Cerulean's Maintenance Diary - 20 wks of SSing - Maintaining since 25/07/11

[Cerulean]

Day 145 and Day 1 of The Shred (All over again!)

Hello!

I had my first WI in 3 weeks. 7lbs off - my CWPC was a bit...hmmm...but I've been 810ing, it was a hot day and the tape measure proves I lost a dress size in 3 weeks. Bloody scales nutters (not just my CWPC - everyone other than me!) LOOK AT MY FACE! I AM SKELETOR!

Still - she's off on hols and was selling off bars that go out of date whilst she's away for a quid. So I picked up a couple of cheapo malt toffees - that coupled with the fact that I get a £10 discount off a 21 pack set when she returns (I think Cambridge sponsor this so regulars come back as there was an official letter which I haven't read) I said 'Typical - the week I go onto 14 packs!' and she said 'I'll do you a deal when I get back.' Awwww. Heart my CWPC

I got the big book of Cambridge which I didn't even know existed! My Consultant apologised and I said 'No no, I deliberately didn't take it otherwise I would have spent the last 20 weeks getting ahead of myself' But now I know the mysteries of 1000...they have been unlocked. Annoyingly though it's all stuff I can't be arsed with! Berries and apples, cool. But I don't ever eat cereal or museli or granola type things or yeeeeeeuch, Shredded Wheat or porridge and I really want to give bread a wide wide berth for much longer. So 1000 for me may well be low GI fruit and the odd starchy veg. So I should do well on it. I'll add carby stuff in on 1200.

Anyway - next Weds is my 5 month anniversary of starting...I'll be sticking well and truly to 810 for that period as if I guess correctly I am now in the point in my cycle where I'll probably drop a few pounds and suddenly - I have to go for a picnic at my Gran's next Monday for her 89th so it'll be cool to have a spot of chicken salad.

SHRED TWO: THIS TIME I HAVE 6lb WEIGHTS - DAY ONE

Life slowly returns to normal and with more food going in, I did the Shred again today. I did one entire set of full press-ups without thinking about it and used double weights apart from the anterior raises that everyone has problems with! But I did everything, bouncier and faster and on Natalie level and I used light weights on the cardio...In 2 months I have become so much fitter than when I started the Shred in - was it early June? I didn't even balk at the bicycles - I couldn't even do ONE back in June!

810 Food

Supper was chick pea curry made with 80g dried chickpeas, a spot of 0% yoghurt and Baharat and mint and cucumber and a couple of frozen spinach bricks. I am having about triple/quadruple the allowed veg at this stage (which is still less than 100 cals in total), but I have been 810ing for a week and I exercise about 500-800 cals a day unless I'm on my one set rest day (Friday) so I think I can afford the additional carbs.

Well - here goes the rest of my life...this is so much easier and calmer and less obsessive than Lighter Life RTM...I think it's the lack of psychobabble and fretting and sitting in a room of people who look like they're off a prisoner of war documentary. I jest only slightly - I remember looking round that room of people with no glycogen and a BMI of 21 and me with a BMI of 23.5 thinking I was fat and suddenly going 'Woah - this is genuinely EFFED UP'

Here I am with my tummy full of simple food, still in ketosis - a pack to go and not in the least hungry for it, a BMI of 27, ready to gently step back into the world of food, slowly and surely.

 

[Cerulean]

oh sod it, it's a free country...

 

[Surfhunny]

I've loved reading your last few posts Sarah, I feel a lot more confident that the fear factor won't be there at the end for me too, thanks in part to Jillian Michaels lol, with reassurance from you. Your opinions in exercising while on CD are pretty much the same as mine, I exercised the first time and my body only ate it's fat, which it's quite welcome to do lol.

 

[Cerulean]

Did day 2 of the Shred. Feeling good. Today is a 4k run and rehearsal tonight. Slight food confession...ate two batches of chickpeas prob cos I was thirsty - but weight still good - ate about 1000 cal yesterday and did 550 of exercise so - all good. Have read through the steps and am determined to be strict about this - so will probably have to freeze chickpeas!!!!

What the hell is with the recipes at 1200 and 1500 'serves 4, not suitable for freezing' do you think I am having a 1200 dinner party??? what is the point of three extra portions that can't be frozen? Also I've stopped feeling guilty about my extra veg as the 810 recipes have way more veg than the 'allowance'!

 

[Cerulean]

Oooooh, quick question...does my diary stay here? Is that allowed or am I supposed to go in a maintenance forum? Do you SSing guys want to know what I'm eating or is that a pain in the bum?

 

[Tall fat and greedy]

DONT LEAVE US, PLEASE!

 

[jlt]

I love your thread! It's so inspirational to have someone thats had to restart their journey and learnt from their past mistakes. You give such good tips and it's definitely helpful to read whilst on SS cause it doesn't seem so daunting as to what will happen at the end. The excersize element of your posts is very interesting too

 

[CheeseGirl]

Um, you should stay here! I always like to have previews of what awaits me and reading your diary is great for that, plus then we can all learn from your experience of each phase No need to change your format, either

 

[Surfhunny]

Please stay here, you keep me motivated, I look forward to reading you daily updates!!

 

[DappyMare]

Definitely Stay

 

[Trolley Dolly xx]

Please stay..we would miss you if you went to dark side!!!!!!!
Your diary is amazing..I like to have a read and see your updates.
Here's to many more xx

 

[Cerulean]

Cool, I'd keep updating just not quite sure if theres some CD forum rule once you're eating potatoes!!! (Not for a coupla weeks, I hasten to add!)

I don't mind telling you that I am shattered, I only got about 6 hours sleep...Did the shred in the am and have been getting a tad muscle achey all day ah the joys of early Jilllian routines, being too achey to brush hair. Then on top of that I did a 4k run in a gym with no aircon and almost died, then quite a physical and demanding (brainwise) rehearsal. Ate my lunch of last Tuesday 100g turkey with that salad bowl and 235g cottage cheese as my extra protein/dairy. Two packs to get down tonight. Sleeeeeepy now. So so sleeeeeeepy. The blackberries are out and we're going a picking...I shall make mine up into crumbles and freeze into future breakfast yoghurt topping portions.

 

[Book-Worm]

Noooooo, don't go! Newbies almost never go on the maintenance boards and your diary is an invaluable help for many of us! You're the one who inspired me to do the shred and exercise and start thinking beyond the diet (not weight wise but habit wise).

If you worry about mentioning food, just add ***food mentioned*** in the thread title, like this people can decide

 

[bettiesrevenge]

You are doing champion Sarah, so dont look back - stay right here as a SS mentor!

I need me a copy of your spreadsheets, you should make them available for download, I am serious!

 

[Cerulean]

LOL - I think KD had the best spreadsheets ever - but my new one with all the tabs for running, swimming and the food diary is a masterpiece...but I have to do too much manual stuff in it to publish it.

 

[Cerulean]

Yeah, it's weird choosing where to go really - I see this 'journey' as being all about the maintenance - SSing is the easy bit. Just eat the packs and drink the water and tell people to bugger off if they try to make you eat.

I really am not contributing to the forum any more though, someone on here really has issues with my weightloss - and keeps implying somewhat snidely that I have issues and am abusing the diet (hey, sure I have issues with food or I wouldn't be on a VLCD, but I try to focus on the positive and not keep banging on about the fact that I had a breast cancer scare, redundancy and the worst broken heart of my adult life 6 months after finishing Lighter Life) so you know - that may have had some effect on my comfort eating - the big blue book didn't really cover what to do for any of those things other than 'having a hot bath or phoning a friend' and this person seems to see my past failures as ammunition against Cambridge. I would gently remind everyone that life happens and if you're not ready for it after a VLCD and if you're not slid as a rock it may just bite you in the arse - I lost 3 stone calorie counting and with a personal trainer and tennis coach in 2003 and then I got very very ill and was off work for 3 months and put every last pound back on so all diets are much the same as VLCDs if you are not ready to maintain afterwards. I know that now - but it's hardly reassuring to know that that person thinks I will get it wrong again. It really is appalling behaviour for a SUPPORT forum. I had two false Cambridge starts over the last two years, my PROFESSIONAL, YEARS OF EXPERIENCE Cambridge Consultant knows why they were false starts and was happy for this year's attempt - the 2009 one I can't go into for legal reasons (seriously, I signed papework to say I can't talk about what happened to me that summer), the two weeks I did last year was because I thought 'Nah, I'll try doing this by eating healthily - VLCDs suck' (even I think that secretly they really do, but they really work). As for abusing the diet, once I am on it, I am on it. That's why people read my diary. I don't nibble, I don't cheat, I don't jump in and out of ketosis because that's not how I work (it works for others in certain contexts, so I am really not knocking it).

It just makes me sad, I used to love being a big part of the forum, now I am tucked into this tiny corner. I'm trying not to be paranoid but every post this person makes seems to be indirectly digging at me? At what point do I need to report this person for bullying?

 

[Cerulean]

Also, I put pictures up and keep a diary to help people, to spur people on, to have them picked apart and criticised by a stranger is the height of bad manners.

 

[Cerulean]

Forgot to mention the best bit! Ate about 950 cals yesterday and lost 2lbs overnight (drank looooads of water as well cos of exercise and the weather) So I have started shredding and lost 3.5lbs in 2 days. So the shredding and eating on an LCD has nowt to do with it - I am on the 2 weeks of my ladycycle (ITS A WORD!!) where I seem to lose all my weight...so weight fluctuations are probably down to my ladyparts rather than exercise or water or weather.

 

[Surfhunny]

Sarah I have a suspicion about who this is, it's not on, I would draw the moderators attention to what's going on by PMing them, I've had issues resolved in the past this way, you shouldn't feel like you have to hide on here. Whatever diet a person chooses and however they choose to work the diet is up to them and the fact is you're doing it by the letter, how it's meant to be done there's absolutely nothing wrong with that.

I think the problem arises when people who aren't on VLCD don't understand the science behind them, and then refuse to admit that it doesn't matter how fast or slow the weight comes off it's what you do after the diet that makes the difference between maintaining or regaining. The diet is a tool, maintaining is the real challenge. The thing I love best about VLCDs is the fact that it allows you to deal with problems, issues etc without squashing them with food.

I really admire you for your determination and commitment, I wish I had half the amount you have. I'm sick of starting and restarting, I need to get through these first few days and into ketosis and I'll be fine. I need to do it now though, I need to ignore the comments that have already started. If one more person says "why don't you just eat less and do some exercise?" I think I'll explode.

 

[*Shanny*]

Sarah I have a suspicion about who this is, it's not on, I would draw the moderators attention to what's going on by PMing them, I've had issues resolved in the past this way, you shouldn't feel like you have to hide on here. Whatever diet a person chooses and however they choose to work the diet is up to them and the fact is you're doing it by the letter, how it's meant to be done there's absolutely nothing wrong with that.

I think the problem arises when people who aren't on VLCD don't understand the science behind them, and then refuse to admit that it doesn't matter how fast or slow the weight comes off it's what you do after the diet that makes the difference between maintaining or regaining. The diet is a tool, maintaining is the real challenge. The thing I love best about VLCDs is the fact that it allows you to deal with problems, issues etc without squashing them with food.

I really admire you for your determination and commitment, I wish I had half the amount you have. I'm sick of starting and restarting, I need to get through these first few days and into ketosis and I'll be fine. I need to do it now though, I need to ignore the comments that have already started. If one more person says "why don't you just eat less and do some exercise?" I think I'll explode.

I totally agree with you sal.. I've said already Sarah let a moderator know your concerns!