| Diary of a dieter - week 9
The reappearance of Rachel Roberts’ hip bones gives her added dieting inspiration Ow! I really hurt myself as I leaned over to grab some chicken breasts at the supermarket. But I quickly forgot the pain when I realised it was caused by my hip bones pressing up against the freezer. They’ve been in hiding for a while, but as the pounds continue to drop off, they’ve made a welcome return. It’s moments like these that make me realise just how much weight I put on over the last few years. Because you see your body every day, you don’t notice the pounds creeping on, until one day, you have a moment of truth in front of the mirror, and see the blanket of fat you’ve been growing for the last few years. The re-emergence of my hip bones has really boosted my confidence – just in time for my karaoke leaving party at work. I felt great in my slim-fitting trousers and danced for most of the night. While I was taking a breather, an ex-boss of mine arrived and came over for a chat. After talking for about 10 minutes, she said she was genuinely blown away by how different I looked. She said she’d been trying to work out what was different about me because I looked so healthy. I guess you feel and look better when you’re not carrying around excess baggage. I have to say, the compliments kept rolling in all night and I revelled in the attention, feeling on top of the world. I had a fantastic evening and it was the first night in a long time that I genuinely enjoyed myself. I’ve always had a laugh, but it’s only now, looking back at how I used to feel in social situations, that I realise how my confidence had taken a massive dent. There were warning signs that my self-esteem was hurtling towards the floor, but I think I just brushed them off. I dismissed moments of unhappiness – like breaking a zip as I tried to squeeze into a pair of trousers in a shop; the shocking photos taken on an Italian holiday; wanting to run and hide when I saw my ex-boyfriend with his new, slim girlfriend – and put them in an imaginary box at the back of my mind. But the hardest part was truly facing up to the fact that the big, bloated body in the mirror was mine, and I was no longer happy in it. Once I realised that and was prepared to really do something about it, the dieting itself wasn’t too hard. It took me four long years to get to a point where I could really handle it, but now I really feel there will be no stopping me. Let’s hope my new-found confidence will carry on and sustain my positive outlook. Original start weight: 13st 7lbs |