I gave up smoking in March 2000. In August of that year I decided I needed to find a way to be smokefree without gaining heaps of weight, as I had done previously, so I started to following Couch25k. Two weeks in and the big 7.3 earthquake hit our city. It was a scary time and I had just got back in to it when the 22nd February earthquake hit, killing many of our people. I suffered Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and took over a year to begin to function normally again.
Then in October of 2012 at the age of 47, I was diagnosed with invasive multi-focal lobular Breast Cancer, requiring a bi-lateral mastectomy and lymph node dissection. That was followed by 6 months (16 rounds) of chemotherapy (lost all my hair, including eyebrows and eyelashes) and 5 weeks of daily radiation therapy. Between chemo and radiation, I broke my right foot - which led to chronic pain syndrome. During this I had to keep working as I'm and single mum and it is our only income.
Somehow (although I imagine it may have had something to do with the amount of wine I consumed following earthquakes) during all this, I gain 20kg (44lbs)!
In November 2013, after coming to the conclusion that there is little in life we have control of, I decided I needed to take control of the weight, and began my new journey. Grain free, sugar free, starch free, high protein was the choice I made, with some 5:2 weeks thrown in. I had the occasional lapse but for me, it worked! I introduced exercise in March to keep me on track. I haven't been able to stand even the smell of wine since chemo, but enjoy a beer or a cider.
I am now in remission from cancer, and feeling proud of my achievements.