The search .....

So here are the basics:

• I am 58 years old, living on a farm outside Pretoria with the love of my life (who eats like a sparrow and does not have an ounce of spare flesh on him)
• I create mosaics and websites for a living which entails either sitting behind a computer or my workbench - neither of which expend much physical energy
• Am an equal opportunity eater - I  LOVE food and eat with every opportunity - whether happy or sad - when depressed it gets really, really bad, then gobble is more the norm (OK so I do have some issues)
• I bought lots of classic loose-fitting clothes years ago so am pretty comfortable with my wardrobe
• I have never been anything but a "big girl" and was reasonably comfortable with that situation although the nagging thought in the back of my head started become more of a siren that something needed to be done ... at some stage!
• This photograph taken of me in December last year showed me that I

  

  Cher: 21 Dec 2013

  was seriously exceeding the "big girl" tag and something needed to be done with my weight at 137.3!
• I tried Herbex, TenaZ and even Garcinia Cambogia while "eating healthy" - not a whole lot of success with any of them. The more I tried to eat the right stuff the more the cravings for sugar and pasta dominated my life.
• Stopped smoking in March which did nothing to slow down the increase in my already considerable girth (waist 151.5cm) ....
• At the end of July 2014, I weighed 141.7kg and my last pair of jeans which I kinda still fit into, finally forbid me to try and sit down while wearing them and I knew that I had to seriously do something........
• I even bought an exercise machine (Trojan 260) and spent half an hour with the salesperson trying to establish if the maximum weight allowed was actually 130kg (even if the box said 120kg) but decided to risk it anyway.

So the search on how to lose weight began. Thank goodness for the internet because it does make life a whole lot easier - and a whole lot more complicated!!! 

I found an eating plan called "Beyond Diet" which is low carb, gluten free eating which seemed reasonable and also targeted a lifestyle change more than a diet which suited me. However, after subscribing to their website, meal plans and related services I became highly annoyed with the amount of emails that seemed more concerned with selling more of their products than anything else. I have unsubscribed to their emails and now have a rather expensive set of recipe books:)

The see-saw continued for two more weeks until Sunday 17th August when I started doing some research on "Banting" - the more I read (both sides of the fence) the more something resonated with me that perhaps I should give this a try - what did I have to lose? Only 50kg!

Cher:  31 July 2014

Okay, so there are some serious stumbling blocks - I have to give up SUGAR, BREAD, PASTA and AROMAT!!! You don't understand, these are my basics for survival! 

Have downloaded a 30-day Meal Plan to test drive the process while I await the arrival of the Real Meal Revolution from Kalahari. I joined a great group on Facebook: "Banting for Weight Loss" administered by bright, intelligent and helpful people and populated by a great group who are all fighting the same battle! From this group I found a recipe for Banting Bread which I made and I was presently surprised at the taste and ate some with real butter too - so life cannot be all bad?



So my Banting journey  begins - full of optimism and hope!

This blog will be updated on Sundays and provide you with weekly progress reports.