Hi there, and welcome back to my Brain Tumour Blog.How are you? I hope you are well.In this post, I am going to talk about, how I lost weight.Now I know it’s February, where most New Year’s Resolutions are no longer valid, but I’m hoping that this post will motivate you.
As I discussed in my last post, I was in hospital for 10 days, with a fluid blockage in my brain, after radiotherapy. in March 2016.I had to be given lots of steroids, which gave me massive weight gain. From 70KG to 114KG. Here is a picture of me when my uncle took me to the F1 British Grand Prix in 2016.
And here is a picture of me today.
In October. I was told by my diabetes insipidus consultant, that I had a fatty liver and I needed to lose weight.I now weigh 78KG and my waist is down from a tight 40 inch to a loose 38. So how did I do it? Heres how I did it:
- Electronic devices
- Easy exercise
- Walking
- Smaller plates
- Track your input
- Cucumber juice
Electronic devices
As I mentioned in my last blog post, for my 28th birthday, I got an Apple Watch. Now I know that there are other devices that are like it, but this is my story. Anyway, with the Apple Watch, it sets a calorie move goal. A calorie move goal is worked out by being active. When you hit your goal, a congratulatory tone plays with a well done message. Every Monday, it slowly increases your move goal.
The Apple Watch also has an exercise goal and a stand goal, which don’t change. The exercise goal is for 30 minutes of a brisk walk and for the stand goal, you have to stand for a minute, every hour, 12 times a day. As with the move goal, when you hit your goals, a well done message with a congratulatory tone.
Every Sunday, if you managed to hit your target, a couple of badges appear on your watch and phone. There is a longest move streak, where if you hit your move goal, in multiple days in a row, a well done message with a congratulatory tone pops up on your watch and a badge appears on your phone.
Easy exercise
So how did I hit my goals? Well back in March 2016, when I went into the hospital for 10 days, my knees were swollen and my mum brought home a floor bike to help me move my legs. I would start for about 5 minutes and slowly build myself up to where I would spend over 2 hours on the bike. I don’t go on the bike that much anymore because back in April 2017, I got a bladder infection. So these days, I make my own breakfast, go on walks with my mum and go on the treadmill.
Walking
As I mentioned in my last blog post, back in July 2017, I had lunch with an old work colleague called Joe.We spoke about 3 goals that I could do everyday for 100 days. My goals were to play the ukulele, practice my handwriting and hit 6,000 steps.
The reason for playing the ukulele and practice handwriting was because these were the two habits that I needed to do everyday. As I mentioned in my last blog post, I started playing the ukulele back in 2012, but I stopped playing when I was diagnosed. The only reason that I started playing again was after my first Brain Tumour Support group meeting in Coventry, I spoke to Sam who said that I needed to sing and be happy. I only sing when I play the ukulele.
The reason for handwriting practice is because throughout my life, I’ve had messy handwriting. I had bought handwriting books for key stage 2 and 3 children. I now write my blog on paper first. All three of these habits are over 100 days.
The reason for 6,000 steps is because we spoke about the amount of steps that I do on a good day. That number was 5,500 and 6,000 was an extra push. 100 days later and my average is over 10,000. Luckily for me, I live on a main road, with lots bus stops. I still get tired from all of those steps, especially when I go to town to volunteer at Carers Trust. I normally end up falling asleep on the bus to and from town.
Smaller plates
Before I decided to lose weight, these were the plates that I was using.
Theses are the plates that I’m using now.
By doing this, you are tricking yourself that you are more full than you are. Even though the difference is minuscule, over time it makes a difference.
Track your input
Recently my aunt showed me this app called MyFiitnessPal iOS – Android (MFP). MFP is an app that you put the food that you are going to eat and it tells you the amount of calories that you are going to consume. It also has a calorie take away by putting in the amount of calories that you have burned.
This is pretty useful when it comes to picking food that is low in calories and it motivates you to burn off a little more if you had a heavy lunch or a desert. I’ve been using MFP for over 200 days now.
My last tip is cucumber juice
Cucumber juice
Recently, I started drinking cucumber juice. I followed this recipe that I found on YouTube. Here’s the video. Cilantro is just coriander.
As a child with a large stomach even before my holiday in March (See I told you that I refer my time in the hospital as a holiday), I found this to be very useful. It does make you go to the bathroom just before bedtime, but I guess anything would make you go if you are going to drink that much before bed.
To recap
- A device to track the amount of calories that you are burning
- A small task that you do everyday and slowly increase
- Walking and slowly increase the amount of steps
- Smaller plates
- Track the amount of calories that you are eating
- Cucumber juice
Well, that’s that, I just want to thank a few people. Firstly, I would like to thank my mum, dad, sister and my uncle, for being by my side, throughout everything. I would like to thank Louise from BTS for sharing this with the community. I would like to thank Kanika and everyone at Carers Trust for giving me the confidence to sharing my story and I would like to thank Joe for motivating me to getting back on the horse. And I would like to thank everyone at the hospital, my family and friends and everyone who I’ve met on this journey.
The next time, I will talk about diabetes insipidus and how I controlled my input and output. Please feel free to leave a comment and don’t forget, if you buy something from Amazon using the box at the bottom, 100% of the money that I get goes to Brain Tumour Support.
Thanks for the support and I shall see you soon.
