Diets: Diary of a dieter: 3 months on

Everyone knows that losing weight can make you feel better about yourself, but can it really change your life? Rachel Roberts talks about the profound effect her weight loss had on her self-esteem and her whole outlook on life

When I was asked by iVillage back in December to write a diet diary, the thought that immediately crossed my mind was: ‘Damn. That means I can’t cheat.’ Apart from the occasional blip though, I stuck to my diet and, six months later, I am a whole 2 stone 10lb lighter. I’ve gone from 13 stone 7lb to 10 stone 11lb, and dropped from a size 16 to a size 12. Losing the excess weight has changed my life in every way. I’m not exaggerating when I say I feel like a new woman.

The adjustment was as much psychological as physical because, as your body changes, your whole identity changes and, consequently, so does the way you interact with the world. As the pounds dropped off, my old confidence slowly returned after years of feeling locked in a miserable prison of self-doubt and unhappiness. This new confidence has been hard-won but now underpins every area of my life, so much so that I often wonder how I managed without it.

It was this confidence which empowered me to run the Race for Life in Battersea Park several weeks ago. It is not something I would ever have done in the old days, as I would have felt far too self-conscious, uncomfortable and heavy. While still not exactly a lean, mean running machine, after three months of training with a friend, it was an incredible feeling to complete the 5km race in a respectable 32 minutes. I’ve now set my sights on another 5km run – the Flora Light Challenge, in September.