A new start - 78storm

[78storm]

Hi Everyone,

My first day on Xenical today so a little bit of background: my weight has slowly increased over 14 years and I have been trying ever since to lose weight but tended to lose a little gain a lot, even when doing a lot of exercise. My family appear to be naturally thin or fat and I'd like to find the middleground.

I weigh a lot more than I want to, dropping a couple of dress sizes would help and open up so much of my wardrobe which is currently packed away.

For the last 2+ years the Nurse at my GP's has been weighing me weekly and the weight has bounced around but overall is down a few kg's but not enough as there's been no real change over the last 6 months. Having had a drop in blood pressure it's started to rise again (probably due to work stress).

I love my work but it is highly pressured and very sedentary - I work in client's offices almost all the time but a different office every day. Because I'm away from home for 14+ hours every day my food has tended to be what was easy to pick up from supermarkets/keep in the car so cereal bars for breakfast, salad/sandwich for lunch with fruit and crisps, chocolate, biscuits etc. Once a packet is open I keep going until it's finished and end up saying I've eaten too much so a bit more won't hurt (obviously it does).

For the last month I've been aiming to record 10,000 steps a day on my pedometer - not a huge number but without the extra effort my days are often nearer 2,000 so a five-fold increase. Some of this is through walking outside and the rest on the wii particularly 'Step to the beat' which I can do at 11pm when I wouldn't want to be outside.

The Dr prescribed Xenical last week but with lots of family staying, a wedding and a birthday this weekend it wasn't the time to try to chagne my diet. I'm hoping it will help get me off the plateau I seem to be stuck on and think the 5g/100g rule will particularly help as what seemed an ok diet on calorie counting isn't on fat levels.

Thank you to all those who've posted on the forums with your advice it's really helped fill in the gaps from the little information I was given and the two rules are now etched on my brain as I desperately want to avoid being 'tango'd' especially as loo access isn't easy at some of my clients.

Please can I have some suggestions for protein sources, I don't eat meat and have tended to eat fish (salmon, prawns, tuna), cheese (in quantity) and eggs to get my protein. I can see these are mainly out - I will try some fish in a few days once I'm 'comfortable' with the eating & the pills to see which ones I can can have i.e. which do & don't have a 'reaction'. Nuts tend to be high in fats so I'm looking towards baked beans, kidney beans etc Please can I have your suggestions?

I look forwards to getting to know you all a bit better.

Jx

 

[bunny_hops]

It may be worth you taking a multivit,I don't eat or meat and I haven't ate cheese in over a year..I don't eat any proteins especially as they're normally a group of foods I don't like or can't have so I take a multivit mainly for that reason.

I do eat baked beans, kidney beans. When I make a stew I use pearl barley and other pulses.

 

[78storm]

Thanks we had kidney beans last night with rice and veg which worked really well. I haven't checked MFP yet but was thinking lentils might also be good so will look at those and try the pearl barley.

Having had a think we're coming up with variances on normal recipes which meet the max 5g/100g rule but when I was thinking about it that was quite a challenge. It was nice to get up this morning knowing I'd already made lunch for the day and knew the nutritional content rather than having to see what was available at the supermarket en route.

I took my multi-vit & my pill last think before bed so hopefully both will work. As I can take Xen up to an hour after a meal presumably I want to try & get a couple of hours after the meal before taking the multi vit to allow it to work?

 

[bunny_hops]

I take all my multivits last thing at night,before i go to sleep, I do this so the Xenical can't mix with them. You can take Xenical up to an hour after your meal, I take mine when I start the meal, it helps me to keep it regular

 

[78storm]

I stopped at Tescos on the way home and spent a long time comparing foods to see what was/wasn't suitable and as it wasn't my normal store I had to walk around a few extra times to find things so it was good on the exercise front.

Yesterday I went to a client I've worked with for a few years and they'd bought flowers and a cake for me as it was my birthday at the weekend. A lovely idea and the first time they've given me anything for years the flowers are lovely and the cake's in my parents freezer as I can't waste it (but it's available to a good home). I felt I had to explain why I couldn't have the cake and start the diet 'tomorrow' as suggested and they were all supportive about my wanting to lose weight which was nice which was nice, I'd not been planning on telling them but needed to explain why I was saying No.

Who've you all told about on Xen, family, friends, colleagues?

 

[78storm]

I had a nasty headache this morning & was a real grouch at work until I took a painkiller-didn't want to take it too near the Xen in case there was a reaction or the Xen moved the medicine on without being effective.

At my OH's tonight so a wander up to Sainsburys and have found a few more foods that meet the 5g/100g rule. All good stuff in the basket-I can't remember when I last shopped without going bear the sweets.

I'm finding it helps in the morning not having to think about lunch as I've packed it all up the night before, so I feed the cat, have breakfast & grab lunch from the fridge knowing I have everything I need to eat during the day with me.

 

[78storm]

A bit of a mixed weekend. On Friday night the cat didn't come home and he eventually turned up on Saturday morning with broken & bleeding claws and extremely unsettled. Luckily he's much happier now and we guess he'd been shut in somewhere. I fuss over him as a parent does with their baby so didn't get much sleep and am delighted he is recovering well.

Last night I had some tuna, was a bit concerned in case there were repercussions but it was ok (bought the tuna in brine at 0.5g/100g not the tuna in sunflower oil).

Today I've been on my feet all day, really good day walking around a show and typically I looked at my pedometer on arrival and the battery had gone flat so I've put in the exercise on here but unfortunately can't feel proud of the actual steps I've achieved.

I was logging onto mfp to check if it was safe to buy a calippo (it was) as it was so hot and avoided all the food stalls with samples of their delicacies - a first!

 

[MandyLupton]

Sounds like your doing great. Don't forget to drink plenty of fluids.
One of the guys on here said stay away from salmon, cos xenical can't distinguish between good fats and bad, so if you have salmon be sure your going to be near a loo next day lol!!!!
All in all your doing fab.

Mandy

 

[78storm]

Thanks Mandy. How do you find salmon? I saw that salmon, tuna etc could all be dodgy so wanted to try when I was safely at home.

First weigh-in at home this morning and 3.4kg lost. I'm really pleased with that and have already felt the difference, it makes all the hard work on choosing foods feel worth it and that's getting easier now as I'm building up a mental bank of foods I can eat so there's less rushing to the packet to check.

 

[bunny_hops]

That's excellent hun, well done you!

I would definitely try the fish hun, It may be ok for you, we're all different!

 

[78storm]

1.4 Kg this week and a loss is a loss. Guess I was expecting something more dramatic but last week I felt thinner I actually feel quite bloated at the moment despite having 3+ litres of water/day over the weekend.

Part of that may be because I appear to be having TOTM, I say 'appear' because the side effect of the pills I'm on is that I don't have TOTM and therefore nor do I get migraines. I'm taking my pill last thing at night with my multi-vit but wonder if some nights where I'm late home and therefore eat late if there's not enough time after the Xen - I'm making sure I have a minimum of 90 mins from Xen/food to pill on the basis you can take Xen up to an hour after a meal. (Sorry Sammyd and any other men on the forum).

I will raise this with the GP When I see her and will try to take the Xen at the beginning of my dinner to give another few minutes gap.

I also took my measurements this morning, I know I should have done this earlier but I had to buy a new tape measure as the old one had gone awol - I'm reassured to know being made of fibreglass it won't stretch so no pulling a bit harder to create a loss if your having a bad week as on the old fabric ones!

 

[toofatkat]

I've not risked salmon yet because of the comments on here. I had a bad reaction to pork as do quite a few others, which did surprise me to be honest. I didn't have pork down as a fatty meat once you'd removed the outside layer of fat. But xen obviously had other ideas.
I lost 3 stone before I started xenical and I've always measured myself every other month. I've lost around 40 inches now. It's s great motivator.
I always measure- bust/waist/stomach/hips/top of right thigh/ bottom of right thigh/calf/top of right arm.

I always measure my stomach as for overweight people it's often one of the largest places and also the quickest to see a difference.

Sent from my iPhone using MiniMins

 

[78storm]

Stomach & calves will be measured tonight thanks for the suggestion.

I has 1/3 tin tuna (drained obviously but was in brine) and that was ok. I was amazed at the fat difference from tuna in sunflower oil 0.6g v 9g per 100g. Such a simple change and I can now have one of the family's favourite meals: pasta, low-fat yoghurt, peppers & tuna all mixed together.

 

[toofatkat]

Tuna in spring water is much nicer. Less salty

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[Mis-behave]

I have tried the lean loin pork chops fat removed and not had a reaction, cooked in 1/2 tsp rice bran oil (small fry pan helps too) I also have not had a reaction to the odd tsp butter I have been having.

Love tuna and pasta with red peppers too.

Croissants OMG had really bad reaction lol

 

[toofatkat]

Fine with bits of butter too. I was suprised at the chops though

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[bunny_hops]

Why don't you take your Xenical at the start of the meal or just before it?

 

[78storm]

I'm taking my Xen at the start of my meal and although it stays in your system do you know how long it's extra active for rather than the residual 3 day effect? I don't know how long I need from taking the tablet before it's safe to take the multi-vit & pill.

 

[Mis-behave]

They say in the packet best 2 wait 2-3 hours before taking multi vit

 

[78storm]

Thank you, I did read the packet initially but I should probably re-read it. 2-3 hours is a long time if you work long hours... although admittedly last night I didn't take my Xen as I wanted to take my pill and having got home at 10.30pm I had a jacket potato & baked beans (2g) of fat and went to bed, no hanging around until the early hours of the morning!