The moment of truth appraoches: goal 1

I've posted this over from my Facebook notes: partly so it's uber official, partly because I had such nice comments from all the lovely people below! Unfortunately it will bounce right back there but, meh, deal with it.

As you can read below, I've dropped half a stone since posting this originally, and gone down 1.5 on my BMI. This weekend is going to be a bit of a moment of truth - I have no idea if I can drop a dress size yet and I'm out shopping for a dress to wear to a friend's wedding. Yes, my clothes are baggier, but is it enough?

I'll let you know!

I've definitely got value for money from the gym membership - at the moment I'm there six times a week, swimming or gyming, and loving it. One of the less expected benefits is that it clears my head from work so I'm not so stressed when I - eventually - get home. I went for a run on the bank holiday and my knee started hurting again so I'm sticking with the swimming for cardio -I'm considering taking up some short sprints instead, just for fun, in the hope the breaks inbetween will mean my knee can cope. However in the meantime I'm learning how to swim again, with the help of Dai and his brother Hywel (who's a qualified swim coach, so, Sam, to answer your question, I am paying a big fat nothing for my lessons, and the Masters swim class is included on my gym membership) so I'm logging my distances and helping Speedo swim around the world against malaria! You can sponsor me in my Charlie to mermaid transformation: http://www.worldswimagainstmalaria.com/charlie

From Facebook:

It's official, I'm shallow

Sunday, July 27, 2008 at 10:09pm

Ok. I'm announcing this on my blog in the hope that I'll actually get on and do this. I want to have a healthy BMI. To do that, I need to lose 2 stone and 4 pounds, or 32 pounds.That's a lot. More...than I thought. You'll probably know I'm vegan, and I'm not exactly adverse to exercise: in fact I'm quite keen on it. However, I also love food and I'm only five foot, which doesn't give me much room for manovre apart from, well, outwards.My main problem with losing weight is not the dieting, or the exercise. It's the shallowness of it all. There's a voice in my head shouting, "Do you want to be taken seriously? Do you WANT to be like these orange people, obsessed with everything they ever eat? This is vainty!" And for me, vainty feel more sinful than anything I could ever eat. Yes I wear make up. Yes I do care how I look. However, serious weight loss is seriously VAIN in my eyes, which makes it a real battle.The same voice shouts, "You've always been overweight! It's not going to change! You'll never do it!" Now. I've been heavier than this. I shed quite a few pounds a couple of years ago and at the time I was having a bit of a general change in my outlook on lots of things. I felt really guilty about it too. I'm lucky with Dai because I know he will support me. It feels different this time. I think I've realised that although cardio-vacsularly (is that a word?) speaking, I am probably as fit or fitter than I've ever been, due to the running, I am STILL too heavy. I'm 23. I need to conquer the voice NOW, and then deal with keeping it at bay before I give in and get bigger, or lose my fitness.I don't even want to be thin. I suspect I will never be thin. But I can be healthy. Being healthy is far from being vain, so my goal is to lower my BMI from nearly 31 to under 25. I'm not asking for 20, or even 22. Under 25 - a healthy weight, will do me fine.By November I hope to have lost enough to feel happier in a bikini when Dai and I go to CenterParcs - a stone, plus some toning would do it. I have no idea how long it will take for me to lose 32 lbs, but I hope to have a better idea soon and set myself a time goal to work towards. In the meantime, I'm joining the gym and going at least twice a week, plus keeping up the running a few times a week, walking in my lunch breaks and fitting in some regular swimming (which I love) too.As to the diet I'm cutting down on the portions. My actual foods aren't too bad, although I'm cutting out the crisps (which were beginning to feature a bit too much) and ice cream (same) and down on the alcohol (two glasses of wine this week, not too bad) and sugar (not too much of a problem).It needs to be something I can live with, but I have found that my health is increasingly important to me: I want to be as healthy as I can be. I'll try to blog my progress. This is the first step in ensuring I actually do it this time: keep your fingers crossed for me!
Add a comment 16 comments View original post

Samantha Wong (Cardiff University) wrote at 8:18pm on July 29th, 2008
Glad to hear you're looking to lose weight to be healthy and not the whole "I wanna look like Mischa Barton/Keria Knightley/Nicol Ritchie and disgustingly stick thin. Getting a fantastic body and looking great in a bikini is always a bonus! :) Anyway, you run loads, (where do you get your motivation??) and my bad food habits not only include crisps and ice cream but cake (lots of it) as well! Hope you manage to conquer that inner voice in you and become as healthy as you can possibly be :) x


Charlie Elise Duff wrote at 9:30pm on July 29th, 2008
Thanks Sam, I went for a run tonight and had some food, have been craving sugar badly tonight. Had a small piece of very dark chocolate - no point in banning it - but your support means a lot so big HUGS! x

Cat Hackforth (University of Bristol) wrote at 9:35pm on July 29th, 2008
Best of luck, Charlie! :DKeira Knightley freaks me out. Maybe she just naturally looks like skin sprayed onto a skeleton, but even so...


Rachel England (Wales) wrote at 10:09pm on July 29th, 2008
Well done Charlie! Like Sam said, it's good you're doing this for health reasons and not to look like a lollipop lady.That said, it's interesting that you say your diet is generally good anyway, and that you feel like you've never been fitter. I know a lot of people (me included) who have a BMI under 25 but eat rubbish constantly, find themselves out of puff after very little exertion and have achy arms for days after a go on the Wii. So who's 'healthier'? It ain't me, that's for sure. So I wouldn't stick too rigidly to guidelines and charts, etc. It's how you feel that matters the most - not scientific recommendations.Still - way to go! :) x


ElizabethAnne Grummitt (Cardiff University) wrote at 1:42am on July 30th, 2008
I think as long as you are thinking about your weight in terms of being healthy there's nothing wrong with that. And wanting to look one's best is no sin, just as long as its realistic. I will say though that BMI is thought to be meaningless by many medical peeps.Obviously I'm not going to join in the 'thin people are vile and disgusting' comments, as being the same size and shape as dear ol' Keira (cept for the boobs, obviously, hurrah!) makes me a hideous skeleton as well. But it is true a fantasy physical size isn't a good goal, as you can never ever win that way. Healthiness and happiness is much better and not shallow at all, in my opinion.


Charlie Elise Duff wrote at 1:54pm on July 30th, 2008
Hee hee. Yes, I do realise that BMI is not everything. I am rather prone to muscle as well, so it's possible I'll always be slightly over: but currently I'm way over. I'm looking forward to going to the gym tomorrow for the first time in ages - Dai is coming too, yay!I don't know how some people eat rubbish and stay within the range. All I know is, if I was a cow, you'd all be eating me, because I maintain good weight on vegetables alone!


ElizabethAnne Grummitt (Cardiff University) wrote at 3:41pm on July 30th, 2008
I misread 'cow' as 'crow' then and was very confused...


Laura Murphy (Cardiff) wrote at 8:02pm on July 30th, 2008
right on charlie. Have you tried having your body fat ratio measured at all? It's better than BMI for working out your overall health and your gym should be able to do it for you if it's one of the bigger ones. You want to get it at around 10-12%, that's the optimum level.I'm meant to be joining a gym at some point once I sort my finances out a bit and get into the swing of budgeting....can't wait til January when my free work membership kicks in and I can go on my lunchbreak with my workmates. If you want any tips on workouts etc then check out the MH website and forums, I know I'm self-promoting but I have seriously learnt shitloads since starting work there about workouts and nutrition and all that kind of biscuit.


Rachel England (Wales) wrote at 9:34pm on July 30th, 2008
*cough* shameless plug *cough cough*


Laura Murphy (Cardiff) wrote at 9:35pm on July 30th, 2008
GET ME SOME PAAAAAGE IMPRESSIONS


Charlie Elise Duff wrote at 9:40pm on July 30th, 2008
I'm going to the gym tomorrow: it's like a proper big one where you get weighed etc. I think I'm full of fat: my arms, back and stomach are testament to that, although my legs are pretty damn toned! But I would like to know what percentage I am. I heard though that women have to be 30% and above to be healthy and concieve etc (which makes me wonder about the infamous Beckham, so that could be crap: or maybe it's 3 or 13 % lol).As token Men's mag fan, I've seen the forums, they ARE really good. Well-populated too! Anyway, as ever, thanks guys! xCx


Bethan Price (Durham) wrote at 4:01pm on July 31st, 2008
Here's where the nutritional anthropologist in me kicks in: You have to have a body fat percentage of 10-15% in order to be able to conceive, although this can vary. It's quite complicated but there's a gradient with conception, so it's not as straight forward as 'if you are below this fat percentage you can't conceive'. I know this because one of my lecturers was obsessed with this stuff so we had loads of lectures on it and I read all the studies and papers. As Laura said your body fat % is more important than your BMI as is your waist measurement. The size of your waist is a good indicator of whether or not you need to lose weight, as it's the first place you put on excess fat. I may be slight but if I put on weight it all goes on my stomach, which is BAD. I'm also one of those healthy BMI people who I suspect has a really bad body fat percentage - all fat and no muscle. Also BAD. But good luck with it all. I hope all goes well and you hit your target BMI/BF%, etc. Bx


Charlie Elise Duff wrote at 1:14pm on August 3rd, 2008
Wow thanks for the info Bethan! I wieghed myself at the same time this week as last, the scales say I've lost a lb. Which is not what the scales said at the gym on Thurs, but I'm sticking with my plan. My waist is below the danger zone, and I do put it on there (but also it comes off there first if I lose weight) I've always had a so-called 'vintage' figure - my hip to waist ratio is bigger than the average. Good for corsets, bad for making anything else fit. No idea what this means health-wise, apart from 'you're a curvy freak'?Meh. Anyway did two 5ks this week plus a shorter run. Plus walking and abdominals (I HATE PLANKS)x


Charlie Elise Duff wrote at 9:46pm on August 31st, 2008
Just posting to say I've lost half a stone! Hooray!I have a few goals:One: wedding on the 13 Sept - I wanted to lose half a stone by then but I already have. I was hoping I would be able to drop a dress size but I won't know if I have until I go to try on dresses next week, eek!Two: beginning of November - I want to have lost at least a stone and feel toned and, possibly more importantly, confident enough to wear a bikini when Dai and I go on holiday.Three: New Year 2009 - a healthy BMI.Four: to discover a way to maintain my new weight - I know yo-yo weights are very bad, and I want to keep to a steady weight and exercise programme, with a diet I can handle. So goal one is partially complete... I'll update with more news when it occurs!xCx


Rachel England (Wales) wrote at 9:37am on September 1st, 2008
Well done Charlie! Good on you.Having recently moved to within 400m of a leisure centre I went swimming yesterday for the first time in about four years. Jesus. Christ.I'm aching so badly this morning it's like I've been hit by a bus. So that's my new goal now; go swimming without feeling like this the day after


Charlie Elise Duff wrote at 2:40pm on September 1st, 2008
Nice goal Rachel! I'm off to Masters swimming tonight, boy, that's going to hurt tomorrow - they really push you in the class and I've only just started re-learning crawl....You should see if they do a Masters class at your pool, then you can join me in the pain, haha! x

Stay tuned, I do a weigh-in every Sunday and will be posting a round up!