A close look inside the mind of a brave, determined woman caught up in the “weight loss – weight gain” torment that threatens the lives of many people fighting their excess weight.

Anne before weight loss

Part 1. How fat slowly took over Anne’s life

Anne is an intelligent, professional woman and is now in her mid forties. Until the time she gave birth to her second child about 14 years ago, her weight and health was about normal. After the birth Anne was unable to maintain her weight and it gradually escalated. As she recuperated from the birth, with two children under the age of two, and a busy husband to care for, post-natal depression set in. (This was not diagnosed at the time, but Anne is certain this was the case).  The result of this depression meant that Anne lost the reason to care about herself and her home. She barely was able to keep up with looking after her family.

Then more trouble struck. Anne contracted a serious illness involving an operation, resulting in a significant loss of energy and vitality. It took a year to recover, all the time her weight was increasing. And then to top it off, Anne began a course of study at university!

In some ways, it’s a familiar story, and what happened next is so common as to be predictable. Little by little her frame became larger and larger, jumping from dress size to dress size. How many of you relate to her plight? How many put on weight as a result of stress and work overload?

Life went on for Anne and her family. She was always tired, and always overweight.  (“Tiredness” and “Overweight” go together, like the Two Ugly Sisters).
By the time her second child was nine Anne had had enough. Her confidence was down, she was weary, and under a black cloud.  Her life was slipping away. Life, she knew, could and should be better than being 40-50 kilograms (100 lbs) overweight and exhausted. It was also a serious risk to her health.  Anne says “I knew I had to change if I was to live to see my grand children”.

Making a decision to get the monkey off her back, she began to gradually enter into weight-loss and after some time, it was down by more than 20 kg. Not bad, but still 30 kg from her target weight-loss. At that point her weight-loss plan stalled. Anne seemed stuck. After trying for about 4 years she couldn’t seem to get past that sign posted “No Way” – 30 kg above target weight-loss.
What was she to do?

Part 2 . Anne’s weight-loss roller coaster

One day as Anne was driving to pick up the children from school she saw a sign advertising a business who specialized in weight-loss. Being desperate and finding they took a holistic approach, which appealed to her, she “jumped in” and joined. (In fact their strategies fitted almost perfectly into my own “Five Factors” of weight-loss. You remember them of course   – Support, Exercise, Eating,Stress and Spirituality).  Anne paid for the course 12 months in advance. Her stress factor was reduced immediately. She says the fact she had made this long term cash commitment, seemed to take a load off her mind.  Author’s comment: Anne found she mostly dealt with the stress and spirituality factors herself, as she gradually regained confidence with loss of weight.

How did the weigh-loss program work?
Here is a quick glimpse.
She had her own personal trainer. Anne set her own weight-loss targets. She had unlimited access to a gym for six days a week, where she exercised three times a week. She submitted written eating “journals” and was measured both for weight and various vital statistics weekly. These included, upper arm, bust, waist, hips, highs and neck. Not much else to measure is there?  The people training her were interested and caring, and so Anne felt comfortable her weight-loss was in good hands.
Regular reports of her progress were meticulously created so she could follow what she had achieved.  Anne was delighted as the weight began to slide away. (It should be said at this stage that throughout her battle with “Bertha Bulge”, Anne’s weight-loss had the support of both her husband and her children, so they also were over the moon!)

It took a little over a year for Anne to achieve her weight-loss goal. It was time for the whole family to celebrate, nobody more so than Anne, who went out and bought a completely new wardrobe. And how she needed it, after a year of makeshift clothing, as her shape altered!
I asked her what she had learned so far?
She replied that losing weight and regaining her figure gave her a boost in confidence in every aspect of her life. Here are the three main lessons she learned on the way:
That the task of losing weight requires a great amount of mental energy, and that is why she couldn’t “make it” on her own.
That the quick weight-loss fix doesn’t work.
That buying the right food is vital – you cannot eat what you have not got in the house.

So there she was, trim, taut and terrific, and armed with practical experience to succeed in personal weight-loss.  So that was that. Mission accomplished. Well not quite. As most people who have been through this weight-loss situation themselves will tell you, the story doesn’t always end when you reach your “weight-loss finish line”.
Life holds many challenges, and again something went wrong!

Part 3. Anne’s weight goes up once again. Decision time.

In almost all cases, the underlying cause of weight gain is stress. Your stress is caused by one or more of many factors. You might have a happy or broken relationship. Is there a bully in your workplace or school? Maybe it’s financial woes or a death in your family?  And so the list continues.

Stress is part of life. We have to deal with it daily, but sometimes it becomes so great your health can suffer. And that is the time for you to be extra careful with what you eat. In Anne’s case she suffered a serious bout of illness, which in turn caused a slight depression. So what happened?
Over the next six months she gained about 10 kg, still 20 kg lighter than originally, but most unwelcome and depressing. As you can imagine the weight she gained equated to the extra stress.
As I was interviewing Anne for this story we discussed what happened exactly, and what weight-loss strategies she would now employ to keep her life on an even keel. Illness, causes stress, and her illness affected Anne exactly the same as before – she began eating the wrong foods. Secondly, and importantly, because of her acute sciatica, she was unable to exercise. It was a two edged blade that was cutting Anne to pieces.

Wrong Food plus No Exercise equals… well you don’t have to be Albert Einstein do you?

And so the weight returned. At the time I called her to arrange our interview, she had peaked at a 10 kg gain, and was just ready to “fight back”.
Here are a couple of examples of what happens when you are not on guard against creeping weight gain.
Anne says, “When I was convalescing, I spent time with my parents who were helping me to recover. They had a different routine to me, and although they thrived on morning and afternoon tea or coffee, the extra calories piled straight on to my hips, legs and, you name it!”.
(She has now learned how to say “No thank you” )
Most of us like chocolate – I do, and if I bought chocolate regularly, verily I say unto you, I would eat it by the pound! (So I very rarely buy chocolate. I eat other people’s chocolate though).
In Anne ’s case she bought chocolate and she ate it -  a flying start to weight gain if ever there was! It took only six months to put on 10 kg. Need I say more? I asked Anne what tips she could give to you. This is what she said: “Make a “weight-loss shopping list” of what you need, and buy when you a not hungry, so you won’t be tempted! Don’t loiter when buying food, because your mindset at the time can influence you. If you are hungry you tend to buy junk food. Don’t buy food you know is “wrong”. Sooner or later you will eat it”.

When I discuss her weight-loss future, Anne has a very positive frame of mind and a steely glint in her eye which says she is going to take off the excess kilograms, and “This time I’ll keep it off!” And so her weight-loss story is unfinished, but I have the strongest feeling it will have happy ending. Look out for the final chapter with her weight-loss goal achieved.

This is a real life, not a contrived, story, so we were not able to produce photographs that were “set up” prior to writing. The two you see are indicative of the weight-loss change Anne went through. I hope in a few months , when the weight-loss story concludes, you will be able to see another. I am sure all your best wishes are with Anne at this time.

Weight Wise Man