Sweat

If I was asked "What's the worst thing about being fat?" the answer would undoubtedly be sweat.

At the age of 22, with friends mostly around my age and all in much better shape than I am, I often find myself in clubs downing liquid calories faster than seems humanly possible. Initially this sounds like a great idea, I like to drink, I like socialising and I love to dance. Then, almost immediately upon entering the club, reality kicks in.

The reality is that if I so much as think about raising my arms above shoulder level while dancing, Jabba the Hut will try to escape from the bottom of my shirt, if some poor soul starts dancing with me and touches any of my skin, there's every possibility the sweat they collect from me during that short interaction will drown them, every drink I put in my mouth is decreasing my bank account whilst increasing Jabba and in fact while everyone else is having fun and scanning the crowds for their next love interest, I'm more concerned about finding the nearest air conditioning unit and wiping my forehead every five seconds without anyone noticing. Yes, being fat in your early twenties is a depressing well of new social issues and complications.

This is all the more depressing when you happen to love dance. I absolutely adore dancing, the last time I was thin I would be rocking dance floors almost every night, was doing Salsa lessons and Body Jam dance classes at the gym - It was fantastic. Every now and then I find a music video, like Kelly Rowlands new Commander Video that reminds me how much I love good choreography and shortly afterwards reminds me that I've already missed my peak clubbing years (in the UK/Ireland at least your 'peak' years are pre-22), and if I don't do something about it soon, I'll be missing the rest of them.

That leads me to this blog. I'm sick of being too fat to dance. I'll be honest, I'm not all that motivated to lose weight right now as I type and the thought of lying in bed all day, every day, forever, is a lot more attractive - but I'm confident that's just a bit of overweight depression talking and once I pump some endorphins through my veins at the gym my attitude will hopefully start adjusting.

I've only ever done one diet that was successful, that diet was Slimming World. In particular I would do green days and they worked wonders, it basically involves unlimited potato, fruit, vegetables, beans, etc. The last time I did this diet properly I went from 234lbs down to 178lbs, which was perfect at the time. I failed with the maintenance side of it, however nevertheless, the loss definitely works and that's what I need, something that works, that I know.

I anticipate it will be a lot harder this time as my main motivation when I did it previously was attending the classes every week and having the support of other people losing weight - I don't have that in Ireland as there are no groups where I live, which means it's even more important I keep up with online weight-loss communities (for example via Minimins & Blogspot).

Now for the bombshell. You know when you just forget about losing weight for a while and don't really feel like you've got that much fatter? You know you're unhealthy, but no worse than previously? Well I thought that was the case this time round, but oh no, I was wrong.

I have just weighed in using the WiiFit, and whilst I have eaten and drank this morning already (2 baguettes & a litre or so of diet sprite), I was shocked to weigh in at 132.3kg, that's 291.7lbs, or 20st, 11.7lbs.

This is a new record for me and my target is around 12st, 10lbs (that's what I was before when I was dancing and feeling good)... so that's 8 stone away... which feels impossible right now. Oh well, one day at a time and I'm sure it's possible, other people have achieved much more significant goals so why the hell can't I. It's time to dance again.
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