Peony's Little Corner (There will be talk of food - you have been warned!)

[peony]

Cheers for the input Jez. xxx

Phew!
It has been an absolute age since I have managed to get over on minimins. I have just been so incredibly busy with work (as a wedding stationer now is so very busy), my husband and daughter both had birthdays and I also had a long weekend away camping all of these took some planning on top of work!
Have got on top of my work for the day and have grabbed a few moments to catch up.

I feel really stressed with how busy life is at the mo, I am such a control freak and some things are having to slip a bit - namely the house - it is hard though as I work from home and also my environment is so important to my state of mental wellbeing. Lost it a bit yesterday as it was the first day in so long without a million things happening and I really begrudged having to spend it doing the house and garden. I could have said sod it, I am having a day to do what I want but I knew the state of the house meant that I wouldn't be happy till I tackled it. So we set about with bin bags and had a good old clear out. Still loads to do but my office is now lovely and clutter free and I no longer have to fall over a great big CRT telly whenever I go between office and bedroom!

I have not been on the scales for a few days - I had gained 4lbs after coming back from camping which peed me off a bit - but I did drink lots of wine and lost it a bit with chocolate crispy cake! I spent last week compensating by keeping cals to around 800 and lots of gym visits, but then had another evening out on Sat where I ate and drank - tried to compensate on Sunday but was hard with a hangover and probably ate over 1000 cals. Yesterday too I tried to stick to 800 cals but I seem to be having a mental block, the more I restrict myself, the more I crave food - any food. I have had to throw away half a pack of Special K Sustain Cereal in my dustbin today as I couldn't trust myself not to munch it straight from the box - what is that all about?!!

Am up to about 400 cals today - aiming to keep to 1000. Think I stand a good chance because I am back to a routine day (always easier than weekends etc). Also I plan to go to try a new class at the gym this evening.

So to summarise, I don't think I am managing food too well at the moment, I am really worried the pounds will creep back on and my metabolism won't help itself. I feel fat even though right now I still fit my size 8 jeans comfortably. I don't feel like I am in control of myself food wise. Nothing really serious, just a niggling doubt that I am doing it right.

Going to catch up on the boards now.
xxx

 

[slendablenda]

Strange this tie up with clutter. I am the same. Yesterday I had a huge clear out of my dressing room.I went through all the things I bought when I first got to goal - just because they were tiny or said extra small or were the type of things I hadn't been able to wear for years and years.
I tried on a pair of jeans and even asked my OH " does my bum look big in this?"
He thinks I'm a head case - one day I feel fat, the next day I'm slim and happy - what's all that about.
But my point is, I agree with you Peony.Sorting out the house clutter helps with the head clutter.
I'm on holiday from work this week and have so many things I want to do I am in danger of hardly doing any of them.
Why are we always so hard on ourselves?

 

[peony]

Wish I knew the answer to that one SB! It makes me feel a bit better to know that even a pro such as yourself has these wobbly moments. (not that I am wishing them on you lol!).

I also know what you mean about getting your hands on everything you can fit into in a tiny size regardless! I have had to stop myself buying stuff I know I'll never wear just because I can fit it!

It does feel very good getting into these small clothes though!

Feeling a bit better about myself after going to 'fab abs and killer butt!' last night. Hoping to squeeze in a spin class today at lunch time and also have some other classes booked throughout the week including body pump which is fab - aerobics to thudding music whilst lifting weights! Hopefully the classes will all stimulate my metabolism. One thing is certain, I enjoy doing them which hopefully will continue to be so!

xxx

 

[Jezebella]

Peony Darling

We are 2 peas in a bloody pod!! Yes Wedding Season is getting silly for me too now So many Brides and not enough Saturdays for weddings <G> and each one obviously thinks theirs is the onllllllllllllllly most important event we have on, and obviously they are, but we might have 3 of them on simultaneously ! hehehehe

I am also a complete control freak and my house needs to be tidy and in order for me to have a serene state of mind - very weird

I still have days of feeling in and out of control with the weight. I was also having times of having a teeny bit too much, cutting back and not quite sustaining the cut back for the amount of time needed to shift that 1 little lb, which is why I took the decision to have a week or 2 on LLL. Its putting my head back in the right place, making me realise exactly what I do and dont need. And remembering all the promises I made to myself. I promised I would not go over my upper weight box, and the day I was a few hundred grams over that was the day I decided to start LLL for a bit. It has been a great decision for me and I feel quite proud for not breaking my promises to me. I wish I had the time to get to gym or a class or something, but have even had to postpone level 2 burlesque due to work constraints. God where is a rich man to marry when you need one!!

Have a happy day sweets!! And hang in there you are doing fine!!!

Jez
xx

 

[peony]

Thanks Jez - laughing about the rich man thing. Sadly a rich man won't make me stay slim lol! but would be welcome non the less! Spose I will stick with hubbie, he ain't so bad!

I am wondering when you are going to give yourself a moment in your life to even meet Mr right - or 'right enough'. You sound sooo busy, you might need to consider scheduling in 'mr right meeting' time! good luck!!

Best laid plans and all that, missed my spin class as smashed my second iphone and went on a massive round trip to the apple shop in Sheffield to get a replacement. Came home just in time to collect dd from school, £139 lighter! Took ALL evening to recover all my calendar/contacts etc. - and more importantly, my tap and track! So now I am behind on work and I need to fit in some classes.

I am sooooo peed off, I got on the scales and am 7lb heavier than at my lighterst a couple of weeks ago.

I know I haven't been a saint, but I also know I haven't consumed 24,500 extra cals over the past 2 weeks. I am still not even on to big boy carbs yet.

I do think some of this will be glycogen going on, and maybe a little bit of muscle as I have upped the exercise and started trying to build upper body strength.

But how much? Can the above paragraph account for the whole 7lb?

Have I put fat on? will the scale continue to go up? How much should I be eating? It is tempting to restrict cals to 800 but in my heart of hearts that feels wrong. So what, 1000? 1200? terrified if I go over that then I will steadily gain.

HELP! I feel really confused. I have been picking - but as there is not much in the house to pick at I am confident that even on one bad day I didn't have more than 1500 cals. I have mostly been consuming around 1000.

ARRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!! I am soooooo fed up, I have a weekend away and am now planning on not eating out, and my holiday is in a few weeks and I really wanted to enjoy it, not go away a stone heavier than at my lowest and potentially come back adding an additional 7lb on to that"

I hate this!

xxx

 

[Jezebella]

Hey Peony Darling

Great post!! I am going through so many of the same things you are. I have always been confused as to why as even on the day I ate bread twice I have never eaten even anywhere over 2000cal which should be ok for an average woman. Let alone the 3500 over that to gain a pound. So not entirely sure as to why I have these little gains. It also does seem to go up and down. I am pretty sure that the weight I have just lost is merely glycogen. So perhaps in some way our bodies are re setting themselves to a natural weight?????? They say that glycogen does account for about 7lbs so that could be right. I would say on an average relatively food filled day I eat about 1200 to 1500 a day. I stick to healthy stuff and dont really ever indulge in bad things, I stay away from carbs for the most part apart from things like sweet potato and my morning porridge. It is all too bloody strange for words but as long as I can keep things at around this weight I will be happy.

So sad to hear about the iphone, weird I remember when you got your first one!! Glad you have had it replaced though.

Re the time and Mr Right thing. I wish I could bloody schedule some time, but truth be told apart from the huge busy stuff going on work wise, I have so few days off and by that point all I want to do is hide away from the world and turn my phone off. I also have to end up doing all those lovely household chores etc, the groceries, the things "normal" people get to do after work and on weekends. I leave home by 6am and on a good night am only home after 7pm and 11pm or later if we have events on. It really makes me so angry and resentful that I am so controlled by work. Sadly because I am on a work permit I cannot even move jobs to find something easier. Bring on the day I can get my Citizenship and are not so restricted!!!! I also do not have a huge group of girl friends and thus going out as a single girl alone is quite hard. Sorry am really not meaning to sound whiney but I do get angry about it sometimes.

Anyway, I think, if anything, this little LLL soujourn has reminded me of a few good rules, will help me keep things in check etc. I will see what the weight loss is like tomorrow and then decide if I want to come off the packs on Saturday or give myself another few days. Lol the sister tells me when I am thinner than this that I look old and haggard!! Jeez, makes me feel a bit worried that I am all old and wrinkly and wont be able to attract a man anyway.

Let me know how it goes with you and if you want a stop snacking buddy then let me know and we can swap numbers for when the evil "I really want to put that in my mouth" monster comes to visit.

Hugs
Jez
xx

 

[peony]

First off apologies in advance for rubbish spelling etc.am on iPhone having a yummy skinny cappuccino in the Costa at my gym while dd has swim lesson.

Thank you thank you thank you Jez for your wonderful post, I read it just before going to sleep last night - you really cheered me up!

You talk a lot of sense and it is nice to know I am not the only one trying to fathom out why my body seems to defy basic maths sometimes!

I had a good day yesterday. Managed a body pump class mid day and body balance and some power plate in the evening. Also managed to stick to 1000 cals which I have set as my target for the time being whilst I try and stabilise my weight.

Hubby is going to collect dd shortly so I can stay here for another body pump class (hoping the weights will help tone me up a bit and boost the old metabolism) I have also prepped the ingredients for a yummy monkfish and prawn Bengali curry with sweet potato ready to cook when I get home. Really looking forward to that.

Dashed into town late afternoon on a swimsuit hunt. Even 10 stones lighter it is an unpleasant and soul destroying task! Have tried stuff on in Next, Bravissimo, john lewis, monsoon and more with no joy. Have one nice i
one from figleaves but could do with another. Is bright & funky with a bit of support and underwiring too much to ask for? Seemingly.

Best dash her lesson ends in a mo. X

ps will message you jez

xx

 

[Quak]

Hi Peony
How you doing? Sounds like you are really going for it with the exercise, I need to make some more time and try and do something in addition to walking, toning up especially for arms and tum methinks.

Can I ask a question.......how do you do your photos at the bottom of your post without all the background behind them?

Bren xx

 

[peony]

Phew I am rubbish at posting these days - spending so much time at the gym that I barely have time to work and as a knock on effect less and less time to play on the internet.
Firstly sorry Quak for taking so long to reply to you - if you read this, I use photoshop to cut round the image, copy it, open a new file with a white background and paste the cut out image onto it. Flatten the layers and save as a jpeg. PM me a couple of pics and I'll do yours if you want hon.

So here's a quick update. Still maintaining, all a bit skin of the teeth though, I have been operating on a balance system, it's just a bit extreme and needs to become a bit more moderate in so far as I'll do packs for a couple of days to compensate for any meals out etc. So if I know for example that the school bbq is on Saturday, I'll cut right back the days prior to and after. The problem is that the somewhere in between is tricky. I think I should be eating more calories as a general rule on a daily basis but because there have bee quite a few events I haven't dared push the calories up on normal days as I have felt the need to compensate for the events. So those days cals are probably around 1000.

Overall I have gained about 7lb from my lowest and I reckon on that having been glycogen so taking account of that my weight has mostly been stable since mid March which I am delighted about.

I had a major holiday blip and went up 2 dress sizes in 2 weeks! It took 2 weeks of packs when I returned and lots of gym to get it off. It did me the world of good to know I can enjoy myself, gain some, but then shift it straight after. Felt a bit more in control.

I have not let up on the gym, in fact it is becoming a huge part of my life. I do Bodypump 3 times a week, step twice, fab abs once or twice, body attack once or twice and I LOVE it! I can really notice a difference in my shape and my tummy is really improving. Give it a year and I reckon the difference will be massive.

I am mostly very very excited about my Ki that came today. (They are called Bodybugg in the US I think. It's a fab little gizmo that you strap on your arm and wear 24hours a day and it tells you how many calories you are burning and loads of other data a calorie and fitness obsessive such as myself needs to know. I got it as I need a crutch to help me increase my calorie intake. If I can see in black and white how many calories I am expending I might be able to be a bit braver about how many I allow myself to eat. The goal being to try to get to eating a bit more normally, not so feast/famine. All my exercising is with the goal of boosting my metabolism so I can increase my calorie intake. I read that if you restrict you calories for a period of time, your body will happily maintain on that restricted level.
Anyway I will try and update how I am getting on with it. It even works out how effective your sleep is! go figure!

Right, work to do - all this gym lark means working some evenings, bah humbug!

xxx

 

[melarnz]

Nice to hear from you peony xxxx

glad you are okay and still in control lol

 

[Quak]

Hi Peony, thanks for the info, will give it a go and if am inept will send you a couple of photos gladly lol. I am on a week holiday and eating and drinking what I want, know I will pay for it next week but plan a week back on Exante to do the necessary. In the meantime I am thoroughly enjoying myself lol. Glad to hear you are happy with your maintenance, unusual as it may be, but I say if it works for you then go with it. I know what you mean about having time to be on here these days, I try and walk an hour or an hour and a half per day in the evening plus gym 3 or 4 times a week when I can fit it in before or after work, plus cooking and all the associated shopping etc and your time is really limited. Am in awe of all the classes you fit in by the way! Good luck with it, hope I do as well in the coming months.
Bren xx

 

[peony]

Cheers ladies. Hope little un on the mend by the way Mel.

Quak, enjoy your week off - it's kind of how my maintenece works - 'holidays' then packs. I am luckythat I work for myself so can go to classes during the day - do find I pay when I have to work later though. So worth it though. And as far as motivation goes, I LOVE the classes so that bit is easy!

So here are my first stats from my Ki for yesterday/last night. The calorie doodah is 92% accurate so could be plus or minus 8% which I have to bear in mind...

calories burned 3030 (2787 -8% 3272 +8%)
calories consumed 754
Calorie deficit 2276 (2033 - 8% 2518 +8%)
Physical Exercise 2 hours 51 min
steps taken 11758
hours slept 7h 23m
sleep efficiency 89%

I LOVE my little gizmo,it's the dogs!

 

[peony]

Well I don't know yet from a weight point of view if my Ki is working other than my jeans do still fit. I LOVE it and will weigh in soon. I want to give it chance and my weight needs to adjust to the fact I sm eating more. It has shown me that on average I burn 2800 calories in a 24 hour period so the 700 odd I was eating before I got it were no way near enough even given an 9% allowance for error. I am religiously tracking cals consumed in the software and am eating between 1200 and on one v bad day 3000 a day. Average over the last 2 weeks was 1800 a day. So my average daily deficit is approx 1000 according to the stats.
Time will tell. Tomorrow I have a free half hour session at the gym with a personal trainer who has worked with professional cyclists and footballers who seems to know his stuff. Interested to see how much and what he thinks I should be eating to support the amount of training I am doing.
X

 

[melarnz]

HELLO STRANGER!!! IVE MISSED YOU!!!!

i know you have been busy, but come on Peony....dont forget about little ole me!

I know this is gonna sound silly, but im SO proud of you for upping your intake. it seems that you really have this maintainance thing completelty controlled!

 

[peony]

Soz Mel
Have been AWOL for a while, but I felt so at home here that I have decided to return. No longer doing a VLCD but I do consider myself a LL Lifer lol! And may well return to packs in a month or so if 'doing the Du-kan' doesn't work for me.

I maintained pretty well throughout the majority of last year - hit a slippery slope backend of the year when ankle injury after ankle injury put paid to my daily gym attendance. I had to give up my beloved Les Mills classes following a body attack injury. I damaged my achilles tendon. When it finally healed I decided to drop Attack and Step for a while and stick to my other favourites - Combat and Pump. A week in and I turned the same ankle over- it finally felt better by christmas and I was really looking forward to getting back to my classes and then I went and injured it again going into soft play to help my daughter who a couple of other kids were picking on.

So it's either a run of bad luck - 3 injuries in a row, or all connected to the original injury. I have finally made an appointment to see doc and hopefully get to a physio to sort it once and for all.

So anway I went from burning well over 3000 calories a day to much fewer, and also a lot of weekend breaks/birthdays and then christmas led me to where I am now - 2.5 to 3 stone above where I want to be.

Don't find that at all daunting though, coming from where I have

Considered going back on packs, but also have a friend who had to lose a lot of weight before having an op and had great success doing Dukan. Dukan appeals to me as I love a good Ketogenic diet - I also can exist happily on a high protein /no carb diet so I am hoping that it will be similar in effect to LL/Exante but with the added bonus of real food. We will see. I have no problem sticking to the allowed foods, my only worries are over the efficacy. Will I really lose weight eating limitless 0% yogs, bacon, chicken etc? Time will tell.

My plan is to give it a few weeks and if I am not losing, to switch back to packs.

My end goal is to be back in my lovely summer clothes from last summer in time for my holiday at the end of May.

Well it is lovely to be back. I shall go and have a good mooch about the board and see how my old friends are doing.
xx

 

[Quak]

You are still looking good Peony - welcome back lovely to see you again!

 

[peony]

Hey Bren!
How are you honey - where will I find you? still on the Exante boards? Do you have a diary thread? I will have a little look round. Thanks for the vote of confidence! xxx

 

[Quak]

You will find me on the Atkins bit these days, doing it for maintenance and it seems to be working nicely for me come over and say hi!

 

[Jezebella]

Peony darlng!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Welcome back, Ive really really missed you!! Hope the Dukan works well, let me know how it goes. I also maintained perfectly till the last 2 months of last year, where I let it slip a little, was dating a boy, having too much wine, too little sleep, working too hard, and not having time to cook my "proper" food so to speak, so just ate what was about. which consisted mostly of not the healthiest of foods, but we were sooooo busy at work, the fact someone made it and it was hot while i was freezing was enough, decided to loose about a stone, to get back to my happy weight but might go a bit lower if I feel I want to. I am doing it back on packs as for me I know I need the restrictions and I know LL works for me. It certainly isn't as easy as first time round, I guess because there is less to loose, or that I am pretty much what is considered "thin" I am just used to being "thinner" so to speak.

gosh cannot believe how excited I am to see you here, I really have missed ya honey, update me with all your news!!

Big smooches

j
xx

 

[peony]

Wow Bren, just looked at your signature pictures. You are tiny! Well done maintaining, Atkins obviously suit you well. I will come track you down over on the Atkins board clever girl. xxx

Hi Jez what a wonderful welcome home. Thank you so much. Yes, forgot about the wine - that is probably more my undoing than the food if I am honest. A glass every couple of nights soon turns into every night, then up to a couple of glasses then finally finding a bottle could slip by unnoticed and I would find I didn't even feel tipsy! Hubby said to me one night as we were dropping off to sleep - "oh you left a bottle of wine chilling in the freezer earlier" to which I replied - oh yes that is long gone now! So yes, it was definitely time to knock that particular habit on the head!

So what about this boy? are you still seeing him? spill! I bet you are getting a lot of 'oh you don't need to lose any weight' from the folk around you at the moment. But only you know at what weight you are right at. I am getting it a bit of - "oh you were skin and bone last year blah blah blah" - well that is as maybe, but I also felt bright, active and happy so that is where I want to be again!

Good luck getting back where you want to be Jez love.

xxx