What’s on your mind..? If you’d like to share your story, do a bit of soul searching with the help of the posse or if you have something you want to get off your chest about this journey we’re all on and fancy writing a guest blog post about it, we’d love to hear from you. You can send your words via the ‘Contact‘ page.

**********************************************************************************

I’m so proud to introduce you to another good friend of mine, who’s been reading along for a while and struggling a bit like we all do with this rollercoaster of a weight-loss journey. To be honest she’s far too young and gorgeous for my liking, but on the basis that she’s taken a deep breath and dived off the high board into her very own Shitbird page, I’ve made an exception and I’m allowing her in! It’s a scary step, putting yourself out there and baring your number for the whole world to see, but she’s determined to smash it, and I know she will…here’s her story!

 

Hi everyone! I’m Kayleigh and I’m another one of Dee’s buddies from the Kingdom of Pain, and I’m here to join the Shitbird posse which is currently comprised of the fabulous Dee and Nicola, my lovely, totally-NOT-a serial killer mum (Hopefully you have read her guest spot – which is now in the archives – otherwise that will sound very strange).

To stop me from rambling on trying to explain myself during my Shitbird Scale posts I thought it would be good to introduce a little bit about myself first.

I’m not too sure where to start, as since we all know there are some very sad times along with the happy times on our weight loss journeys, but this is a weight loss blog, not an episode of Dr. Phil so I’ll try keep it short and sweet and not too deep!

I’m currently 23 and weigh 223lbs, all my life I’ve been a ‘larger lady’ shall we say, I was a tall child and as I hit my teenage years I picked up another 14lbs for every year of my life. By the time I was 18 I was pushing 18 stone (251 lbs.).

Cue Exhibit A: This photo was taken on New Years Eve when I was 18, a week before I decided to change my life for the better. Now I had always been told I have a pretty face and a positively enviable hourglass figure (ha ha) and despite being extremely aware of my fatness I wanted to believe them, until I saw this picture. I looked like I’d eaten the girl they were talking about and eaten all the pies too for good measure.

 

 

But fast forward a few crashed and burned and rebuilt again wagons, I hopped back on to arrive at my 21st birthday. I weighed 194lbs and managed to fit into a UK size 12 dress, which I can be seen modelling whilst crying happy tears in the next photo. Now this was nowhere near my goal weight but it was the lightest I’d ever been as an adult and it felt FAB.

Unfortunately birthday celebrations led to Christmas celebrations which lead to a back and forth for over 2 years of me maintaining somewhere in the region of 224-231lbs, all this whilst on my study year abroad in China which, when you have no kitchen facilities, is an oily-salty hell…Hello water retention old friend! I love to cook so it was really hard for me to get over not having that control over my food.

But now I’m back home in England, I’ve just celebrated my 23rd birthday leaving me at around 231 lbs. and had the news last week that I have high blood pressure at 23, which for me is scary and largely embarrassing but above all, good motivation. Since the news I’ve lost 8lbs, which I think is mostly water weight but I’m still happy with the direction!

My next motivation is that one of my best friends is getting married in Cambodia at the start of February. I’m a bridesmaid and I have a few costume changes to partake in so I really would like to look a bit skinnier for then (I’ve accepted I’ll never compete with the Khmer girls in the Skinny Stakes, but a bit more shape wouldn’t hurt).

Next stop on this train to Skinny Town: Getting below the 210lbs mark before Feb.
2nd stop: Fitting back into that 21st birthday dress. After that? Onwards and downwards! This photo is me now, and if anyone is interested my instagram is @therealslimkayleigh   thank you so much for letting me join in the fun x

Sorry that wasn’t very short and sweet – it runs in the family – but I hope you’ll all join me on my Shitbird Page to see how this journey goes and I can’t wait to become a more active part of this lovely group!

Love,
Kayleigh