Hi, my name is Caroline and I have been reading Where are my
Knees pretty much since it began. I always read Sarah V's blog and
discovered it through her. I really enjoy reading blogs about health
and weight loss and feel much more inspired by these than celebrity fad
diets. I can't write this without saying a big well done to Gemma, I
think she is doing really well and it's great to read her progression,
she is fantastic motivation too.
So back to me, I'm 26 and work in media,
so as you can imagine I'm constantly surrounded by skinny minnies, and
that's not just the girls I work with, I spend all day staring at
posters of Cameron Diaz, Jennifer Aniston and Angelina Jolie. At the
moment, I am relatively happy with my weight (I say relatively, it will
do!), but it tends to fluctuate, I'm probably about a stone lighter now
than I was this time last year. I hate my stomach and my legs (not that
I can do much about those!!) and would like to get more toned up. I
wouldn't stay I'm constantly on a diet, but I always get the guilts
after eating too much rubbish.
Up until I was 18, my weight never
bothered me. No, I didn't think I was perfect and had areas I didn't
like but generally I didn't have much to worry about...then I went to
University. I was put in catered halls, full cooked breakfasts on offer
and three courses meals for dinner. And these meals were carb
overload, they'd serve you Lasagne AND chips or a potato??? Before I
went to University I didn't eat particularly healthy (I didn't do
vegetables) but in hindsight I didn't have a very large appetite. I was
blissfully unaware of my weight gain and blamed the washing machines
and dryers for shrinking my clothes (true story!). It was only when my
parents came to collect me for the Summer holidays and my mum said she
nearly walked past me because she didn't recognise me that I realised
perhaps I'd piled on the pounds. When I stepped on the scales at home I
found I'd put on over 2 stone - eek.
At this point I was also having a lot of
stomach related issues, I was diagnosed with IBS but I think perhaps
this was due to bad diet and excessive drinking. That Summer I lost
22lbs, I ate normally for the first half of the Summer then after
speaking to a nutritionist I cut out wheat, sugar and tomatoes. As soon
as I got back to Uni I was unable to keep up this level of control.
But, the plus side was I was now very aware that I could not just eat
what I wanted, whenever I wanted. Moving out of halls also meant I
could prepare my own meals and not eat quite so much food, I didn't need
three courses in the evening. Since then my weight has stayed fairly
stable, it goes up and down by about half a stone but generally it's ok.
This January I booked a holiday with
friends (cue bikini fear) and so I joined my local swimming pool, since
then I've lost about half a stone and have actually started to enjoy it!
I would never utter the words enjoy and exercise in the same sentence
previously. In fact, I never did any exercise, at all.
I now try to go swimming 3 times a week,
and it also means if I do have a big dinner coming up or I eat some
rubbish I don't have to worry about it quite so much. I know a lot of
people get put off swimming because they may be embarrassed or scared
but I would genuinely recommend it. The first time I went I swam 15
lengths, last week I swam 50!! And, there are often adults having
swimming lessons in the pool, something I was very surprised to see. I'm
even tempted to have my own lesson to improve my technique. I
wouldn't by any means say I'm a good swimmer, and I refuse to wear a
cap, yep I am that vain! But, there are a lot of other girls there like
me, some faster, some slower, but definitely no-one is judging anyone
else.
I'm still not at what I'd call my perfect
weight, I'd like to lose another half a stone ideally. I'd kill to have
a washboard stomach, but unfortunately I think that is going to require
a bit more effort than swimming three times a week. Apparently Gwen
Stefani used to do 500 sit ups a day, sigh!
I know Where are my Knees haven't featured
any stories about swimming yet, so if you have any questions or would
like to know anything more about me, then please feel free to send them
my way and I'll do my best to answer them. My favourite thing about
swimming is, I never feel like a sweaty mess, the water keeps me nice
and cool and I always come out feeling really energised. I admit the
smell of chlorine is a bit annoying, but I'll put up with that if it's
going to help me be that bit more confident in a bikini this Summer!!
