At the start of 2023, I was one of 62% of people in Wales deemed overweight. I was on the cusp of being classed as one of the one in four people in Wales who are obese.
Gaining weight is easy. For me it started as I threw all the previous rules I had around food out the window. I think most women who grew up in the 90s and early 2000s have experienced a somewhat difficult relationship with food. We watched as Victoria Beckham was asked to weigh herself live on TV just weeks after giving birth to her son. Chris Evans said: "Eight stone – not bad at all is it?"
I have never had an eating disorder but I probably have experienced disordered eating. I was always very careful with what I ate – low carbs, no bread, fat-free, chicken and veg etc. In the pandemic, like many people, I comfort-ate and started to break away from these strict food rules I previously followed. It was a good thing I stopped associating food as "good and bad". I told myself limiting food like chocolate, cake, and biscuits was a bad habit to break. But, I didn't learn control, my greed grew out of hand, and I overindulged. For the latest health news, sign up to our newsletter here
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I truly didn't care about any weight that I gained and, to be honest, hardly noticed as I stayed at home wearing comfy clothes without the little reminders from those office trousers had got tighter. One pregnancy and a couple of years of overeating later I found myself at the beginning of 2023 completely devoid of any self-esteem. The clothes that I had once loved so much no longer fit me. I couldn't bear to be in any photographs as I just did not recognise myself.
On top of that my energy levels were completely non-existent. I was suffering with aches and pains that no 20-something should have. The end of my maternity leave felt like the end of lockdown and as I re-entered the world, made more social plans, and returned to work I no longer felt happy in the body I was in. I knew it was time to address what I had been ignoring.
