YES YOU CAN!
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Right, hands up. Who's sitting there trying to decide if they can do it, if they can take on a diet and make it work?
Are you thinking that maybe, just maybe you might do it this year? Is there just the teeny weeny inkling that you could possibly just think about it?
Well hold that thought. You've just had a life-changing moment!
Changing the world doesn't always start with a bang. What seems like a teeny tiny idea can change your life forever; it turns a 'never' into a 'maybe'.
I have lots of maybe thoughts! Maybe I could get into that dress; maybe I could write a novel. Maybe .... maybe I could be slim forever.
I can remember clearly when I thought that maybe I could lose weight. For years I'd assumed that getting fat and having a bad back and sore knees were an inevitable part of getting older. I knew that as a woman of a certain age I would never again wear a bikini or a short skirt again. I barely mourned, I accepted this was how things were. I shopped in matronly stores for matronly clothes.
Then I saw Helen Mirren in a bikini. There was a woman a good few years older than me in a bikini. I was gob smacked to be frank - women in their 60s are not supposed to wear bikinis are they? And what was just as shocking was that she looked great!
Scales fell from my eyes. I realised things could be different, I could be different, my future could be different. In that moment something changed in me forever.
I didn't do anything about it for ages, the idea was fermenting in my brain. I gradually realised I could be who I wanted to be, not the number on my birth certificate. As Mum says, age is just a passage of time and I was giving it a massive helping hand.
As I recall the papers put her fab abs down to Pilates and that really made me think too. I started Pilates to help deal with back pain caused by being clinically obese. Helen Mirren did it to keep in fabulous shape.
You couldn't see my six pack under layers of fat, but like the slim me, it was there, hidden under several inches of lard. All I had to do was shift the beef to release the slim woman who was ready to make her return to the world.
The rest is history. I did my diet and now you can see my abs! They're not the abs of a 20 year old model who goes to the gym with her personal trainer every day and eats tofu. They're the abs of a mature woman, but a woman who's in pretty good shape and a woman who is not ashamed to wear a bikini.
And of course as a slim Sue became a real possibility, so did my dream of running a marathon. Once I saw that women round the world are running marathons in their 80s, I ignored the folk who said it was impossible. I have years ahead of me to achieve things I used to think I had grown too old for.
So that little thought that you might be able to lose the weight just might change your life. Hopefully it will get you slim, hopefully it will keep you healthy. But also it may give you a new lease of life.
So next time you get a glimmer of a dream, hold onto it. Look around and see what's possible, don't be put off by people telling you that you can't do something because you're too old, or too fat.
Seize the moment, see where it takes you!
Good luck and let us know how you get on!
Take care
Sue
Thank you Sue! I will be starting my third week tomorrow,and had a few niggling doubts after being poorly on Tuesday!!!! but reading your blog has given me the lift i need.
Granny Sasa.x
Comment by GRANNYSASA -
Hey blue girl, that is soo kind of you, thank you! Hope day 1 went well, it's really strange at first changing how you do things - but stick with it, you will be fine. Your wedding will be great whatever weight you are and if it's inspiring you, go for it! Keep in touch, let us know how you're doing! :-)
Comment by BLUEGIRL26 -
I feel as if I should leap from my sofa and run 10 miles. Thank you, I was wavering a little, fighting the negative thoughts in my head telling me that I'll never stick to the plan. It's only my first day but thanks to you I feel like it is possible for me to slip into my beautiful wedding dress in august and glide down the aisle.
Comment by BLUEGIRL26 -
Hi Mazza, it's hard at target weight, with little guidance from tescodiets and the other companies, that's why I started this blog! We need to keep each other going until they cotton on! How are you coping?
Comment by Mazza -
Thanks for that thought Sue, I was feeling down about it all, even though I am at target weight. Not going to lie down to being down..up and at it is my motto after reading your blog..thank you!
Comment by PILATESPRINCESS4 -