My S&S Diary. (Week 1)

Look at my sig for other weeks and for info about me and S&S!

S&S Arrived, I got a week's worth of vanilla shakes(28), 35 banana bars, 5 spag bols and 10 strawberry shakes.

10am I made my first shake(vanilla), it smelt and tasted like Ready Break! Halfway through drinking it I felt full up but kept drinking it, after drinking it I felt full yet hungry at the same time and by 11:30 I couldn't stop thinking about food so I went out for an hour's worth of a bike ride.

1:30PM I decided it's probably best to have another "meal" eventhough I wasn't hungry but I couldn't handle another vanilla shake so close to the last one so I had a banana bar instead which was beyond amazing, i'd recommend you all get some if you haven't already.

4PM I thought i'd try out the strawberry shake, the first few gulps made me think "man, this tastes watery" but then quarter way through it tasted okay, tasted like a milkshake a bit, I probably did add a bit too much water (350ml), i'll make it 300ml next time and make sure to shake it better, I wasn't expecting it to have tasted this nice.

7:30PM I thought it would be nice to give spag bol a go, looked at the instructions and it said use a microwavable bowl and I had no clue which bowl I should used so I just used a china bowl, it looked really aweful at first but once it had the 3 minute's cooldown it looked semi-okay, it tasted great though! but doesn't beat the banana bar!

Comments: Today went much better than I expected, food has been so tempting throughout the whole day, more so than I thought it would, I also realized that I used to eat when I was bored, it all wen't well, the strawberry shake, bar and spag bol tasted better than I expected, shame about the vanilla but I think it was an economy pack which could explain it; all in all today wen't good but am dreading tomorrow.


Woke up with a headache this morning, woke up an hour later than I usually do too which is weird, today is probably going to be the worst day on this plan for me.

10am I had another vanilla shake wish I paid a bit extra instead of getting economy vanilla's, anyway, i'm looking forward to my bar and strawberry shake later so hopefully that will help me get through this.

1PM I had the strawberry wafer free sample they sent me and it was amazing, seriously, it was better than most thing's i'd eat unhealthily! I'm shocked by how great most of this stuff tastes!

4PM I had a 120g salad with just a very small pinch of salad cream on, hope that was okay. sadly, it tasted aweful and was the worst salad I have had in my life.

7PM I thought it would be a good idea to try adding 1 teaspoon of coffee to see how it tasted with my vanilla shake; it was gruesome! the worst taste ever. I drank only half and that was with me holding my nose and constantly drinking tons of water, well, I won't be doing that again!

Comments: Today didn't go as bad as I expected - I loved the strawberry wafers, wish I never had the (tesco)salad because it was gross and I also learned to not add some coffee to any of my shakes from now on, today was tough but I have a feeling this won't be the hardest it gets!


I woke up and had some water but it tasted different today, could this be ketosis kicking in?

10am I had a vanilla shake to start the morning off, it took me about 20 mins to drink though, hopefully that's okay.

2PM I had a banana bar.

5:30 I enjoyed spag bol which was quite filling!

8PM I had a strawberry shake which was orgasmic.

Comments: Today was easy too, look's like i'm gonna be on this for some time hopefully!


Woke up and jumped on the scales and it looks like I'v lost almost a stone but that can't be right at all, i'm just getting my hopes up too much.

10am I had my usual vile vanilla shake only to find it doesn't taste as bad as usual and I downed it in under 10 minutes which was great, hopefully I can get more used to it because I have 4 days left of it!

1.30PM had another vanilla shake.

3:30PM had a strawberry shake.

Comments: Today was very tough. I went to a family party and was asked if I wanted sweets a few time's and I said no thanks, then got asked if I wanted the usual beer and I said, no thanks just water please... and after all that they said they had trifle and other stuff if I wanted it...
My family aren't supportive of this diet, hopefully I can stay with it and not put the weight back on after though.


2PM I had a strawberry shake as I just couldn't handle another vanilla.

5:20PM I had a spag bol but put a raw mushroom with it (chopped up into eighths) - turned out very nice and different and were allowed mushrooms that aren't cooked so it's all great.

8:30PM had a bar.

Comments: Today was okay, I had a rumbly stomache today before having spag bol for some reason, doubt my ketosis could have stopped? anyway, by the time it got to my 4th "meal" I wasn't hungry and didn't wan't to eat but forced myself. :0


Sorry for leaving info out for this day.

8:30am Had a strawberry shake because I was too put off the vanilla one again, i'm getting worried about having those economy vanillas forever.

4:30PM had a vanilla shake, still got tons left

9PM Had a bar.

Comments: Missed a meal again today, looking forward to the weigh in tomorrow though!

Lost 16 pounds.

I've got a box of 50 banana bars as they were on special I hope I don't go off them!

Welcome to our little slim and save place on the WWW!

FoolsGold said:

I've got a box of 50 banana bars as they were on special I hope I don't go off them!

Welcome to our little slim and save place on the WWW!

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Hehe, I was close to getting 50 myself but feared i'd never, ever get around to eating them all, they are so yummy, I doubt anyone could go off them, I like them more than my old fatty chocolate bars a bit.

Thank you for the welcome, I think this is the most active slim & save forum around. :sigh:

Welcome punkmilitia. Our first male Slim and Saver (as far as I am aware)

I couldn't do a week just on shakes anymore although I did do shakes only for 4 months when I was on Lipotrim.

I'll bet that you'll need more spag bol next time you order. It's lush

The banana and choc truffa bars are my favourites although I do like them all.

BordersGirl said:

Welcome punkmilitia. Our first male Slim and Saver (as far as I am aware)

I couldn't do a week just on shakes anymore although I did do shakes only for 4 months when I was on Lipotrim.

I'll bet that you'll need more spag bol next time you order. It's lush

The banana and choc truffa bars are my favourites although I do like them all.

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Thanks for the welcome, is the spag bol okay to eat daily? do I just replace a shake for it and umm.. will it make ketosis not work?

Thanks and sorry for all the questions :0

To be honest, I'd eat the bars and the spag bol whilst not even on this plan!

Also, I have a new contender in the 'my favourite bar' stakes... the muesli one! OMG it is gorgeous and surely cannot be allowed ! :8855:

And yes, the spag bol is fine to have everyday

Yes, think of the shakes, soups, and meals (spag bol / cottage pie) as all equal and you can have any combination of those that you want. It's just the bars that you can only have 1 of per day (just in case you get tempted to scoff bars for the rest of the day ).

None of it affects ketosis if you stick to one bar. You can also have a little salad / veg off the list of 'allowed' items. I didn't do this for my first 6 week spell on S&S but now that I've restarted I am going to have some in the evening. Just had a little salad and it was nice. Surprising how a little salad makes me happy now

And if you feel a very weak moment coming on have another pack. Far better to do that than raid the fridge, come out of ketosis and feel rubbish afterwards. Good luck!

Punkmilitia said:

I thought i'd try out the strawberry shake, the first few gulps made me think "man, this tastes watery" but then quarter way through it tasted okay, tasted like a milkshake a bit, I probably did add a bit too much water (350ml), i'll make it 300ml next time and make sure to shake it better, I wasn't expecting it to have tasted this nice.

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I like the strawberry and banana shakes the best. I usually add 350ml of water and some psyllium husks too (for extra fibre) and that seems to thicken the shakes up nicely.

Hiya. Sounds like you've made a good start to your first day.
Chocolate shake is my best, I zap it in the microwave for a minute so it is like a hot chocolate. Hope it doesn't kill off too many nutrients.

FoolsGold said:

To be honest, I'd eat the bars and the spag bol whilst not even on this plan!

Also, I have a new contender in the 'my favourite bar' stakes... the muesli one! OMG it is gorgeous and surely cannot be allowed ! :8855:

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Hmm, I'd definitely eat the bars whilst not on this plan but not too sure about the spag bol, oh and does the muesli bar have nuts in it? :3

BordersGirl said:

Yes, think of the shakes, soups, and meals (spag bol / cottage pie) as all equal and you can have any combination of those that you want. It's just the bars that you can only have 1 of per day (just in case you get tempted to scoff bars for the rest of the day ).

None of it affects ketosis if you stick to one bar. You can also have a little salad / veg off the list of 'allowed' items. I didn't do this for my first 6 week spell on S&S but now that I've restarted I am going to have some in the evening. Just had a little salad and it was nice. Surprising how a little salad makes me happy now

And if you feel a very weak moment coming on have another pack. Far better to do that than raid the fridge, come out of ketosis and feel rubbish afterwards. Good luck!

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Thanks alot for that advice, shame you can only have one bar a day but it's fair enough I guess; to be honest, earlier I felt like I was too full up to have a 2nd meal which is quite funny, maybe it's because I didn't spread the two apart far enough!

I'm sure my meal timetable will change as the week goes on.

vj said:

Hiya. Sounds like you've made a good start to your first day.
Chocolate shake is my best, I zap it in the microwave for a minute so it is like a hot chocolate. Hope it doesn't kill off too many nutrients.

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Hmm, sounds nice, sorry for being stupid but how would I heat it up in a microwave safely? I was thinking maybe I can do this with my vanilla shakes rofl.

Punkmilitia said:

oh and does the muesli bar have nuts in it?

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All the nutritional info is here:

Vlcd Nutritional Information

BordersGirl said:

All the nutritional info is here:

Vlcd Nutritional Information

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Ahh, thanks for that, it looks like it doesn't, great!

Just had a sneaky look on the scales and I have almost hit dead on 17 stone, great!

I will be so happy to get back to the 15 stone mark which I was at in my teens, anything lower is just extra awesome sauce!

Day 3 in the morning (time flies), sure I will be alright, i'll make sure to definitely have a bar and a strawberry shake, not sure if ketosis has kicked in or what it feel's like, any main symptoms I should look out for?

^_^

For me Ketosis is generally accompanied by a strange taste in my mouth (and not a pleasant one) and the feeling that my breath is awful. Stock up on breath spray! . Also, you stop feeling as hungry. OK, so it doesn't take the hunger away completely but mainly you feel satisfied until you're next due a foodpack. Ketostix are the way to test for it accurately but you should 'feel' if you are. I usually start going in about 48 hours after I start but I feel properly in after about 4 days. Definitely feel well in now - I'm on day 5.

I notice you had the salad instead of the 4th pack. If you are going to do that then definitely make sure that you take a multi vitamin and mineral supplement as you won't be getting 100% RDA for your height otherwise I think. The salad bits are supposed to be in addition to the 4th pack, not instead of, given that you're male and 6'. It's only us females who can survive on 3 . I sure a dab of salad cream won't impact you too much. I sometimes have a dash of low calorie salad dressing on my salad with the lowest carbs / cals I can find. Some people do things a bit off plan like have a splash of milk in their tea if they can't stomach it without and it you are following the diet to the letter other than that then it doesn't seem to affect ketosis, but everyone is different. Try not to go off piste too much before you get into ketosis though as it could impact you getting into ketosis to start off with.

Oh, and the premium vanilla shakes are definitely far nicer than the economy ones!

BordersGirl said:

For me Ketosis is generally accompanied by a strange taste in my mouth (and not a pleasant one) and the feeling that my breath is awful. Stock up on breath spray! . Also, you stop feeling as hungry. OK, so it doesn't take the hunger away completely but mainly you feel satisfied until you're next due a foodpack. Ketostix are the way to test for it accurately but you should 'feel' if you are. I usually start going in about 48 hours after I start but I feel properly in after about 4 days. Definitely feel well in now - I'm on day 5.

I notice you had the salad instead of the 4th pack. If you are going to do that then definitely make sure that you take a multi vitamin and mineral supplement as you won't be getting 100% RDA for your height otherwise I think. The salad bits are supposed to be in addition to the 4th pack, not instead of, given that you're male and 6'. It's only us females who can survive on 3 . I sure a dab of salad cream won't impact you too much. I sometimes have a dash of low calorie salad dressing on my salad with the lowest carbs / cals I can find. Some people do things a bit off plan like have a splash of milk in their tea if they can't stomach it without and it you are following the diet to the letter other than that then it doesn't seem to affect ketosis, but everyone is different. Try not to go off piste too much before you get into ketosis though as it could impact you getting into ketosis to start off with.

Oh, and the premium vanilla shakes are definitely far nicer than the economy ones!

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I think my water tastes differently today, maybe that means my ketosis is kicking in?

Ahh, that would explain why I was so hungry yesterday! I did think about having another drink but it got too late and I thought it was best not to in the end - I survived okay yesterday, I'll hopefully not go offtrack, have been quite good so far. :8855:

BordersGirl said:

I like the strawberry and banana shakes the best. I usually add 350ml of water and some psyllium husks too (for extra fibre) and that seems to thicken the shakes up nicely.

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When I was on CD I used to add psyllium husk to the shakes, too, and also to the soups. With the husk they became creamy, smooth and much more satisfying. Mind you I also added veggie oxo and other seasonings to the soups because they tasted bland to me, without.

Whatever gets you through the VLCD day/night!

Even now I add psyllium husk to low-carb and whey protein shakes. They just don't feel substantial, without. But don't overdo the husk as you can end up stopping the digestive action, if you get my meaning lol. Be sure to have even more water or other fluid to drink if you are adding husks.

I am reading so many loving tributes to these banana bars, I am thinking of trying some. Can I sneak them into my veggie Atkins...? I reckon I can!

girlygirl1 said:

But don't overdo the husk as you can end up stopping the digestive action, if you get my meaning lol.

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Do they? I thought they were supposed to help things along, if you get my meaning? I have a sprinkle in my morning shake and that's it. Tried drinking them mixed up in water a few times but I find them really hard to stomach like that.

I am reading so many loving tributes to these banana bars, I am thinking of trying some. Can I sneak them into my veggie Atkins...? I reckon I can!

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Yes, course you can . Higher in carbs than the Atkins Daybreak bars but nicer in my opinion.

girlygirl1 said:

But don't overdo the husk as you can end up stopping the digestive action, if you get my meaning lol.!

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Hmm, bit off topic but I haven't passed food through my system for a few days is that normal or am I constipated?

Looking forward to day 4! :3

Hmm, bit off topic but I haven't passed food through my system for a few days is that normal or am I constipated?

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Do remember you're taking in a lot less solid food now so you're probably unlikely to have as much bowel activity as prior to a VLCD. I would imagine you kind of know if you're constipated - perhaps needing to go but unable to easily, rather than just not needing to.

I have Crohn's Disease so my bowels are unreliable at the best of times but actually I find a primarily liquid diet very soothing on my stomach and guts (when the condition is active I tend to live off things like Ensure anyway), and less frequent 'passage' is definately a good thing for me!

If you've still not got anything happening after a few more days then maybe try the husks, as they're likely to be more gentle and natural than taking a medical remedy. If you do want to go down that route then you want a 'softener' rather than a 'laxative'.

Hope this helps! Gosh, the joys of trying to discuss bowel movements in a civil and polite way