From here to inskinnity! My mission to lose 13.5 stone!

It's so lovely to watch your progress xx
 
Soph - Bless ya, I wouldn't exactly call my waist tiny but hopefully I'll stay in proportion as I trim down. Seriously don't want to loose the boobies either, lol, but if they go down a bit with the rest of me then that's cool. I'm guessing the reason I look slimmer is purely 'cos of the weight on my boobs, would much prefer it to be there than on my stomach or something so I guess I'm lucky. I seriously have big thighs though which these pictures don't seem to capture, though they've gone down a lot since I started SW.

Em - Thanks hun- just saw you started a diary - yey! Will go and subcribe in a minute! Good luck for your WI later!

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Had no idea really how WI would go this week after the whopper loss I had last Tuesday. Anyway the scale Gods were kind and I LOST 2lbs, bagging me my 2.5st award and Slimmer of the Month with an incredible 11lb loss in November, making it my best month so far!

I'm now only 3.5lbs off the 20's, would absolutely love to get there for my next WI in 2 weeks time, but with Prague on the horizon I really don't see that happening. I've still got 6 days before I go to try and lose as much as I can and then 3 days when I get back before WI, so out of 14 days I'll be food optimising for 9 of them. I just hope that's enough to at least maintain my current weight, though I'm not going to lie I'd love to come back to a nice loss! Only time will tell though and the main thing is that I enjoy my break. I know now that if I put on it's on the end of the world and I can get straight back on the SW wagon once I'm home. I was really worried before Lanzarote that I'd fall off track for good, now I know there's no way in hell that's happening!

Just updated my results on the SW site and seen my progress graph - It's still nice to see that line getting lower and lower each week! Not really holding much weight (pardon the pun!) to the predicted progress bar as it's been skewed by that mega loss last week, but it's nice to think someone believes I could be 17st7lbs by the 3rd of March - with Prague, xmas and Scotland before then I really don't think that'll happen! :D

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Yeeeaahhhhhhh!!!! Check you out with your brilliant morning. I swear I need some of your luck misses, everything is going so well for you.

Another mini goal completed for you. How amazing do you feel right now? I'm actually smiling for you :D

You next goal of 3 stone off by February will be a walk in park.

Such an inpiration, you really are.
 
Aww bless ya, I honestly feel amazing. Can't believe I've got my 2 stone and 2.5 stone awards on consecutive weeks - mental!

Think I'm going to have to increase that Feb goal a bit... I'll try upping it to 3.5 stone, don't want to make it unachieveable with xmas in the way. Also added a December goal to lose 7lbs, it'll be a bit of an ask with Prague and Christmas but I'll do my best.

Still haven't decided what I'm going to do at Christmas yet food wise. I absolutely love Christmas and while for me it's all about spending time with family and friends part of the enjoyment is having all those rich and yummy Christmas foods you just can't justify at other times of the year. Thinking at the minute that I'm going to let myself have xmas eve, xmas day and boxing day 'off' completely and eat and drink what I like. I'm never massively bothered about new year though so from the 27th I'm going to aim to go back to SW as normal. Can still just flexisyn the drinks on New Years eve! What's everyone else got planned?
 
Hello just subscribing here as I love your attitude and enjoy reading your posts!
 
Soph - Bless ya, I wouldn't exactly call my waist tiny but hopefully I'll stay in proportion as I trim down. Seriously don't want to loose the boobies either, lol, but if they go down a bit with the rest of me then that's cool. I'm guessing the reason I look slimmer is purely 'cos of the weight on my boobs, would much prefer it to be there than on my stomach or something so I guess I'm lucky. I seriously have big thighs though which these pictures don't seem to capture, though they've gone down a lot since I started SW.

Em - Thanks hun- just saw you started a diary - yey! Will go and subcribe in a minute! Good luck for your WI later!

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Had no idea really how WI would go this week after the whopper loss I had last Tuesday. Anyway the scale Gods were kind and I LOST 2lbs, bagging me my 2.5st award and Slimmer of the Month with an incredible 11lb loss in November, making it my best month so far!

I'm now only 3.5lbs off the 20's, would absolutely love to get there for my next WI in 2 weeks time, but with Prague on the horizon I really don't see that happening. I've still got 6 days before I go to try and lose as much as I can and then 3 days when I get back before WI, so out of 14 days I'll be food optimising for 9 of them. I just hope that's enough to at least maintain my current weight, though I'm not going to lie I'd love to come back to a nice loss! Only time will tell though and the main thing is that I enjoy my break. I know now that if I put on it's on the end of the world and I can get straight back on the SW wagon once I'm home. I was really worried before Lanzarote that I'd fall off track for good, now I know there's no way in hell that's happening!

Just updated my results on the SW site and seen my progress graph - It's still nice to see that line getting lower and lower each week! Not really holding much weight (pardon the pun!) to the predicted progress bar as it's been skewed by that mega loss last week, but it's nice to think someone believes I could be 17st7lbs by the 3rd of March - with Prague, xmas and Scotland before then I really don't think that'll happen! :D

<img src="http://www.minimins.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=114984"/>

Wow can't wait till I get a 2.5 stone award! That will feel great :) bet you're super happy! X
 
2.5st award wooohoooo!!! What a loss (considering ladt week's!!) amazing stuff :D half a stone off in 2 weeks- WOW!

I've been thinking about xmas too... I definitely want to get drunk amd have some nice nibbles but I wont just let myself have WHATEVER, I think maybe just controlled treats rather than multiple of each thing etc. I def want to have some drinks and be merry!!
Last year I lost over the 2 week period but it was my 2nd week of SW and I was sooo nervous to scre up. I think I will clue myself up on syns for certain things, minced pies are awful I seem to recall! But damn I love them...!
I'll probably be healthy for the meal, stick to meat and veg and maybe one pot and yorkie but not numerous, skip the pud then allow finger treats going around and drinks instead. Will probably all go out the window once I am drunk though!!
Last year I remember people crying about 8lb gains on here from just two days off and I think that has put me off being totally off plan :|
 
Gwella - Hi and welcome, glad you've enjoyed my little journal so far. Looks like you're doing great! :)

Intoxicate - Such an amazing feeling, really amazed as I only got my 2st award last week and normally it takes me 2-3 weeks to get the next one!

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Week 16, Day 1 - Red/Green - doesn't really change it!

Breakfast - Special K chewy delight (hexb), 2 x mini babybel (hexa), 2 x kiwi fruits
Lunch - onion bagel (11.5 syns) with salmon and dill philly (hexa) and tomatoes - 11.5 syns
Snack - Special K chewy delight (hexb), 1 sweet - 1 syn
Tea - Tuna sub - 20 syns
Total - 32.5 syns :eek:


If you've just seen the syn total for today let me explain. Today's one of those days where me and the SW plan don't really see eye to eye. Due to a change of plans thanks to getting my coursework done early, I didn't have my planned tea of stuffed red peppers, but went out to Subway instead. I could have had a salad but after making myself have them on several occasions when I really wanted something warm and hearty this week, I thought 'sod it' I want a sub instead. So I picked up a tuna sub because it was what I fancied.

When I worked out the calories for my food today it comes up at around 1200, so a low calorie day, anyway I just worked out the syns and it's a whopping 32 for the day, despite the low calorie total. Don't get me wrong I know on a long term basis having such a bread filled day isn't good for anyone, but as a one off I don't think it could be classed as going off the rails. Put it this way, a Bic Mac had 24.5 syns, so why the hell does a tuna salad subway have 20?!! It just seems bizarre as it only has 350 calories compared to 500 in a big mac! :rolleyes: Anyway, not going to let it annoy me too much. It's funny really as me and Soph were just talking about this in her diary the other day, how sometimes its better to have more syns rather than overdoing the 'free' food, especially stuff like pasta and potatoes.

I honestly love slimming world, it's a great diet. But the further I go on in my journey and the more I learn about weight loss I do question some elements of the plan. Essentially the reason SW works is due to lowering our calorie consumption so we use more than we eat and burn fat to make up that deficit. It doesn't really matter whether you eat 100 cals of syns or free food, the result will be the same weight loss wise - although obviously 100 cals of salad will be a lot bulkier and more filling than 100 cals of chocolate.

Anyway, despite my rant I can see why they do 'free' food as it makes it easier to know what you're 'allowed' and what you should limit, I just hate it on days like today when I've not done bad by any measure yet get a horribly high syns total!
 
2.5st award wooohoooo!!! What a loss (considering ladt week's!!) amazing stuff :D half a stone off in 2 weeks- WOW!

I've been thinking about xmas too... I definitely want to get drunk amd have some nice nibbles but I wont just let myself have WHATEVER, I think maybe just controlled treats rather than multiple of each thing etc. I def want to have some drinks and be merry!!
Last year I lost over the 2 week period but it was my 2nd week of SW and I was sooo nervous to scre up. I think I will clue myself up on syns for certain things, minced pies are awful I seem to recall! But damn I love them...!
I'll probably be healthy for the meal, stick to meat and veg and maybe one pot and yorkie but not numerous, skip the pud then allow finger treats going around and drinks instead. Will probably all go out the window once I am drunk though!!
Last year I remember people crying about 8lb gains on here from just two days off and I think that has put me off being totally off plan :|

Eek 8lb gains sound horrific from just a couple of days! I'm quite lucky the way it works out with my WI as I'll be going on xmas eve to group and then after boxing day on the Thursday will have 4 days to try and pull it back. I honestly wouldn't mind a slight gain over xmas, I think in a way it's inevitable for me if I'm being realistic, but I'd also like to be able to get it off straight away the week after. Something like 2-3lbs wouldn't be a problem, but 8lbs sure as hell would!! I'm definitely not going to go into binge mode, I just want to try some of the yummy xmas foods - stollen, mince pies, apple strudel, christmas cake, booze - to be fair I doubt I could even fit all that in with 3 days off plan around the big xmas meals! :rolleyes:

And yeah I'm dead chuffed about that 2lbs, I worked harder for it than I did the 5.5 last week for sure. That was the WI after * week though when I tend to lose the most. On the plus point, that big loss week should be due just before xmas, provided * week comes when it does!
 
350cal is less xalories than two 'free' mugshots... 20 syns- ha!

1200 cal is seriously low for someone with your BMR!

Glad we can see the flaws in the system and work around them. I guess a lot of people just dont think about things as much and get on with it and still have good results...

Just to bump up the scare factor of xmas- Cheekychinchilla on here.just said on her diary she gained a stone over xmas once- WHAT? Excuse me while I hibernate through the rest of the festive season LOL.
I think we can balance high cal treat xmas days with one or two v low cal days after to trick our metabolisms though... ;) soup days!
x
 
Bev, I love your rants about calorie intake, and comparing it to the SW plan, you really do put things into perspective. It obviously works for you, so just keep going with it. Bet you Sub was proper nice though eh? Mmmmm!!!

As for Christmas, I'm going to have Christmas Day, 29th Dec (My birthday) & NYE 'off plan' I won't really mind a gain, just aslong as it's not 8lbs, haha. I'm also weighing in before Christmas and before NYE as well! So not too bad.

Christmas is the season to be jolly, and that involves drink & offlimits stuff in my eyes :)
 
Just reading Soph's reply at the top of this page made me think about calorie intake. I know this might sound daft, so bear with me I'll explain, but I'm currently thinking I'm actually not eating enough calories. I've added up a rough estimate of calories I had in the last week:

Tue 26th - 1200
Mon 25th - 905
Sun 24th - 1180
Sat 23rd - 1460
Fri - 22nd - 1750
Thur - 21st - 940
Wed - 20th - 1300

Now compare that to my BMR reading (the basic calories I need for survival - to breathe, heart to beat etc) - 2139

So basically last week I didn't eat my BMR once, the closest I got to it was 1750 - still around 400 off! In fact on average last week my daily calorie intake was 1247 - around 900 calories BELOW the amount I need to stay alive doing absolutely nothing! Now at this point you might be thinking, yeah but so what? You're still losing weight, so what does it matter? Well i've read into it and if you consistently eat below your BMR your body can go into 'starvation mode' causing metabolism to drop and so losing weight takes longer. I don't want that to happen, I want to lose as much as I can each week while still staying physically healthy and eating a healthy diet.

Anyway at this stage I'm not going to do anything too drastic, I'm happy with my losses and I've already started trying to incorporate 'high' and 'low' days into my routine to keep my metabolism on its toes. On the 'high' days though I am going to aim to try and eat a bit more (if I feel like it, I'd never eat for the sake of it!) and try to reach my BMR on those days. From experience the weeks I have the really big losses (apart from being around certain times of my menstrual cycle) are generally the weeks I've had meals out and combined higher and lower days, so it's definitely an approach that's working for me so far.

If I'm honest I think last week was a particularly low calorie week as I was absolutely psyched after my mega loss and was pushing hard to get my 2.5 stone award. Now that's all done and I've got 2 weeks 'till my next WI I can try and relax a bit, although of course I'm determined to stay on plan. Tomorrow I'll aim for a high day as I'm off our for carvery in the evening which will make reaching the BMR a bit easier. Today though it's a yummy Green day as off out for lunch with my friend at a place they do yummy jacket potatoes, then in the evening I've got some stuffed peppers with my name on them!

Was going to reply to Emma and Soph but my friend Mel literally just rung me while writing this to arrange lunch (in an hour!) so really need to get a move on and get ready... will reply later when I get back xxx
 
I was kinda think that after you post your BMR to be honest... I guessnit is tricky considering you feel like you are eating enough though! :S maybe have some more meat+carb meals like spaghetti bolognase? I wouldnt worry too much about it as you are losing great (1/2 a stone in two weeks!!) but I definitely wouldnt be scared.to have some off plan meals out. Dont go too overboard in prague though ;)
Have you been feeling weak at all? If you are sometimes having half your BMR I wondernif that effects your energy?
If you are eating until full then surely if your body needed more it would be burning it faster and giving you tummy rumbles etc?
Worth experimenting more higher cal days I guess!
X
 
This is all really interesting - I might look into my calories and BMR too at some point, as I too get scared about the reduced metabolism issue. I don't want to have to be on a diet my whole life, even if SW is quite a sustainable plan! On the one hand big losses are great and will keep you going, on the other hand you don't want to overdo it and make it harder in the long run so it must be tricky to find the path.

When I first started I was doing mostly vegetarian Extra Easy and felt quite weak when going to the gym and so on; this got a lot better when I switched to some Green days and got my extra Hexes and that doesn't seem to have affected my losses at all. So agree with Tetris to keep an eye on it, especially with the history of glandular fever, though of course some tiredness is to be expected when our bodies are adapting to such massive changes.
 
Em - Yeah definitely think we've got lucky with the weigh day this year. Really hope any potential massive gain has gone down by the time we weigh in on NYE. Think we're pretty much doing a similar thing for Christmas then with 3 days 'off', like you say I don't mind a gain but 8lbs or so would mortify me!! To be honest I reckon even with the extra food we'll be having, compared to what we'd eat pre slimming world it'll still be a drop in the ocean. I don't think now after 4 months on the plan I could eat that much food again!

Soph - That's the thing I don't get, I've never really felt weak or anything despite the low calories compared to BMR. Don't get me wrong I'm hungry before my meals, but once I've eaten I'm generally fine 'till the next one and if I feel peckish I'll have a snack. A lot of the time lately I kind of force myself to have my hexA/B's just because I know nutritionally I need then rather than being genuinely hungry. Having said that, apparently lack of appetite is one of the symptoms of starvation mode!

The whole concept of 'starvation' seems ridiculous as its something I associate with people in developing countries who can't get enough food, not fat little old me who has access to a massively varied diet and is losing weight. The thing is, according to Slimming World, despite the low calories (and bar the syns yesterday), I've been doing everything 100% on plan... ARGHH! It's so bloody confusing! Having said that if I've pretty much consistently been eating under my BMR for 4 months now, surely that can't be good for me! Isn't this process a bloody minefield sometimes?! Part of me thinks I've lost 7.5lbs in 2 weeks so I should just carry on with what I'm doing, but I want to do this the right way and not mess my metabolism up along the way. Anyway, maybe in a way Prague has come at the right time, those higher calorie days could be just what I need right now to give my metabolism a boost for the next stage of my journey. I'm not going to lose control but a couple of meals out and the odd boozy night will definitely shake my metabolism up a bit for when I get back hopefully!

Gwella - I think you hit the nail on the head, the problem I'm having at the moment is finding the right balance between a steady weight loss, healthy calorie intake and healthy diet. On SW it's possible to have significantly lower calories than your BMR without realising it and in the long term this can't be good. At the same time I could also significantly eat over my BMR and not lose anything if I go the other way... it's just finding the right balance for me. At the end of the day these last few weeks have clearly worked, but last week at least I did feel like I was on a diet going for all those salads and things when I'd have prefered something else. In future I'm definitely going to listen to my body more, within reason anyway.

It's worth checking out your BMR, there are quite a few calculators online, pretty interesting when you see your results too!

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Well I'm just back from seeing my friend for lunch. Had a mahoosive jacket potato with cheese and beans, so much for 'starvation mode'! :p It's amazing how long it took to get across Sheffield in the middle of a day on a Wednesday, must have taken 45 minutes each way thanks to all the xmas shopping traffic at Meadowhall, pretty annoying!
Got back home to find my interview outfits from Simply Be had arrived. I ordered 3 and I'm really glad I did because 2 of them made me look like bleedin' Maggie Thatcher! In the end I settled on black trousers (24 fits great at the minute, so those 22's were very much a fluke) and a smart green blouse which looks great with a black cardigan. So interview gear now all sorted, at least I've got some things that fit so one less thing to worry about.

Really struggling for clothes to take to Prague at the minute. I'm fine with stuff in the day, but not so much when it comes to dressy things for on a night. I really hate clubbing and would much prefer to go to cosy bars, hopefully Mel will be cool with that. I can't imagine it being much fun trailing around the city in dressy clubbing gear when it's -4 degrees! No thanks!

Right, catching up on a few more diaries while I enjoy a hexb (gotta keep the starvation at bay!) then off to make my tea! Food today is looking like this:

Week 16, Day 2 - Green
Breakfast - Chewy Delight (hexb), muller, 2 x kiwi fruits
Lunch - Jacket potato with cheese (2 x hexa) and beans
Snack - Chewy delight (hexb), handful of tomatoes
Tea - Roasted red pepper stuffed with rice, herbs, tomatoes and cheese - 5 syns
Snack - Curly wurly - 6 syns
Total - 11 syns
Calorie Estimate - 1540 (bit better but nowhere near that BMR still!)
 
Decided last night that I need to chill out about things food wise. I think I'm making problems where none exist if you get me. I feel healthier and happier than I have in ages, so if something isn't broke, why fix it? I've lost 7lbs in 2 weeks ffs, why am I complaining?! I think last week I really did try to limit what I was eating as I really wanted the 2lb loss, and that's why I had such teeny calorie totals and felt a bit deprived. So aiming to go back to 'normal' slimming world yumminess today, which means no counting calories and sticking to syns. Yep, it's a flawed system, but it's one that helped me lost 2.5 stone in 4 months, so it does work. As I was saying in Emma's diary yesterday once I'm back from hols I'm going to move to weekly syns. Weekly syns will give me a bit more flexibility for meals out and stuff, especially with it approaching Christmas.

I'm just getting ready for my interview with Sky which is at 1 o'clock, after my 2 hour assessment planning on coming home and sorting out my phone for use abroad. It wouldn't work at all in Lanzarote so don't want the same problem in Prague.

Food wise I honestly don't know what's on the menu, might have to get something in town for lunch as I've only got an hour 'till I need to leave the house. Tea is going to be a yummy carvery though, honestly this is my favourite meal at the moment, I could eat it every day!
 
Decided last night that I need to chill out about things food wise. I think I'm making problems where none exist if you get me. I feel healthier and happier than I have in ages, so if something isn't broke, why fix it? I've lost 7lbs in 2 weeks ffs, why am I complaining?! I think last week I really did try to limit what I was eating as I really wanted the 2lb loss, and that's why I had such teeny calorie totals and felt a bit deprived. So aiming to go back to 'normal' slimming world yumminess today, which means no counting calories and sticking to syns. Yep, it's a flawed system, but it's one that helped me lost 2.5 stone in 4 months, so it does work. As I was saying in Emma's diary yesterday once I'm back from hols I'm going to move to weekly syns. Weekly syns will give me a bit more flexibility for meals out and stuff, especially with it approaching Christmas.

I'm just getting ready for my interview with Sky which is at 1 o'clock, after my 2 hour assessment planning on coming home and sorting out my phone for use abroad. It wouldn't work at all in Lanzarote so don't want the same problem in Prague.

Food wise I honestly don't know what's on the menu, might have to get something in town for lunch as I've only got an hour 'till I need to leave the house. Tea is going to be a yummy carvery though, honestly this is my favourite meal at the moment, I could eat it every day!

I feel like that. I feel like I can get obsessed with losing weight and ways to do it. I'm also becoming a serial weigher which is never good! X
 
I don't have the serial weigher problem as we don't own scales, but I've definitely been learning so much about nutrition lately that it's making me start to question the SW plan. At the end of the day if I have any issues further down the line I can always shake things up a bit then. I sometimes have a tendency to get caught up in the day to day details without seeing the big picture i.e how much I've lost so far! x
 
As you say honey... if it isn't broken don't fix it..... just enjoy the journey x
 
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