet – I didn’t need to. My Mum at the time was still a GP (specialised in psychiatry later on in life) and we had healthy meals. At the time in the 80s when I was a teenager, Finland was in the grips of low fat and low salt guidelines. Of course Mum being a GP, she took that to heart and if we had salt in our food, it was the ‘herb salt’ kind… and no butter to be seen, hardly any oils (except for the cod liver one!) either, milk was the palest water type as well. My Dad had (and has still) a hunting group, so our staple protein was elk meat, followed by fish from the lake. There was the occasional fattening pig at my grandparents’ farm as well. But I remember the special Sundays when we went with Mum for a walk into town with my little brother in a pram and got a hamburger for a treat! And I have to say that the first meat I ever bought was when I went to study at the Uni! Yes, I do remember that day still now; and the curiosity from my part of how would that ‘pork-beef’ mince taste like!? O-well, I remember also the disappointment of it not really tasting anything at all. Elk meat has a special flavour and being grown up with it, no other meat really tastes of anything; they are just bland. During my university years I ate just as healthy, preferring fish, and if it was meat then it was elk meat from home.
My weight started climbing up ever so slightly in my late teens. And it just kept on creeping upwards ever since. My riding hobby was left behind after my mid teens, but I started to go to the gym and trained quite seriously for 3-4 years. I found out that my muscles grew relatively easily with only little training and I could happily work with heavier weights than some of the guys! Of which I was quite smug really… Well, got bored of that in the end, because it really was such a ‘look at me and my muscles’ sport.

In my teens I weighed about 56-58kg, when I was weight training I had climbed to about 62-65kg and was thinking how awesome it would be to be 70kg all muscle… 😉 I didn’t eat the high protein diet though, just my normal food. I’ve been 163cm tall since my teenage years, so I was getting to be overweight when I left my teens behind and was in my mid-20s. Even then my weight only crept up slowly. The past 14 years I have gained perhaps 10kg. And all the time eating mainly healthy food. My husband loves to cook, and everything is made from scratch in our household.

I started to get really bothered about my weight perhaps some 10 years ago. I may have weighed around 75kg at the time. I was fit though. While living in the Netherlands we didn’t have a car, but cycled everywhere. My round trip to work was about 18km. I did that 5 times a week for 4 years… At some point I decided to see if I can loose some weight/get fitter by increasing my cycling intensity. Well, it was a failure. That is, I had to really do a ‘racing biker’ speed to get even remotely exhausted of it. I concluded that if I wanted to loose weight or get fitter by cycling more or more intensely, I would have to become a proper athlete. That wasn’t in my agenda, so I returned to my normal speed. I saw once a doctor for a general routine check up there, and he said that ‘ooh, you know, you are overweight. You should really loose some weight; eat less and exercise more.’ Yes, thanks for that.

We moved to Scotland. I had a general check up there. I asked about my weight, since it was checked but not mentioned. I was told ‘Oh, but you are not that overweight. It’s not going to be a problem.’ ‘Should I loose some weight?’ ‘Noo, why bother, you’re fine.’ Interesting cultural difference there on the issue of what is considered overweight. But I was overweight and I knew it. I started then to eat less. You know, just a bowl of porridge/plain joghurt/cereal in the morning, then salad for lunch (no/very little protein) or rarely sandwiches and home cooked meal in the evening. No snacks. By evening I was so tired and hungry that I often cried out of pure exhaustion, and had to lie down in bed for 10min before I would have energy for anything else.
We had started our riding hobby again in the NL, and gotten our own horse in Scotland, so we always went via the stables before going home and eating. So that was extra draining on my energy levels.

But that was the advice: if you are overweight you should eat less and exercise more! So that’s what I did. When I was unemployed for a bit over a year in Scotland, I started cycling to the stables and back (round trip 20km, with serious hills in between), I also started running training and then I was mucking out and riding. So, lots of exercise. No help for weight. It was the same or crept up a bit. People said comfortingly that ‘it must be muscle’. Aye, right.

I then started to finally do something I had never done before: I started counting calories. Well, I found out that I was eating 1200-1800kcal per day on average and had been for years. How an earth did I gain weight? It was extremely puzzling. And why wasn’t I loosing it?

I had this fancy heart rate monitor for my running training (at best I ran 10km just past 1h), and I kept it on for one full day (including the night) and got a reading of 2400kcal, without my half an hour run that day or riding later on in the evening. So, basic usage was around that according to the monitor. I ended up at approximately the same amount using a clever formula hoovered from the net. It seemed that my body needed 2400kcal, while I was eating ~1200kcal at my worst! I thought I must have been eating too little for years, maybe my body had gone into saving mode? So I started to eat more. And counted it all. 2000kcal I did make, but boy it was hard work! But I was happier, since I had more energy! At least that was an improvement.

I also realised that I had eaten way too little protein according to the recommendations (no elk meat about and I really don’t have the taste for big stakes). So I upped my protein intake as well. Nothing happened. My weight didn’t go down, but it didn’t go up either (except maybe indeed that ~1kg per year speed). It seemed that I could eat whatever and exercise how much ever and my weight wouldn’t budge anywhere. My calorie counting went on for almost a year before I stopped. I also stopped counting because when you have done it that long, you already know approximately how much you do eat without counting. The only time my weight suddenly surged down 2 kg was the time I somehow accidentally managed to eat only 600 and 800kcal per day for two-three days!! This happened in the beginning of my counting career. I thought then that this was not healthy surely to not to eat, so when I realised my mistake, I returned back to eating according to the guidelines (of not eating less than 1200kcal/day). While I was counting calories I was also training the hardest with my running. I also experimented with that and weight loss. At some point I thought that ok, maybe I should run 4 times a week minimum of 30min at a time. So that’s what I did for over a month. Nothing happened. I didn’t even get fitter or faster. I ran or jogged approx 3km in about 25min. So, something like 8km/h on average. Sometimes I ran faster at 9km/h and sometimes slower for a longer run, but it was about there. Frustrating.

Then after some months had passed I thought to f-it and changed my running regime to 4 times a week a minimum of 1h running. Hellsbells, that worked! Well, it worked for my fitness and then I could run on average 9km/h and closing in on the 10km/h speed. I ran 10km straight mostly that 4 times a week. I could feel myself getting fitter, but I did not drop any weight at all! Weight was not increasing and I was stuck at that time around 75-76kg. Which is a lot for my height while I was running almost every day of the week (extra weekend runs included the hilly run between home and stables) and riding. I remember one day running to the stables (~10km), then riding and then taking the bike back home. I was pushing myself with endorphins running in my brain with the cycling and ended up with an inflamed thigh muscle, and off exercise for a week! Ups. So, that excample just to make it clear that I was no couch potato.

After that I kind of gave up on my weight. That is, trying to loose it. No matter what I did, it didn’t seem to make any difference. The weight was just slowly going upwards every passing year. And there seemed nothing I could do to stop it.

Well, then we moved to Sweden.
My weight had gone now up past 80kg. Running had been left on the back burner around the move, but I still ran and jogged with our dog plus of course was riding.

Spring this year my weight was around 82kg plus. Was not really nice to weigh myself… I knew I was well overweight, but I had tried very hard many years with what people told should make me loose weight. Still the weight went up.
What happened in the spring was that I found out about the hormone-disrupting chemicals. These may also have something to do with gaining weight, so I quickly went through all my toiletries… And was shocked. The plain and basic facial cream I had used all my life – or at least 20+ years had all the possible parabens you can have plus some other chemicals on the ‘very bad for you’ –list! And this cream was sold by the Finnish pharmacies! Oh my goodness! The thought of having used that cream every day of my life… Well, I binned every bit of it now. It was a difficult task to find something that would do the same job for my skin, but eventually I did find a brand that was to be found in a normal shop and didn’t cost a fortune. I don’t use make up or any special products, luckily. Of course there is no proof of this cream having anything to do with my weight problems, but just in case, I’ll try and avoid these chemicals at least in my toiletries.

And then about the same time my parents told me about this documentary about how fasting would be healthy for you… I looked it up from internet (wasn’t aired yet in Sweden at the time). And immediately went for it! I started my 2 day eating at the minimum level of ~450kcal/day early April this year. When watching the documentary I already connected the only time I lost weight with the stuff Mr. Mosley was talking about. And I knew this one finally would be the answer for me!

And it was. I lost 1kg per week for several weeks. I had lost 6kg in 7 weeks. One week I didn’t drop a full kg was when I had made lots of meringues and ate quite some of them during the rest of the week… So, for me, if I eat a lot more sugary things during the 5 days, I won’t loose as much weight. Otherwise I can eat whatever, cake, chocolate, crisps etc. I don’t count the calories during the 5 days. I lost about 7-8kg in very quick succession! And then I plateaued. I got stuck for a couple weeks at 75kg. It didn’t matter that I didn’t over eat or eat lots of sugar. Then again dropped one week to 74kg and stayed there a week or two. And then again to 73 and now I’m at the 72kg mark. I’ve been now hovering about 73-72kg for several weeks. That is, I’ve lost about 10kg since April.

Just a thought: would the weight loss get slower the longer we have had the fat/weight? Or is it just because we are getting closer to our optimal weight? That is, I haven’t been this ‘slim’ for 14 years! And now the weight loss is really getting slower. It is still going down, but very gradually and in smaller steps. So, I’m not complaining! Just an observation.

During my ‘fasting’ day I eat very little for breakfast if at all and just keep drinking until about 5pm, when I have my main meal. If I eat earlier in the day, I just become hungry. If I just leave it till afternoon, I’m not feeling that bad. So, that works best for me.
I generally have lots of veggies that fill the tummy and then some lean protein, like prawns, chicken or elk. If you are clever about it, you can actually eat amazingly much and very yummy food. Like courgette soup with a potato in it for creaminess. For me it helps to think that tomorrow I can eat what ever I want. Then when tomorrow comes, I’m not hungry anymore… 😉

This is also what I have noticed: if I eat a lot in the evening, I’m hungry in the morning. If I don’t eat a lot in the evening, I’m not hungry in the morning… So, for fasting days, I try not to eat too much the previous evening. Now that my weight loss has slowed down, I think that I also feel a bit more hungry during the fasting days than, say, 5 kg earlier.

My target is at the upper end of what is ‘normal weight’ for my height (or at least was according to advice quite some years ago), and that is 66kg. I have a strong bone structure and naturally wide shoulders, so I won’t ever be a ballet dancer nor do I want to. So I think my normal weight is around that 66kg mark for my age and my bone structure. When I finally get there, I think I’ll drop into 1 day fast 6 days eating and observe what happens.
But I feel that this may yet take till the end of the year! At this rate at least.
But it is fabulous to be leaner! 😀 I fit into my old clothes… and the new ones I buy will have to be of the ‘medium’ size… Happy days.

Thanks Mr. Mosley! I’m looking and feeling much better because of you! 😀
Cheers!