The start of a new journey!

Have you ever been a member of a slimming club when someone has been away on holiday for a week or two and you know they would have gained a few pounds while they have been away?

Now magnify that over 13 months – yep, I wrongly assumed that calories consumed outside of the U.K. didn’t count and as a result (gulp) a whole stone 14lbs had crept on whilst I have been travelling. It was 14lbs I definitely could not afford to gain as was fighting the flab before we even went away, so when I came back and stepped on the scales I wanted to cry.

It wasn’t a huge surprise though, the camera never lies and just looking at many of my photos taken along the way I wanted to cringe, especially the professional ones taken on the cruises where I ‘thought’ I had looked OK and then looked the photos and didn’t recognise the big fat blob staring back at me.

It’s hard when travelling to keep control of weight when. you battle with it anyway, yes part of it is psychological, but then you are surrounded with delicious food, not able to cook for yourself, plus I would tend to order a glass of wine or two at dinner when at home I almost always stick to water.

There’s a million and one excuses and what’s done is done.

I’m not brave enough to publish my weight just yet but suffice to say I am now heavier than I have ever been in my entire life.

I not only look enormous but I feel it too. My 7 yr old son weights 3.5 stone (49lbs and I can barely lift him) Imagine that I am carrying around that weight and then some, all day every day!!

So something HAS to change and now I am home again and in control of my own choices with shopping and cooking, I have no more excuses.

On 1st August a new journey began, a journey to release 100lbs (yes that’s double the weight of my son!)

It might not be directly travel related but I decided that I am going to include it within my travel blog because it makes me accountable AND I need the support.

I lost a lot of weight in 2013 but alas that and some more has crept back on in the last 6 and a half years. 2014 – 2016 were desperately unhappy years for me with a family estrangement, then the next couple of years were also a struggle with heartbreak and depression. However my mental health is now in tip top condition and I am 100% ready and in the right mindset to take up this next challenge head on.

I have signed up to a keto diet program online with New Zealand clinical dietitian Deborah Murtagh, the support and mindset videos she provides are phenomenal.

So my plate is now full of healthy proteins and fats, along with very limited carbs. 3 days in and my body has already shifted into nutritional ketosis and so the fat fighting should have already begun inside.

I am taking it one step at at time, day by day, focusing on the journey rather than the destination.

Our next BIG travel adventure doesn’t start until February now, and I am hoping to depart on that voyage as half the woman I am today!