I have always struggled with my weight

4th October 2018


‘I have always struggled with my weight.’

‘I have lost weight many times over my life but I never seem able to sustain it’.

‘I eat when I am tired, when I don’t feel well, when I am stressed, when I feel emotional, when I feel lonely’.

‘It hugely affects my self-esteem and my confidence and stops me from being as sociable as I would like’.

These are real words shared on my Weight Loss to Health Programme. Client after client, I hear the same stories of years of weight struggles taking their toll leaving them lacking hope, low in confidence and feeling a failure.

Facts laid bare

Headlines on obesity are almost daily:

  • Obesity is on track to overtake smoking as the single biggest cause of preventable cancer in British women within 25 years (Cancer Research UK)
  • 64% of Brits are overweight or obese (WHO)
  • Type 2 diabetes in young people rises 41% in three years (RCPCH)

(These figures are alarming and I did think twice about whether to quote them here. Why have I? Because you, your family, friends, colleagues, neighbours and anyone who these may be relevant to are important: You Matter).

Cancer Research lists the following types of cancer as (in their own words) caused by obesity:

Breast (in women after the menopause), bowel, womb, oesophageal (food pipe), pancreatic, kidney, liver, upper stomach (gastric cardia), gallbladder, ovarian, thyroid, myeloma (a type of blood cancer), and meningioma (a type of brain tumour).

This list includes 2 of the most common types of cancer – breast and bowel cancers – and 3 of the hardest to treat – pancreatic, oesophageal and gallbladder cancers.

Whilst overweight doesn’t mean that someone will definitely develop cancer, Cancer Research explain that they are more likely to get cancer than if they are a healthy weight. The good news is that small changes that are kept up over time can make a real difference.

Lasting weight loss is an inside job

For most of us, the above information is nothing new. The trouble is it’s one thing to know this and another to make the necessary changes to address them. Breaking lifelong habits and changing deeply entrenched behaviours can be difficult. Of more importance is sustaining these to maintain a healthy weight. Whilst food and exercise are of course important, maintaining weight loss requires so much more than this. Lasting weight loss really is an inside job as without addressing other essential factors, the familiar lose, regain, repeat pattern will continue.

In recent years I have helped many people take back control of their bodies, their health and their lives. From this I have gained rarely available insights into what is really behind the weight gain of many. Contrary to what most people think, food and activity are often not the first places I start. For many, the eating is the result and not the cause. Food has become the catchall answer to all of life’s problems. After too many failed diets and subsequent regain, many have lost confidence, belief and hope that they will ever be able to return to their healthy weight.

The single most common used word by clients to describe their first session with me is ‘excited’. Yes, excited about weight loss! Whilst clients are delighted to be fitting their old wardrobe – or having the perfect excuse to invest in a new one! – it’s particularly heartening to hear the benefits they reel off from feeling calmer and happier to having more energy and sleeping better. Many report a knock on effect to other areas of their life leaving them feeling more confident and balanced in general.

Tips and Techniques

Here are 3 tips to help you to let go of the weight loss mentality and choose feel-good balanced health today:

  • Make the decision that you are in this for the long haul; for life. This takes the pressure off you wanting those unachievable and unsustainable instant fix results.
  • Treat your body well and take good care of it. You only have one after all and if you want it to last a lifetime, you need to treat it that way.
  • Take a balance approach – moderation is king

Get in touch

If you’re really serious about prioritising yourself, your body and your health, you can find out more about my 1:1 personalised weight Loss to Health here.