Weight to go

Between the ages of 10 and 15 I had to visit London every 6 months to have my teeth looked at by the specialists at Guys Hospital. I had been involved in a playground rugby incident and lost both the ball and my front tooth in the same tackle.

Sadly, my mum only ever accompanied me once to the hospital, not because she was a bad mother but because she had a fear. Now you'd think a fear of Dentist's is pretty common and I'd agree with you, but my Mum had a fear of lifts and it was just plain bad luck that the Dentistry section was situated on floor 23. As I said, she did accompany me the first time, although I'm not sure if it counts as she only managed to make it to the 16th floor before her lungs collapsed. Luckily for her that was the Pulmonary ward. I remember how easily I scaled those stairs, running up two at a time, skipping up floor after floor, then coming back down floor after floor, checking on my Mum. I remember thinking then, why is it taking her so long? why can't she just skip up the stairs like me? It took me until February of this year to realise just why.

I work on the 3rd floor and for the first time ever, I had to take a short break on the 2nd floor, before climbing the last few steps. Just a week later, on a routine trip to the Doctor's, I was asked the most embarrassing question imaginable. Seven words that changed my life. No, not "Touch your toes and try to relax" she said to me "Can you please step on the scales" I have been going to the same family Doctor since I was a baby. She had watched me grow. As it turns out, she had watched me grow a lot. I don't mean in height, I mean in weight.

At 21 I was 13 stone and at 30, there I stood at 18 stone and 3 lbs. That's 115.7 kg in new money. It was then that she said the words that changed my life forever. She told me that it was possible that I wouldn't see my daughter's 30th birthday if my weight gain continued. My daughter is only 6 months old. I had stood on the scales and my Doctor's words had hit me hard, it was like one of those stalls at the fair, when you swing the mallett to ring the bell. The bell was ringing but I hadn't won a prize.

It was then that I decided to change my life and I set myself a target. I wanted to lose 4 stone in 4 months. I wanted to be at that party in 30 years time. For starters, I gave up alcohol completely. I then changed the way I looked at food. Food was no longer a comfort, it was a fuel. I changed what I ate, how much I ate and when I ate. Then I joined a gym and entered myself into a 10k race.

In a month I had lost a stone and a half. I stepped up the work at the gym, I continued to avoid alcohol completely and I continued to eat the right foods at the right time.

In two months I had lost 2 and a half stone. It then got a little harder. Weight loss slowed down, spring kicked in and our social calendar started to fill up. I continued to abstain from alcohol, continued to visit the gym and carried on eating the right foods at the right time.

I was delighted to see that after 3 months I had lost just over 3 stone. Today is the last day of my self imposed challenge and as of today, I have lost 4 and a half stone. Thats 62 lbs or 28 kg in new money. People have tried to tell me that losing weight is really hard and takes such a long time. To borrow a phrase from Record Breakers, dedication is all you need.

I've made an appointment with my Doctor for next week and plan on giving her seven words of my own. THANK YOU DOCTOR, YOU SAVED MY LIFE!