Day 1 – 29/4/17 – waist 41 inches, BMI 33
So I’ve been ignoring my weight for a while now. It’s been steadily climbing from my size 8 days back at school to the just-about-fitting size 18 that I am now.
This increase has been gradual, to the point where I really wasn’t giving it much thought. It was easy to ignore as well because work and near constant studying means I rarely go out. Plus my lovely boyfriend has never made me feel bad about my weight, or even a little bit insecure, so it just never seemed to be an issue.
What changed then? Well it was two things really; a beautiful dress and elephants. No really. Let me explain…
Like every good student I used to have a wardrobe suited to uni life (basically half super casual and half slutty). When I got a job my wardrobe started filling with work wear, but the space didn’t increase, so the slutty half went. As mentioned above, I don’t go out much these days, so I didn’t miss the clothes. That changed a week ago when I needed a dress for a ball. I had originally bought a new one, but I thought it looked shapeless when all I wanted was to be fab-u-lous. So I went digging in my wardrobe and found 4 dresses from my uni days that I remembered being loose. There was one that was really REALLY pretty and I just stood there looking at it thinking ‘please please please don’t let me be too fat. It’s just a size 16, I can squeeze into that!’
I couldn’t. Heartbreaking. Only one of them fit and that was the stretchable one that hid nothing. I wore it to spite myself. Mission achieved: I hated myself all evening.
And the elephants? Well we’re currently planning a holiday in September, the boyf and I, and he’s quite taken with the idea of Thailand. I’m the sort of person that has to do extensive research before any trip. This includes street viewing EVERYWHERE on google maps, plus copious travel vlog watching on YouTube. Yep I’m one of those. But what I couldn’t get away from was how skinny everyone was in the videos. And I’m not just talking the vloggers themselves (cos I know they’re basically actors, so being really really ridiculously good looking is pretty much mandatory), but all the background people as well. And then we got onto the elephants. One video showed how you get onto elephants. There are apparently 3 ways. The first (and most difficult for the elephants) is where they get down on their knees and you clamber up their butt. The second involves walking up their trunk. And the third you get a hook up on their bent leg whilst gripping onto a rope around their torso and their ear. And I kept thinking A) I wanna ride the elephants but also B) I don’t want to hurt them. At my current weight it is clear to me that B is a likelihood.
So weight loss it was.
Why I chose the CWP as opposed to other diets has to do with my impulsiveness and general impatience. I had been half heartedly trying to drop the weight using the traditional method of increasing activity levels and trying to pick healthier options. But I broke my goals so easily and kept on making unhealthy choices.
I knew I’d only be able to stick to something if I had someone looking over my shoulder to check that I was (introducing the consultant) and if it didn’t require any brain power or extra effort (sachets = a gazillion times easier than counting calories).
So here I go. Starting off. My first meal was a dinner chocolate shake and I’ve been drinking tonnes of water out of my lucky sparkly cup. Feeling fine so far. Let’s see what tomorrow brings…
Charlotte's Musings 
Really like what you wrote as someone who also struggles with my weight I understand the struggles. I will be keen to know how you get on – might be trying this myself.
I really don’t normally commend on these types of things but I love elephants and want to ensure they are treated fairly.
Please please please do your research on riding elephants – a lot of companies, the typical gap year/tourist experience, actually stab the elephants (ever seen an Asian elephant in a tourist photo with faded white marks, these are stab wounds – sometimes they stab them behind the ears so tourists can’t see) so they become complacent and have them on chains and torture them when they are young so they can ‘break them in’.
Elephants are some of the most intelligent animals in the world, so they can feel pain and know that if they don’t perform tricks then they will be beaten. They remember who hurts them and do what they say.
I didn’t know this until I started researching it myself for a similar style trip – it’s very well hidden and for a reason – money and tourists.
Please look into ethical elephant sanctuaries and really do your research, You can visit somewhere like Elephant Nature Park where you can feed the elephants but not ride them – they have been rescued from such places.
I understand the want to do this sort of thing (everyone has that elephant picture when they go to Thailand – also remember people have that picture at tiger temple) but just make sure you do it properly and that the elephants are treated how they should be.
Let me know your thoughts on this – I don’t want to put you off visiting elephants, they are my favourite animal and have planned visits to sanctuaries – just make sure that you and your boyfriend have a great time and help protect an endangered species
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Thanks Lauren, yes a bunch of my friends said the same thing re the elephants. I saw an article about it a couple of years back, so I’d only consider a rescue sanctuary. Not sure if that’s completely ethical either, so maybe riding the elephants is a no no regardless. My example applies to other things I’d like to do, but feel I can’t (I.e. Go rock climbing or on long hikes). These things I used to be able to do, so I’m hoping that one day soon I can.
Could luck with your journey, I’m routing for you!
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