My Weight Gain And Weight Loss Story

My Weight Loss Journey

So I know a lot of you asked me on Instagram to talk about my weight because I gained a lot and then lost a lot within the last year. Many of you had mentioned about the weight loss in comments or direct messages on my Instagram, but I actually wasn’t going to talk about it as I didn’t think it would be of much interest, until I then asked on my voting poll if it was an article you wanted, and sure enough, it was a 95% vote for yes, so here we are! It’s taken me a little while to put this post together, but it’s finally here and I’m sharing what happened with my journey.

Last year, around October 2019, I started to gain weight. I originally weighed around 137 pound (which is 9 stone 7 or 62 kg) and around 135 pound in the summertime, but come the Autumn, things started to change. I’m not exactly 100% sure why I started to gain a few pound, but I can put it down to being quite unhappy at the time (you already know I was going through some relationship problems) and I started to eat more food, and just be less enthusiastic about things. I didn’t notice the weight creeping on at first as it was just a few pounds, but by the time it was March 2020, my weight had shot up to 156 pound (11 stone 1 or just over 70kg). That was like a 19 pound weight gain in the end, and I was really confused.

I ended up having to buy new jeans and clothing to fit me, and I was wearing size 29/30 waist jeans instead of size 27. I could really see the change in my body too as my face was a lot more round, as were the tops of my arms, my thighs and my stomach. I can’t complain in that I held the weight fairly well, I was quite lucky, but for my small frame (I’m just touching 5ft 4″), and for my joint problems I get with the Hypermobile Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, it wasn’t a good thing. I’m not saying by any means that this weight or size is bad, I’m just stating that for my body frame and condition, it wasn’t good for me and it got to a point where I needed to fix it before it got worse.

In April of this year I started to really be conscious of what I was eating and needed to shed the pounds in a way that works for me. I don’t really have a lot of self control when it comes to sweets, chocolates and crisps, I really don’t, and I’m not ashamed to admit that. Plus, I love Italian food, which is very carb  heavy (even when it is gluten free as I’m intolerant). With that in mind, I know from experience that it never works for me when I completely cut out food groups and go on a strict diet as I just crave the food even more and fail pretty quickly. I’m not going to sugar coat anything here as that is just what happens with me and I’m perfectly fine admitting that. What I tried instead was intermittent fasting, and it really worked. So I will explain a bit about it for you and how I made it work for me.

Intermittent Fasting

Intermittent fasting is where you consume all of your food within a certain time frame, and the rest of the time, you don’t eat. You still consume water though. The general rule is consuming your food within an 8 hour window in the day time, and then nothing after that. So for me, I would wake up and then I wouldn’t really eat for a couple of hours as breakfast has always been a tricky meal for me, but it’s completely fine for you to eat breakfast, it’s however you would usually start your day! Then I would eat my lunch, dinner, and snacks, all within 8 hours.

So the reason you lose weight by intermittent fasting is because it changes your hormone balance to increase weight loss, it improves insulin resistance, and it burns fat more. Your body doesn’t receive any food in the 16 hours, so it uses its own storage of fat. I’m not a doctor at all, but these are things I have read up on, and it worked for me. I started to get a lot more energy back, and I was losing about 2 pound a week. I didn’t even feel hungry within the 16 hours that I wasn’t eating either, which was good. It’s about finding the right 8 hours to fit into your schedule, so it will differ for everyone. When I wake up, I can go for longer periods of time without eating, so I would consume my calories in the afternoon and evening.

In terms of food, I didn’t really cut a lot out. I just made sure that I ate less sugary foods, so I wouldn’t eat as many chocolates or sweets, but in terms of actual meals, I was still eating the same meals that I was before, and on some days, I would just eat smaller portions. I made sure that I was eating enough protein as well, as that’s really important for your body’s functioning and repairing. So not a lot changed, I didn’t deny myself any specific foods as that always causes my brain to crave them, and I just ate my food within the 8 hour time frame.

Do check with a doctor before you start this, just to make sure you’re fit and healthy to go ahead with it and have no blood sugar issues etc. It’s not recommended if you have diabetes, are taking medications, have insulin issues, a low blood pressure etc. I do have a lower blood pressure because of the EDS, but I am used to it and it didn’t cause any problems for me as my salt intake is still decent throughout the day.

How Much Weight Did I Lose?

The first week I lost around 3 pound, and then it was a steady 2 pounds for the following few weeks, and then about a 1 pound weight loss as the time went on. About a month ago in September, I hit my goal weight of 140 pounds, and I was happy. I’d lost 16 pounds and it didn’t even feel like hard work, or a diet. A few weeks ago though, I did shoot down to 137 as I was still doing the intermittent fasting, but I made a few adjustments, I eat in a 10 hour window now and I’ve gone back to 140, which I’m really happy with and plan to maintain. I’m back into my old jeans and clothes!

What Was My Experience?

Honestly, this has been a wonderful experience for me and I’m really happy that I managed to lose the weight and get back to my old self. I know a lot of people have done Intermittent Fasting and it works for them too, however it doesn’t work for everyone, and isn’t safe for everyone, so please always get advice from a professional first if you do plan to do it.

Another strong reason that I wanted to do this was because of my digestive system. Those of you who have been readers of mine for years will know that I’ve always had digestion problems and I’m gluten intolerant as well, but there’s regularly discomfort in my stomach and fasting has helped with that as it gives my digestive system a break, which has been fantastic. I have felt a lot of health benefits and a lot more energy since doing it! And the best thing was that I didn’t find it difficult at all, or like a diet, or a chore. There were a couple of days where I had a little snack outside of the 8 hour window, but I wasn’t being too strict on myself, I just wanted to lose the weight and be healthy mentally and physically while doing it, because I’ve been through a lot this year.

So there we have it, and I hope this blog post was helpful to you! If any of you have tried Intermittent Fasting, please leave a comment below and tell me how it went! I saw a post from Andy (here) and she had a good experience with it. Anyway, I will leave you with some more photos below! Lorna xx.

This was my heaviest at 156 pound. As you can see, it’s quite noticeable on my smaller frame.

This is me now, at 140 pounds.

And here is the side by side photo from above.