ON JANUARY 10th 2013, I BEGAN A UNIQUE DOUBLE CHALLENGE. I NEEDED TO LOSE WEIGHT FOR HEALTH REASONS AND AS
EDITOR OF A WEEKLY NEWSPAPER, I HAD THE IDEAL
MOTIVATION. I COULD HARDLY ANNOUNCE TO THE COURIER'S READERS THAT I WAS GOING TO SHED
TWO-AND-A-HALF STONE, THEN ADMIT A FEW DAYS LATER: ‘SORRY FOLKS, I’VE MESSED
UP’’ I ALSO HAD AN EXTRA INCENTIVE – TO RAISE FUNDS
FOR RESEARCH INTO CROHN’S DISEASE, WHICH HAS DEVASTATED MY GRANDDAUGHTER DAISY’S
CHILDHOOD. THE FOLLOWING ARTICLES CHRONICLE THE FIRST FOUR WEEKS OF MY DIET WITH A DIFFERENCE - A DIET THAT BROKE EVERY RULE IN THE BOOK. MORE TO FOLLOW NEXT WEEK...
THE ONLY WEIGH IS DOWN: Now that I’ve made it to the New Year, I’m about to get a
huge weight off my mind.And off my chest. And off the equine girth that used to be my waist.
Because this fat filly has had a ’mare of a festive season
trying to prove that she really can eat a horse.
I would NOT normally reveal my weight under any
circumstances. But even allowing for the fact that I am, to use a colloquial
expression, ‘big boned’, I’m ashamed to admit that in the last 12 months or so,
my weight has mushroomed by some 16 kilos. Or around two-and-a-half stone in
old money.
In mid-2011 I tipped the scales at a bit over 12st, still
far too much for a 5ft 5in woman and considerably more than I weighed five
years ago. Now I am well over 14 stone…and that is way, way heavier than I have
ever been.
Many expanding expats in their 60s would put the increasing
corpulence down to the good life and do nothing about it. Which has been my
strategy until now.
I also have too many friends who enjoy the occasional Indian
or Chinese banquet at least eight nights a week – and who refuse to take my
incessant screams of ‘no, no, NO’ for an answer. (OK, that’s a little weight
lie).
Anyway, I have devised an ingenious plan (well, I think it’s
ingenious) which will encourage me to lose weight and also raise money for a
charity that means a lot to me.
I’ve been in the UK over Christmas and the New Year, but
when I return to Spain next Tuesday (January 8) I plan to get myself weighed
professionally and then launch the official Dumpy Old Gran Diet 2013 on this
page next Friday.
If you want to join in the fun (not that I’ll be having
any!) I’m looking for sponsors from 10 cents per pound, which amounts to just
3.5 euros if I reach my 35lb weight loss target. If I don’t make it, I’ll put
in an equivalent amount myself to compensate. All the sponsorship money will go
to CICRA, a charity dedicated to creating a wider understanding of Crohn’s
Disease in childhood.
Crohn’s is a chronic inflammatory bowel disease - and
incurable. The choice was easy for me because two of my granddaughters have
Crohn’s.
For my own health’s sake I simply MUST lose weight – and
what better way to do it? I already have three stents keeping my coronary
arteries open while my leg muscles and joints are becoming increasingly weaker
as Parkinson’s Disease begins to its
toll. Great fun, this life.
Never mind a Prima Donna, I want to be a Leaner Donna…and
the quicker the better.
Because, to paraphrase the old Hollies hit…She Ain’t Heavy,
She’s All Blubber.
JANUARY 18,
2013
WEIGHT
93.2 kilos, 14st 9lb, 205lb...here we go!
START OF A LOSING BATTLE: How would you go about losing 16 kilos? (That’s around
two-and-a-half stone to metrically-challenged geriatrics like me).
It’s not something I’ve thought about – which is a bit daft
for someone who has just plunged herself into a sponsored diet.
Particularly since my general health limits the amount of
exercise I can take to practically zero.
When The Courier’s medical guru Dr Machi Mannu heard the
news of my diet, he admitted to being “a
bit worried’’ because I have cardiovascular problems. But he added: “I can see
you are bent on the idea and there is no stopping you, and so I support you all
the way.’’
Dr Mannu’s biggest worry is that I will put too much
pressure on my heart. So primarily I’ve got to attack the excess kilos by
cutting down dramatically on my food intake rather than winging around a
sweaty gym like a giant duck gone
quackers.
Basically, I have been eating too much. Much too much. That
is obvious when I tell you I am not a bread, chips or fried food addict. I
don’t stuff myself with carbohydrates - in fact, I don’t particularly like
them.
My problem is that if I do like something, I can’t stop. Put
a packet of biscuits or a big bar of chocolate next to me, and I’ll down the
whole lot with a cuppa. The biscuits AND the chocolates.
In other words, I’m a greedy bitch. And it has got to stop.
NOW.
In fact, to paraphrase the words of Steve Redgrave after he
won his fourth Olympic rowing gold medal, if you ever see me eating chocolate
or biscuits again, you have my permission to shoot me.
With a camera, that is.
The diet began yesterday, January 10 – the 13th birthday of
my granddaughter Daisy, who suffers from Crohn’s Disease. She is permanently in
pain from chronic inflammation of the
digestive system, is as much underweight as I am overweight - and spends more time
in hospital than she does at home.
As a result, she has been unable to go to school for the
last two months and fears all her friends will desert her.
CICRA, the Crohns in Childhood Research Association,
survives purely on donations – and I hope to raise at least £500 over the next
six months to help their research programme. If anyone would like to donate,
the link to my Just Giving page is printed below this article..
I’ll be weighing in every Wednesday at the Beauty &
Wellness Centre, where proprietor Lindsay Seaber and assistant Val Hill will
supervise my drop from a size 22 to a size 16 (I wish!)..
My target for the first week is to lose at least one kilo (hopefully a lot
more). I said goodbye to the sticky toffee pudding at the weekend.
From now on it’s sensible eating – not only for weight loss
but also because my heart condition demands it. White meat, oily fish like
salmon, mackerel and tuna – and lots of fruit and veg.
Dining out will centre on salads and I’ll cut out
alcohol (I’m not a big drinker anyway).
I’m also going to try elements of the Slimming World diet which helped me lose
a stone and a half in the late 1990s. The theory is not to eat proteins AND
carbohydrates on the same day. And it works (well, it did in 1999).
I would scoff a large tin of kidney beans for lunch and a
can of baked beans for tea. I was so
full of beans that I put the wind up everyone. But I also blew the pounds away.
JANUARY 25,
2013
AFTER
ONE WEEK: 90.8kilos (93.2), 200lb (205), 14st 4lb (14st 9.5lb)
MINE'S A THIN AND TONIC: I'm not quite ready for the catwalk, but I’m strutting
around like a peacock (or should that be a peahen?) after the first week of my
sponsored diet.
Well, wouldn’t you be if you’d got rid of 2.4 kilos of
greasy blubber? That’s 5.3lbs less than I weighed on January 10, the start of
my battle to shed at least 35lbs.
I stepped on the scales at the Beauty and Wellness Centre on
Wednesday quietly confident that I’d shed at least a couple of kilos.
OK, I admit I nipped onto my very unreliable bathroom scales at home to get an inkling of
where I was up (or down) to. And they had told me much the same thing.
Privately, I had been hoping to lose at least 3lb in those
first seven days. In reality, I lost 5.4lbs. The joy of that achievement was
countered by finding out later that I was still marginally over that horrendous
200lbs landmark...albeit by just a couple of ounces.
So, how did I change my eating habits during the first
week? Well, basically I just ate less. I have never been a big fan of
weight-loading carbs like chips, pasta, bread and fried rice but if I like
something, I will happily have a second helping. And it’s rare for me not to
clear the plate.
I also love chocolate and biscuits...but the only sweet
thing to pass between my lips now is me whistling the Welsh national anthem.
Well, trying to anyway!
Anyway, despite the joy of Week One, I’m not getting carried
away. (‘That’s because no-one can lift her’, did I hear someone say?’)
I still have a mountain to climb to get myself back into
some sort of human shape (yes, I feel like a cross between Mrs Blobby and the
Michelin Gran). But nothing will stop me now - not least because I have an
extra motivation.
My 13-year-old granddaughter Daisy, who suffers from Crohn’s
Disease, is currently on morphine in
Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool after being admitted over the
weekend in severe pain.
It’s the latest setback in a chronicle of suffering and lost
childhood as she enters her third month off school. While Crohn’s is currently
incurable, researchers are working to find an antidote - and I want to help
them to help kids like poor Daisy.
Those 2.4 lost kilos have provided a new platform from which
to continue my Up and Down Campaign, as I think of it. The Down is where I want
my weight to go and the Up is to raise
at least £500 for CICRA, the Crohn’s in Children Research Association.
If anyone would like to donate, no matter how little, you
can do it online at https://www. just giving.com/Donna-Gee
Many thanks in
advance - from CICRA, from me and from Daisy.
FEBRUARY 1,
2013
POUND FOOLISH: “You've lost nearly a pound. Well done!’’ said Val, feigning
pleasant surprise at the info displayed on the scales.
My initial reaction to seeing the flickering figure ‘89.9’
had been one of joy because I’d dipped under 90 kilos. But the reality was
disappointing.
Val, the chirpy Glaswegian who weighs me in, rubbed in the
minimal weight loss by adding enthusiastically: “That’s 300 grams you’ve lost
in the last week!’’
My mind went into overweight - sorry, overdrive. Hang on, I
thought, I was 90.8 last week and I’m 89.9 now. That’s almost a kilo I’ve
lost.’’
A quick revision confirmed that I had in fact dropped 2lbs
to hit the 14 stone mark in my battle to lose 35lb.
I’m still more than
three stone above my ideal weight but I already feel more energetic. And
now I’ve plunged past the
90kilo/14-stone mark, I’ve got 85kilos in my sights.
I’m also looking for a maths tutor who understands fluent
Glaswegian.
After
two weeks: Weight 89.9kilos (200lb
or 14st 4lb). Total loss 3.3 kilos.
THANK you again to everyone who has supported my fundraising
effort for the Crohn’s In Children Research Association. I am fast
approaching my £500 target figure - just
three weeks into my sponsored diet. To donate, go to
www.justgiving.com/donna-gee or call the Courier office
IN FOR A POUND: I feared the worst at this week’s weigh-in on Wednesday -
even though I had stuck to my calorie counting meticulously. Well, semi
meticulously because I did have one little lapse . But I promise I ate that
slice of homemade jam-and cream-filled sponge cake only because the friend who
baked it looked so sad at my initial refusal.
That was on Monday - and I had visions of having to tell you
today that I’d regained the 2lb I lost last week. At best, I thought I’d tip
the scales at 89.9 kilos for the second week in a row.
The good news is that I actually lost half a kilo (1.1lb).
The bad news is that it’s the least I’ve shed in the three weeks since full
English breakfasts vanished from my
life.
As a result, I am now suffering from severe sausage
withdrawal symptoms. These consist of fantasising that I am climbing up Walls
in Richmond carrying a 200lb bacon slicer.
Even worse, the bacon slicer
is my local butcher.
After three weeks: Weight 89.4kilos.
Total loss 3.8 kilos.
FEBRUARY
8, 2013
WEIGH ONWARD AND DOWNWARD: Weigh yourself only ONCE a week, the dieticians tell you.
The best I’ve
managed in four weeks is three days of flabstinence - and that was my
first three days of dieting, when I
just wanted the image of Mrs Michelin
Man out of my life.
Ultimately, of course, I had to accept the proof of the
puddings and this last few days I’ve felt like the Princess of Scales.
Problem is that my desire to know if I’ve shed any more
micrograms is so overpowering that my customary two to three nightly loo trips
are now double-purpose missions.
It’s a sort of ‘Where there’s a wee there’s a way’ routine -
and in just a couple of weeks, it has taught me that I am my heaviest in the
evening - and that my weight drops progressively through the night - varying by
1lb or more.
I also now know that I am at my lightest at around
11.30am....which is why you’ll invariably find me weighing in around that time
every Wednesday.
Initially I feigned shock at the revelation that I’d shed a
kilo or so.
But I always have a good idea what the official scales at
Pueblo Bravo are going to show - because I have a regular preview at home.
Along with countless repeats.
Someone has now suggested I give my bathroom scales away
before they glue themselves permanently to my feet.
Mind you, that would be like putting me on a pedestal...as
befits the Princess of Scales I mentioned earlier.
After FOUR weeks: Weight 88.7 kilos.
Total loss 4.5 kilos
FEBRUARY 15,
2013
WHAT A DIFFERENCE A DAY MAKES: Promise you won’t tell anyone and I’ll admit it. I had TWO
weigh-ins this week - with a bizarre
result.
Thinking I would be unable to make my normal Wednesday
appointment because of a court appointment, I
jumped onto the scales at the Beauty and Wellness Centre 24 hours early.
Shock, horror - I had PUT ON 200 grams since my previous official
weigh-in.
The idea of the red box in the middle of this article
showing negative equity for the first time was unthinkable. So back I sneaked
before heading for court on Wednesday
(as a witness by the way - not to be locked up). And you can see the good news
in that very same red box.
Unbelievably, my weight had plummeted in less than 24 hours
from 88.9 kilos to 87.1 kilos! It’s a mystery why...but I’m certainly not
complaining!
Next week I have a bigger problem. I’ll be in Manchester on
a family visit so will be using my own scales. So expect me to lose at least
another stone by then...
q I had arguably the most embarrassing experience of my life
at last week’s weigh-in.
The Beauty and Wellness Centre has two loos, one for women
and one for the guys. Anxious to register as big a dip in weight as possible, I headed for the Ladies and proceeded
to do what people do.
Everything went as panned, sorry planned, until I went to flush the toilet – and found
the flusher missing.
I washed my hands wondering what had happened and, horror of
horrors, as I re-entered the salon, looked at the door I’d just come out of and
saw a big Out of Order sign staring at me.
How I hadn’t seen it when I went in I have no idea.
Anyway, three buckets of water and several profuse apologies
later, normal service was resumed.
And I was left wondering whether I’m losing my sight altogether – or if it was all just a flush in the pan.
IN the five weeks
since starting my diet, my weight has dropped from 93.2 kilos to 87.1 kilos - or just under a
stone. My target is to lose 35 lbs (16 kilos) by the end of June.
TOTAL LOSS, 5 WEEKS, 6.1 kilos (13lbs 7oz)
(To Be Continued)
