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Success of the Month: Jill's update
In March last year I wrote about Jill, who at 51 years of age had been a member of her local diet club for 10 years.Before she read my book The Don't Go Hungry Diet, Jill would try to follow her diet's allowance no matter what, to the point of often feeling hungry. Inevitably however, Jill would break out and eat more than her diet's rations allowed, leading her to feel like a failure, eat even more and gain back the few kilos she'd lost.
After talking with me early last year, Jill decided that instead of forcing her body to comply with her diet's rigid allowance even when she felt hungry, she would continue to follow her diet but would allow herself to eat more if she really felt like it.
Four weeks after deciding to stop steamrollering over her body's survival instincts, Jill had lost 1.2 kilos and 2 cm from her waist. Last month I had the pleasure of receiving the following update from Jill, which she has kindly allowed me to share with you.
Date: Mon, 4 May 2009 14:38:19
To: Dr Amanda Sainsbury-Salis
Subject: Birthdays and looking good
Hi Amanda - you may remember me - Jill - I wrote to you on a number of occasions last year as I tried to put the ideas in your book into practice, whilst still following the weight watchers program that I have followed for years.
Well here we are, maybe 12 months since I last emailed you and I almost thought your letter this month was addressed to me - I too had a birthday, just two days ago and I feel great!!!! I just turned 53. In the last 17 months, since reading your book, I have lost 7 kilos and kept it off!!!
My understanding of "lowering the set point" of my weight has really helped me. When I first contacted you, my set point was 76.6 kilos. Through following your ideas, loosely sticking to my weight watchers program (not counting too strictly) and leading two health challenges with colleagues, I gradually lost 7 kilos. But I did stop in between and allow my weight to settle. First it settled at around 73 kilos, then it settled at around 71 kilos, and now it is very firmly settled at around 69.5 kilos, which is where I have been for 5 months now.
I am not dieting, just monitoring my hunger and of course, eating healthy foods and exercising.
I too have read "Fit and Firm Forever" and thought it a great book, although unlike you, I am not challenged where fitness is concerned. Exercise has been a part of my life since I was about 21 years old, but I became really serious about it when I was about 33 years of age. I have been running, walking and doing weights and resistance exercises with my own little supply of exercise gear at home for a while now, and at 53 I feel fabulous.
It has not, however, been without the motivation I obtain from reading books such as yours and of course, Paula's. I guess my main reason for writing is to let you know that your research and ideas have really helped me change the way I think about my body and how it works. The "set point" idea has been one of the most valuable. I had always thought my set point was 72 kilos. And here I am, easily maintaining 69.5 kilos as my set point, with very little effort.
Thanks for your monthly newsletter and congratulations on turning 40!
Kind regards,
Jill
What our readers say...
"Hi Dr Amanda, I recently found a copy of your book 'Don't Go hungry For Life'. I had been doing well in my weight loss recently, & just like to keep an eye on the various theories etc from time to time. I had gained a lot of weight having my 5 children over 8 years (plus 4 miscarriages), & in the past, each time I had tried to lose weight...I got pregnant again! I am 157cms tall, & when I was younger, & dancing, right up to my mid-20s, I was generally around 50-55 kgs. Once I started having kids, I would go all the way up to 90+kgs. Anyway, February last year (2010), at 83 kgs, I got serious, started reading every idea, wacky or plausible, trying things on for size, so to speak. If something worked, & wasn't too painful, I'd keep it until I hit a plateau, then I'd change something - anything. I kept a written record of food, hunger, my cycle etc, & anything else I thought relevant. I was weighing myself very frequently as I hadn't bothered at all before. I had been suffering with the usual things that go with being heavy - lethargy, tiredness, mild depression, unexplained skin rashes at times. So it wasn't just my weight I was trying to fix. So, by June last year, I had lost a few kilos, felt a bit better, but wasn't going forward as well as I wanted. I joined an online challenge to give me a boost, & kept trying different theories. So, while I didn't 'yoyo' through this, I did try cutting out whole food groups, counting calories, sticking to set limits per day. Anything that I couldn't see myself holding onto long term I abandoned. I ended up winning third place on the online challenge - a nice bonus - & by the end of last month I had lost a total of 17 kilos in as many months. A great result, but not at my goal yet. So when I picked out your book, & another which kind of came close to your approach, but not quite as committed, I was pleasantly surprised to see on the pages, the science behind what I had arrived at. Not only that, it gave me incentive to get back to the written record, which I had stopped, & the clues regarding hunger & satiety as scales to learn helped tweak my approach, so that now, 3 weeks since I started reading, I have doubled my weight-loss rate, from an average of 1 kilo a month, to 1.5 in those 3 weeks! The exercise portion of your approach has been taken care of by the fact that last November, I started back in the workforce, after 15 years at home, home-schooling our family. I now work in a busy supermarket, where just getting to the office from my department (I counted) takes at least 120 steps, plus stairs. I do this trip & back at least 5 times every day, as well as heavy lifting of stock etc & general walking about the store. So I wanted to thank you for sharing your research & story, I tend to find if I understand the 'why' of something, I remember it better. Your book has definitely explained why what works, does, & why what didn't, doesn't! Have a great year. "