Successful Weight Loss

In January my doctor told me to lose weight. On the advice of a friend, I consulted the dietician at the Community  Health Centre. She measured my height and weight, asked some questions about my lifestyle, and helped me work out a good weight for my height, a safe rate of weight loss, and some interim goals such as the particular weight to aim for in the first month. Then she gave me a basic eating plan.

It's an easy plan to follow, based on food groups and substitutions,  e.g. there are a number of different things that would count as one serving of carbohydrates, so you get a fair bit of choice and variety. The main thing is to fill up big on vegetables so you don't overdo some of the other foods. (But of course that's an over-simplification. There are some other foods one must eat to be healthy, and there are recommended quantities of each.)

I checked in monthly with the dietician, and could have continued to do that, but I was managing nicely so we agreed I could go it alone — with the option of going back any time if I felt the need.

In December I weighed 83.6k. Eight months later it's down to 75k. My waist measurement went from 102cm to 99cm. To illustrate this more graphically — I've dropped a whole clothing size.

I didn't do it only by diet. There was also that other well-known ingredient, exercise. My doctor said he wanted me to walk at least three days a week, starting with 20 minutes and working up to 40. Then, because I was diagnosed with osteoporosis, my chiropractor (with the approval of my doctor) gave me some easy weight-lifting exercises to do every second day.

I actually got down to 72k in six months, and my waist measurement got to 97cm, but then I got sick for some weeks and had to rest, which reversed the trend a bit. More recently a specialist put me on a temporary high-carbohydrate diet in preparation for a glucose tolerance test, and instructed me not to exert myself for that period. Diet and exercise only help you lose weight if you keep using them!

However, I did lose weight, and I lost it gradually, which is the safe and healthy way to do it. My current medical advice is that I need to lose 10k more, and then various symptoms I have, such as arthritic pain, may well ease.

I can share my eating plan with you. It was a free service and I didn't sign any non-disclosure agreements. I think they actually want people to be healthy! In fact, what I received was an official Australian Government program, which is set out in detail online.

Here it is, at this link, for all the people who have been asking. 

I can't work out your ideal weight, nor the best way to get there. That's up to you. Luckily, all the tools and advice you need to work it out for yourself are there online. And it's easy, really. Explore the site!

We are always warned to get medical advice before embarking on a new diet or exercise regime. I too advise you to do that. 

I am 75. I have osteo-arthritis and osteoporosis (both being addressed, and well-controlled). I am not diabetic. Lately I seem to have developed some kind of allergy or intolerance to eggs. These are just some of the individual factors which affect the details of my eating plan and my exercise program. We are all different. You too will have individual needs and requirements. So do please run this plan by your doctor, in case any personal modifications may be needed, and discuss your personal exercise program too.

Weight Loss Update

How’s the secret diet?” asks Stepdaughter with a naughty laugh in her voice. I don’t even think, as I reply that I’ve lapsed a bit during this hard winter of lingering colds and low energy. Only afterwards the word registers: “diet”.

People just won’t get it.

IT. IS. NOT. ABOUT. FOOD.

Even the woman I think of as my best friend in these parts snorts testily when I tell her for the umpteenth time that it’s not a diet. “Oh well, whatever you call it then. Eating plan, whatever.” She looks so scornful - despite seeing me scoff the chocolate biscuits - that I give up and refrain from insisting that it isn’t an eating plan either.

We have been so conditioned to believing that weight IS about what you eat. And certainly I have proven that over and over again myself – Lifetime Member of Weight Watchers, successful graduate of Jenny Craig, and so forth. Eating to slim does work … for a while.

Well, why should you believe me? I keep not telling you what we ARE doing. And then I say that we are not sweating off the weight with a harsh exercise régime either.

OK, let me tell you some things I can say. Over the winter Debbie, my massage therapist – who is trained in Swedish, Shiatsu, Reiki, Deep Tissue, Reflexology, Lymphatic Drainage, Advanced Aromatherapy and Cranio-Sacral, and knows how to read a body – thought my thyroid was out of balance. She suggested alkaloid foods. I was worried; if I started a special diet, would it interfere with the credibility of the weight loss program? Would people say afterwards, “Oh she only lost weight because of the thyroid diet?” I said as much to Letitia, the originator of our program. She just gave me a kinda fish-eyed look and said, “When have I ever spoken to you about food? It’s not about that.” So I relaxed and was careful for a little while, and when the doctor had my thyroid function tested it was perfectly in balance. So I stopped worrying about what I was eating.

Then Debbie picked up that my pancreas was a bit out. This was a worry; once before I had been told I had a pre-diabetic condition. I took my blood sugar for a little while, while cutting down on sweets, and requested that my doctor order a blood test. My naturopath and doctor both pronounced that I was not diabetic.

Meanwhile I became concerned about my osteopenia (precursor of osteoporosis) which I know I do have. I found out that the medication prescribed carried its own problems. My chiropractor recommended weight training as the only really efficient way to address the problem. So I started a gentle régime under the guidance of a trainer. I’m afraid I am not very disciplined and it’s been in abeyance a little while, but I do intend to resume.

And I have continued with my Tai Chi classes which I was already doing before going on the weight loss program.

Here is the interesting thing – while I was dieting for my thyroid and pancreas, while I was gung-ho with the weight training, I was not losing weight. I was in my “lapse” from the program and I could tell from my shape and the fit of my clothes that I actually put on a little. Now that I have revived the program, I’m starting to see slimming happening again.

The same happened to us all. It felt like a long, hard winter. Several of the team got sick this winter, sponsorship funding ran out, people at a film conference Letitia attended loved her idea but told her that her approach to the filming could use some changes…. We all either put back a bit of the weight we’d taken off, or stayed the same.

And yet we know the program works. We didn’t lose all the weight we wanted to as fast as we wanted to, but my goodness we did have some dramatic results. And the hiatus has been useful too, making us look deeper at what makes us fat and what makes us fit.

We had a meeting the other day, to hear Letitia unfold her new plans – not for the program, that’s unchanged, but for the way we present it to the world. Exciting stuff! And our enthusiasm is rekindled. We have put our lapses behind us and got back into the swing of it. And guess what, my face is suddenly looking slimmer in the mirror, and I’m doing up my bra on the tightest row of hooks again.

And no, I’m not divulging the details just yet. I don’t care if you think it really MUST be some revolutionary new way of managing food. Mind you, I always have eaten in a fairly healthy way – well, except for the chocolates – but that never stopped me getting fat, and since being on this program I haven’t made any drastic changes to what I eat, when I eat or how much I eat.

I had a lot to lose and I still have more than half of it left, so don’t expect to see me become stick-thin overnight (or at all; I’m not mad on the skin-and-bone look). I don’t know how long it will take. However we now have a digital camera, and almost know how to use it. I intend to post pictures from time to time, of the Incredible Shrinking Woman.

Today I walked into the Neighbourhood Centre and one of the staff – who sees me often – did a double-take and said, “Are you losing weight?” Yeah!

The Amazing Weight Loss Saga

My results have been gradual, which of course is the healthy way to do it. And because my proportions haven’t much changed, it sometimes seems to me that I can’t have lost a great deal. But there is incontrovertible evidence:

• Someone I haven’t seen in a while encounters me in the supermarket, looks startled, and makes a gesture with her hands to indicate that I’ve got a lot narrower.
• I look down and notice that now I see only boobs jutting out, not tummy.
• I can do up my lovely black trench coat again, which I couldn’t last year. (It doesn’t look good belted yet, but at least it buttons easily and comfortably.)
• And – a mixed blessing – a friend gives me some gorgeous designer hand-me-downs which look wonderful on me; and only two weeks later they’re so much too big for me that they’ve become unflattering.

“How much have you lost?” people have been asking. I’ve been telling them I don’t know; we’re not doing that.

“I know by how my clothes fit,” I say, “Or by how slender my calves are looking these days, or how much new energy I’ve got.”

We’re having a hiatus in the actual filming (though it’s not over yet). We have all the tools now; it’s a matter of continuing to use them. I found myself slacking off a bit, so I sought new motivation. Also, I got curious. I went to the doctor and asked to be weighed.

I was thrilled to find I’ve lost two stone (12.7 kilos). I had no idea it was so much! I have more than that still to lose, but that’s all right, I’m still losing it.

I look forward to the day when I can share the details of our remarkable program, so that you can do it too if you wish.

People can’t get that it’s not about food. I say “weight loss program” and they hear “diet”. I mention something about writing in my diary, and they assume I’m keeping a food diary. No, it’s REALLY not a conventional weight loss program, it’s really not arduous, we’re really not depriving ourselves of anything – nor are we taking any special pills or potions – and it really does work!

Weight Loss Film Trailer

May I urge everyone to please watch and rate the trailer of the weight loss film I'm in? This weight loss program is unique! It's a holistic lifestyle program, and is NOT in any way a diet. (People find that so hard to believe.)

This me at the start of filming in August '08 (in purple) and three months later (in the pink ;>). Although the photos are different sizes – beyond my meagre skills to adjust, lol - you can see the difference in MY size.






















Actually at the moment, three months later again, I look awful in my own eyes as I have got thinner everywhere except mid-section. This is my usual pattern for weight loss, so I know it won't always be so. And we have been told that on this program it's gradual at the start, then towards the end the weight falls off - the exact opposite from all those other programs that worked for a little while. But at present I have these lovely slender ankles and shoulders, smaller boobs, reduced upper arms and so forth - and it's all out of proportion so the tum looks bigger than ever.

The pink dress above is now unwearable; it hangs on me like a Mother Hubbard. And I gave two pairs of slacks to the op shop late last year because they had got so loose on me. This proves that the mid-section is smaller too, even if out of proportion just now! I can see the results better in the other cast members. We are all having to buy new clothes! Now please go have a look at our trailer! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WdAo281urc

The Joys of Losing Weight

Delightful things people have said to me lately –

Friend who brought me flowers on my birthday: ‘I can tell when I hug you that you’ve lost about four inches around your waist.’

Colleague encountered at the movies: ‘You’re looking good, Rosemary. Something’s working!’

Letitia, film director, during phone-call: ‘It really shows in the pictures from the latest filming. You’ve lost heaps!’

Conversations which amuse me –

Neighbour, in our shared driveway: ‘You’re on a diet?’
Me: ‘No.’
Neighbour: ‘Oh, are you just being careful what you eat?’
Me: 'No, not at all. I eat what I like.’

Husband, at home yesterday: ‘I can’t understand how you’re losing so much weight! You’re eating like a horse.’
Me: ‘Well you know I’m not allowed to tell you. But you live with me – you must be able to see what I’m doing.’
Husband: ‘Nothing! It’s a mystery.’

Other things I’m not doing –

Just for the record, Husband is wrong; I am of course doing something. I’m doing Letitia’s program, with the consent of my doctor. And yes, I have signed a contract not to reveal the details. You’ll all have to wait until the film is released.

However, I do have permission to tell you what I’m not doing – besides not dieting.

I’m not cutting out fat; I’m not even cutting it down.

I haven’t lowered my sugar intake. (It wasn’t all that high to start with, but I do indulge in cakes, biscuits and chocolate whenever I feel like it.)

I’m not doing any strenuous exercise.

I’m not taking any appetite suppressants, diuretics, or ‘speedy’ chemicals.

I’m not using dietary supplements.

I haven’t been hypnotised.

Pleasant surprises –

A month ago I bought some new slacks. I got them from the op shop because I knew I’d be growing out of them fairly soon. It was a lot sooner than I thought! Within a week they had gone from a perfect fit to being rather loose. By now, the waistband sags about three inches below my navel.

I fit back into the black satin pants my friend Pam gave me, which I haven’t worn for nearly two years.

Today I had to do up my bra on the second row of hooks.

(If you're desperate for clues, check Letitia's thinkin trim taut terrific website.)

Thinkin' Trim Taut Terrific: 2

This Saturday we had our second film shoot, three weeks after the first, and began working with Letitia's techniques. Just as well I signed a contract not to reveal details before the film is released, otherwise I'd be tempted. I already think it's such a wonderful program that I'd love to share it with the world! But of course that is exactly what the film will do, in such a way that people who view it can benefit too, much more than they would from any snippets I might describe along the way. And in fact I don't yet know what the whole program will be; the cast gets it one step at a time. Let's just say I'm finding it very exciting!

Already we are starting to get to know each other at deeper levels, so the bonding created on the first shoot proves very necessary. We need to be able to trust each other; luckily Letitia has chosen her people well so that's not a problem. We are Letitia herself, a success coach in her thirties; me: a poet / author / teacher / healer / psychic in my sixties; a mechanic in his forties; a teacher in her twenties; an 18-year-old autistic boy attending a special school; and a 16-year-old girl who is a High School student and wants to become a photographer. Although we're such different people, leading such different lives, we are all committed to our goals and willing to be open with each other about our experiences and processes.

Most importantly, we all trust Letitia, which is obviously vital. Not only do we know she's been there and done that, but some of us already knew her quite well as a person in our lives.

As for the camera people and other assistants, they blend in well. We've been told to forget they're there during the actual filming, and it's surprisingly easy to do so despite lights, boom, and cameras on tripods. Perhaps that's because what we're up to ourselves is so absorbing.

Letitia Lee

Thinkin' Trim Taut Terrific

I'm in a movie! We began filming yesterday. In the process, over the next 12 months I'm going to become slim, fit and gorgeous!

Thinkin' Trim Taut Terrific is the business name and website of my dear friend Letitia Lee, who is making this film with the encouragement of the film production company Screenworks. She is in their mentoring program.

Letitia describes her film not as a documentary but "a reality film from the heart". She herself is the star. She has employed her own methods so successfully in the past that she wanted to share them with the world, and regained weight on purpose so as to be able to demonstrate how to lose it. I've known her long enough to have seen her both ways.

A small, select group of us are the supporting cast. When I heard she was making this film and advertising for cast members, I begged to be in it because I know this girl can get things done. Heck, she was one of the prime movers in the fund-raising drive that got me to Texas in 2006 to feature in poetry festivals there. In the last couple of years I have put on – well, let's just say more weight than I'm happy with. I'd like to avoid diseases associated with obesity, recover the energy I have had in the past, and yes, look good too.

This is one of my baby photos and some of me as a youngster. You can see that slenderness was always going to be something of a challenge. It doesn't appear to have been part of the design!


There have been times in my life that I was slim – sometimes bordering on anorexic, I realise with hindsight (a condition that hadn't been identified back then). They've always been interspersed with periods of overweight. And yes, I know all the ways to lose weight, and am a (temporarily) successful graduate of both Weight Watchers and Jenny Craig.

What makes me think Letitia's program will be any different? It's holistic – and I'm not allowed to say much more about that. We all signed a contract yesterday not to divulge the details of the program; though you can find out some things from the website. One of the most appealing things about it, which I can tell you, is that we aren't going to be existing on lettuce leaves. On the contrary. We're all overweight because we love food, and we're told that on this program we'll be eating well. In fact Letitia promised us, "This film will be food porn!"

Yesterday we filmed the opening sequences, where each of us appears in our natural habitat so to speak. I was shown on stage as a performance poet, wearing my purple Goddess gown which has been the costume for many performances. (I do have other clothes, but it always goes down so well.)


The cameraman wasn't prepared for the oomph I put into my performances. When I burst on stage and launched into my opening line, he said, "Hang on, I wasn't prepared for that!" and made some quick adjustments to his equipment. (I don't know ... sound? focus? I didn't ask. I was too busy feeling gleeful at having surprised him. Somehow, without meaning to, I always manage to project "ladylike"; people get a shock to discover my true outrageousness, and I love it when they do.)

The cast and crew are a great bunch of people; we all bonded quickly. I suspect some of that was due to Letitia's experience as a facilitator and team builder. She's very good at putting everyone at ease, at the same time as keeping them on track. It looks like being an interesting twelve months!