Battles of Belly, Bulges and BMIs

So after months – well it’s really more like years – of fooling my self that I was plump, voluptuous, big-boned, and different combinations of the three on any given day, I have finally admitted to myself that I am fat! F-A-T, three letters, but oh man, how heavy they felt, even just to say it aloud. I think two things finally caused me to make this confession to myself. Firstly, I could no longer use the excuse that it was ‘baby fat’, after all the 'baby' is now a teenager; and secondly I started getting increased attention from Ghanaian men who are notorious for liking women who are best categorized as being on the bigger side of life. As soon as I heard “Oh Denise, you are looking well” from members of either sex, then the alarm bells would sound. This definitely meant I was getting fatter!

Went home, dusted off the scale that has inhabited the corner of my bathroom since we moved just to see what was what. Needless to say the results sent me into a tailspin for the rest of the day – hard to believe that I had in fact put on that many kilos since moving to Ghana! Resisted my usual soul-soothers of ice-cream and chocolates, and had a long hard look in the mirror and didn’t like what I saw. Funny how you can look in the mirror everyday and see what you want to see, but the moment you really look, and I mean really look, then all the evidence just confronts you – you just can’t deny it, or cover it up with words or clothes for that matter, anymore. To cut a long story short, rather than sit and complain and think about it as I usually am prone to do, decided to get not just my waistline but my general health in order. First thing was going through a detox diet. Torture! Was denied all my usual sweets and treats – no sugar, no butter, no bread, no wine, and no coffee – rest assured the list is longer! Wasn’t sure if I could even survive, but yes, ten days later and two and a half kilos lighter here I am all veggied out and feeling good!
So I start the gym today – strangely am looking forward to that too. Have a lot more energy and just need to move. Anyway, hoping I can keep this up and it won’t crash and burn like all my other efforts before!