The break your back (BYB) diet!

Since breaking my back, with all the trauma of the pain, being in hospital and loosing one's appetite my weight seemed to plummet. The main thing I noticed was the wastage in my legs. Being what has been referred to previously as a 'big' girl this was quite a strange feeling. Not only did they feel spindly but also weak. Weakness isn't something I'm used to having been a competitive swimmer, rower and enjoyed cycling of late (to be revised!).

Prior to the accident I had lost two stone through ideas from an amazing sports nutritionalist Sally Pinnegar who runs a company called Fit Naturally. I came across Sally through my mate Khara who is a massage client and an Ironman (woman really but they don't like to play on gender!). She lost a tremendous amount of body fat and subsequently weight in order to compete at what I can only really describe as fighting weight but others may say 'ideal' weight. Obviously many factors come into this and having always bordered on overweight for my height on those weight graphs or bmi charts I decided to do something about it. When I swam I was extremely conscious of my weight, not only because of living in Lycra but at 15 having blossomed physically so to speak my coach had a word with me. Probably words that have stayed with me for the rest of my life. No-one likes to hear it and some of you will cringe and want to slap her face when I say this but my coach having pulled me out the water tapped my obviously growing behind and said I had put on a bit too much round there! In athlete terms this is normal but as a 15 year old in lycra I then heard a blurred lecture about the Rosemary Conley diet and not having fat on my roast potatoes. Coming from a foodie family of 6 my attitude towards food changed from that minute and within weeks i'd lost a stone and a half. I remember people saying how fantastic I looked and the boys who had then started to rib me about my fat arse would say you must weigh like 8 stone. Being 5ft 10" in those days I was nowhere near but given that even my mum who had embarked on Rosemary's plan with me (there's a whole other mother/daughter eating disorder discussion right there!) put her fingers round my wrist and said that's enough I knew that was the lowest I was going. My main fear however, along with most the female population was putting the weight back on and that happened as soon as I stopped swimming at 18.
I had decided that it was my life. I was never deprived anything as I worked out that having a natural talent in sport meant you just go through the training motions and aswell as keeping my weight down I also loved the social side. Going away most weekends to Jersey or the mainland (for those of you reading and don't know I lived in Guernsey up to the age of 18) meant I was seeing the world and living life. But as a teenager who had begun to grow tired of a monotonous sport I was done. So with much resistance from family and my coach I stopped. I mean literally stopped! Going from training atleast an hour a day, a couple on weekend days my body went crazy. I can only liken it to those cartoons where the body parts go pop pop and suddenly my suppressed puberty sprung into boobs, hips and bum. Afters years of suppressing my weight it was out of control and I sunk into a bit of devastation. The doctor sent me for relaxation therapy. What I really needed was someone to tell me that I couldn't eat what I ate as an athlete. Maybe it's obvious but so many athletes bloat up like Kat Slater when they quit. It's simple as why would you fuel someone when they're not going to burn it off? It's only now 17 years later, having met Sally that I realise the consequences of fuel in vs fuel out. This was the simple way after years of stupid diets and a disbelief I'd ever see my fighting weight that had allowed me to believe again. Low and behold having followed some simple rules and yeh an extra 10lbs from eating lying down I am back to that place.
So even though there are no rules and this is my interpretation of how my body works loosing weight I'm going to share my simples:
Eat your carbs in the daytime meals unless exercising the next day
No fizzy or sugar free drinks (aspartame sticks fat to your fat cells) so drink high juice instead
30g cereal (oats are good soaked in milk) then add fruit to bulk up - this is a measly amount but you don't need that soup bowl full

Really it's that simple. I have had to re-educate D on what a carb is and he still doesn't understand when I ask for them knowing I will be exercising what that means! For alot of people eating a big meal in the evening is part of a routine, a culture and most of all about time. Breaking this and changing is the hardest part but once you realise all that energy is doing is fuelling you to go to bed you may appreciate why it sticks to your problem areas. Fuel your body to get through the day and you're half way there!
I'm not saying i'm now gods gift to a great body or that I don't have my hang ups. I will always hear those words unfortunately as all the females in my family carry junk in their trunk but atleast now I have a little less following me around and actually even in this Michelin suit that's keeping me together I have switched off the obsessing brain as there's so much else to focus on. One of those thongs is life and being happy surrounded by loved ones and positive amazing people. A friend of mine is partially sighted and has visited me every other day in hospital with her guide dog. She has always been an inspiration but now I hope I can be a little bit of that to someone out there.
Enjoy the present as the now is all we've got...
Hbombot