How I lost 11 Kilograms in 26 days

I believe there are many diets out there that work and generallyI can not blame the particular diet for my failed attempts inthe past. Everything boils down to attitude.

All my life I have been somewhat overweight and oversized. Iremember on the day of Princess Diana's wedding some of the kidsin my class asked me how much I weighed and I told them 72Kgs.This is not so bad, except that I was in grade 7 (12 years old).I stopped growing in length about 2 years after that, but bythen I stood 1.92M tall. The problem is that I did not stop"growing" in weight. By the time I left school I weighed around105KGs.

While I was at school, my mother, sister and I tried everypossible diet under the sun, but nothing lasted and soonafterwards we would pick up the bit of weight we had lost duringthe diet.

By 1996 I had moved to Johannesburg and my mom moved up therefor 1 year to fill the position of national director for Childand Family Welfare and we decided to share an apartment. On thefirst of February 1997 I bought a book called Unlimited Power byAnthony Robbins. Many of you will probably know Anthony Robbinswho, in my opinion, is the greatest inspirational speaker in theworld. I sat down in a restaurant to start reading this book andI could not get myself to stop reading. Eventually, by midnight,the restaurant closed and they chased me away, so I returnedhome and continued reading Unlimited Power, which I finishedduring the course of the next day.

The book is not dedicated to weight loss at all, but Anthonydoes mention how he lost 36 pounds (16Kgs) in a couple of weeksand he gives one piece of advice regarding weight loss: "If youwant to loose weight, buy a blender" (paraphrased). That was allthe motivation I needed. The book had inspired me so much that,at that moment, I believed I could achieve anything. I took offto the shops and bought a blender, a scale and a bunch of fruit.When I got home, I told my mom what I had read in the book andthat I would only be eating (drinking) fruit for the next coupleof months until I had lost at least 10KGs. I also threatenedthat I would move out of the apartment and leave her alone inthis big, scary city if she prepared any food other than blendedfruit for me. Being the angel that she is, my mom agreed to thisand decided to join me on my fruit diet.

On the second of February 1997 I weighed 122KGs.That was day 1, a Sunday, and I was still inspired from thebook, so it went fairly easy. I don't believe it matters whatfruit you use. Many people say that bananas are fattening, but Ihave found that I need at least 1-2 bananas in every mix toenjoy it. Generally I add 2 apples, 1-2 oranges, 2 bananas andsomething like watermelon or "spanspek" into a blender and mushit all together into a fruit "goo". Add a cup of water in thebeginning to thin the mixture and add a dash of lemon juice toprevent the mixture from turning an unbearable brown colorwithin a couple of hours.

On day 2, the Monday, I took a 2 liter bottle of fruit goo towork. This raised a couple of eyebrows as the mixture does notlook very appetizing. Those few that agreed to taste it though,admitted that it actually tasted much better than it looked.However, all the stares and frowns did not bother me, as I wasdetermined to make this diet work. The interesting thing wasthat by the time I got home on the Monday afternoon, I was stillnot hungry. Yes, in my mind I could imagine enjoying a juicypiece of steak, but physically I did not feel hungry.

I lost more than 2 Kgs in the first 2 days On theTuesday morning I jumped on the scale and was pleasantlysurprised to find that I had lost more than 2KGs. The needle onthe scale rested halfway between 119 and 120KGs. In 2 days I hadlost 2 KGs and I still didn't feel hungry or deprived of food asI had on previous diets. This inspired me again and I could notwait to get to work and tell all those skeptics about myprogress. Strangely enough, by the time I got to the office, Ihad decided not to tell anybody that I had lost 2KGs, but ratherto push through and see how quickly I could loose another 2. Itwould, after all, be far more impressive to say that I had lost4KGs than 2. 2 Kilograms had always been my limit on previousdiets. I would loose the first 2 kilograms fairly quickly andthen it would stop there. I did not have the discipline to see adiet through, but this time I was determined to get further. SoI quietly walked in and tried not to draw too much attention tomyself or my 2 liter bottle of fruit goo.

By the Wednesday morning I could not help myself and jumped onthe scale again. My original plan was to only weigh myself oncea week, but I was hopeful and again, I did not have thediscipline to wait another day. Fortunately, the scale-needlegod smiled on me and decided to rest just below the 119KG mark.That was 3 kilograms in 3 days!!! And I still did not feelhungry or feel the need to eat solid foods. I was on a missionhere. Anthony Robbins' advice was working and he had lost 36pounds in a couple of weeks, so I could do the same!! Whenever Ifelt hungry, I simply poured another glass of fruit goo and whenwe got home in the evenings, my mom prepared another bottle ofgoo for us to share during the evening.

Less than three weeks later I had lost 10kilograms!! Everybody at work knew and could see that Ihad lost weight and now, instead of laughing at the mixture Iwas drinking, they asked me about my diet everyday. How do youdo it, what fruits do you put in that mixture, don't you gethungry and may I taste it? Instead of laughing, these were thequestions they were asking now.

During that third week, I got home one afternoon to find my mom,who had also lost around 7KGs by then, sitting in the loungewith an unusually guilty look on her face. I asked her what waswrong and she immediately looked down at the empty plate infront of her. She had bought some salty cracks (biscuits) andyes, by that time I was quite eager on putting some solid foodin my mouth as well. We agreed to eat some salty cracks withcheese and tomato from then on and a week later we decided togive the diet a break, but simply to try and maintain ourweight. By the 28th of February I weighed 111KGs, so I had lost11KGs in 26 days.

During the first couple of days, I was loosing 1 kg every day.Pretty impressive, but obviously you can't expect to keep thatup. At some stage I remember my weight standing still for about3-4 days. The scale-needle god was not smiling so brightlyanymore. One morning when I got on the scale and noticed thatthe needle was still stuck on the same weight, I decided to moveto the next level (whatever it takes, remember). Now, I'm notvery big on exercise, but we did live in an apartment on theground floor of a 10 or 12 storey building. So I jumped off thescale and ran out the front door with only my sleeping shortsand my slightly reduced stomach sticking out and proceeded torun (okay, I lie... I walked most of the way) up and down thestairs of this building. By the next morning I could see thatthe needle had moved a little and I continued walking/running upand down the stairs every morning. Everyone knows that exercisewill help you lose weight, so that is not the great revelation Iwant to share with you. The point that I do want to make is thatmy attitude was right. I was going to lose weight!! There was noquestion in my mind and I believed that absolutely. Therefore,when I ran into a bit of difficulty, I did not give up as beforebut I simply changed my plan of action, by adding a bit ofexercise to my routine and continued on.

The results I had booked a 4 week holiday inGreece for May that year and decided that I would continue toweigh myself every 2 days or so and ensure that I don't pick upany weight before the holiday. By the time I left for Greece, Istill weighed 111KGs. This may not sound important, but how manytimes have people told you that you should loose weight slowlyor you will simply pick it up again, and more. Well, here's myanswer. I had a motivation to ensure that I don't pick thatweight up again because I wanted to look good and feel goodabout myself during my holiday. It worked. I don't know how toexpress in words how I felt when I walked onto that beach onMyconos (the first island I visited).

Firstly, being from South Africa where we don't have nudistbeaches, just being there was quite a treat for me. Walkingaround without a shirt and not feeling embarrassed about thesize of my stomach was absolutely amazing. For the first time inmy life girls actually came up to talk to me and when I went totalk to them, they did not immediately give me a cold shoulder.On IOS, the party capital of Greece, I met a Swedish girl and weactually had a mini fling there for a couple of days. SomethingI had never experienced before. I left to go visit 2 otherislands, but I went back to IOS and she was actually happy tosee me. Again, something I was not used to before. I don'tbelieve anybody treated me differently because I had lost a bitof weight. In fact, I was still overweight and could have donewith losing another 15-20KGs. Added to that, if you've seen mypic on my weight-loss blog, you'll know that losing a bit ofweight can't change that face. Instead, I believe they treatedme differently because I was more confident and at peace withmyself and my own body.

In 1997 I was earning a pretty good salary, considerably morethan most of my friends. Even so, between February 1997 and June2000 my salary trippled without changing jobs. Generally peoplesay you have to change jobs to get those sized increases, but Ibelieve I achieved it within the same company simply because Ihad a newfound confidence in myself.

Success breeds success!!