Back in the room...again!

[TracyGWill]

I know what you mean, I may not have had it done if I'd known how hard it was, and for ages afterwards I swore I'd never go through it again. But now I'm resigned to having the kneecap resurfacing done, and then the second TKR in due course, and I'll know what to expect next time!

Ooh, apple crumble, yum! Cakes and puddings are a real weakness of mine, so I daren't have them too often any more! xx

 

[tickettyboo]

My other knee will need doing too, and knowing what to expect makes me want to be able to put it off as long as possible, that's half the motivation for getting the weight off.

I daren't have anything tempting around as I've no willpower Bread is my biggest downfall, along with cheese and wine. If a packet of biscuits is in the cupboard unopened I can often ignore it, but once opened I'll happily scoff half a packet with a brew! It's no wonder really I'm like this I have no discipline. My hubby who's built like a stick insect (I sometimes think we must look like one of those old fashioned postcard cartoon couples!) just naturally eats sensibly, when he's had enough he'll happily leave what's left on his plate whereas I always finish everything (and sometimes I'm ashamed to say will finish his too if there's anything interesting left ) I just don't seem to have an off button to tell me to stop. And I know portion size is also one of my issues, when we got together he was astonished what I'd dish up, which I think was down to my mum's ideas of what a dinner should look like. Maybe smaller plates is the way forward, I've heard that recommended for piggies like me.

 

[Hana-]

I'm exactly the same whenever I open something or start eating it! It's like my entire mindset changes and I'll finish it all off before I even realise what I did

Smaller plates and portioning out what you're going to eat and then hiding whatever is left and eating in a different room definitely helps me Hopefully distracts you long enough to start focusing on something else

 

[Minerva]

Good luck today Ticketty, you can do it! Slow and steady to get your mind back in the right place, there's no rush. Just cutting a few things out here and there and maybe limiting wine to once per week to enjoy with the OH, so as not to feel it's all a shock to the system. I know you know how to make it work, just take it a few days at a time.

x

 

[TracyGWill]

How did your first day go, Ticketty? Starting's always hard, but once you get into it you'll be good. xx

 

[tickettyboo]

Bit of a false start yesterday despite my good intentions. I weighed myself when I got up, and it wasn't as bad as I feared, I've only put on about 12lb since my op which I know is still bad, but considering how I've eaten the last eight weeks and been immobile it could have been worse. Plus the new joint weighs about a kg! . When I'm tired I can really feel it, the whole leg feels heavy. Anyway. My daughter came down yesterday unexpectedly with the two little ones and brought a home made cake she had baked with Oliver, who's three, and he was so proud of it I couldn't refuse to share it. I've started well this morning with Exante maple syrup pancakes, which I love and a black coffee. I might stick to packs today simply because I've so much work to catch up on and hubby is having dinner at his mum's tonight so can't be bothered cooking just for me. I've decided to have the Exante breakfasts as I really like them, and mix it up with either meal replacements or salad for lunch, and proper dinners - I cook quite a lot of the slimming world recipes as we both really enjoy them.

 

[Minerva]

I'm glad it wasn't all as bad as you thought. I hope you had a good time with your daughter and the grandchildren.
All the best to you with the re-start, hopefully it will go smoothly!

x

 

[tickettyboo]

Thanks Minerva, we had a lovely day. Caitlyn is growing so fast, nearly eight weeks old already and starting to smile and make little cooing noises, she's beautiful. Oliver is three going on thirty and makes me laugh so much. He's fascinated by my scar and me now having a metal knee, he's really into Transformers so I tell him I'm like Optimus Prime now. He's not fobbed off with simple explanations and wanted to know how the doctor got it in there so I ended up with a sort of "knee replacement surgery for pre school" discussion.

Not feeling too hungry so far surprisingly. Had a coffee with milk mid morning, which helped. Hope your day's going well. When do you get your exam results? x

 

[tickettyboo]

Well yesterday ended up a bit of a mish mash food wise, Exante maple syrup pancakes for breakfast, and a mint choc chip cookie for lunch (one of the best Exante products in my opinion, yum) a ham and tomato sandwich and a banana for tea and for some reason (I suddenly really fancied it) a large bowl of Fruit & Fibre at 10pm. Too many carbs,not enough protein, I know. Lazy, can't be arsed cooking sort of day. I just felt fed up, my back hurts now, not sure if it's because I'm walking differently post op but it's a pain, literally. Think I'll ask the physio tomorrow as it's giving me more grief than the knee this week. Also we've had a water leak in my lovely almost new dream kitchen and the flooring's all lifting, so had the plumber and insurance company to deal with. But on a good note I managed to lose 1.5lb yesterday, which is a start. I've been good today so far, am planning to cook a slimming world fish pie later (as requested by my hubby) before we watch the Wales game...neither of us is remotely into football, we follow all things motorsport but have been suckered into the local hysteria here of Wales doing so well in the Euro's.

 

[Hana-]

Oh no I'm really sorry about your kitchen I hope they can get it all sorted again without any complications.

Yay for your loss though!

 

[tickettyboo]

Been awol for a few days; life, insurance company and work getting in the way . The first week of my (again) restart was a bit of a mixed bag, if there were no temptations I was fine, sticking to the meal packs for breakfast and lunch and a healthy dinner, but OH would just have to decide to make some toast around 10 pm and utter the fatal words "d'you want some too?" and I would cave in. And then we decided to test my new knee at the weekend by walking to the village pub...but that's a whole other story . But for the last two days (I know, two whole days, wow ) I've managed to behave myself and stick to it. In spite of everything I lost 2lb last week so still ok.

Big day today, first time driving solo since February, for a root canal job at the dentist and then physio. Talk about baptism of fire! Just need to get my confidence back now. I went for a little drive with Steve riding shotgun on Sunday and was like a learner again, it was weird.

 

[tickettyboo]

Back here again after a 2 month gap....where the heck did that go?? The answer if I'm honest is as usual a complete reversal into bad habits and denial. Life has pretty much returned to normal now, back driving, back to working in the office, walking ok and back to not giving a stuff about what I'm eating and drinking. But now (again, forty bloody years of doing this, will I never learn?) I'm at that familiar point where a combination of tight clothes, hating what I see in the mirror, and feeling just uggh has brought me back to starting again. It's just so annoying, I did so well before my op. Photos taken in Prague just four months ago show me looking so much slimmer. Two weeks ago we had a big family gathering/holiday away with my four kids (including my Prague family) their partners and grandkids for my daughter's 30th birthday and the pictures from there are just awful. I must be in complete denial, I didn't really think I'd put so much back on. But I have, so here I am again. I've decided not to do another VLCD but to do slimming world again this time as it'll be more sustainable. The local class is on Tuesday after work so in the meantime I'm getting my head back in the sw zone of healthy extras, speed foods etc so I'm good to go. Hey ho, here we go again.

 

[Minerva]

It's a constant battle with weight for us But don't dwell on it... The main thing is that you are aware of it and you keep on trying! Some people never think they have a problem until they reach a stage where they can't even get out of bed without enormous amount of pain (poor people...). At the end of the day, it really is just about perseverance and not letting it get completely out of hand. Well done for getting your mind in the right place to try again, it's what matters. I hope you had a lovely summer anyway! I'm so glad to hear life is more or less back to normal after the knee op, it must have been quite stressful and painful. You've had to recover and it took as long as it needed to. Life happens and now that you're better you can concentrate on this for a bit. Good luck with SW! x

 

[tickettyboo]

Hi Minerva, thank you for your reply, how are you, and how has your summer been? Yes, is is about perseverance...like you, I have been a lot bigger than I am now, I seem to swing about 1.5.stones either way constantly losing and putting the same weight back on, I seem to do so well for a couple of months, then it all goes to pot. I wish I had the determination to keep going and sort it once and for all! And yes, the recovery from my knee op has been very stressful and painful, I'm still struggling to build the muscles back up and really need to lose weight primarily to put less strain on the new joint. Other than that life is good, my son and family in Prague recently spent two weeks back here which was lovely, catching up on lots of cuddles with six month old Ruby was lovely! Hope you are well, I'll catch up with your diary now! xx

 

[tickettyboo]

OK. Went to slimming world last night after work and it was worse than I expected. I'm trying to remind myself that I normally weigh myself first thing in the morning naked, and yesterday's weight was with clothes and at tea time but it was still mortifying. I'm still not sure the whole group thing is for me but I've got to accept that it works and you have the week to week focus and accountability you don't have going it alone. I felt like the new kid at school but I'm sure next week I'll be fine. I've signed up for a six week countdown and came out armed with a magazine and various other bits of SW kit, I've made the decision to do this so now I'm going to give it my best shot. I've got a few packets of Exante to use up so had a shake for breakfast and I'm making the SW spag bol later so it's a bit mix and match at the mo but the point is I'm doing SOMETHING and not letting it slide any further.

 

[TracyGWill]

Hi Nicky, it's nice to hear from you, although I'm sorry you've been struggling diet-wise. Everything eldest sounds great though - glad to hear yo're getting on well with the new knee. I'm due to have my patella replacement on Friday, fingers crossed (it's already been postponed once)! Slimming World sounds like a good idea, I've never tried it myself but have friends who've had good results from it. All the best. xx

 

[tickettyboo]

Hi Tracy, hope your op went ok, I didn't realise they could do the patella separately. Let me know how it went.

My first SW week went well and I managed to lose 3lb despite two social events. We went out for a meal for OH's mum's birthday and I was really good, having grilled plaice, new potatoes and peas. The only annoying thing was there was butter on the fish, I will have to remember to ask next time to not have it. On Saturday we had friends over for dinner and I cooked a beef in red wine casserole with dauphinoise potatoes, I worked out the syns which were horrendous (especially with the half bottle of wine I glugged with it) - normally I wouldn't have given a thought to eating it all - but I'd saved my syns for the week so still managed to come in under the allowed amount. I know I could have done a more SW friendly version but it still worked out ok.

Went out for tea last night and I had a rump steak with a jacket potato and really enjoyed it, and even gave OH my onion rings! We've booked to go to Prague again in November, so my aim is to get my first stone off by then. Last time we went in May I was on crutches and hired a mobility scooter to get around, hopefully this time I'm going to be much more mobile.

My main gripe at the moment is the lack of choice for diet friendly soft drinks/mixers in pubs. Why can't they offer diet lemonade as an alternative to slimline tonic and diet coke, both of which I loathe? Sometimes I can get slimline bitter lemon, but am often told there's "not enough call for it". I made a costly mistake having a can of San Pellegrino lemon this week (7.5 syns, ouch) as there was no other option, not even sparkling water. We keep hearing about the obesity crisis, surely it would make good sense to offer more low calorie choices. Also diabetics must be so limited as to what they can have. Most pubs now offer healthier options for food, to me it would even be a good marketing tool to show they were helping by offering healthier drinks too.

 

[tickettyboo]

Haven't been on here for a couple of weeks. SW is going well, lost 6.5lb altogether in three weeks - was annoyed last week not to get my half stone award! I'm finding it ok, it's hard not to get demoralised with the relatively slow losses when you 're used to doing a VLCD though. But I must admit this is so much more sustainable, we've had a lot going on socially recently and I've still eaten really nice food and had a couple of glasses of wine and stayed on plan. I've been going on the restaurant's website in advance when we go out and already decided what I'm going to have, which stops me drooling over other things I might want instead, and asked for options like salad or jacket potatoes instead of chips.

Night out in Liverpool tonight with my two lovely daughters, going for a meal and then to the theatre to see Sister Act. I've volunteered to drive so won't be tempted to hammer the wine!

 

[tickettyboo]

Weigh in last night, another 2.5lb down making 9lb in total in 4 weeks. Am happy with this,I'm finding it really easy so far (I know, plenty of time to get fed up and lose the plot spectacularly, been there done that got the size 28 T shirt...) Eating out has always been my biggest challenge in the past, it's so hard not to feel resentful when everyone else is eating lovely high calorie food that normally you would go for, and to pay for something you wouldn't actually choose to have. But the last four weeks we've eaten out quite often and I've actually been happy with a steak, jacket potato and salad, or grilled fish, and saved my syns for a glass of wine. Two nights away with my lovely hubby coming up though this weekend which is going to be a challenge. But my small steps goals are

• A stone off in total before we go to Prague in 3.5 weeks time
• 2 stone off in total by Christmas.

Both doable if I keep losing 2 lb per week.

 

[TracyGWill]

Hi Nicky! Glad to hear you're doing well on SW! I haven't been on here for a while, since before my op, so I'm catching up with everyone. The op went well, and it's hopefully just a matter of building my leg back up again with physio and time - you know how it goes! It actually feels like it's improving this time, which it didn't after the last one, presumably due to the kneecap not being done. The scar is more painful this time, which I've been told will be due to it being scar on scar, as they reopen the original one. Hubby got me some Bio Oil the other day, and that's really helping me do my physio without feeling as though my leg is ripping open, lol. How is your knee now? xx