The start of my weight-loss journey

Photo taken at the start of my weight loss journey.

I almost didn't want to write this post, in case I jinxed my weight loss journey, but I'm keen to get back into posting regularly on Craving Fresh, and I want to write about real things to make it worth your time being here, so.... weight loss it is!

Historically, I haven't been very good at getting to a healthy weight and staying there, so I'm hopefully breaking new territory in my life with this journey. 

If I really examine my thought processes, I guess I thought I wasn't someone who could lose weight, for a whole number of reasons:

• I get too hungry
• I love food too much
• Food comforts me when I'm sad/bored/lonely/stressed
• Chocolate is my favourite thing
• My blood sugar levels drop too quickly if I don't eat often enough
• I'm big-boned, so even when I was smaller, I felt too big. What would be the point of going to all the effort of losing weight, if I still wouldn't like how I look?

And so on. Lots of reasons that felt very important to me. 

But after I got my melanoma diagnosis last year, I lost around 10KG in three months, which surprised me since I'm not someone who thought they could lose weight. (See above reasons.) 

There were a number of factors contributing to this weight loss. 

Firstly, I did a 7-day water fast when I got my diagnosis, upon the Lord's suggestion. The fast wasn't for weight-loss reasons, it was to position me spiritually for the battle ahead - trusting God with my life in all things - but it did have the side effect of kicking off some weight loss for me. 

Secondly, my immunotherapy treatment initially caused my thyroid to become overactive, which gave me more energy and sped up my weight loss.

Thirdly, I ate a mostly raw vegan diet for three months.

Fourthly, I started walking three kilometres several mornings a week. 

Unfortunately, my thyroid then switched to being under-active and my iron levels plummeted, so I became very tired and stopped walking so much. I also began eating a more standard diet that included meat, to try and bring my iron levels back up. All these things caused my weight to creep up again until I had put the entire 10KG back on. 

However, something had switched in my brain. I realised that it's not actually impossible for me to lose weight. 

I had also gained a really big motivation to lose weight.

I want to live. 

You see, melanoma feeds off fat. Fat in your body, and fat in your diet. A lot of cancers are sugar-adapted, meaning their favourite food source is sugar, but melanoma's favourite food source is fat. I really want to bring the fat levels in my body down to a healthy level, so that my body is not such a prime candidate for melanoma. 

I don't know if there are still melanoma cells circulating in my body. There's no blood test to tell me if there are. My hope is that between surgery and immunotherapy, we got rid of all the melanoma, but I just don't know. Only time will answer that question for sure. 

In the meantime, I want to get my body as healthy as possible so that it's not the kind of place where melanoma wants to spread and grow. 

So that's my number one reason for wanting to lose weight. 

My number two reason is pure vanity. When I see full body photos of myself, I don't like what I see. Funnily enough, when I look in the mirror, I don't mind my reflection so much. It's just the photos that bother me. They do not lie. 

Five weeks ago I decided to make a change. I committed to eating the Trim Healthy Mama way, because it seems to be the healthiest, most balanced and manageable way to lose weight that I can find. I bought the Trim Healthy Mama Journey app to help keep me accountable, and it really is helping. 

In five weeks, I've lost around 5KG and, more importantly, I've lost some belly fat. I haven't felt hungry or deprived at all in that time. It has taken some work and organisation to keep me on plan, but the payoff makes it worth it for me. 

In my next post, I'll share with you what I'm eating in a day on Trim Healthy Mama to give you an idea of how it works in reality. 

In the meantime, feel free to cheer me on or ask any questions you might have. 

Emma xx