You are what you eat 8: the long green mile

This is what I call the long green mile:

I’ve lost about 10 kilos and dropped two sizes (yay!) over 8 months. I know, it’s fantastic. But then, about a month ago, I seem to have stopped losing altogether. I hit the famous plateau. I knew it was coming, that’s not a problem.   For me, The long green mile is the last 5 kilos I want to lose: how do I stay motivated, and keep going in the face of my stagnant weight? I see them ahead of me like a green path; it’s green because I’m on the safe side now (the healthy side) but it feels much longer than the previous 10 kilos I’ve lost.

I am happy with my diet and will not give it up, but lately I started feeling like loosening it up a bit. Just giving myself a bit of a break. And when I was at my weakest and thinking I had to accept that this was it and I was not going to lose any more, guess what? I stepped on the scale this morning and I had lost another half kilo. For the first time in almost a month, I could see a difference! Alleluia! Half a kilo is not much, and it could be back there tomorrow, but I could see the needle in the scale teetering to the other side of that ominous 70k mark.

That gave me a huge boost. I went to the gym – yes, on my diet day! 8 months ago when I started, I could barely move on diet days – and felt pretty light and fit. My pulse went up to around 180 while running on the treadmill and then went right down to 130 in a minute when I was cooling down – which is great.

The diet hasn’t been easy but the results – not just looking slimmer but feeling healthier physically and mentally, feeling in control and empowered – have had a positive impact in more ways than one. For starters, it’s helped me feel happier and more of an achiever. I don’t rely 100% on my professional achievements to feel fulfilled any more. Here’s something else that I feel proud of. I can’t stop this now. I feel so different from the person I was last year. And it’s not just about the weight. But shedding the weight has been metaphorical as well as tangible. I can do this.

So long green mile: bring it on! I’m ready for it! Here I come!