Wishful Shrinking

Today I embark upon the final leg of my personal 'get well' campaign.

In 2016 I weighed nearly 21st (290lbs or 130kg). I was an unhealthy and grumpy old man. My cholesterol was out of control and I was prescribed statins. I therefore embarked on a series of faddy diets - Atkins, Paleo ... you name it, I've done it. My weight began to yo-yo as I drifted back into bad eating habits once I got bored of ricecakes and raw nuts.

Then I signed up for one of those extreme weight loss programmes, a thing called LighterLife where you live on protein shakes, soups and bars. To its credit, it works. I quickly shed weight and, by February 2017 I was down to 18st. But Lighter Life was expensive and monotonous. And if you're a foodie like me, that was an issue. I soon found myself cheating by scoffing a sneaky pork pie or Mars Bar. Even worse, I started hiding my secret eating from people around me.

Then, at my regular annual 'Well Man' clinic in Autumn 2018, I was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. My fault compeletely - the years of obesity had finally caught up with me. And I had high blood pressure. So I was suddenly on more medication - eight tablets a day for various ailments. 

So  then I joined the local Weight Watchers group and they were great. Sensible meals and the weekly 'walk of shame' to get publicly weighed kept me on track and I started to slowly lose weight. By mid 2019 I was down another stone. But pressures of work, erratic mealtimes, junk foods, beer, a lot of travelling and staying in hotels as I toured talks around the country started to take their toll. I stopped attending Weight Watchers and started to balloon again.

In March 2020 we entered the first Covid lockdown. Restaurants and pubs shut. Takeaway outlets shut. We were confined to where we lived. And, I suddenly realised, that this was an opportunity rarely offered. With all of those temptations off limits I had a good chance to sort my weight out. I'm a reasonable cook (I worked as a chef in my late teens) and I understand food combinations and flavours. I'd also been reading a number of books which gave me a greater understanding of just how damaging processed food can be. Firstly, it's all about profit, not the health of the consuimer. To quote Chris Van Tulleken in Ultra Processed People:

'The idea that the purpose of a food could be important barely registered the first time I encountered [it], and yet it began to crystalise a cloud of ideas that had been floating around in my head for many years. I could understand that at least in theory physical and chemical processes might affect how the food interacts with the body. But to include, as part of the definition the purpose for the processing – ‘to create highly profitable products’ – was completely new. Considerations about whether traditional food might have a different purpose from substances made by transnational corporations with hundreds of billions in revenue had been almost entirely absent from scientific and policy discussions of food and nutrition. It wasn’t a big mental leap to imagine that products that subvert the body’s evolved mechanisms that signal when to stop eating might survive better in the marketplace.'

Secondly, Tulleken made me realise that my obesity hadn't all been my fault. These OPF (ultra processed foods) are designed to make us eat more and a lot of things sold as 'fat-free' or 'low calorie' have little nutritional value:

'Every discussion of weight gain, whether in the press or in our own heads, is suppurating with blame, which is always directed at the people who live with it. The idea that they are to blame has survived scientific and moral scrutiny because it is simplistic to the point of transparency. It’s based on there being some failure of willpower – a failure to move more or to eat less. This idea doesn’t stand up to scrutiny, as I will show repeatedly. For example, since 1960, the US National Health surveys have recorded an accurate picture of the nation’s weight. They show that – in White, Black and Hispanic men and women of all ages – there was a dramatic increase in obesity, beginning in the 1970s. The idea that there has been a simultaneous collapse in personal responsibility in both men and women across age and ethnic groups is not plausible. If you’re living with obesity, it isn’t due to a lack of willpower; it isn’t your fault. In fact, we’re a lot less responsible for our weight than a skier is for breaking their leg, a footballer for injuring their knee, or a bat scientist for getting a fungal lung infection from working in caves. Diet-related diseases come from the collision of some ancient genes with a new food ecosystem that is engineered to drive excess consumption and that we currently seem unable, or perhaps unwilling, to improve.'

That was an eye-opener.

I also read Morgan Spurlock's Don't Eat This Book, Rob Percival's The Meat Paradox, Florence Williamns' The Nature Fix and a host of other books on physical and mental wellbeing (without the woo woo). And I formulated a plan.

I embarked on a new way of looking at food. I would avoid processed foods as much as possible. For example, butter contains two ingredients - butter and salt. Many margarines contain highly processed (heated, neutralised, deodorised, hydrogenated and de-waxed) plant oils along with flavouring agents, emulsifiers and preservatives. So butter it was - but in sensible amounts. 

Here's another example: Mayonnaise (always best if you make your own) should contain no more than eggs, oil, vinegar and mustard. But low fat mayo replaces the oil with gums and starches - including xantham gum which is a mucus produced by a bacterial culture grown in a lab. Yum.

The basic rule I would adhere to is ... if a food contains ingredients you wouldn't have at home, avoid them.

I also educated myself about bad carbs and their ubiquitous use in processed foods (I wrote about it here). I also substantially reduced my meat consumption by only eating free range (and preferably organic) locally-sourced produce. That meant it was more expensive but that encouraged me to eat less (I wrote about meat here). I upped my consumption of veggies and fruit (local wherever possible) and things like bread, chocolate, cake, beer etc. became treats rather than staples. I could have them but less often and in smaller quantities.

And so lockdown went on.

I had no hunger. I had no cravings (apart from a few days at the start of my change of diet). I enjoyed delicious and often inexpensive meals that were satisfying and filling. And the weight fell off. 

By Christmas 2021 I had shed 4st. My diabetes went into remission, my cholesterol was at a healthy level and my blood pressure was normal. 

I then maintained my weight by sticking with my new lifestyle diet and daily walks with the dog. I have the occasional beer or bar of chocolate. I even have the odd takeaway. But all in moderation.

Treats not staples! 

And now it's time to embark on the second phase of my weight loss journey. I'm now setting out to lose a final 3st to reach an ideal weight - 13st - for my height and body shape.

Wish me luck!