Time to maintain for the rest of my life

Having finally hit target yesterday, I'm thrilled to be moving on into the maintenance phase and carrying on with my healthy lifestyle. I'm under no illusions that it'll all be plain sailing from here, but I do feel like the 'rest of my life' can progress now! I'll be posting lots of thoughts and plans over the next day or so about how I want to do all this.

But first, I want to post the obligatory Before and After shots! This is a little embarrassing for me (public exposure after anonymity for so long!) but if I ever need motivation then this should really do it. I actually gained a few more pounds after the Before shots, but for the last three months before I started SW no cameras were allowed near me!

First the face. Before:

Aaaaaaand After (well, at target plus 5lb and target plus 3lb):

I think I look younger now, which I quite like!

And the body. Before:

And at target plus 5lb and target plus 2lb:


My mum has promised me a makeover and photo session some time in the autumn when we're both maintaining, and for the first time in ages I am looking forward to that.

Off to take my measurements now and will no doubt be back later!

You look amazing! And younger as well Congrats on reaching your target!

Thanks Anna! I'm glad the difference is visible to others as well - I can't stop looking at these pics, maybe it's vain of me but hey if it works!

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I've just looked over some of the stats about what's changed in my body.

Well, most obviously I've lost nearly a fifth of my body weight and gone from the Obese BMI category to just inside Healthy. I genuinely think I'm a fairly medium-large build based on my bone size, so that's fine with me.

On my home scales naked in the morning, I'm 3lb below the upper boundary for my height, which means I have a little bit of leeway for hormonal bloat and the odd holiday etc. I will be weighing every few days and if my weekly weigh-in is above that figure and my period's not due I will be cutting back for a few days to get back on track.

I didn't get my body fat percentage measured at the start of the diet, and I've read a few things which imply it's quite hard to measure accurately anyway. The machine in Boots got my height and weight wrong, so I'm not sure I trust it. However, it tells me that between 11st5 and 10st10 i lose 5.9lb of fat - so 83% of the weight I was losing at that point was fat. If that's anywhere close to accurate I'm happy and it goes to show that SW combined with exercise is a very good way to do this.
Apparently my body fat percentage is now 30.6%, which is average/not ideal, so I'd like to work some more on that.

My measurements have also changed a fair bit too.
Before, my bust-waist-middle (tummy button level) were: 106cm, 89cm, 113cm. That waist measurement put me at significant health risk according to the NHS.
Now my measurements are 100cm, 78cm, 96cm. My widest point is no longer at my tummy button, but my hips, at 101.5cm, which means I'm back to my previous 'pear' shape as opposed to the more worrying 'apple' which apparently increases our diabetes risk.

I don't know what my resting heart beat was before SW, but I measured it today at 63bpm which is pretty good and indicates a decent level of fitness. Happy with that though of course I'm always keen to improve!

I'm a big geek so all this interests me and helps me to see my progress and also where I want to head!

My goals now are to maintain at a healthy weight (obviously), to eat healthily to avoid issues like anaemia and acne which have been big problems for me, and to really work on my fitness. I want to do a lot of travelling and hiking, and am well aware of the problems that can come later in life, so this is important to me. I'll be writing out my motivations later on and also thinking about some more specific exercise goals. For now, I'm looking at settling into my Maintenance diet.

I hope it’s not a problem that I’m no longer strictly following SW but keeping my diary in this section. SW has been a massive part of my life for the last ten months and I’m so grateful to the programme for my weight loss and for re-educating me. My new Maintenance plan is based very largely on SW principles, just with a few tweaks that make more sense for my life. I’m not advocating that anyone else copy my example!

What I’ve done is tried to eliminate the few elements of Slimming World that I think might be sticking points for me in the future, both in terms of making this a natural part of life I don’t need to think about too much, and in terms of not getting fed up. I've mainly tried to do this by making my use of Hexes more flexible, as this is the main thing advised by the SW Slim for Life booklet for maintenance if you find you're still losing. (If I gain again, well I'll just have to have a rethink!).

Based on the nutrition course I took recently, it seemed like my SW diet was almost perfect except for being a bit low in some healthy oils and useful micronutrients (especially for a plant-based diet), so I also want to address that.

A few changes I’ve made:

I’m going to be following an adaptation of Green (veggie with 4 Hexes)… but with fish as Free Food (I don’t eat other meat). As fish is a speed food on Extra Easy and as I can’t afford to have it every day anyway I think this should be fine. It will save the annoyance of having to think about whether I’m on a Green or EE day.

I’m also not going to worry about counting bread and cereal as Hexes if they are part of a meal. [I’m also not going to count any syns in gnocchi, ugali or fresh pasta, which I very rarely eat]. That sounds a bit radical, so hear me out! Green gives me 4 daily Hexes to play with. I’m going to subtract one of those to account for the fact I’m not counting bread/cereal as Hexes any more, because on the majority of days I’ll have one Hex of bread/cereal as part of my breakfast. But on occasion, I might also have a brown tortilla with my dinner and not think of it as a Hex. When I do that, I actually eat fewer calories than I would through having Free rice or pasta or potato, because I have loads of superfree and stick to just one tortilla (unlike the two I'd have pre-SW). I know that calorie counting isn't part of SW and having a tortilla is less filling than rice, but on occasion I don’t think it does any harm, and I really want this flexibility. I tend to be careful with my carbs portions anyway, as I have PCOS and a low-GI diet is useful for managing that.

I said I’m going to subtract one Green Hex, leaving me 3, which will be my target most days. But instead of panicking if I have more than 3, I will just keep counting my Hexes. I don’t want to be ‘synning’ olive oil, nuts and hummus, because I’m trying to switch over to healthier snacking and increase my Omega 3s etc. I also feel that if a restaurant meal is healthy but has a lot of olive oil, I don’t want to get in the mindset of being ‘off-plan’ for the day, which sometimes happens and makes me fed up and thus overeat on things like sugar and alcohol. This makes sense in my head, honest!

I’m going to be more flexible with Hexes in other ways too. This means both adding in some new ones of my own (e.g. it’s annoyed me for ages that avocado isn’t a Hex, and as I’m anaemic molasses is a really good source of iron), and also trying to move more towards healthy plant oils, even if that means some days I don’t have any cheese/milk. I don’t think this is a problem because I eat a lot of yogurt to supply my calcium needs.

Finally, I’m going to allow canned/cooked fruit (not in syrup) as Superfree when I am really hungry and need a snack. I don’t think this will happen very often at all, but I think it might just help on those days when I think ‘oh, I need a snack but I have no fruit… may as well buy some chocolate then!’ because obviously tinned fruit is better than chocolate!

So hopefully all this will lead to some nice healthy maintenance without too much fuss. But let's see! Once again, just to say, I really don't want to confuse any newbies - these are tweaks I've made in maintenance phase to suit my personal lifestyle, past health issues etc based on my experience of the plan and my nutrition course. I don't know if it will work and don't go copying me blindly!

So, the other day I set out roughly what I plan to do regarding food. This week is definitely a learning process, adapting to being a little bit more flexible without going crazy!

Next I wanted to set out some goals regarding exercise. This is tricky at the moment because I have just joined a new gym (right by my work) and am trying out different classes at different times of day. I've been to five so far and enjoyed most of them but they are different levels of intensity. I even got up at 6.30 two days this week to make a 7.15am bootcamp. This might not be much to some people but normally I get up three hours later than that (flexitime) and I am just not a morning person. I actually really enjoyed it - the cool air, the quiet cycle ride, the friendly people at the class and the feeling of achieving something even before hitting the office at 8.30! But it really took it out of me and messed up my sleep cycle, so I don't know how sustainable it is. Unless I do it EVERY day, which I don't think I want to - I just don't think as well in the mornings, and we all need rest days anyway.

For now, my exercise goals are rather rough. I want to continue with my usual cycling, which is 30mins a day Monday to Friday plus about 40 minutes extra on Mondays to go to choir (which stops soon for the summer). I then want to add in three more intense sessions each week, which at the moment will be either the gym (an intense class, or a milder class plus a row/run) or hiking. I'm going to be weighing myself on Monday mornings to check I'm in target, so my week now runs Monday-Sunday.

I've done two gym sessions this week, and plan on a fairly easy 8-mile hike tomorrow. It's so hot I think a longer one might kill me!

Some goals for where I want to be with my fitness eventually:
* Able to run 5k on the treadmill, and eventually on the pavement, without much trouble. I don't really feel any need for it to be more than that - I get bored running, but it seems a good test of 'natural' fitness. I did 2.6km on the treadmill the other day but my hips ached and I got stitch.
* Able to get through the more intense half-hour circuits sessions without needing to pause.
* Able to join the hiking club for some big walks - I think at the moment 12-15 miles would push me so I'm aiming to be able to do 20.
* Able to try some harder mountains and keep up with my sister better, be in less pain afterwards and do another one the next day! Ultimately some more big hikes are on my bucket list. I want to go up Kilimanjaro again or maybe Mt Kenya, and do the Inca Trail and Everest Base Camp. I could probably attempt some of these now but I would like to be a little bit fitter first.
* Feel lean all over with good muscle definition. I might even like to be able to see my ab muscles one day, but that might be a little bit extreme for me.

Had a decent 8mile walk today and figured out that will have burnt about 500calories, which is good as I just had a Mars ice cream on the way home
All this exercise is making me crave protein! Amazing what the body can tell us about its needs.

Weighing myself tomorrow morning - I was 10 st 8 this morning; not sure if this is due to relaxing a little too much on the syns this week, or massive water retention. I ache a LOT from all the gym! Fingers crossed. Not worried though, I know I'll settle into this.

Love your posts Gwella, you really think through your diet and exercise and explain yourself well. When I get to target, I'll be taking a leaf out of your book, and really thinking about what I do. I think your tweaks will lead you to a healthier maintenance overall rather than trying to stick 100% to SW rules and getting frustrated.

AND your pics are great, you look younger and healthier, and have a glow!

Not a great day. I feel really low. So a big whinge coming up, but I do find that typing it out does help, even if noone reads it!

Things haven't been great for a while - I'm very bored and frustrated at work, but I'm struggling with working on my CV - I've had lots of small positions over the years and can't edit it down from 4 pages! Also I keep seeing ads for jobs in my field, which turn out to be unpaid internships (I've already done four of those) and it makes me so cross.

My boyfriend has moved out and has got a job in Portsmouth (not exactly close), two of my best friends out of a limited circle moved to Canada, I have always struggled to make new friends and relax with new people, I'm not enjoying my choir this year when normally it's one of those things that keeps the joy in my life, and I'm just fed up with London with the pollution and crazy drivers trying to kill me when I cycle.

I've been really tired what with my two early gym sessions last week resulting in a messed up sleep cycle, and I think I might have had a tiny touch of the stomach bug that's going round. So what with a particularly dull day at work, and then a choir rehearsal where I just couldn't keep up, I just burst into tears when I came home. I haven't cried in ages, and I think I've just been 'getting on' and holding it together for a while and finally cracked a bit... I know ultimately tears don't solve anything and I will need to keep making steps to improve things. But sometimes I just feel very despairing. A history of mental health issues doesn't help as I get scared that I'm going to lose control and give up.

While I love SW and being at a healthy weight and feeling nourished, at the same time it is hard work and I just wish I could eat and drink like crazy sometimes, rather than always having to be focusing hard on my goal of health - and it seems to be so easy for some people to stay healthy! I was 10 st 8.5 this morning (a gain of 1.5lb from last week) which is probably partly down to water retention after the masses of exercise, but still partly due to relaxing a bit too much after hitting target (I had a fair bit of wine at the weekend and too much cheese last week). Food hasn't been great today. I had some chocolate mid-morning (a mini Kinder bar and 3 Celebrations) due to feeling so down. Then I had a 2 chocolate digestives at my choir rehearsal. Total 21 syns. I'm peed off that what didn't really feel like that much, considering, has pushed me over...

I suppose the next thing to do is to keep editing my CV so I can apply for more jobs. So tomorrow night I need to work on that as well as do a backlog of washing up and plan my food for the next few days. Anything else can wait, even though I get panicky when I ignore my to-do list. My boyfriend's visiting on Wednesday night so I'll do a quick clean-up before he arrives and look forward to a hug.

Sorry for the gloom and doom.

Thanks Niamh - nice to hear something positive on a miserable sort of day! Hope you're doing well.

Not a good day yesterday. Still felt miserable. I stopped to buy a mini bottle of wine on the way home, and something cracked and I robotically bought a box of 3 Mars ice creams and stuffed them in my face when I got in.

I worked all evening on a job application that was really exciting, though it's a rushed job. Then I couldn't sleep and gave up at 3am as I was hungry, ate the fourth ice cream and had a Martini, and finally slept about 4am.

Today I found out my boyfriend may possibly be moving to Thailand for a year.

I guess it's overall understandable that I'm bingeing worse than I ever have since starting SW!

Trying to get things a bit sorted tonight (finish the application and have a big discussion with the bf) and will get back on it 100% tomorrow, taking one day at a time.

Sorry to hear you're having a hard time Gwella. I read your other post yesterday, but didn't have time to give a full reply... didn't want to send you some half-arsed "it's all good" response.

Having a binge/overeating is something most of us do on here- hell SW has made its millions on it. Food is our comfort, reward and then our punishment. People speak about triggers, and avoidance techniques, and all that. Usually I "avoid" for a while and then end up having the crappy food anyway... BUT even if you have a bad week, where you eat sh*te til it comes out your ears... it's only one week (or fortnight or whatever)... you'll come to a natural end and stop. You know how to get back on track when the time comes, and you will do it.

(I too long to be able to eat and drink without any consequence... it would be blissful to me.)

Re the job... it's pants. People are meant to be grateful to have work, because so many others found themselves out of a job the last few years (well, here in Ireland anyway, I think UK is similar?). So, we all got to the stage where we stopped feeling like we could have a moan, or that we were afraid to try to move jobs in case we didn't get anything else etc. But in reality, work can suck for loads of people. And it's horrible having to go to a job you don't like for so many hours out of your week.

Could you move with your boyfriend? I realise since your first post, this is further afield than Pourtsmouth! Which I haven't a clue where that is my UK geography is worse than my Irish! But can you pack up and head to Thailand too? I know that probably sounds ludicrous... to jack in your job, and head away from family, friends and commitments, but I'd seriously consider it. A year isn't long when you're away, but will feel like ages if you're stuck behind. Or move to Portsmouth with him, and see if you can get any work at all... change of scenery and all that

Yeah, it's true that we do come to a natural stop. Mid-afternoon yesterday I just stopped and thought 'this is silly, I feel rubbish'. I did have a couple of glasses of wine while finishing a job application last night but then cleaned my teeth so I couldn't have anything else before bed! So far I'm back on plan today barring an extra hex, and assuming I don't go over the 11.4 syns I've had already. I made it to the gym after work so have done 1.5 hours exercise today - I'm shattered!

I do feel better having got an application in, and my bf visited last night so I got a hug. At the moment he's actually leaning towards taking a THIRD job he's been offered, which is in Brighton. Of the three locations this is definitely the best, as it's quite easy to visit from London (if we get really serious I could even move there and commute to London), there are more jobs in my sector there than in Portsmouth and it's generally a nice place!

As for the idea of moving to Thailand with him, if he does change his mind and choose that option in the end... well it's tricky. I work in the charity sector, and while I don't like my current job, I'm doing ok in terms of having paid work for the first time in years. It's very hard to jack it in without something else paid to go to. Also, I do really want to go on a big adventure sometimes, but there are other places in the world I really want to do that in, so doing it in Thailand might mean losing out on other chances because I do want to settle down at some point! The work he'd be doing there (volunteering with a stipend, so I could join him) is in an orphanage, which isn't really my area. And finally, it's very hard to decide whether I should be making a commitment like that at this point in our relationship. Recently he has had doubts about whether he wants children, which I think I do, so there is going to be a big decision to make some time...

Anyway, generally I'm feeling more on top of things and just waiting while he makes his decision... just need to avoid any binges tonight!

Thanks for the support, as ever.

I've decided I need to cut down my dairy consumption. I've been having a few dairy hexes most days since hitting target, and let's just say it's had a slowing-down effect on my general digestion...not good.

I'm going to try to stick to non-dairy hexes for most of next week. I think yogurt should be ok, because apparently the bacteria in it neutralise the proteins that can cause constipation.

If anyone has any great recipes for soya milk, seeds, nuts etc then please let me know! Mostly all I find is nutroasts or sprinkling things on salads...

Pleased to say I was 10st7.5 this morning, so only 0.5lb above my ideal. Means I might be stabilising a bit. I think maybe it's due to some of the aches dissipating, the weather being a bit cooler, and cutting down on dairy to improve my digestion. Also I think all the exercise helped counteract the large amounts of booze I had last week.

So, aims for this week are to stay between 10st7 and 10st8, including by cutting down on alcohol and continuing to replace some of my dairy with nuts/seeds etc, which also means my meals are really tasty and I feel slightly less inclined to snack. We have our work away-day on Thursday which will probably be quite boozy though.

I'm planning a twelve-mile walk on Saturday and a couple of gym trips during the week. I think I need to leave bigger gaps between them though - I was essentially crippled all weekend from the leg exercises I did Thursday and Friday. It made me good for nothing and knackered.

Trying out the famous mushy pea curry tonight...

Weighed myself this morning at 10 st 9 1/4. So I'm still within my 10st7-10st10 range (and still within the official range too) but it's not a move in the right direction at all.
I know some of it will be water retention due to exercise (I ACHE) and maybe some PMT, but I also had a lot of wine last week. I've been very low and am just trying to binge on the right things not the wrong things, and sometimes failing...

Feeling a bit more in control today having been on a nice 13mile hike yesterday in the sunshine, but I know being at work may bring me down again quite quickly.

Aiming to be 10 st 9 or below next Monday morning, then drop a couple of lbs the following week when period ends.

Hi Gwella, here to sub and follow your progress with maintaining your fabulous weight loss. Considering what your going through with your BF moving away and unhappy in your job you are doing really well with maintaining your weight, a couple of lb's either side of your target is fine it's just making sure you keep control rather than binging and remembering why you lost the weight in the first place. Good luck essentially you have arrived at your destination now you have to enjoy the experience.

Hi Denise, thanks for dropping in. I have been bingeing a bit lately but each time I let it pass and get back on track as soon as I can.

Not doing too badly so far this week - I'm mostly having a treat at work (little piece of chocolate, or a biscuit) plus a drink (but rum not wine) in the evening, sensible meals and a few mixed hexes of nuts/seeds and dairy. My nails are growing really fast- not sure whether that's the increase in healthy oils or the heat! I do feel nice and 'nourished' now I'm having slightly more hexes.

I've just had two slices of loafcake at work, but I do have absolutely excruciating period pain so I'm not going to beat myself up for that one!

If the pain is better later I'll head to the gym.

Hopefully will be back near to my ideal weight next Monday as I lose period-related water weight. I'm much more aware now of when I have PMT because I feel 'fatter', rather than just feeling fat all the time! My cycles are definitely getting shorter now - I think my hormones are straightening out after years of being abused. Hopefully I will see improvements in the other PCOS symptoms like acne soon too. I'm having laser treatment on my face and hope this time it will 'stick' and hair won't grow back...

Forgot to say...

As well as maintaining my weight, which is going ok I think... I really want to be healthy. On the whole SW really promotes this, and I think my approach of having more hexes is helping a lot. I'm still not entirely sure what my take on syns is going to be long-term (even on days when I'm within 15 syns I probably have more sugar than is ideal), but I'm well aware my alcohol consumption always needs a close eye. So I'm trying to get on top of that.

But another key thing is caffeine. My daily minimum is a big glass of diet coke, but most days lately I'm having both that and a diet Red Bull (80mg caffeine) at lunchtime, plus sometimes a little bit more coke in the evenings. On really tired days I'll have a cold latte (80mg caffeine) and a Red Bull.

I know this isn't as much caffeine as some people get through with tea and coffee (I hate hot drinks), but it's not healthy, largely because of all the chemicals that come in the drinks (less so the cold latte, but I'm trying to cut down on dairy lately). I'm worried about my teeth. Also I don't like being addicted - I did a charity event where I lived on £1/day for food, and the caffeine withdrawal really shocked me - utter exhaustion and brainfog. If Armageddon came I'd die because the non-addicted people would take advantage and eat me! I don't want to be that reliant on it. Plus, money is tight and spending up to £2 a day on these drinks isn't sensible. I'm intrigued as to what effect giving up might have on my blood sugar and weight too. Maybe even my skin might clear up as my liver has to deal with fewer toxins. Finally, the ethics of some of the companies making these drinks are questionable.

I want to stop having fizzy drinks in general (and also cut down on salt and aspartame) but first I want to mostly cut out caffeine, and just have the occasional dose when I'm unusually tired (so it might actually have some effect as I won't be used to it!)

Here's my strategy:
- To cut out my morning dose of caffeine. I don't even enjoy it like I used to, and drinking fizzy drinks so close to brushing my teeth is very damaging. Started this today.
- To reduce my lunchtime caffeine/chemicals - to cut down to when I'm actually tired (not just craving a sweet fix) - which will likely be most days without the morning fix! And to aim to chose coke (lower in caffeine) or cold latte (if I haven't had my dairy that day/am really tired/after the gym for protein) on most occasions, not RB.
- After a couple of weeks of this, to start resisting the lunchtime fix even when I do feel tired. If I'm particularly tired I might go up the road for a green bubble tea - it has sugar/syns in it but the caffeine content is lower and green tea is recommended to help with caffeine weaning. Might try some other cold green tea drinks too.
- To keep drinking loads of water, get plenty of exercise and to rest when I can!

I might need to start finding some other sweet fixes/interesting drinks/mixers too. Some initial ideas are other soft drinks (to be cut out later), fruit juice/appletise, virgin mary, vanilla milk, soymilk/yogurt drinks, fizzy water.

One of my fav sweet fixes is raspberries! But I'm sure strawberries will work just as well too

I do like fruit, though I eat it most afternoons anyway! It does help with wanting sweet things. I think part of the problem is that my brain is wired to want something 'naughty' or 'special' to help me relax... silly, but awkward.