Dieting is the only game where you win when you lose – Karl Lagerfeld

I’ve got a confession to make… I’m a jo-jo… I have been on and off a diet since my late teens and I really started ‘jo-joing’ (does that word even exist??) after having my first child, 19 years ago. Now I don’t want to put the blame on my children !!! No, it was always my own stupid fault… I always managed to lose the kilos, quite easily actually… but after a few months they would always come back and bring a few “friends” if you know what I mean…

I went up and down 10 to 15 kilos for years which really isn’t healthy, I know… Fortunately the slim periods took the upper hand and fortunately I have always sought refuge in healthy diet options like going to a dietician or joining Weight Watchers. Especially Weight Watchers is a type of diet/lifestyle that really helped.

This time I have been on my target weight for over a year now, so I hope that this time I can keep it like that… I’ve got to keep getting on the scales to confront myself with my weight. I set myself a limit of 2 kilos above my target weight. Once above that I pull the emergency brake  and go back to the Weight Watchers routine. I’m certainly not stick thin. My BMI is around 24 which is still quite high, but I find myself comfortable with this weight.

I’ve always found that being on a diet is easier than keeping my weight. Being on a diet means losing weight. The weight loss was my motivation. Once on my target weight, I could eat more, so I was immediately tempted to overdo it and that’s where it went wrong every single time. But not this time !

The reason why I share my weight problem with you, is mentally… ‘if I put it on my blog, there’s no way I can gain weight again… what would my readers think?’. So yeah… I’m using you all to keep my weight… I hope you don’t mind !

Another thing I needed to do was to clear my closet. I’ve had clothes in my closet in 4 different sizes for years and years and finally, a couple of months ago, I got rid of the bigger sizes. Some I gave away, others I threw away… It was hard parting with some clothes, but hey… more room for new, smaller-sized bits and pieces !

Everyone who has weight issues should have something that makes the alarm bell sound. It might be a picture of your heavier days that you stick in your closet, or the promise of a new dress if you’re 2 months on the same weight,… I know it stays really difficult, but you can get there !

To confront myself with my heavier days I put a picture of those days above this post… Believe me… this is really hard for me to do !! I was about 12 kilos heavier than I am now and looking at this picture… well… let’s just say I don’t like it AT ALL (and I wasn’t even at my heaviest then) ! But… pictures don’t lie ! It was how I was at the time. Mind you, I really had to search hard for a decent picture of myself with overweight… It seems I am much more in front of the camera in slimmer times !

But as a motivation to carry on the path I am travelling now, the healthier, slimmer path, I also put a picture of myself in the same dress at the time I had just reached my target weight (the dress has an elastic waistband…). I do see a difference… yes I am slimmer, but I also look far more relaxed and confident !

I do hope that this confession gives people with weight issues a bit of courage to tackle their weight problem. There are a lot of people trying to fight the scales and there are heaps of healthy ways to tackle your kilos. Do you have weight issues ? And if you do, how do you handle them (and if you don’t have weight issues… lucky you !).

Love, Kathleen

Photography by Peter Kluskens