Whatever you do...

MOVE.

I've lost what I would consider to be significant amounts of weight three times in my life now.  Which makes me sound like a yo-yo dieter, but never mind.

Each time, I have changed what I eat, but I have also done something that I wasn't doing when I put the weight on.  I was moving.  Well, I know I move every day, but I was moving more.  I was walking, swimming, going to the gym, doing exercise videos/dvds/computer games.  Heh, you can almost tell when I was losing weight based on the medium  was using.

When I've put weight on again, it's because I've stopped moving.  I get to a point where the amount I'm moving means I can eat pretty much what I want to, then stop moving.  I don't stop eating, why would I?  So I put on weight again.

This time, I've done it differently.  I started moving more long before I even started to think about food.  Moving became a part of my daily routine.  Part of that was because I had to.  There's no treatment for ME, but exercise has been proven to help relieve symptoms.  So I started to move more. 

Every day.  Not much at first, I was swimming maybe 400m a day.  We got a dog; he needed walking, so I had to walk.  At first I would think that Kei didn't take him the same distance as me.  Then I realised I was just walking a lot slower than he was.  After over a year of morning swims and dog walks I felt I could handle the gym.  Again, I started slowly and built it up. 

Eventually it clicked that if I started to eat less on top of the moving more I would lose weight.  And I have.  Steadily every week the weight has dropped off.  I miss moving when I don't do it.  In fact, I feel really crap when I don't do it.  I've discovered endorphins; I like them.

I've started doing things I never thought I would do, like running.  I have previously in my life declared that I can't run the length of myself.  Turns out that was a lie.  I am now perfectly capable of running at 10km/h for, um, I'm up to 18 1/2 minutes on the treadmill.  I've run outside, where non gym people can see me.

Moving also means I can eat more.  This I like.

Make moving more part of your life.  Find the time to fit it in.  I do it first thing, otherwise I know that I'll find excuses to put it off.  Don't even think about what you're eating until you have made moving more part of your life. 

Find what works for you.  If you like exercising with other people join a class or take up a team sport.  If you like going outside, walk, run, cycle.  If you like getting wet, swim.  If you don't really like doing anything, get off the bus a couple of stops early.  Start small and build up.  Do something every day.  Cleaning the house counts as exercise, that can be what you do one day a week.  You'll just have to work out what you do on the other six.

Moving has been a revelation.  This time I won't be giving it up.