Fresh Start Diary

Well this is my first time trying a food replacement diet. Had some success with Slimming World last year losing 2 and a half stone but then piled on more than 5 stone this year. I am now 22stone 3lbs and disgusted with myself. We have been trying to get pregnant for more than 2 years and GP has basically said I'll be infertile until I lose the weight and they won't offer infertility treatment until I have a healthy bmi. I struggle to get up the 3 flights of stairs to my flat and get out of breath putting my bra on!!

I have now decided enough is enough and am waiting on my exante delivery which is due in a couple of hours.

This is morning I had a pint of water at 9.45am.. took like 45minutes to drink it hate water!! But needs must. Am now starving so am eating ice cubes.

Really hoping this diet works for me because I feel like if it doesn't I'm not sure where to go from here.

So my packs arrived on time yesterday and I had a strawberry shake for breakfast. It was awful and I was sooo disappointed because I normally love anything strawberry flavoured. But I managed to get it down and was surprised to find I wasn't too hungry afterwards. Had the shepard's pie for lunch which after i got over how it looked was actually delicious!!
For dinner I had the vegetable soup. This was rank!! Could only stomach half of it. Went to bed early at around 8.30pm and woke up a few times with hunger pangs but just went back to sleep. Really struggled to drink water as I hate tap water!! So only had a couple of pints.

After reading some suggestions on here I put some water in the fridge overnight and had a chocolate shake made with the cold water and ice and put in a glass with a straw for breakfast. It was delish!! Gonna do this with all my shakes now. Got some Coke Zero today so will try and up my liquid intake.

Had a wee dizzy spell while trying to hang up some washing but it passed when I sat back down. Tried the red bean chilli for lunch that was amazing!! Tasted just like real chilli. A couple of the beans were a bit crunchy but think that is just down to microwaving time so will adapt that for next time. Struggling with the water again and scared to drink the coke zero because i have read it can slow down weight loss. Getting quite hungry but trying to wait till about 9pm to have soup so that I'm not going to bed hungry.

Had the Thai Chicken soup for dinner. It was really nice but felt like it should have had chicken in it... think it was just missing chewing!! Think I will not bother with the soups when I order my next pack because they don't seem to fill me as well as the shakes and meals.

Day 3!! Liquid intake still crappy so going to write down in this diary everything I am drinking in a conscious effort to drink more. So far today I have had 2 x 200ml tea. Just sitting down to first shake of the day... banana, with 400ml of iced water. Well the banana tasted better than it smells. Chocolate is still my favourite shake but banana is more than drinkable. Downed the water as quick as I could. I really hate the taste of plain water!!

So thats 800ml of liquid intake so far...

Having another 400ml glass of water... 1200ml so far... this is hard drinking water like this makes me feel ill.
More water... no ice this time so got 500ml in the glass... 1700ml in total so far.

Just took measurements. waist 54inches... hips 56 inches. Just looked at the size guide for the new look inspire size 26 jeans I wear. My hips are an inch bigger than the guide and waist is more than 7 inches over guide.. they are high waisted ones as well so confused as to why they still fit!! Ok so just being reading up on waist measurements... I was measuring just above belly button instead of at smallest part which is a wee bit higher up... so my actual waist measurement is 40inches. Bust measurement 53inches. Pretty weird measurements!!

Had a porridge pack. Didn't really taste like normal porridge but then I normally make porridge with milk... and then add more milk to make it creamier!! Might just take a big of getting used to. Was sweet enough, maybe slightly too sweet. Now chugging another 500ml glass of water... So that's 2.2litres so far today.

Just had the spag bol for dinner.. omg it's amazing!!! Having 400ml of coke zero with it cos I'm so sick of water. Strange thing is I'm normally a coke/soft drink in general addict but it's tasting a bit too sweet tonight!! Liquid total is now 2.6 litres

Hi Mrs M

Just thought I would introduce myself. I think we started our diaries at the same time. Well done, you have done so well over the last few days. I unfortunately started well but fell off wagon after second day. But starting again today, so hope to be in ketosis by Thursday if I am lucky. I find the water also quite hard but have bought some Exante water flavourings which help me, am only going to use it in the evenings as a treat.

Hope you have a good day today.......

hey saffy nice to meet you!! That's a shame you fell off the wagon but well done you for getting back on it!! Fingers crossed ketosis comes quickly. Let me know how your getting on I am going to buy the exante water flavourings at the end of the week making do with forcing down water just now and the occasional coke zero.

Day 4!! Today has been torture so far!! Was my first day back at college (luckily we were only in half day though!) which is probably why I feel so bad because Days 1-3 I just stayed in and enjoyed a quiet weekend. It's not that I'm hungry I'm just so tired and feel crappy. My muscles hurt too Done about an hours walk after college walking down to town centre and around the shops to get a few bits and pieces. Was very slow walking but I was overheating and felt like I just wanted to sit down. I'm figuring this is because its the first real activity my body has had to cope with since starting exante. Maybe I shouldn't have been so nice to myself at the weekend and should have done some walking!! Anyway hopefully it will get easier. Had vanilla shake for breakfast. It was quite nice but thats me tried all the shakes now and chocolate is my favourite. Going to have a toffee, nut and raisin bar for lunch. I did take it to college with me but didn't fancy it when I was finished and have been sitting staring at it for the past half hour since I get home. Just can't be bothered to eat!!

So I spent the afternoon picking at my lunch bar and there's still half of it left!! It tastes nice enough don't know whats wrong with me any other bar like that would be gone in two bites and i'd be ravenous. Had some tomato and basil soup for dinner. This is my favourite soup so far (haven't tried the mushroom one) and probably the will be the only soup that I reorder unless the mushroom is amazing. I'm so full after the soup I have no idea how I'm going to force down the second half of the bar before I go to bed!

Sorry you are having a bad day! Hopefully you are feeling better tomorrow xx

Day 5!! Much better day than yesterday!! Full day in college as well and had to walk to college from town centre as I missed the bus! Had chocolate shake for breakfast (yum!) and chocolate orange bar for lunch. Going to have carbonara for dinner.

Loving the carbonara!!! But unfortunately managed to burn my arm and chest while boiling water while making it!! Still in agony. Gonna try and get an early night but not sure I'll get to sleep with the pain. Oh well atleast it stops me thinking about food for a wee while!!

Day 6!! Well I now have a very attractive (not!) dressing on my chest thanks to my own stupidity yesterday.
Had a strawberry shake for breakfast, mushroom rissotto for lunch and a bar for dinner. Shake was much better today. Not a huge fan of the rissotto though.
Feeling really demotivated today. On sunday i had dropped six pounds and the scale has stayed there since then until today. Today the scale says i have put those 6lbs back on plus another 2!!! How on earth can i have put 8lbs on eating 600cals a day!! I have been 100% all week

Day 7!! Well was feeling very bad today because of the scales to the point where I was going to chuck it!! But luckily I had a docs appointment today so I asked him to weigh me while I was there. Turns out I have lost over a stone this week!! Needless to say I will be throwing out my old scales!! went to boots after the docs and used their scales to double check and it was pretty much the same as the doctors!! So 15lbs off this week. Going to make Thursday my weigh day now and just weigh myself at boots loving this diet now lol. Oh and first time in ages my doctor was actually nice to me and had something positive to say to me because I'd lost weight so that's a bonus!! He's usually constantly banging on about the weight as if I don't realise I'm fat!!

Well done 15lbs is amazing! xx

Thanks Red!! How are you getting on?

Day 8!! (Wow!!) Beginning to forget what it was like to actually sit down and eat a proper meal (or rather takeaway, chocolate, any other form of crap I would normally inhale!!). Have tiny wobbly moments when watching hubby tuck into his takeaways but it's more to do with the smell tbh and I don't think I would actually eat it! Do however keep fantasising about chicken breast but I am consoling myself with the fact that I can have this on food week. Baked potato and subway cravings that I'm having will have to wait a whole lot longer though!!
Ran out of bars but still have about a weeks worth of meals and shakes left so ordered a box of 50 bars and got the elderflower and white wine water flavouring free. Tried it today and its lush!! Really tastes like a proper treat though when I'm mixing the powder in it does remind me of soluble paracetamol!! Haven't tried any of the other water flavourings yet but may well do now. It's becoming more normal now rather than feeling like a diet. Just hope I can keep this up long term.

I've decided my main goal for the moment is to stay 100% on total solution (though will have the recommended food break week if necessary) until Christmas. My official goal is to lose 4 stone by then but secretly hoping to have lost a wee bit more since I still have 16 weigh ins before Christmas and have already lost the first stone. After Christmas I'll reassess as to whether to carry on with TS or go on to WS with a view to weaning myself off exante and back to slimming world. But as slimming world is so much easier to cheat with I will wait and see how the next 4 months go!!

Im doing good thanks, feeling better each day. Cant wait for my first weigh in on Monday! Im the same as you going to stick with this until Christmas and take it from there! Your weigh in must have given you such a boost!

R xx

Day 9!!! After spending a few hours reading up on side effects of vlcd I have decided that my 20minutes of exercise a day (as recommended by exante) will be purely resistance training to help prevent too much muscle from being lost. I will limit cardio to the normal wallking about I have to do day to day anyway. I'm hoping this will help the inches to come off quicker to as I tone up, though not sure how much of the toning will be noticeable until I have lost a lot more fat!! Just need some motivation now to get started!!!

Well just finished first resistance routine. Doing 3 sets of 10 reps. Done squats, pushing dumbell from shoulder heigh to full overhead extension (not sure of the name lol), lunges, bent over rows and sit ups. Was hard going defo felt it.

Hi i am on day 5 today i am about the same weight at 22st. Been on exante for a few weeks before but got pregnant my wee boy is 7months today so back on. I drink loads of coke zero and asda diet coke it keeps me on it. Ur doing fab

Hey Suzy. Has ketosis kicked in for you yet? Only 2 days till your first weigh in you must be excited to see how you have done? I've been drinking coke zero, dr pepper zero and exante water flavouring.

Hi yeah ketosis is kicking in today as the stick is defo a little darker in colour. I had a sneak weigh in today as couldnt resist and have lost 7lb since tuesday

That's amazing!! Well done you. I am in torture right now as hubby is having my favourite meal from the Chinese. Normal Xfactor night routine hasn't changed for him since last year!! It's not even that I'm hungry it's just because I see it I want it lol.. But I'm being very strong (not that hubby would let me have some if I tried lol!!)

My other half is currently eating a Chinese aswell. Not hungry but the smell is amazing!! Hope you are both doing ok?

Red xx