Katie Cupcake's attempt at slimming down!

[KatieCupcake]

Hey Katie!
Thought I'd check out your diary Congratulations on your losses so far!


I'm really struggling with the lack of exercise at the moment. I used to run, swim, do karate, walk for miles, etc every week and I've barely even been able to walk the dogs this last year. It's really horrible isn't it? Esp when you used to be so active. Really struggling socially as well Finding it difficult to plan stuff around being back at work (was off for almost 8 months) and seeing my friends. I can't seem to do last minute things any more because I have to plan and space things out. Really sucks
How do you cope with everything?xx

Hi hun! Thanks for reading sounds like we're in quite similar situations. You've had health probs haven't you? Do you have a diagnosis yet? Yeah I have to cut down on my plans a lot, and don't exercise or skate anymore. It sucks! But luckily I'm managing to still work full time at the mo...just, albeit with too much time off sick. Luckily they're supportive thank god xxx

 

[Bev1963]

Morning world - 1.5lb off today great start to the day! Today's food: Breakfast: All bran (HEXB1) and a banana Lunch: Light Philly (half HEXA2) sandwich (HEXB2 bread) with salad, alpen light, 10 almonds, clementine, pear, plum. Tea: I'm eating out tonight as I'm going to a "residents meeting" with the people from the building I live in to discuss some issues, but I've checked out the menu and they have a nice looking salad. I'll syn about 4 syns for any dressing. I will probably also have 2 small glasses of wine, so that will be my days' syns.

Well done on the weight loss, you seem well on track

 

[Maverick]

Don't stress about one meal off plan, just be super good the rest of the week and u might surprise yourself!

Am sure the stomach pains etc are just because ur body isn't used to it any more, hope u feel better this morning xx

Sent from my iPhone using MiniMins

 

[cheekychinchilla]

Hi hun! Thanks for reading sounds like we're in quite similar situations. You've had health probs haven't you? Do you have a diagnosis yet? Yeah I have to cut down on my plans a lot, and don't exercise or skate anymore. It sucks! But luckily I'm managing to still work full time at the mo...just, albeit with too much time off sick. Luckily they're supportive thank god xxx

Hey!
Yeah have been investigated for just under a year now. Still no diagnosis! Waiting to be referred to the M.E/CFS people as well as waiting on results for some scary enochrine stuff (unlikely tho!)
I only work part time anyway as I suffer with depression and anxiety and am also a part time carer for my Mum. Big mix of reasons really, but that's the easiest way to describe it lol. Thing is, my job is incredibly physically and mentally exhausting and when I was first struggling with the symptoms I could barely leave the house and spent weeks being unable to drive, so just couldn't do it. Bit got used to them - like you do
It sucks having to cut down on so much stuff that I feel makes me "me"! I've not really figured it out yet and I am struggling a bit with this How did you get round getting used to the new you?
Sorry, these are quite personal questions. Just tell me to get lost Just don't know anyone else with M.E or anything like it.

I'm very glad your work are being supportive. Mine are and aren't, it's rather frustrating!!

Try not to worry too much about the meal off plan. Pizza is my nemesis! unless it's Christmas, then its mince pies Just think of it as a flexi-syn day and carry on. You never know

Oh and when I first started SW (many moons a go!!) when I had something greasy or fatty I really paid for it! Like Maverick said, our bodies sort of go "Argh! What is THIS?!" xx

 

[KatieCupcake]

Today's food:

Breakfast: HEXB all bran, a pear and a toffee WW yogurt

Lunch: SW quiche (half HEXA cheese) with salad that includes onions, grated carrot and beetroot - yum! HEXB alpen light and 10 almonds, a clementine and a plum.

Tea: Some sort of pasta with homemade tomato and veg sauce and my other half HEXA cheese.

Syn: 1 for a tsp of honey (made honey & lemon for my sore throat!) Trying to keep syns to 7 a day or less until WI on Thursday due to Saturday night's epic syn allowance!!

 

[KatieCupcake]

It sucks having to cut down on so much stuff that I feel makes me "me"! I've not really figured it out yet and I am struggling a bit with this How did you get round getting used to the new you?
Sorry, these are quite personal questions. Just tell me to get lost Just don't know anyone else with M.E or anything like it.

Don't worry, I'm happy to answer them! I've only had my ME diagnosed for about 4 months so I asked people loads of questions; any information helps! I'm lucky to work with a girl who's had a similar experience who pushed me to get tests done and get a diagnosis etc. If it wasn't for her, I'd probably still not know I had it. Looking back I've had symptoms for over a decade but it just got worse last summer. You only really get a diagnosis after every test under the sun to rule other things out lol! I've had MRIs, CT scans, blood tests, urine tests, the lot. I've had my first ME clinic appt - bear in mind the first one is mainly them just taking info so don't get your hopes up too much. After that they will be more practical and helpful.

It was a massive adjustment for me because I was part of a roller derby team and trained for up to 8 hours a week. I've had to give that up entirely as my body can't really cope with exercise (apart from walking and gentle swimming for a small amount of time). At first you fight it and still try and do as much as you can, which inevitably leads to a crash and worse symptoms for a bit! You just have to accept that you will have to take things easier and spread plans out (i.e. if I have weekend plans, I'd keep fri night and sunday free and only do something on the saturday). You will need a lot of rest.

They remind you too that the fatigue is not just from physical activities but also mental - believe it or not even TV and reading! So you should have at least 30 mins of genuine rest a day (meditation, guided relaxation, gentle yoga) to restore your batteries. If you have any specific questions just let me know, and I'll try my best to help xx

 

[cheekychinchilla]

Thank you for your reply Katie!
I have a similar story too, I was talking to friends in work (all vet staff lol) and a few people had been diagnosed with thyroid problems and they talked me in to going. I have a MASSIVE vein/artery phobia, so it was a massive thing to make myself do. My GP is amazing and he gave me a load of diazepam to take for the tests lol. Doesn't take it away, but chills you out so much you barely care. Amazing stuff
But, it wasn't my thyroid I've had 2 MRI's, x-rays, ecg/24hr ecg, neck and abdomen ultrasound (found gall stones lol), many many many blood tests, and most recently I was in hospital for 5 days to have a glucose tolerance test and a 72hr fast and they wouldn't let me take diazepam!!! I haven't had the results from the hospital stay yet, but everything else was fine.
They do think I had thyroiditis over about 6months last year, but can only see evidence in the blood tests and missed it at the time!! But yeah, apart from that no one knows yet.
I kinda guessed the first ME appointment would be just a consultation and a bit of a chat really. I know there's not an awful lot they can do for it either is there? Just like pain management and coping strategies and things?

My biggest thing is my job. I've kept my lowly 19hrs, but have had them spread over more days to try and help me out. So I do 3 or 4hrs shifts per day. My big issue is my weekend shifts as I can't do anything about those and I work 21hrs over the two days when I do a weekend and I do them 1 in 3 weeks. I just completed my first one and I am seriously paying for it, but I got through it I feel like I've been hit by a truck tho! I haven't had this big hit of all over pain for a while and I'd forgotten how bad it was I even took painkillers yesterday, which I try to avoid as much as possible!

The friends/socialising thing is hard. And yeah I'm already doing that thing where if I know I have plans one day I will make sure I haven't the days either side. It sucks doesn't it?! One of my friends has been fantastic, but it's difficult with the others at the moment. They don't seem to realise that I struggle with last minute plans and need to plan my weeks out! Never mind food and SW too!! Lol
I'm thinking of going back to swimming too. I drive now, which I didn't do when I used to swim in the past, so I could stop at a pool on the way home from a short shift at work or something I LOVE swimming and I think it'd be great for my muscles and crappy joints. I miss all the other stuff though. I can't imagine how hard it must have been to have to give up Roller Derby

God yes, everything tires me out!! And the mental/emotional stress from work almost feels worse than the crazy physical stuff. And when my depression or anxiety is bad it seriously wipes me out!

Oh man, we're just broken aren't we?! LOL! Thank you for sharing and I'm really looking forward to following your diary and hopefully getting to know you too

Hope you have a really good week.xxx

 

[KatieCupcake]

Morning all! Had a sore throat for the last week and a half - wish it would do one! Food for today:

Breakfast: 2 slices of HEXB toast with marg (1.5 syns) and marmite, fresh pineapple and a WW yogurt. Honey and lemon for my throat (1 syn for honey).

Lunch: Small jacket potato with WW beans and 1/2 HEXA cheese, with a nice salad, a pear, 2 HEXB alpen lights and a plum.

Tea: I'm going to make a quorn spaghetti bolognese and use my other half HEXA cheese on top.

CONFESSION TIME: Last night did not go well... it's almost TOTM which makes me crave chocolate like crazy. I've tried all the slimming world cake ideas etc but they don't work and sometimes only chocolate will do. Well last night I ended up eating half a Hotel Chocolat bar (from xmas) and 4 Fox's choc biscuits!! I never normally even eat biscuits.... bloody hormones lol! I worked out the syns (after...) and it was about 25 for the day :cry: No doubt I will gain at WI on Thursday anyway with it being a couple of days before I'm due on (that's what happened last month). Oh well, I can only try and save it in the next few days lol!

UPDATE: Had some fruit and WW yogurt (free) and a 2 syn hot choc in the evening.

 

[cheekychinchilla]

Urgh stupid cravings I don't eat biscuits very often, but when I do there is no hope for me!! My Mum's a bugger for biscuits as well so they're always here!
I try to help myself out and buy the multipacks of Animal Biscuits or the different mini chocolate fingers. 5 syns a bag and you get a fair few in there. Helps me a bit anyway

Good luck for WI and you never know. But one week isn't the end of the world and get evil TOTM out of the way too xx

 

[KatieCupcake]

I know - I literally can't remember the last time I bought biscuits - I think it was last August when we had people staying in our flat when we got married, and before that, probably years! But they were sitting there, and I thought, oh maybe I'll just have one, it's better than having chocolate. Then when hubby came off his game on the computer I was like "I eated all the biscuits..." with a sad face, lol!! Stupid TOTM, it's like you lose control and the hormones take over. I don't suffer too much generally apart from one or two days around a week before, when I'm super angry and grumpy (I'm nice the rest of the time honest!) And the usual weight gain and bloating, but at least the "gain" isn't real as such.

Anyway, been good so far today and hopefully it will continue tonight!

Chinchilla (you must tell me your real name lol!): I'm gonna sit down and look at finances and have a proper chat with the hubby tonight, as I'm thinking of maybe reducing my hours... although I'm scared to financially! When and how did you make the decision; and did you find it helped your health at all doing less hours? xx

 

[cheekychinchilla]

Haha I'm Kelly I've spent years answering to Cheeky tho lol!

I've never worked full time. About 10 years ago I was working part time and my anxiety and depression hit rock bottom and I couldn't work. Then my boyfriend left and 6 months later my Dad died. So I was out of work maybe 7yrs. When I took the job I have now it was because it was part time (19hrs). I had the chance to up it to full time last year but I didn't feel ready to take it - good job really seen as I ended up off sick for almost 8 months!!
I'm lucky, in a way, that I still live at home with my Mum and she is incredibly supportive. I give her a little money each month, I look after the house mostly, I'm basically a part time carer for her (although she still works full time), and my bills are relatively low. So I'm ok on part time hours and I also get disability working tax credits because I was out of work for so long due to illness. So, I am pretty lucky that I can work part time. If it wasn't for my Mum I couldn't. If I were to meet someone I would have to explain that it is very unlikely I'd ever be able to work full time now - which will be an interesting conversation!

My Dr thinks what may have sparked the ME (if I do have that) was a depression crisis last year. I'd had a hell of a time in the 6 months leading up to it and I think I just broke After that I went to the Arctic for 10 days, like you do , and really struggled for about 2 months until I seemed to hit the point of no return and I was signed off work sick

Good luck with the chat tonight. Financial stuff is scary, but it's surprising how quickly you learn to cope with a little less coming in What is it you do?x

 

[KatieCupcake]

Well hi Kelly! Lol. Gosh you had a rough time didn't you? That must have all been really hard but it sounds like you've come through the other side and have learnt a lot. How's your depression and anxiety these days?

We had the chat last night and my hubby was super-supportive as always (I'm v lucky, he's an amazing man). Basically I could go to 4.5 days relatively easily (but I don't know if that would be enough to help, and improve my health). It would be much more of a financial struggle to drop to 4 days, but would probably be more valuable health wise. Tough call. Plus you can only apply to change your hours once a year so I need to make the right decision now. I'm going to talk to my mum about it, as she's always really helpful and gives the best advice

So today's food:

Breakfast: A WW yogurt, half a banana (the other half had gone black and mushy, yuck!) and a HiFi Deluxe, all eaten in the dark as the electricity went off this morning in our building!

Lunch: I'm going out for lunch with the girls from work. We're going to a hotel next door which I've never been to before but think I'll have one of the salads (a feta one or a BNS one).

Tea: Probably an omelette and salad.

I'll keep you updated.

 

[cheekychinchilla]

Hey!
Aww I'm glad you have a lovely man Must make things so much easier?! I need to find me one of them

Hehe rough is one way of describing it, yeah lol! My mental health over the last year has been horrific! For a while last year I couldn't stand to look at myself and cringed if I touched myself or if someone tried to hug me I was so fed up of all the tests I was having and being prodded and poked. Plus, with the stupid blood vessel phobia it hit me VERY hard with the endless amounts of blood tests! And just to top it off I'd started dating someone just as I got sick, so I'm sure you can imagine how that went not wanting to be looked at or touched
I feel a bit better about myself now and really proud that I've gone back to work and I'm trying to get my life back on track

Aye, I'm not sure 4.5 days would make much difference to you health wise really. I have crazy work patterns, but on a regular week I now do four 4hr days and one 3hr day in the middle. Not been doing it long enough to see whether it's any better than the 2.5 full time days I was doing tho.
It's the weekend's that are the issue though, they really are.
I think talking to your Mum is a great idea. My Mum's fantastic too, she really is

Good luck with lunch today. It's hard work eating out on plan as a veggie isn't it?!! It's all cheese and breadcrumbs! xx

 

[KatieCupcake]

So for lunch I picked the butternut squash salad. It was nice but the squash didn't have much flavour. Think they should've roasted it in garlic or herbs or something. It had some sundried tomatoes too (yum!) so I've synned them.

Change of plan on the tea front. I'm super tired and my ME isn't great today. I had an A and B left to use so had beans on toast with cheese, followed by pineapple and mango. Was still a bit hungry when hubby made his tea so u had a little bit of that (a veg stirfy with rice).

Syns:

Sundried tomatoes: 4
sprinkle of seeds: 1
oil in hubby's tea: 2
total: 7

that'll probably be it for today as I can feel sleep calling me already!!

 

[KatieCupcake]

Morning minis! Is it the weekend yet? Had WI this morning.... not a great result, but entirely expected. Put on 1.5lb. I had that bad pizza night Saturday and the choc/biscuits on Monday plus it's almost TOTM so couldn't expect anything else really! I always, always, seem to gain weight just before TOTM. Anyone else the same?

Today's food:

Breakfast: HEXB porridge oats with Activia 0% yogurt (they're yummy, nice and thick!), with half a banana (other half gone mushy!), blueberries, raspberries and blackberries.

Lunch: SW quiche with salad (inc beetroot yum), and HEXB alpen light/10 almonds, a pear and a clementine through the day.

Tea: Think I'll have that omelette (inc. HEXA cheese) and salad I didn't end up having last night! No planned syns but we'll see how it goes.

I need to have a think about how I'm doing SW because it's been almost 2 months now and overall I haven't really lost any weight since the day I started (I'm about 1lb down net!!) Is it that I'm not doing it quite right, that I can't exercise and M.E. is making it slower, or does it just not work for me? I want it to work as I love the plan! Hmmm...

 

[cheekychinchilla]

Hey dude!
Sorry about the gain
I'm the last person to give you advice on losses and stuff as my losses crawled to a complete stop and then started gaining for absolutely no reason - even before I went a bit off plan It's one of the many symptoms I saw my DR with because I worked out that at the time my losses were averaging 0.5lb a MONTH following SW to the letter!

I know plenty of people who don't exercise whilst doing SW. To be really honest, exercise doesn't do an awful lot to aid weight loss, it's great for overall fitness and muscle tone and stuff, but as a 'tool' for weightloss you would have to do a LOT for it to have much of an effect, so I wouldn't worry about that side of it too much

I really can't see anything wrong with your food diaries. Maybe it just needs a little time to get going?

Are you gaining or STS after a bad day in the week and esp around totm. Are you getting any good losses on particular weeks? Can you see maybe a pattern if you have a look through your diary?
Oh and are you actually having some syns every day? xx

 

[KatieCupcake]

I don't know Kelly - I mean I know this week's gain was likely the pizza and TOTM but I've been doing SW for 2 months now and have a net loss overall of 1lb!! Yeah I do use my syns - not always all 15 but I use some every day. Unfortunately for me, exercise did used to make loads of difference. I didn't really have to watch what I ate because doing so much derby training burned lots of calories

As I'm enjoying the food and it fits into my lifestyle, I'm going to keep giving it a go, but if the pattern doesn't change after another few months, it seems pointless to keep paying to go to group.

Today's food:

Breakfast: HEXB porridge oats with Activia 0% yogurt, banana, blueberries and raspberries.

Lunch: Baked potato with lentil dahl and HEXA feta, grapes, apple, clementine and HEXB HiFi Deluxe (trying the choc orange for the first time; hope they're as nice as the mint!)

Tea: Undecided... I'll update you!

 

[Maverick]

Hey Katie, sorry about the gain. SW can be rough when you go to group and find everyone has lost loads of weight and you are struggling... I've been on it since October and lost 11lb. I've got 3lb to lose in 6 weeks and I'm doubting if I'll even manage that. It's supposed to be so easy but it's not!!

Anyway, it's nearly the weekend now, hope you have a good one xx

 

[cheekychinchilla]

Would you consider going it alone now that you have support on here and you more than know the plan now? Saves you a fiver a week doesn't it?
I can only sympathise with the no losses because I totally plateau'd and didn't lose for months and months. But I did steadily lose at first, just slower than most. But then I did weigh over 15.5 stone And you, erm, don't

I don't really know what advice to give What I meant about the exercise was don't stress too much about the exercise you could do now. I mean, it's horrible, but you can't do what you used to - I hate myself for saying that. And most regular people don't exercise as much as you used to and expect to lose tonnes of weight for their 2 30min gentle gym sessions! Lol I'm rambling now, hope you know what I mean.xx

 

[KatieCupcake]

Lol yep I know what you mean I'll considering going it alone in a few months maybe... at the moment I think I need the incentive of having to "report in" to someone; it keeps me trying to be stricter. Though if I do reduce my hours I'd probably have to, to save money. I'll see how it goes!

Food over the weekend was okay - went out for lunch on Saturday and I had a couscous and BNS salad which was quite tasty. Had on plan burgers for tea but had a glass of wine and a bottle of lager which with ketchup, mayo and any oil that might have been on my salad, took me slightly over the day's syns.

Sunday was fine - pretty much on plan although I did have some not-planned-for chocolate (blooming TOTM!!)