My Story

I thought it would make things a little more simple if I put up my story as a single page. As the blog gets longer and longer it gets harder to find the start.

So this is my story. How I came to lose weight, what happened and why it was different this time.

Weight gain...the history! How did I get fat?

I was a skinny child, the sort parents and doctors worried about. I grew up thin, I did things like kayaking and hill walking. I got married and we honeymooned on Skye in Scotland, and climbed mountains.

I had a baby, and put on a bit of weight. I had another baby and put on a little more weight. Not much, just a few pounds, however it bothered me. So I joined a slimming club.....

20 years and another baby later I was about 16 and a half stone, 105 kg, about 230 pounds or so. I don't know my top weight, I wasn't weighing!

Then it dawned on me, (I know...it took 20 years....) every diet I did I got fatter. So I stopped dieting, and stopped putting on weight, but sadly I didn't lose any either.

So there I was heavy but reasonably happy. I wore the big shirts, and anyway I wasn't really all that big, was I? Just a little plump. Anyway, I'm quite tall, I carry it well. You all know how it goes I'm sure....

Then in July 2010 my son and I went to the UK to visit my parents. Son had not seen his grandparents for 7 years. We had a wonderful time, visiting Stonehenge, Hadrian's Wall, London, and so on. It was also my parent's 50th wedding anniversary. Obviously we took a lot of photos.

And in them all was this big fat woman who looked a bit like me! I wasn't that fat, surely?

Photo, son and me at Stonehenge.

 We arrived back in New Zealand on the 31st of August 2010. I spent the next few days being awake at night and dozing through the day.
On the 3rd September we had a load of logs delivered. I helped stack them, but then I tweaked my back. As I had had a back operation several years ago, I took it seriously and went and lay down. That evening the back was sore, so I took pain killers and went to bed. I woke at about 2am wide awake and with a sore back. So I got up and made a cup of tea. After I had drunk it, I settled on the living room sofa, under a rug. I put the light out.

Almost as soon as I had done this, my world changed forever.

Shortly after I had turned off the light, everything started to move. I live in New Zealand so this was hardly the first earthquake I had ever felt. But this one was different.

It started steadily, and was quite strong. I lay still and thought "this is quite a quake" Then it started to die away. Just as I was wondering if it had woken everybody else, it picked up again.

Strongly.

By now things were flying off shelves. My hubby was shouting something, but I couldn't hear what. Son was shouting "I'm OK! The books are falling off but I'm OK!" No noise from daughter 2's room. Daughter 1 was overseas.

As soon as it stopped, I shouted for everyone to come to me. Thankfully everyone was OK. I tried to put the light on but the power had gone. Son had his cellphone, and we lit a candle.

I'm not sure who mentioned Tsunami first, but within minutes were we in the car. We live on a sand dune, right at the coast, so we headed inland. As we went over the bridge we came down into water. Remember it was night time, dark and the power was off so no streetlights. We knew there had not been a tsunami, as we had come from the coast, so we assumed it was broken water mains. We carried on through water, past broken roads, and people standing out on the street, we finally made it to some friends.

I spent the next few hours lying on my back, under their table, whilst the earth rolled beneath us. My family and the friends were out and about as soon as it got light, the water was coming up from the ground through what looked like small grey volcanoes. Grey silt was everywhere. Aftershocks rolled through continuously. As I lay under the table, in pain from my back, my family and friends kept coming to check on me.

I was very miserable. I realised that I was the big fat problem in all of this. I knew that if I was not so fat my back would have a better chance of recovery. I had had an accident about 5 years before this story starts, and that had resulted in an operation that left me walking with sticks at first. I no longer used a stick, but I limped and I was very heavy.

I always thought of myself as the person who would cope well in a difficult situation. And there we were, my family out and about helping people, checking on people, organising food, water and sanitation, and what was I doing? Lying on the floor under a table whilst people popped back to check on me.

So I made a decision there and then.

Time to lose the weight, once and for all.

After a few hours we decided to head back home. We knew by then there was no tsunami  expected, and we wanted to get back to see how the house was and if the cats had turned up.

We had stuff everywhere, but the house itself seemed intact, and best of all, all 3 cats were waiting for us at the gate. The aftershocks continued, and we settled down to sort and tidy and think about sanitation. The obvious solution was a long drop so we set about digging one, and we did a check of water and food.

I had not allowed enough water, and it was obvious the 5 litres I had stored was not going to be enough. One needs water to wash hands and food, cook food and wash up as well as drink. However a neighbour had some extra water which they gave us, and we had a gas stove so we made hot drinks for all.

It took 3 days for us to get our power back and about the same for the water. We thought we were great survivors! We had come through the big quake and no-one had been killed. We had been tested and come through triumphant.

I started looking up diets. At the same time I gave up sugar and all sweeteners. I lost a few pounds, but nothing dramatic.

The aftershocks continued, and we even celebrated when we had experienced 1000 of them. We had party tea, and I ate the food. I went back to sugar free the next day though.

Then my parents rang with the news my Dad had esophageal cancer. He was going in for an operation just before Christmas, and could I come? I booked a flight for early January 2011

It was Christmas, and then I was going off to the UK. How much dieting could I do anyway? I decided I would think about it when I got back!

Christmas 2010 went well, and the Boxing Day sales opened bright and early the next day. 

They came to an abrupt halt at 10.30am. A 4.9 quake hit the city. I know...only a 4.9, what could be the problem? Remind me to tell you about the various earthquake scales and just how useless the Richter Scale is for predicting damage in an earthquake. This one was shallow, and right under the city.

It also split our water main...which turned out to be quite lucky in the long run. As soon as the holiday was over it was mended with a new, bright blue, bendy pipe. And I flew off to the UK.

Last post, I had just set off to the UK after the Christmas 2010 quakes.

My dad was recovering from surgery after his diagnosis of esophageal cancer. He had suffered from heartburn (acid reflux) for years.

I also suffered from heartburn and I did not want to get esophageal cancer.

We had a lovely holiday, and I managed to find a gap in the snow to fly in and out of the UK. I didn't diet while I was there, I was on holiday after all! Dad was getting steadily better, and it was great to escape from the aftershocks for a while. People asked me about the quakes, and I answered cheerfully. Yes, it had been quite an experience, but no-one had been killed and Christchurch had come through rather well all told. Yes, we had lost a few old buildings, but most of our heritage buildings had been strengthened and were fine.

I flew back home, and the next day hubby and son went off camping for the weekend, leaving me home alone to get over the jet-lag. I spent hours on the computer researching (yet again) diets. This was hardly the first time. I am a reader and had read just about every diet book in the library! I had tried most of them, from 'Stop the Insanity', a very low fat diet, through to Atkins original, a very high fat diet! I had counted calories, carbs, points and 'sins'. I had eaten only beans, grapefruit, salads and nothing at all (intermittent fasting!) Most had worked, at least in the short term. I learned a lot about myself though.

I learnt (in no particular order):

I get very miserable if I have to count things.

If you make a special portion of something for yourself, your family is sure to want some.

Low fat diets make me very very very grumpy.

Very low fat diets make me put on weight.

Atkins makes me feel great.

Sugar makes my legs itch and my feet hurt.

Bread is yummy, I love diets that let you eat bread.

Bread leads to eating more bread which leads to eating more bread.....

Bean diets make you f***

ALL DIETS MAKE YOU FAT

This last was the most important. I had gone from 11 stone to 16 and a half stone since I had been dieting. Yet not dieting was also not an option. I couldn't carry on like this, it wasn't safe to be this fat. Not health wise, not earthquake wise.

So what to do? Time to start over. I started on the Paleo diet.

I had been a homeschooling mum for many years, and this year my youngest was off to High School for the first time. I would have no children at home during the day for the first time in 22 years. Time to change my life.

I decided I would start an education programme of my own. I wanted to learn Latin, and brush up on my maths skills. I also decided to start a Great Books reading project. I wanted a puppy to walk for exercise. This was the start of my new life. Hubby and I had decided I would have a year of grace, a year to do as I wished, and then I would go back to work.

Son started at school on Feb 2nd 2011, hubby, a teacher, had started back the week before. I was on my own. I organised what we were going to eat for tea, and settled down to my own work. 2 hours later I needed a break, and went for a walk on the beach. This was great! I could get used to this way of life!

2 weeks passed, son was settling at school, I was getting into a routine at home, and best of all I was losing weight. The paleo diet obviously suited me. The reflux had gone, and I had more energy, and felt so much more alert.

I was lurking on various forums on the internet as well, and had discovered that dairy was a huge bone of contention in paleo circles. After reading and thinking it through I decided to keep dairy in my diet. The main reason was that I love a cup of Earl Grey tea with cream! This was my big treat of the day, actually many treats of the day...

I also loved not having to count things and to be able to snack if I felt hungry. I was eating quite a lot of food and still losing weight.

The 22nd of February was a Tuesday. It started early for us because hubby was off to camp with 30 ten year olds. They were not going far, just to the Banks Peninsula, where they were to camp until Friday. As we only have one car, a neighbour whose child was in the class, picked hubby up, and later I took son to school in our car. Hubby is a teacher at son's school. There was a funny little aftershock just as I dropped son off, but we were used to them by now. I went home.

The morning was routine. I actually had to go to town, and had intended to go in the morning, but I was feeling rather lazy, and decided I would go later, and combine it with picking son up from school. This decision may well have saved my life.

I had lunch at 12.30, some left over meat from the night before, with red and green peppers. It is funny what I remember and don't remember from that day. I had finished eating, and took my plate to the sink. I then turned to get ready to go out to town. I really didn't want to go, but there was stuff I needed to get. My mind was running through the route I would take, so as to end up at school, and I picked up my purse. My sunglasses were on the kitchen counter so I went to get them, and turned to walk to the back door of the house.

As I took a step another earthquake hit. I have lived through more than 10,000 earthquakes over the last 2 years, but none of them, even the other bad ones, felt like this. I was knocked off my feet, and my mind went blank. I had a overwhelming desire to get outside and I was trying to crawl to the backdoor. I think I make have shouted, I have no idea. Things were falling around me, hitting me, and above all the noise. The earth was literally screaming, being torn apart rock by rock, the house was shaking itself to bits and above it all I could hear people in the neighbourhood crying out.

I made it to the back door, and my neighbour C called out. "Are you OK?" I called back I was and she said to go out the front and meet up. As she said that another quake hit, and we both shouted out. Then we made it to the front street. People were coming out of their houses, crying and shaken. Another big aftershock hit.

"This is bad, this is bad, this is bad" I said to C. We turned to look towards the city and a cloud of dust was rising. Both my daughters, and C's daughter were in town.

I went to find my mobile phone, but it was an old fashioned one, and was in pieces on the floor. With trembling hands I tried to piece it back together. The rubber behind the numbers wouldn't go in and I couldn't get the glass to fit. As I finally got it back together a text came in from daughter 2.

"I'm OK."

I have never been so glad to see a text in my life, but it wasn't enough information. What about daughter 1? Why weren't they together?

I texted back, "I'm OK too, where is E? I am going to get J"

I was torn, do I go to town and get the girls? Do I go to school and get son? My plan was flawed but was the best I could manage. I would get son, and then we would, together, find the girls.

My daughter did not get my text for another hour. It would be 3 hours before I got another text. The system was overwhelmed, cellphone towers were down, and everybody in the city was trying to call everybody else.

The drive to school was awful, the radio in the car was giving details. The mayor came on, sounding calm. "We think it came from the Peninsula", he said, "but we don't know. We have lost contact with the Peninsula."

Lost contact! Hubby was on the Peninsula! And where was daughter 1?

The rest of this day is a nightmare blur. I made it to school, I drove through floods, Across planks leading up to broken bridges, along footpaths and through playing fields. It took almost 2 hours to drive the 15-20 minute journey, and I was lucky to be going against most of the traffic. I was going towards the city. People were leaving it. As I got closer the walkers started. Covered in dust, wet from liquefaction and floods, often bloodied, they walked down the streets, dazed and shocked. As I pulled into the school carpark a text came in. It was from a number I didn't recognise, but I opened it anyway,

"I'm OK. Its bad. E"

It was from daughter 1. She was alive.

Son met me,  "The girls, were the girls in the city?"

"Both alive" I said, "Both alive."

Then the head teacher, and a number of parents saw me. "Have you heard from P and class 5?"

This meant they hadn't either. Nobody knew if the camp, my hubby and 30 ten year olds were fine or not.

Son and I set off home. During the journey a text came in from daughter 2.

"E with me, things are very bad. We are leaving the city. Will ring you later"

I texted back to ask were they were going but it took a number of attempts to send, and no answer came back.

Son and I had to abandon the car and finish our journey on foot. The whole time aftershock after aftershock had been rolling through.

We got home, and rang my parents in the UK. They were frantic...they had seen the news. I said we were all OK, but we still had not heard from hubby.

An hour later the phone rang. I don't understand phones...we had nothing, no power, no water, no sewage...actually that is not true...we had lots of sewage, it was just in the streets, not in the pipes....we had no services at all, and yet our old green telephone with the curly cable still worked!

It was hubby, "The girls! I have seen the city centre on the TV. How are the girls?"

"Alive, leaving the city"

He was OK, the camp kids were all fine, and they were staying there for the night. "I have just seen it," he said. He was at a house a mile or so up the valley from the camp. They had felt the quake, but being under canvas they were fine.

We were all alive, we were all OK. The girls rang later that night from a friend's farm north of Christchurch. Daughter 1 gave her story. She had been caught inside a building. Thankfully she was not alone. She, and the 3 people with her, showed such courage and resourcefulness, I am so very proud of her. She was however, trapped in the dark. She was shocked. I was so grateful she was out of the city and safe.

That night was bad. The aftershocks never seemed to let up, we had no toilet, no water, no power. Son and I ate a sandwich for tea, but I wasn't hungry. He ate some crisps.

We spent the night on the sofa, in the sunroom extension part of the house. The roof was light tin, and we were near the door. Son had his cellphone in one hand and his wind-up torch in the other, I had a wind-up radio/torch hubby had brought me for Christmas. We played the radio all night. We wanted to know we were not alone, that other people knew what had happened, that help would come. All night the announcer said people were coming, help was on its way, just hang on, help was coming. I knew people were still trapped. I would have cried, but I think I was too shocked.

Our street was strange, one neighbour had only just been reunited with her 5 year old son. He had been officially a missing person for 9 hours. She had been so strong while he was missing, making calls, comforting her 3 year old, updating her husband in who was working in Australia. Once he was found, she lost it. Neighbours and friends rallied round and got her and the children a flight out to join her husband the next day.

Many people were not there, having already left the city, and most of those who spent the first night left the next day.

Son and I were stranded without any transport, and waiting for hubby to get back. We dug a deeper hole in the garden for the necessary, we put blankets over the freezer to try and keep it from defrosting, we did a food and water stock take.

Water! Ever since the first quake I had been paranoid about water. I had over 100 litres saved and stored in a number of different places. It was by no means enough, as we were without water for over a month, but it got us through those first few awful days, and by then tankers and help was arriving.

Hubby got back late that night, having restored the children to their parents. The next day he managed to retrieve our car. It took 19 days for the power to be restored, thanks to the herculean efforts of the power people, the army set up a desalination plant at the beach for water, a food distribution point was set up, and neighbours and friends rallied around.

I am not going to describe this time, we had no power, no way of knowing what was going on in the city except by radio. Our lives shrank to the round of finding water, boiling water, and distributing it to neighbours who did not have gas. Keeping clean and disease free was my prime concern. With no sanitation, disease was my biggest worry.

I want to say thank you to the friends who invited us to their house for showers, food, water and internet connections. I want to say thank you to everyone who sent food and fed us during those first few awful days. I want to say thank you to the friends who helped the girls get to Dunedin. I want to say thank you to the USAR teams who came from all over the world to help us, to those who sent money, workers or just their love. Thank you, all of you.

My diet went to pot.

So...things had changed in Christchurch forever. We, as a city were realising that nothing would ever be the same again. Over on the east side, my side of the city, we struggled without water, showers, toilets with no shops, with broken roads, and the dreadful, awful, grey dust blanketing everything.

But slowly we regained some degree of normality....even if our concept of normal had changed. Schools went back, albeit with portaloos and drinking water trucked in daily. Many schools shared sites with other schools, one school attending in the morning, the other in the afternoon. Shops opened, even if parts of them were fenced off. Gradually we began to feel better.

Then the devastating Japanese earthquake and tsunami happened. I hadn't cried for Christchurch, I was too numb with shock, but I wept and wept for Japan. The tears I had bottled up, that I had been too scared to let fall in case I never stopped, finally arrived.

My diet this during time was varied. I tried to be low carb in general, but I didn't always make it. When I did things went well, but I kept relapsing. Bread was my worst enemy. I found it hard to say no to bread. One good thing happened re the diet...the day before the quake I had checked "Good Calories, Bad Calories" by Gary Taubes out of the library. As all the libraries were shut, I got to keep it until May. This was great as it gave me time to read it even though my reading was not going well.

Reading! I have always read, my life has been defined by books. I cannot remember ever not being able to read. I was born and raised in a second-hand and antiquarian bookshop. A public library was only yards away from the house during much of my childhood. Books have always been very important to me. I read when I eat, when I am in the bathroom, when I am cooking. I have even been known to prop books up against the outside of the shower walls to read when showering!

After the quake, for the first time in my life I was unable to read. I couldn't read anything. I became addicted to my radio. It ran on both solar power and wind-up, and I carried it everywhere with me. I tried to read magazines, but I couldn't. I collected the newspaper, the Press, which despite losing its Cathedral Square headquarters and several of its people in the quake kept going. I still have them, I have yet to read them.

Gradually things improved, after about 3 weeks I found I could read again. I started in with children's books, The Abbey Girls, The Chalet School, Tamora Pierce, Diana Wynne Jones, and Noel Streatfield. Gradually I made it up the age range. I read books written for Edwardian teenagers, mostly by Mrs George De Horne Vaiziey. Then I moved onto D.E. Stevenson and other light adult novels. Gradually I worked my way up, and finally, some weeks later, I managed to read Good Calories, Bad Calories.

Well this was a revelation! I shall do a proper book review later, but this totally changed my mindset. I recommitted to the low carb way of eating. And I started to lose some of the weight I had put on over the emergency. I went on to read "Trick and Treat" by Barry Groves, and I lost a little more weight. By now, I could see a difference, but other people hadn't noticed. My trousers were not quite as tight, and I felt I had lost weight off my face too.

We got the water back and, although we still had to boil what came through the tap, we could at least have showers. No flushing toilets though. We mainly used the long drop, although the council gave us a portapotty, and there was a portaloo in our street.

We got a puppy, a labradoodle pup, we call Ruff, after the Jane Hissey storybook. He was so easily toilet trained! As we were still using the long drop at the top of the garden, anytime anyone needed to go, they took the puppy with them. He was grabbed at all hours of the day and night and taken up the garden. He got the idea right away, and was clean and dry inside within a week!

Weeks turned into months, and things gradually came together. I was losing weight, slowly, but I was losing it. Things were gradually getting better in Christchurch and life was looking up. On Saturday 11th June 2011 we got the best news we had had in months. We could flush our toilets! We were so excited, we could go to the toilet in the house!

On the Sunday afternoon we filled in the long drop. It was actually long drop number 4. We made rather a ceremony of it, and then we went inside and flushed the loo!

The very next day on Monday 13th June 2011 we had another 6.3 earthquake. We lost power, water, and yes....we lost the sewage too.......

So there we were again! No sewage, no water, no power.

Things got back to normal, our normal that is, much more quickly this time. The schools and shops reopened.

My diet settled down. I was enjoying the paleo diet, and I ate well.

Very well.

Rather too well!

For breakfast I would have bacon and eggs and mushrooms.

Lunch would be some of last nights supper reheated.

Supper would be a (very) large plate of meat and vegis. I would have roast pork with crackling, with homemade, unsweetened apple sauce, and 3 or 4 different vegis.

Or a huge steak and lashings of salad.

Or a fish chowder made from salmon, white fish, butter and lashings of cream.

My evening snack would be a large bowl of berries smothered in heavy cream. Yum!

And throughout the day I would drink Earl Grey tea with heavy cream, and snack on paleo sausages, or cold lamb ribs if I felt like a little something.

It was not that surprising I didn't miss chocolate and cakes! I stopped losing weight, and even put a little back on. I went to paleo hacks and said things like...I'm following a paleo diet but I am not losing any weight. I found other websites and read them, trying to see what I was doing wrong. (Oh, there are none so blind....)

Although I wasn't losing any weight, I did feel very good. I had no heartburn or acid reflux, I had energy, and enjoyed walking daily on the beach with the puppy. My brain fog had almost vanished, and generally I just felt good.

I had those discussions with hubby, you know the ones, the ones that go..."perhaps I'm just meant to be this weight" or "maybe I broke something in my metabolism, and this is just the way things are" and so on. I decided to not worry about the weight, eat the paleo food and try and get a bit fitter. So I walked further and further, enjoyed my food, and got on with my life.

In September I cracked. The conversations had moved from "perhaps this is just the way things are" to "why does my life have to be like this? Other people don't live like this!"

I brought a great book called "Nourishing Traditions" (again, I will review later) that said grains were Ok if they were prepared correctly. I tried to make sourdough bread...and failed...so I brought a french stick and ate it with lashings of butter and ham. So I brought another one, and another one, and....

By the end of September I was eating anything and everything. It was great! However my weight was slowly and steadily creeping back up. I dealt with this immediately...by stopping weighing myself. Ha! thats got that problem licked! Then the heartburn and reflux started up again, the brain fog came back and and I just felt generally bleagh.

Time for a re-think!

So what to do now? I went back to the internet of course, and searched low carb, and found Charles Washington.

Charles runs a forum for zero carbers.

Zero carbers? But what about your vegis? Is life healthy with no fruit and veg? Won't I just drop dead of scurvy?

So More research. I discovered A chap called Stefansson who got marooned amongst the Inuit, and lived happily and healthily on an all meat diet. This link goes to the first of 4 articles written by him. here  The other 3 are linked at the bottom of the first. They are great, it reads like boys own adventure meets Dr Atkins

So now I knew one could eat a zero carb diet and live. Then another link took me to the Bear, who reckoned he had lived for over 40 years eating a zero carb diet. Here is a link to Rob's blog that explains all about The Bear. here The rest of the blog is interesting reading too but I don't know if he updates anymore.

So, off to try zero carb!

Well, it went very well, I found it hard for the first few days and then settled in happily. By now it was late October, and the quakes had settled down again.

Unfortunately my Dad had taken a turn for the worse, and I booked a flight to the UK in January 2012. I found my appetite dropped the longer I zero carbed, and I felt very well on it. I also lost weight, quite a lot of weight at first, and then the weight loss leveled off, but I continued to lose inches. Either that or my clothes were growing in the wardrobe overnight. I had heaps of energy, and my brain worked better than it had done for years.

The 23rd of December, 2 days before Christmas. My son was setting off to meet a friend, and then they were going to bus to the west side of the city, where the cinemas still worked. He left for the bus stop in the next street, and 5 minutes later it happened again. Another huge quake. I was out of the house and running before the shaking had even stopped. I was barefoot and running down the road into the next street. I was out of breath before I reached the corner. I was desperate to get to my son though, and prayed he had not yet caught the bus. So I jogged a bit, then walked, then jogged.

My son was safely in the middle of the street, with people from the houses around, and the women from the hairdressers, who know him and us well. We went home.

Back at home son phoned his friend and found out the cinema had been evacuated and was closed. I went into the bedroom to wrap Christmas presents. Hubby was outside, gardening, (remember Christmas is in summer down here).

Then another, bigger, quake hit. It sounded like it was roaring up from right underneath our house. I found out later I was not far wrong. It was less than 1 km from us. I was standing by a bookshelf and the books were coming down on me so I jumped onto the bed. I saw our car jump right off the ground!

We were fine, although shaken, and after about 5 minutes texts came through from the girls. They were both fine, thankfully.

Of course we had no power or water again....

This time was not so bad. The water began trickling through that night, and was running, although at low pressure by Christmas Eve. We went to bed with no power that night, and had the best Christmas pressie in the morning...power! The workmen must have been at it all night...on Christmas Eve! Thank you! Christmas Day was warm and sunny, and like most of the rest of Christchurch we spent the day in the garden, as the aftershocks rolled through yet again. Zero carb BBQ in the garden. Yum!

This latest round of quakes brought a new realisation, however. I was not fit. Running into the next street felt like I had run a marathon. I knew I needed to be fitter. I needed to be able to run. I needed to be able to run to school if necessary, I needed to be able to run across the city if need be.

But it was Christmas day, and in less than a week I would be flying to the UK. I put the thought on hold until I got back.

I was zero carb right up until the day I flew to the UK.

So I flew off to the UK again. The diet went to pot. It started on the plane. As my first stop was Australia, I couldn't take any food with me. By the time I got to Bangkok I was famished, however there was nowhere to buy food there as we went through straight to a waiting area and then back onto the plane. The next time the food came around I said yes. The tray was the usual mixture of horrors, but there was a bread roll. And butter. I ate it. Then I ate the meal. But not the desert. I also ate the next meal. Then I reached Dubai. Our plane was late and there was a rush to get through the airport to the next plane. Dubai to the UK. I had been looking forward to this leg, as I had used my points to upgrade to business. I had never been in business before, and it was great! When the food came round, a white tablecloth was laid on my table, and I was given a menu. I chose the steak.

I also ate the warm crusty rolls, and the 2 lovely chocolates. After all I had blown the diet anyway, so I might as well enjoy myself.....

And anyway I could always eat properly when I got there, long haul was an exception, wasn't it?

And I was on holiday.

And I had been doing so well I deserved a break.

Oh yes, all those well worn excuses, one bread roll and there they are, back again!

When I got there it was obvious Dad was not well, and a hospital visit soon after I arrived confirmed this. There was no more they could do. We had a great time, though. I was there 2 and a half weeks, and Dad and I had some great chats. We even got out for a drive one day. There were a number of things to sort out, which we did, but we also managed to have a good time together.

The food was funny. Dad could only eat tiny amounts, and he needed variety. He could only eat a thing twice before it turned to ashes in his mouth. And he needed to eat every hour. So everyday I set out shopping to find nourishing different things. I would come back with a scotch egg, a slice of ham, some strong cheese, and some crackers. Dad would eat a sliver of egg, and a cracker and ham. An hour later he would have another cracker and a sliver of cheese. That would be it for the crackers. An hour later and another sliver of egg and cheese, and that would be scotch egg and cheese off the menu. Guess what mother and I had for lunch? You've got it, scotch egg, cheese and crackers.

The next day would be the same. This time I might make a casserole, dad would manage a spoonful twice and then he would be unable to tolerate it any longer. This led to some hilarious meals as the rest of the family used up what was left over. It also meant any trip out turned in to a hunter gather expedition for novel tastes.

I have to say, I thoroughly enjoyed it! After a zero carb diet, all these different foods were wonderful. And of course I was eating bread. Lovely bread, white crusty bread, dark sough-dough bread, nutty wholemeal bread. I had bread for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

By the time came to leave, I was eating sugar as well. Chocolate, fudge, yogurt coated banana chips....

The flight home was great. Business (on points) to Dubai. Dubai to Bangkok in economy, and amazingly, from Bankok all the way home...an upgrade! Let us just say...I enjoyed the food, particularly the sticky date loaf.....

6 days later, my father died.

Sod the food.

For a few weeks, I didn't care a great deal about dieting. But after a bit the acid reflux got to me and I went back on the paleo diet.

As my mind began to clear again, I started to think about running. I wanted to be able to run. I wanted to be fit. This was a matter of safety for me. My mind felt that if I could run to school, it wouldn't matter if the bridges were down. I could ford the river (or swim if it was high tide) and run to school, to the other side of the city, or wherever. This seems a bit overdramatic when I read it now, in cold blood. But this has been a difficult year or so, and maybe I AM rather overdramatic at the moment!

I talked to daughter 1, who is a runner, and to daughter 2 who is not, but fancied giving it a try. Then I made an appointment with my doctor. I have not been to the doctor for years, and as I am almost 50 and had a back operation 7 years ago, I thought I had better ask if there was any reason I shouldn't run.

It was my back that was worrying me. An accident 7 years ago had resulted in a spinal operation, that left me walking with sticks. After 6 months I dispensed with the sticks but retained a limp. My left foot was floppy, I could not lift it up towards my shins, or walk on my heels. I tried boots and braces, but found going barefoot was the best. I wore warm socks inside in winter and went barefoot as often as I could. The foot/leg got gradually better, but I always limped when I was tired, or wore stiff shoes. Heels were a no-no.

Fast forward 7 years, and you would never know anything had happened to me...unless I was very tired, or wore clumpy shoes. Thick soles were hopeless, and I sought out shoes with thin, light, flexible soles.

My doctor couldn't see any reason why I shouldn't try running, as long as I stopped if it hurt my back. So I gave it a go the very next day. I have a pair of trainers with super dooper running soles. I put them on and set out for a jog.

It was hopeless. My left foot was slapping down on the ground with very little control and my limp came back. So much for that bright idea.

The next day daughter 2 came for a visit. She asked how the running was going. She had been inspired by a book called 'Born to Run' (link and review in due course) where running barefoot, or in minimal shoes, was expounded. I already knew I could run barefoot...I chased the puppy on the beach barefoot daily...but I had no idea people actually RAN barefoot, nor had I heard of minimal shoes.

Daughter 2 and I found a start running plan at Active Canterbury, link , and I went out for Day 1 on Monday 5th March. I was totally barefoot, and ran on the beach. That night I came home and entered a 5k race to be held on 20th May!

I have been running ever since (all 6 weeks!) and I have discovered I love it. I now have some minimal running shoes, and can run without flapping or limping. I have taken it very slowly, and so far have not been injured. I never run more than 2 days in a row, and never rest more than 2 days in a row. This allows for a lot of flexibility, but I usually got out for 2 days, and then just take the 1 day off.

And this week I started back on the zero carb again.

Phew, up to date at last! That is my story. Now I will carry on blogging about things that interest me.

Oh yes, and the statistics for those who want them.

Female, 49 years old. 5'7"

Start weight, between 105 and 110kg. (The highest I ever saw on a scale was 108, but I know I was heavier than that)

Weight today 85kg

Goal 70kg.


Edited to add, this was finished on 14/4/12. As of today I am still running and still zero carb. I will update this page if anything changes.