at the first mention of it!
) but alot of the obsessing and emotiveness has gone. And I think I have also discovered that the number of the scales aren't really that important overall. I weigh 1/2 a stone more than this time last year but all my clothes still fit, I don't think I actually *look* that different and am probably the fittest I have ever been.
Hey MW, as you've read no doubt myself and LB have been having an ongoing discussion about things like this in general over on the JUDDD board, I have done so many different things this year I have forgotten what normal eating is! My Oh will no longer discuss dieting or eating plan and does this instead
Deep down I know that my overall approach to nutrition has to change, this is one of the key reasons I became increasingly uncomfy with JUDDD as I felt I was ignoring my nutritional needs 3 or 4 days of the week and of course I ended up in a bit of a mess over it all health wise. A while back I got totally hacked off with the whole thing and went in a complete huff for a few weeks, because as I said at the time 90% of the time I eat very healthy well balanced home cooked meals, my portions are under control and I have all but cut out take aways and junk food in the last 5 months, my diet is probably better now than it ever was, but why am I only 7lbs lighter than I was at the start of the year, despite 240 odd days of being on some eating plan or another with minimal amounts of time off?
Like you I remain at a bit of a loss over it all and I feel I've spent far too much of this year dealing with it/thinking about it, it's a bloomin hobby now, so please post up your TDEE findings for us who are having the same issues xxxx
Yep, sounds like you've pretty much understood the principle. I am really deliberated for a long time about the reset but am really happy i did it. Despite the fact that I have probably gained about 6lbs over the 9/10 weeks i did the reset I feel generally happier in myself. I've had very similar experiences over the last year or so as you and despite plodding on for a year or so of being on plan and not really getting any results I had begun to feel a distinct sense of despair creeping in. Food and weight were so emotive to me that they pretty much dictated my day, my week etc so I can very much relate to what you said about feeling it was actually veering towards actual depression. I suspect several of us can relate to that. I think one of the most hugely positive changes since the reset has been in my mood and in my additude towards food and weight. I feel comparatively relaxed about the whole thing and feel like I can concentrate on food as fuel to do good things for my body (enjoyable fuel of course
Seeing the scales go up is scary at first, I won't lie to you. And so is the very beginning feeling really full and bloated but it does pass quickly and then you start to enjoy having so much more energy than you are used to. What several people suggest it trying to add in some weight training while you do the reset. This gives you something tangible to aim for rather than the numbers on the scales as you see the weights increasing, but it also means that some of the weight gain will be muscle rather than just fat.
We all know people who seemingly eat whatever they want, are in the healthy weights range and have never dieted. I wonder if that is precisely because they have never dieted and therefore never screwed up their metabolism? And their brain I will add. The psychological kick I used to get from fasting was so close to eating disorder territory looking back it rather scares me.
I seem to have rambled rather alot so I will summarise: I am really glad I did the reset. Make sure you are fully committed before starting because the first few weeks are the hardest but there are definitely benefits psychologically and energy wise if you can stick it out.
What have you worked out your TDEE as? Some people gradually work up to it over a few weeks, I ended up having 2 days eating about 500 calories below it, then a week at about 250 below and then jumped straight in. You get used to eating that much pretty quickly
Really pleased you have decided to go for it
Its a lovely feeling when the restrictions come off isn't it? I kind of rediscovered so many things that I had avoided cooking or eating for ages due to the calories - such as stew and dumplings! Its great - I have cooked the stew in beer, have dumplings with it and am having both potatoes and roast parnsips with it as well as other veg. It only comes in at 700 calories but I would never have "spent" that much on a dinner before.
But it went very well with some cheese and a mixed fruit cider...
Good luck
Yeah I like you here!! Stay with us
Hope you enjoyed the film last night, moonwatcher. We watched lake placid 3, which as you can imagine was a piece of cinematic mastery
The hand weights are definitely a good start with the weights but there are also lots of "body weight" exercises you can do which work in the same way - press ups, dips etc etc. There's variations on all of them so it would be about getting comfortable with one of the variations and then moving up to the next variation rather than increasing weight.
The feeling bloated is quite normal in the early stages I am afraid. It seems to vary how long that lasts for, I think I was quite lucky in that it only lasted about 4/5 days and then I had the next stage to endure - being ravenously hungry every 2.5 hours irrespective of how much i had eaten. At this stage I was sorely tempted to nibble on colleagues and cats if there weren't appropriate snacks around! But it did show me that my metabolism was "waking up".
Sounds like you have a really good plan with the food and the exercise. Main thing - just enjoy it! After years of restricting yourself it feels like the world of food as opened up again
Great you made a decision anyway hopefully it will help you in the long run. Find this very interesting my sister has a similary problem in that she can do really well on ww or any diet for that matter and not lose anything or very little she did have an eating disorder years ago for about a year and lost about 6 stone with it so we were saying that that prob didnt do good for her body. Must pass this info onto her for her to research it might do her good and she gets so disheartened when the rest of us are losing weight and she does better than any of us and doesnt lose anything.
Glad you are going to be keeping up your diary here will be following it with interest
And that The Hunger seems to have struck you! Has it been evident today? My stomach was so noisey and insistent about being fed after the first 3 or 4 days of the reset it got named the Hungry Pink Bear. As it felt very much like my metabolism was coming out of a long hibernation. That stage didn't last more than a week though and things are what I would consider "normal" now. I can get away with just 3 meals a day now and not feel like I am going to start chewing my own arm if a meal is a bit late now. When I was in the grips of The Hunger I kept a bag of nuts and a banana on my person at all times to prevent ABH being committed, and tended to plan my calories around 3 smaller meals and at least 2 fairly substantial snacks.
A delicious sounding weekend there. Glad to see you are putting your calories to good use
And you won't have gained 1/5 a stone. I promise. There is a bit of a quick gain at first but in some ways that shows that you need to do this - if your body gains on maintenance calories then it shows that your metabolsim is suppressed. That can be reassuring when confronting the scales to begin with. But alot of the initial gain is water weights and your glycogen stores being restored to where they should have been.
I know where you are coming from with recording calories over 2000 on here. I felt really wierd about it at first too and was just going to list the food but people encouraged me to list the calories too as they were interested in the process. It will be really nice having someone on here eating as much as me! I was *forced* to have an amaretto cofee and a wispa last night as I was over 400 calories below target. It will be nice having someone else to share such traumas with!
