Hannah's Lighter Life!

Have been on LL for 2 full weeks now, and have to say this is the first day when i've actually felt I look slimmer!
I went home last week to see my family and they hadn't seen me since I started LL and they said they noticed a difference, but I just couldn't see it. But today I put an old pair of jeans on and actually thought 'I don't look too bad!'

Have been working today at an event in Wales so had my shake for brekkie, and then made some crisps for lunch out of a soup pack (I know it's not really recommended but it was my only option) Am now back home in Manchester and am honestly not hungry at all and still have two packs to eat. Am finding it hard to make myself eat them which I something I never thought i'd say!

Hope everyone is doing well And will try to update this diary quite regularly.

well done hunny! keep up the fantastic work!

Im only just having my 3rd shake i dnt think i can have 4th, i have no room for it.

Well done again for your brilliant loss.

Thank you Laraa

Today has been quite good, have spent the day sorting my house out as am moving in just under 2 weeks and since i'm always busy during the week, need to make the most of the weekend!
So have spent the whole day cleaning, moving stuff, up and down the stairs and I feel shattered! But guess it's a good form of exercise?
Had my shake for brekkie and soup for lunch again, but still have no appetite. Had to force down another soup and didn't really enjoy my nut fudge bar...hope this lack of appetite continues after LL though!! As before I never really felt full...and that's why I had a big problem with portion control. Will just have to wait and see!

Am nervous about my weigh in on Thursday, haven't had any lapses, have been 100% on track but I still panic that I won't lose as much weight as I hope to. Think it's because i've been let down by diets in the past. But hopefully however much weight I lose on Thursday will prove that LL is different!

Well learnt the hard way yesterday that I shouldn't exercise!
Decided for the first time since I started LL to go to the gym. I knew it would be hard as i'm so used to running etc. and really going for it at the gym, so knew i'd have to restrain myself. So did 10 minutes walking on an incline, 10 mins on the cross trainer then went for a 10 minute cycle then did some leg/arm weights. It was quite sweaty and hot, and I felt a bit lightheaded when I left but thought i'd be ok.

Then woke up at 3am this morning with a really bad stomach ache, (probably too much info but felt like really bad wind) decided to get up and get a drink of water then started to feel really, really dizzy so went to walk back to my room, opened my bedroom door then my body turned to jelly and I ended up on the floor, and all I could hear was a loud buzzing in my ears. Managed to get up and into bed and feel fine this morning but it gave me a bit of a scare. I'm guessing that when the endorphins from the gym wore off, i'd burned too many calories and my body was running on empty but am going to ask my LL counsellor at my weigh in on Thursday. Luckily i've already frozen my gym membership for July so won't feel bad about not going, and might give gentle walking a try!

Hannah, I hope you're ok now?
it's eally interesting, I was thinking about going back to the gym, I have been on LL for nearly 2 weeks and was starting to miss the gym. But makes sense what you have said. I had a really busy day yesterday and didn't stop for nearly 12 hours, and today I feel light headed and a bit shaky. Might just give a few more weeks before I try the gym. But really wanted to go to try and tone up a bit so I don't become to saggy!
Really do hope you are ok and good luck.

Hi Linds!
I am completely fine now, thank you for asking Felt horrible the next day and was still a bit shaky but am back on track now, went for a gentle 5 mile walk this morning and although i've felt a bit more tired today i'm feeling good! I'm the same, am really worried about loose/saggy skin so am trying to keep active a bit, but not push myself too hard.

Well done on your progress, a stone in a week is amazing!!

Glad you're ok.
I've bought some really good body oil from Clarins, it is designed for weight loss and pregnancy. It's like Bio Oil, but nicer and goes further. I have been using it for 4 days, and am desperately hoping it helps! lol

Good idea! I use bio-oil on my stomach and on my 'bingo wings' to try to get rid of stretch marks, then i'm using palmers cocoa butter on my legs, arms, everywhere really! As according to the bottle it's good for toning! Have also started walking alot more, did 4 miles a day over the weekend so hopefully that should help a little.

Funnily enough I have started walking too this weekend! Over did it a bit on Saturday but didn't feel crap this time.

The past two weeks have been so stressful, i've moved house which was a nightmare, basically the past tenants decided to destroy the house between May when we last looked around, and last Thursday when we went to move in. One of the tenants was even moving out as we arrived, and pretended that he was helping his friend move out who had been in a car crash and that he 'didnt live here', completely untrue! But we are now in the house, it's being painted, has been professionally clean, and even though i'm sleeping on a matress on the floor as the previous occupant of my room seemed to have a bed wetting problem, it's all going ok. My new bed should arrive this week!

Thought I would find it really hard to stick to LL, but since I haven't bought any more food I haven't had anything else to eat so haven't had any choice! Am still proud of myself On the Thursday night when we were meant to move in, we ended up camping out at my housemates boyfriend's flat who is in Thailand, and they sat up drinking wine, prosecco, crisps, biscuits, chocolate (sorry about this!)but I managed to completely resist ( luckily had work the next morning so could use that as an excuse!)

Am still looking forward to my weigh in on Thursday, really hope I've lost a good amount, 4ibs ideally! But will just have to wait and see

Good luck with your weigh in on Thursday, I bet after all that house moving you will have done great.

Glad you're getting your house sorted, hopefully now you can get back to normal!?!

It all went well at the weigh in last night, lost 4ibs! Taking me up to a total loss of 28ibs/2 stone Happy days! Am on Week 6 now so will have my photo taken next week. The ladies in my group are ahead so had theirs taken this week and it was amazing to see the difference! But one lady broke down in tears, as even though she's lost so much weight, she still feels like she has so far to go. So was quite an emotional session last night!

Got a raspberry/cranberry bar to try, as as much as i like the toffee bars felt like I needed to branch out! Haha Have really gone off the soups, not sure why but the thai chilli one I used to LOVE, now it just tastes a bit bleurggh and the lumps in it make me feel a bit queasy. So am sticking to the chicken and veg as they're the easiest to make and the least lumpy!

Am going away this weekend with work to Wales, am dreading it as i'm really not enjoying my job at the moment. But am planning to make my soup packs into crisps, and to have them for lunch and dinner (I know you're not meant to cook the food packs or more than one food pack a day, but it's either that or nothing!) As I work for a company that organises triathlons, so i'll be super busy both saturday and sunday, and on sunday i'll be driving round a mountain checking on cyclists so no time to make the soups! Am going to take my blender and have my vanilla shake on Sunday morning, then have the toffee bars. So hopefully it'll all go well!

Also, there's a big dinner arranged on Saturday. Everyone in the company is going, plus my boss's family who are helping out at the event. I'm fine with not eating, just know that people i've never met will find it weird, and it always takes a while to explain. And after working all day Saturday, am not sure i'll be in the mood to listen to comments such as 'is that healthy', 'you'll just put it all back on' etc.etc! But will just have to stay sane, have lost 2 stone so hah to them!

Am just looking forward to Monday when it's all over

I love that you are so dedicated and plan ahead!! Well done you!! 2 stone us a fantastic achievement xx

Well the weekend went quite well! Was long and had lots of highs and lows, but the triathlon went well (I work for a sports event company) so that makes it all worthwhile I guess. Am starting to lose motivation for this job though, but am stuck doing it for a year so better get used to it I guess.

But better news, I completely stuck to LL so am still 100% abstinent! It was hard on saturday night (beware food talk!) as we had a big meal, and everyone had to phone their food orders in, and there was pate, and lamb and apple pie...pretty much my favourite meal! And when I got to the hotel and they said they were missing my food order, having to explain that i'm on LL left them completely confused. Since the owner of the hotel is also the chef he seemed a bit offended that I didn't want to eat! The meal itself was ok, when they brought round the warm bread rolls I nearly cried, but since i'd been eating during the day and still had a bar to eat I knew I could resist.

In my LL meeting last thursday our LLC said something that has been playing on my mind all week. Lots of people in my group have lapses or cheat regularly and she always tries to make them feel better, which I can understand as it is a hard diet. But the other day she was talking about RTM, and she said that those who stay 100% abstinent are often the ones who struggle in RTM as they haven't had to come back from a lapse...and since i'm the only one who hasn't lapsed it almost felt like she was aiming it at me. And it kind of made me feel bad for not lapsing!! Which seems like completely twisted logic to me.
I was a bit upset as it has been hard for me to stay 100%, and I know she didn't mean it personally but it also planted a little seed of doubt in my head about what will happen when I start to eat normal food again. I know i'll be fine as this has taught me how little my body needs to survive, and that food can't solve my problems so my previous comfort eating just created more!

Am looking forward to my weigh in on Thursday, and then am off to Scotland next weekend. Seem to be travelling the UK at the moment!

Hope everyone is well and enjoying LL xxx

I'm glad your weekend went well and you stayed absitnent.

it's odd what yoor LLC said, mine had said the opposite, she has said that people with the discipline to stick to it 100% are the ones that end up with the good mind set for RTM. So I would say that recently she may have had a client who stayed abstinent and went beserk on RTM.

You are doing fabulously well and remember the counselling and the adult state!!!

What your LLC said makes so much more sense!
Thats the thing, even though it sounded a bit odd to me when she said it, I still thought 'well for me it's all or nothing so i'm going to stay 100% abstinent and do it my way, and no justify cheating like some others in my group do!'

Am excited to see my photos, get the halfway one done tomorrow, one day to go!

I didn't know they did half way photo's. I have another couple of weeks before I will get mine done.

You'll have to post them up so we can see!

I know, i only realised we get a halfway photo when she whipped out the camera last week! Am not sure if it's just my LLC that does them, as I thought you only got one at the start and at the end.
Am glad though, as think halfway is when you need a bit of a boost.

Will definitely post them up, as actually don't have any full length photos of myself!

Haven't update this in a while so this post is gonna be a big one!

Had my halfway photos taken:

Sorry for the blurriness! The day I had them done I had a mad, hectic day, went to pick my brother up from the train station, was packing for scotland and about 1000 random things I needed to do on my day off from work! Didn't even realise I was wearing the same outfit from my first photo, but in hindsight wish I had worn something a bit tighter as the baggy tshirt doesn't really do me any favours! Am tempted to ask LLC to take my photo again, but might just wait until we get our final pics taken. Or maybe take some pics of my own.

But it's so funny to look at the first picture now, as I remember the day so clearly! I remember thinking I looked quite nice, thinking wearing leggings and black boots made my legs look slim...my face is bright red, as it quite often was back then! My face looks like a puffa fish and I just look...yuck!

Looking at the second photos, my face looks better (even though my eyes are shut...typical!) my arms are slimmer, my legs are thinner, it's all going the right way! On the side view I can see where my tshirt was stretched out of shape.

Lost another 4ibs on Thursday, was so, so certain that it would be 1/2ibs, was a very happy suprise! Made my stressful day much better, as in the morning sky had finally come round to install our tv and internet, but couldn't do it as seemingly there are too many trees where I live...was VERY annoying!

So on Friday my mum came up to drive me and my brother up to Scotland to see relatives etc. Packed up all my lighter life gear! My aunt and cousin were in the car as well as they'd been staying at my house, and my aunt has been on LL too. We stopped off for dinner and for the first time I ate my soup in a restaurant, i was really embarassed but my aunt knew what to do and they made it up for me which was nice.

Then arrived at the hotel and went straight to sleep as was knackered!

Saturday morning woke up and made my vanilla shake, using my handy hand blender! Made my soup into crisps as we went shopping in town. In town my mum bought me some new jeans which was really nice of her! They were in the sale and they're a size 16, and I've been wearing them at work today and they've started falling down! So i've gone from being a size 16-18 verging on 20 territory, to a size 14/16! Am very happy Will just have to buy a belt to keep them up for now!

Then Saturday night was the night I had been dreading. Both my brother and 2 cousins are turning 18 this week, so we all went out for a celebatory meal. It was a fancy restaurant so I didn't dare ask them to make my soup, had it before we went. I was shattered from all the travelling and spent the whole meal wishing people would eat faster! The food looked amazing and everybody had starters, mains and dessert! But I got through it, so can honestly say that i've been through my week from hell as only last saturday I was sat through a meal in Wales! And my boss upset me slightly today as he said 'did you finally crack in scotland'...like it's some sort of challenge to get me to eat, he saw me sit through the meal in Wales and not eat anything and he sees me everyday at work not eat anything, so surely by now he should know that I do have quite high willpower! Just annoyed me a bit, but we don't really get on so it's nothing new.

Sunday was good, just woke up early and we hit the road, mum dropped me back in Manchester. Cleaned my car inside and out and worked up a good sweat, love exercise that doesn't actually feel like exercise!

Spent the afternoon chilling and sorting my life out. Am glad the weekend was so busy as it makes the weeks go faster, and it's only 2 more days till my next weigh in. Really not sure how much i'll lose this week, so will just wait and see Any loss is a good loss!

Hope everybody had a good weekend, i've got the monday blues!
xxx