Total Solution Rea's Radical New Routine

[Rea Cat]

Gym last night; just 20min bike and 20m cross trainer.

Breakfast:
Tried the butterscotch delight. Very passable. Not as nice as the strawberry, in my opinion, but I'd definitely enjoy it again. Left breakfast til about lunchtime because I wasn't that hungry. But at least I can have something later in the evening. Weekends are always so easy compared to the week.

Lunch:
Toffee caramel shake. Realised I'd only had one bottle of water by 5pm and panicked and had a shake even though I wasn't that hungry. Made it with loads of extra water and a full tray of ice cubes.

Tea:
I want junk. I feel miserable because I want junk. I don't think I've been this miserable the whole diet. I want pizza, or a McDonald's, or Chinese. I don't think I've ever been this long without pizza in my entire adult life. Genuinely considering whether to just knock myself out of ketosis; one night can't do that much damage. I didn't suffer when it kicked in like some people do. I'm aware that makes me very lucky and I shouldn't abuse it, but I want it SO BADLY.

Just did it, in the end. Had half a small dominos pizza (thin crust) with low fat cheese rather than full fat. Probably about 60g carbs according to myfitnesspal and about 700 calories. I feel dead weird - If satisfied - after it. Went all hot and light headed, and I still feel a bit fuzzy in the brain. I just needed it. Oh well.

Day 37 Verdict:
Don't feel guilty. Will go to the gym when it quiets down a bit an work really hard to compensate. Tomorrow might be difficult with the ketosis thing but I'll cross my fingers and see how I get on.

 

[Rea Cat]

Went the gym; 25 min cycle, 25 min cross train, 24 min walk.

know I said I wasn't weighing myself til the boy came home, but with choosing to have a pizza yesterday I weighed myself before hand, and I weighed myself this morning. 1.3kg. It's been described as the whoosh effect (worth a read) and I think between that and the massive workout I punished myself with last night (I say punished because I can still feel it in my muscles this morning) I've done okay.

Decided to have one day off completely today; I'm also not going to bother trying to get back into ketosis until the end of the week. I've got post-voting Chinese on Thursday which would knock me out of it again, so I don't really see the point. Just going to calorie count - also using exante products - this week and see how I get on.

Breakfast:
1.5l water. Planning a McDonald's at some point so decided to just fill up with water in the interim.

Lunch:
Massive ass McDonald's with all the carbs. ALL THE CARBS. Had a quarter pounder meal with Diet Coke and extra onion on the burger. I was just in food heaven. FOOD HEAVEN. IVE MISSED FOOD!!!

Tea:
1.5l of water and a 35minute cycle, followed by a 20min cross train. Worked hard. Burnt 500 calories. Calorie count seems lower since I re-calibrated my watch (though it just took me 3 minutes to remember the word calibrated) but then again I have lost 16.4kg in total right now, because I hopped on the scales when I got back from the gym too, prepared for the worst, and it now says 128.1kg. That's 2.2kg from THIS MORNINF. Went and hopped on my other scales because I didn't quite believe it and they read exactly the same. WINNER.

Day 38 Verdict:
Maybe ketosis isn't for me. Maybe I need to do this my way, and redefine what I'm doing. Exante can be a great tool - its calorie and portion control for me. I haven't been hungry even though I've only had one meal today. Especially while my weight is so high, maybe I need to just work this out for myself USING but not FOLLOWING exante, and then drop to flexi, then man plan, then TS once it slows down from doing it my own way. I just can't make up my mind what's best at the moment.

 

[Les]

Exante is hard. I thi k u do crave food . 4 pkts a day is good but why dont u try two and an evening meal.
If you like low carb look at diet doctor it's a good one. I might do this when I get home with my hubby. It's expensive to start off with but once u have everything it's good. U make your own pizza and they are great . Take a look on the site and have a look at the low carb recipies
Well done on keeping up on your exercise. Take care les x

 

[Rea Cat]

Thanks Les. I'm not sure it's so much 'keeping up with my exercise' as 'exercising compulsively to compensate for what I'm eating'. Either way it seems to be working.

I think I've just decided to do my own thing; I'd rather keep up my diary here, because I like it here, but I'll only be using exante how it suits me, for now. There's no point keeping to low carb if it's not benefiting me and my weight right now, so I won't be doing man plan or flexi. Most likely it'll be a version of 5:2, I think.

That said, at the moment, when I've just woken up, I do feel like following an exante day today. Not sure if I'll want to gym tonight - I'm a little saddle sore from yesterday and the day before - so it feels safer to keep to exante til this evening when I'll decide if I want food and exercise or whether to just have my third pack and rest.

Breakfast:
Toffee caramel shake. I'm really starting to like these.

Lunch:
Cookies and cream bar. Every one of these I eat I feel more uneasy that I can't order more. Why oh why didn't I get a box of 50?!

Tea:
Two stand and stuff tacos with sour cream, salsa and cheese.

Day 39 Verdict:
Very nearly followed exante all day. Got home and just wanted something solid. So much so that I went back out especially to buy mince. Anyone who knows me knows that's a big deal because I'm lazy. Probably won't bother with the gym tonight either; might dance about a bit if I have the energy, but it's bed sheet change and hair wash night seems the boy is back tomorrow (yay, feels like forever) so we'll see how I get on.

 

[Rea Cat]

Tried everything to get rid of this roaring headache I've got last night. Are a bag of rice snacks, then a cheese toastie. Still got the headache this morning. This just won't do. Grr. New day, today, anyway. Back on plan, as far as my plan goes (for the record my 'non-plan' does NOT include snacks and toasties- that was a blip).

Breakfast:
Toffee caramel shake.

Lunch:
I went the chippy. I know, I'm a horror. Had sausage and chips. In my defense, I asked the woman to only put a third of a portion of chips in the tray. She looked at me like I was a bit mad (and tried to offer me more than the one scoop) but i stuck to my guns. So really it was just a handful of chips and a sausage, not a full sausage dinner.

Tea:
Made the chocolate shake into cupcakes. Ate two of the five. Tummy feels a bit 'bleugh'. The chips earlier perhaps? Who knows. Tomorrow is an all exante day.

Day 40 Verdict:
Tired. Need to give up carbs again for energy Levels. The carb cosh is back. Much as I love them, I also like energy.

 

[Rea Cat]

Breakfast:
Toffee caramel shake.

Lunch:
Subway sandwich.

Tea:
Four vol au vents and some scampi.

Day 41 Verdict:
Fully intended to not have any tea today but the boy got back from turkey yesterday and came round tonight. Poor thing has been eating 5 course meals at the buffet every meal (he has an appetite like nobody I've ever known) and by the time we'd settled down to watch tv he was peckish, so I went and had a root in the freezer. I think it says something about this diet that all I have in the house that isn't lean meat and is cookable from frozen was a bag of scampi and some frozen vol au vents that I bought for him about 6 months ago when he complained that he'd been to two wakes in one week and there were no vol au vents at either of them.

My favourite quote being 'amazing. We have vol au vents and nobody had to die.'

 

[Rea Cat]

Breakfast:
No breakfast. I know what's coming.

Lunch:
Half a double chocolate bar to keep me going.

Tea:
ALL THE CHINESE IN THE WORLD.


Day 42 Verdict:
I feel I need say no more. I also feel I need the gym but I'm too full. Bleurgh. Worth it. Going to water fast tomorrow and possibly Saturday and then see what I can do with a week of TS.

 

[Rea Cat]

Breakfast:
1l water.

Lunch:
1 l water

Tea:
1/2 punnet of cherries.


Day 43 Verdict:
The boy is bad for me. I had a whole day of water fasting and I felt absolutely fine. Then he came and we shared some cherries.

 

[Freefall]

I have been away so not been able to log in, you still seem to be getting there in your own unique way. Chinese sounded great, hope weekend is going well. Been off plan but high protein life keeps getting in the way.

 

[Rea Cat]

Know how you feel, Freefall. I've had a week off and put half a stone back on. So easily done. Restart today.


Breakfast:
Toffee caramel shake. I usually like this but I think I added too much water today. Really bland.

Lunch:
Cookies and cream bar from my new batch. The new batch tastes different - more moist and a little more artificially sweet. Still my fave though.

Tea:
.chocolate delight. The only good thing I can say about this is that at least you can swallow it down without chewing or retching (unlike others I could mention). Not good. Will eat but will no way reorder. Also had a babybel as I do plan on going to the gym later.


Restart day 1:
Back on TS for a while. Need to have some discipline and I've not been good at that lately so TS will help that. That said already got a meal out at the steak place planned with the boy on weds. But I can't see that hurting compared to what I've been having lately.

 

[Freefall]

Onwards and downwards, at least 4lbs will be food and associated water in your system. I am avoiding the scales for a week, I do not feel like I have put much back on but I know the scales will tell me otherwise. Have a good workout tonight.

 

[Freefall]

Hope all is ok.

 

[theslimming_bride]

Hello! As a newbie I have really enjoyed reading through your diary and think there's a lot of similarities to the struggles you're having and the ones I may face. Wishing you lots of luck on your journey!

 

[Whimsical Daisy]

Hi Rea, just read through your diary and you are very entertaining and the info on the exante meals is great, so thanks for that.

I'm hoping you'll be back to update soon. Good luck!

 

[Rea Cat]

So...it's been a ride. Good and bad.

To date, I've lost around 7 stone with exante. I maintained for a month in summer (to see if i could), I went on holiday for a fortnight and ate my bodyweight in carbs, and best of all (not) my partner left me for a haggard old ginger bint who runs marathons. So let's say there was a lot of emotional eating/binging/verging on being the world's fattest bulimic for a while back there.

But today is day one of doing it again. It's currently nearly 3.30 in the afternoon and I've had one bar so far; will have my other two products when I get home. Not far to go now, really, so it's best to stick at it, isn't it? Wondering how everyone else is getting on - if anyone is even still around on here! Pop up. let me know how you're doing and how you're finding it - whether you've been at this for months like i have or even if you're newly starting!

 

[Rea Cat]

Fell off again. Yay.

Back being the biggest binging bullemic in Britain. Trying to stop that. It’s not healthy. Nothing about me is healthy at the moment. I’m still maintaining but my attitude to food and dieting is just atrocious.

I need to get my arse in gear and stick with it again. It will come.

On the plus side, maintaining for a further two months seems to have had its benefits - unhealthiness aside. The creepy saggy skin is still creeping and sagging, but it’s a little bit less than it was. It’s tryinf to shrink back to what it ought to be, and that’s encouraging. I doubt I’ll ever have right firm skin again - unless I pile it all back on which is what I’m determined to avoid - but maybe it won’t always be this bad. And if it is, maybe I’ll take out a new loan once my current one is paid off and I’ll try and see what the plastic surgeons can do about it. We’ll see that’s two years away anyway.

 

[Lighterlifer]

Hi Rea,

Welcome back! Dont beat yourself up too much. Im a serial restarter and food addict too! This is all a process Looking forward to reading your comeback! Im only day 8 in to restart with quite a way to go. Think positive!

 

[Rea Cat]

Thank you for the words of encouragement!
I really need to learn to update this a little more.
Well, after a truly atrocious easter weekend which saw me bulge back up to 106kg, i'm back in the swing of things. It's difficult at the moment - everyone's wanting to go out for meals. my friend is leaving to work in another country for 6 months, my parents have just bought a caravan, it's been birthdays, we lost my grandad and i had a funeral buffet to contend with, mum's birthday is in a fortnight, people leaving at work and bringing enough cake to open a teashop. It was pretty hard to resist ramming those down his throat and choking him on them.

Re: the CAKE MONSTER - i can't really blame him for that, i suppose. even a week ago i'd probably have eaten 'just a little piece', but you'd think considering i did this for 8 months last year and everyone got used to the fact that i CAN'T 'just have a small piece', he'd have retained that information. Still, he's the one that's leaving, so much as he'll be missed at work I can certainly breathe a sigh of relief on that front.

Good news is I'm managing to resist the urge to purge, so to speak, when i've overindulged - which is probably how i ended up putting nearly a stone back on. But after 3 days back on the Exante train (choo choo or chew chew, you pick!) i'm down over half a stone again, so that should be rectified by the end of the weekend, provided i survive the planned kebabs at lunchtime today, the lure of the restaurant with mam and dad tonight (I'm taking a bar. I WILL stick to it), the buffet at the cake monster's party tomorrow afternoon, the kebabs when my friend has another friend visiting tomorrow evening, and i just chug my arse through next week to the weekend. It's Nuray's last weekend in the UK and Mam's birthday weekend so I've decided to eat on that weekend but I'll be eating lazy keto with a slightly more generous carb allowance to try and counteract any damage.

I'm just focusing on the steak on a stone - i'm going with Nuray next sunday and I haven't been since i split up with the wankbucket last september. So i'm REALLY looking forward to that one. my absolute favourite, revisited. So i need to lose at least a stone - ideally nearer two - before then, and we'll just see how that pans out, eh...

 

[Les]

This is what has happened to me so much going on at the weekends. I have now decided to tell anyone who invites me out for dinner we can't make it until after our hols. My hubby agrees as he needs to lose some weight.
If I stay as I am my holiday will b a nightmare, my clothes fit due to the 9lb I lost but are so tight, and I know I'm asking my body a lot to lose a stone in 7 weeks
I think I might try 3pkts a day from today and see how I get on.
Hope u r ok. Les

 

[Rea Cat]

The best of luck to you on your three packets a day, Les! I'm sure you'll both be able to do it if you set your minds to it!

And this weekend...what a revelation!!

I went to the pie and peas function. I stuck to water, and I was two pints down by the time the smell of pie permeated the air, and i went for a wee with the niggling thought of 'I could just have a little piece of pie...' -- I.e. famous last words.

However, the loos were lovely, and as I was washing my hands I was reflected from all angles by these lovely big mirrors. And I thought, I don't look too bad. But I could look better. So i went back out there and happily chomped through a toffee nut and raisin bar with a treat of a diet coke. Empowering.

That evening i went home and thankfully the girls had abandoned their kebab idea. Nuray's friend's wife had made us authentic Biryani, so i had three forkfuls just to taste it, so I could thank them and give them honest feedback if asked! I then tried out my lo-dough. It tastes like edible polystyrene but is oddly fantastic. I did a 'cheeseburger wrap' with it - just mince and cheese inside and baked it into a pasty-like thing in the oven - and had it with a few pickled onions and some low salt/sugar ketchup and french's mustard. Totally resisted the bullying to eat desert. Was proud.

So all in all, saturday rocked in at 850 calories, with 44g of carbs. I thought I'd done just fantastic. Too high for pure keto, but low for exante. a nice happy medium.

Sunday, however, was a totally different game. It turned out I could do even better.

I wasn't hungry at all. At any point. I had an abundance of percolated coffee with single cream in the morning, and then, at around 1pm, I thought I'd better force something down, so I had 1 slice of hovis low carb bread (naughty!) from the freezer, with most of a tub of egg mayo sandwich filler on it. Off i headed, out into the world, feeling BLOATED from just that. Pure insanity. I went to a friend's house, and somehow we ended up watching a Muse tribute act (Amused - they're rather good) at a local pub that had a beer festival on. Two diet pepsis for me, designated driver. Still not hungry by the time i got home at 10.30 but horribly conscious that i'd only had about 300 calories all day. Contemplated fasting, remembered the edam slices in the fridge.

So i made edam slices from 3 pieces of edam cheese. One with worstershire sauce, one with garlic powder and italian herbs, one with sesame seeds, one with peri peri salt (too salty, will try just chilli flakes next time), and two plain ones. STUNNING!!

So sunday rocked in at 600 calories, only 19g of carbs.

And today i can tell a difference. My belly is flatter, obscurely. I've lost a tonne of weight. I feel amazing.
I feel like a bit of a traitor, but at this point I'm wondering whether I should carry on with exante or whether I should just swap to keto altogether. It's currently 11am and I still have no hunger - I've had a large filter coffee with a dash of cream, and 1.5l of water. No hunger OR CRAVINGS (and that's the biggie - usually even when I'm not hungry I crave things, and I have a pack of Ferrero Rocher on my desk too - a departing gift from the feeder!) whatsoever. It's incredible. I'll keep you posted.