25 stone to 19 stone in 8 months.

[Bigbear]

Me too - once I started to eat Choc or anything sweet I just couldn't stop, eating huge amounts in one sitting.
thats why the Slim Fast plans worked for me, because it's got the strict plan. I also agree with just not having it in the house - I had to ask my boyfriend to hide all the chocs he puts in his lunch box.

now I'm 5 months in I can sit with just one choc bar, or a SF snack bar and savour it as a treat. Going cold turkey to begin with def worked for me too

 

[Grumpy Space Princess]

One thing that helps me when I feel about to binge is to make myself count backwards from 105 by 3s while drinking a glass of water. It forces me to stop and reconsider my actions. Counting by 3s requires more concentration than just going by 1s, so it's a good distraction.

Also, I ask myself if I would want to eat an apple if I was presented with one at that moment. If I wouldn't want the apple, then I'm clearly not hungry--just bored, sad, or whatever other emotion might be driving my eating. I then try to work out what it is that's bothering me and do my best to improve it, rather than throwing food at the problem.

If I *would* eat an apple and I get to 0 and still want food... then I get a bloody apple (or something similarly healthy) and eat that instead.

I used to be unable to have junk food in the house, since I would just eat it all up, but with the help of those techniques, I'm getting better. Might work for you, too, Helena.

 

[366to266]

It sounds like you have an almost obsessive attitude to some foods, Helena. I was just the same, and I changed food obsessions regularly; one month it might be Ben & Jerry's ice cream (1 tub per day!), another it might be vegetable spring rolls, or pancakes with syrup (8 in a sitting), or even certain types of sugary cereal (1 pack per day) . The only way I have found to conquer these obsessions is to go completely and utterly cold turkey and wait until the cravings pass. It will happen eventually. Being away from those things made me realise how little I'd actually needed/wanted them; in the end I just ate them out of habit and it sounds like you are the same with chocolate. It's just finding the willpower to stop and develop different eating habits.

YES yes yes! That is exactly what I am like. Nail on head, Instant Karma!

For example, I rarely go into the town centre but when I do, I always buy myself two split Belgian buns filled with cream, from Gregg's. I am in heaven when I eat them. Then, for the next few days, I can't stop thinking about them, and the idea of catching the bus into town to buy a couple more keeps coming into my mind. or if my lodger tells me she's going to town, I'll get all excited at the possibility that she could pick a pair up for me, and I'll ask her to get me a couple. It's always two. I would not buy one - I have never bought one, though one time I bought three. This will go on for about a week after the final "indulgence", and then I literally forget they even exist, and will go a year or more without having one. Then one day I'll find myself walking past Gregg's... and the cycle starts again.

 

[366to266]

I have good news at last!

Yesterday, I kept within my calorie limit, AND ~ more importantly, I got through my first day of having ONLY a Slimfast Caramel and no other chocolate or treats!

Phew.

Dunnit at last!

Now on to Day Two.

 

[366to266]

One thing that helps me

Thanks for all the tips, ladies.
I've printed out GSP's post and have stuck it up near me.

 

[Instant_Karma]

YES yes yes! That is exactly what I am like. Nail on head, Instant Karma!

For example, I rarely go into the town centre but when I do, I always buy myself two split Belgian buns filled with cream, from Gregg's. I am in heaven when I eat them. Then, for the next few days, I can't stop thinking about them, and the idea of catching the bus into town to buy a couple more keeps coming into my mind. or if my lodger tells me she's going to town, I'll get all excited at the possibility that she could pick a pair up for me, and I'll ask her to get me a couple. It's always two. I would not buy one - I have never bought one, though one time I bought three. This will go on for about a week after the final "indulgence", and then I literally forget they even exist, and will go a year or more without having one. Then one day I'll find myself walking past Gregg's... and the cycle starts again.

I get it, totally. And yet at the same time I don't, because I'm at a loss to explain what motivates people like us. What makes someone obsessive like that? I used to be addicted to Morrisons pasta from the salad bar. And when I was living in student halls, I got addicted to Marks and Spencers chocolate cookies from the instore bakery, and every day I would get the bus into town solely to buy them, and then get another bus home. So wasting about £5 and 700 calories for the sake of cookies. Ridiculous when I think back. I think it was a combination of boredom and routine that made me do it, because I was never really hungry. It's actually comforting to find someone who understands.

 

[ladyfelsham]

I have good news at last!

Yesterday, I kept within my calorie limit, AND ~ more importantly, I got through my first day of having ONLY a Slimfast Caramel and no other chocolate or treats!

Phew.

Dunnit at last!

Now on to Day Two.

YAYE!!!!! Well done Helena, that is a real step forward, hun! What about a non-food reward for great days like this, would that help? (love a reward, me )

 

[WelshJojo]

How you getting on Helena x

 

[366to266]

Apologies for absence, ladies, just got too tied up with other things... the days fly by, and I end up lying in bed thinking, whoops, forgot to do my food diary AND forgot to visit Minimins.

So, bad news but with a silver lining.

My last 5 days has been taken up dealing with terrific pelvic pain, culminating in being whisked off to hospital in an ambulance on Monday night. There, I was misdiagnosed by a foreign male doctor, causing me to have another whole night of agony because he's given me the wrong medication.

Tuesday saw my own (lady) doctor, and she said the guy was completely wrong, and that what I have is something wrong inside my womb. What it is, we cannot tell. So I am waiting for a scan, and whilst waiting I am drugged up the whole time to keep the pain at bay.

And the silver lining is that I have no appetite whatsoever.

Helena

 

[TracyGWill]

Oh, I'm sorry to hear you've been having a bad time, Helena. I hope the drugs are helping alleviate the pain. As you say, the loss of appetite is a small benefit! Take care. xx

 

[ladyfelsham]

Oh Helena, you poor thing - and what an ordeal to be misdiagnosed!

I really hope the scan shows what is causing it and you get sorted out painwise really quickly x

 

[366to266]

Thank you my lovely ladies!

I am on max dose of painkillers and so am able to function normally now. It appears to be polyps or a tumour or something. Not cancer as there is no bleeding.

When I left the hospital at 1030pm I had to go to Sainsbury for the pharmacy. Yeah, they don't have one at the hospital .... duh!

Remember I was asking whether porridge oats was the kind of oats you could have with yoghurt? Well I found something in Sainsbury's ... Jordan's granola with dried strawberry bits. Mixed it with my fruit salad and wow.... it's exactly what I wanted. So happy!

I am sitting at my desk eating a bowl of fruit salad and I feel like I died and went to heaven. It consists of (all fresh not tinned or frozen)

mango
honeydew melon
cantaloupe
strawberries
banana
pink lady apple
black seedless grapes

topped with

Jordan's granola
live plain organic yoghurt
Activia strawberry yoghurt

all mixed up together

And I have enough supplies for 5 portions.

 

[krupskaya]

Oooh sounds yummy! Really sorry to hear you've been going through the mill lovely. Its a blumin hard way to lose weight that's for sure. Hopefully it's something harmless so you can get back to normal. Plus it's your holiday in a couple of months isn't it? At least it'll be sorted, fingers crossed, for that. Hugs x

 

[TracyGWill]

Ooh yes, that does sound yummy! xx

 

[ladyfelsham]

I love granola! It's the mixture of crunchy and the occasional sweet raisin mmmm

 

[366to266]

"Both crash dieting and chronic dieting can and will wreak havoc on your metabolic rate, as is clearly demonstrated in numerous studies published in the prestigious research journal Metaoblism.

For example, in a study conducted at Rockefeller University by world-renowned obesity researcher Dr. Rudolph Leibel, the metabolisms of individuals who had lost weight via long-term chronic dieting and/or various "crash dieting" techniques were compared to those of individuals who have typically maintained a normal weight.

As expected, the metabolisms of those in the the "dieter" group were 25% lower than those who had not gained or lost significant weight in the past. Even more, the dieter group had accrued so much damage to their metabolism over the years that their now battered metabolic rates were slower than those of normal-weight indidividuals two-thirds their size!

Other studies show significantly decreased levels of important metabolic, fat-burning hormones with crash dieting, such as the Metabolism study performed by Dr. Campbell at the University of Vienna in which thyroid levels dropped by a whopping 38% after just 2 weeks of consuming a very low calorie diet.

And yet another Metabolism study conducted by Dr. Gloria Dubuc and the nutrition research team at the University of California - Davis, showed a 50% reduction in the body's #1 metabolic hormone after just 7 days of following a severely reduced calorie diet.

Clearly both crash dieting and chronic dieting can do a number on your metabolism, but what can you do to begin burning fat again if your metabolism has been negatively impacted as a result of your past dieting efforts?"

Joel Marion.

 

[TracyGWill]

Yes indeed - it's generally said that anyone who has lost a significant amount of weight will have to eat around 20% fewer calories, for life, than someone of the same weight who has never been overweight. That's certainly borne out by the level of calories I'm maintaining on (1,400), which is lower than my theoretical calorie requirement. It's one reason why people tend to see weight creeping back on - they don't realise that their metabolism has permanently slowed. xx

 

[Stackhead]

Yes indeed - it's generally said that anyone who has lost a significant amount of weight will have to eat around 20% fewer calories, for life, than someone of the same weight who has never been overweight. That's certainly borne out by the level of calories I'm maintaining on (1,400), which is lower than my theoretical calorie requirement. It's one reason why people tend to see weight creeping back on - they don't realise that their metabolism has permanently slowed. xx

Which is why you should always eat as much as possible whilst still maintaining a deficit - also HI! I subscribe but haven't commented before.

 

[366to266]

Not great news, is it? Depressed me.

Welcome, Stackhead and many congrats on your amazing weight loss.

I screwed up BIG TIME yesterday and am sitting here weeping tears of self-loathing yet again.

Time to listen to Louise Hay - again!

Helena xxx

 

[chezz]

helena
you will do it love you will x x x