Student on a mission!

[BlodynAur]

I started a diary on here when I first joined SW back in January and I posted a grand total of about 10 times. A failure of a diary huh? I wasn't really taking SW as seriously as I should, although I thought I was (if that even makes sense). I'd joined online for 3 months, but I only did SW 100% for a week and gradually drifted back to takeaways and trips to McDonalds.

As a first year female student living in a house with three guys I'd never met before, SW turned out to be more difficult than I'd anticipated. Not only did the guys hog the kitchen, they also left it in a horrendous state afterwards. Who on earth wants to clean a whole kitchen before even beginning to cook?!

Well, it's now the Summer and in September I'm moving into a flat with just my boyfriend who's supportive of my mission, clean, neat and is a damn good cook. Hooray!

Of course, there's another two months and a bit until then and I can't wait that long to start. I got back on the SW wagon just over a week ago and the first week went amazingly (a 3lbs loss) but I've already started drifting off plan a bit. I wasn't planning on joining a group until I got back to uni, but I think I need it to keep me on track so I'm going to join when I get back from my holiday in a couple of weeks. I'm also going to write on here as often as possible (once a day, every other day - we'll see) because I think I eat my emotions and writing about my progress here might help me.

In the mean time, I'm going to continue following SW as I have in the past week. I'm going to focus particularly on the fact SW isn't diet, but a lifestyle. In January, I was too focused on dieting and being 100%, but life isn't 100%!

So yeah, enough rambling for my first post I think. To finish off, my stats and what I'm eating today.

Current weight: 15st11lbs
Target: 12st (although this isn't actually within the healthy bmi range so I might lower it once I get there)
Target date: June 1st (in time for Summer)

Breakfast: 3 egg omelette: a pepper, onion, a couple of slices of ham and 30g of cheese (HexA) with a tin of baked beans
Lunch: Wasn't hungry
Dinner: Probably a packet of Uncle Ben's Thai Sweet Chilli Rice (2) with tuna
Snacks: Grapes, banana, apple, jelly (2)

That means I'll have 11 syns to play with so I'll probably have some crisps or chocolate to finish the day.

 

[jodibbs]

Good luck on your journey I'm not attending groups either so I think writing a food diary on here will help keep me on track... but I've also got to try and make myself write everything I've eaten truthfully without leaving guilty bits out! I understand where you're coming from though, it can be a little hard to get motivated sometimes but if I'm ever feeling like giving up I come on here and generally have someone giving me a kick up the butt we will all get to our targets together

 

[BlodynAur]

Good luck on your journey I'm not attending groups either so I think writing a food diary on here will help keep me on track... but I've also got to try and make myself write everything I've eaten truthfully without leaving guilty bits out! I understand where you're coming from though, it can be a little hard to get motivated sometimes but if I'm ever feeling like giving up I come on here and generally have someone giving me a kick up the butt we will all get to our targets together

I totally know what you mean with writing everything in here truthfully - I consider lying sometimes, but then I realise we're all in the same boat anyway Haha yeah, I love that people on here just tell you it like it is, it's what I need!

 

[BlodynAur]

Ended up with a slight change of food for the day. My dinner ended up being a huge portion of pasta with mushrooms, peas, onions, chicken, tin of chopped tomoatoes and some salad on the side. My night snacks today were a packet of Pom Bears (4 syns) and 35g of kit kat chunky (9 syns). That means 15 syns today!

While I'm writing, I might as well mention what I was thinking earlier. I was watching a programme and it was saying most people in the USA don't even have 1 of their 5 a day, so naturally, I thought about how much I have. Before SW I'd struggle to fit any in a day, but now I'm having 5-7 and today I had 9 - NINE! I'm so proud

 

[jodibbs]

I've always been big on fruit and veg but I think that's just because when I was younger my mum pretty much force fed me it! Lol. But yeah I counted mine the other day and it was something crazy like 12 in one day! I saw something in the paper where they are saying 5 a day isn't enough now and it should be more like 7-8 a day!

 

[BlodynAur]

I've always been big on fruit and veg but I think that's just because when I was younger my mum pretty much force fed me it! Lol. But yeah I counted mine the other day and it was something crazy like 12 in one day! I saw something in the paper where they are saying 5 a day isn't enough now and it should be more like 7-8 a day!

I heard that too - if most don't even get 5, it's quite worrying! I'm glad I've come to love fruit and veg now, I certainly missed out when I was younger!

 

[BlodynAur]

Yesterday I was travelling up to Scotland for a family holiday so I have to admit, SW was pushed to the back of my mind...

McDonalds Caramel Frappe without cream (about 15 syns)
Sandwich using HexB bread and ham, grapes, banana
Two petit filous pots (the little ones) (3 syns)
A chocolate muffin (in a cafe so no idea on syns - 15?!)
Chilli (with extra lean mince, peppers, onions, garlic, mushrooms, chopped tomatoes) with rice and some doritos (I don't want to know the syns in them...)
2 glasses of Fanta Zero and half a can of Coke Zero

So syns for the day could be anything around 50 really... I'm a tad disappointed that I went so far over my syns, but at least I've written everything honestly and I'll forgive myself since we were travelling most of the day. I know next time that I need to make more food, maybe pasta or something. To be honest, I didn't quite realise how much I'd had until I wrote it all here!

Okay, so today I've had grapes, an apple and a banana because I don't have time to make a proper breakfast before we go out. I'm not sure what we'll be having for lunch (either nothing or eating out somewhere) nor am I sure what we'll have for tea. I'm pretty sure tea will be a healthy affair though - probably fish with veg, or a curry. I'm going to try and stay under 15, but on a family holiday I can't always control what I'm eating. I haven't got scales here so when I get home, I'm hoping to have lost 2lbs but I'll be happy to have just not gained!

 

[BlodynAur]

I didn't have any lunch but since I was dying from hunger (possibly a slight exaggeration), I ate three blocks of Dairy Milk (don't know the syns yet but it will be about 5) and a few strawberries to keep me going. Dinner is pasta with chopped tomatoes, peppers, onions, garlic and mushrooms with salad on the side. I'll probably have jelly later, or maybe some grapes with chocolate on top.

 

[**SlimmingJo**]

Here to subscribe! Good luck.....you sound like your doing fab!!

 

[BlodynAur]

Here to subscribe! Good luck.....you sound like your doing fab!!

Thank you! I had a little search and found your diary, I've subscribed and am looking forward to hearing more. Well done so far!!

 

[BlodynAur]

Yesterday's food:

Apple, banana, grapes
5 blocks dairy milk (6.5)
Pasta with chopped tomatoes, mushrooms, pepper, onions and bacon + salad + cheese (HexA)
Uncle Ben’s Thai Sweet Chilli Rice (2) with tuna
Jelly (2) with custard 100g (4.5)

So my syns came to exactly 15, woo!

Been for a 6 mile walk in the Scottish countryside today and had a lovely little picnic looking down at a loch. I struggle with picnics on SW because I'd usually have a couple of sandwiches and crisps, but I made sure to have a huge omelette for breakfast so I wasn't that hungry at lunchtime anyway. We're having jacket potatoes with beans and bacon for dinner, yummy!

Syns for today currently at 3 for yoghurts that I had with the picnic and I'll probably use the rest on chocolate, jelly and custard again!

 

[BlodynAur]

Yesterday:

3 egg omelette with pepper, onion, mushrooms and a tin of baked beans
HexB bread with ham, banana, two little pots of petits filous (3)
Jacket Potatoes with half a tin of baked beans, two rashers of bacon and HexA portion of cheese + extra (5 syns)
Jelly (0.5) with custard 100g (4.5)
Fanta Zero
10 blocks dairy milk (13) with grapes

And that adds up to a ridiculous 26 syn total. I'm actually ashamed! It was about half 11 last night and I'd planned on having just 5 blocks of dairy milk - that still would've been 19.5 anyway, but I went and took double!! I think I've let this holiday thing go to my head so I'm giving myself an excuse not to stick to it. I should be taking advantage of days in like yesterday where I have a chance to stick to SW because today I'm off to wetherspoons! I'm not going to not eat because I'm having a lovely day with mam and I'll certainly have a cocktail. I knew I was going last night so I should have been saving syns if anything!

Must be stronger next time!!

 

[jodibbs]

Don't worry I caved last night and went to the shop and got me and my boyfriend M&MS and Galaxy bites and shamelessly ate them all in about 5 minutes lol... everyone has a bad day sometimes! Just motivates you to try harder this week

 

[**SlimmingJo**]

Keep going....we all cave in sometimes!! Just think that 1 time caving has got to be better than eating that much everyday

 

[BlodynAur]

Haha yeah, I suppose it's one of those things. Definitely trying harder now, but I'll certainly put 200% effort in after my holiday!

Keep going....we all cave in sometimes!! Just think that 1 time caving has got to be better than eating that much everyday

I was literally just thinking this earlier, so true, love it!!

 

[BlodynAur]

I spent the last day in such confusion. I was out all day yesterday and ended up having to buy food out, so no SW friendliness. Instead, I made sure to keep my calories at no more than 1400 (or 1700 with the excersie I did) on my fitnesspal. Then I just ended up super confused: maybe I should just switch to calorie counting? But then I wouldn't trust myself to not just eat three kitkat chunkies a day instead of proper meals.

So, I've concluded that I'm going to do SW, but make sure my calories stay low (as in 1400ish or whatever mfp says) to maximise healthiness/fitness/weight loss. It's a lot of tracking considering that SW is meant to avoid that, but it's not like I lead a particularly busy lifestyle right now anyway and I'll gradually tone it down.

There's another aspect of SW that I might start to avoid too and that's diet drinks. I keep hearing how bad aspartame is but I drink loads of drinks that have it in. It'll be bloody hard to cut out by beloved Fanta Zero but I think I'll manage it gradually.

Now, back to food: all I've had today is Uncle Ben's rice (2) and tuna and will be having SW burger and chips for dinner. Not sure about snacks yet, will update later

 

[jodibbs]

I think because SW is focused on a lot of fruit and veg (especially Success Express which is what I'm mostly doing) your calorie intake shouldn't be high anyway. I calculated my calorie intake the other day on myfitnesspal just to see out of curiosity really and I was at 1230... which is good. Before when I've dieted I was calorie counting and was intaking 1200 calories a day and losing about 2lbs a week. I decided to do SW rather than calorie counting just because all the tracking drove me crazy... at least with this I can stay within that range without really needing to think about it.

You should go on Google and find out what your metabolic rate is for your height/weight and lifestyle. It will tell you how many calories you burn per day (roughly) and how many calories you should consume a day to lose 2lb a week (which is considered the healthiest rate to lose weight at). It's a real eye opener!

As for diet drinks, I've tried to cut these out as much as possible. I'll have one every now and then, maybe once a week, but then this makes it feel like a treat rather than an everyday thing (and since it's free on SW, it being like a treat is great!)

 

[BlodynAur]

Yeah, on good days my calorie intake is pretty low anyway but more often than not, my calories go sky high because I eat too much pasta, rice and potatoes. I think calorie counting for now will make me have smaller portions of carbs and more veg. I might try Success Express to be honest, what does it actually entail? I've only ever heard of it in passing...

Oh I'll have to go check it out, thanks!

That's a good idea to be honest, will make a nice treat. I'll just have to make sure I don't drink more than planned when I do haha!

 

[jodibbs]

Success Express involves eating 1/3 plate of free food, then 2/3 plate of superfree food. So for example you could have a small jacket potato (with cheese as a healthy extra) then a massive salad. Most of the time I make my own stews and soups out of various vegetables which means its all superfree also, you can only snack on superfree food. You still have syns, but you have to use them with a meal rather than as a snack. So you could have dinner, then a chocolate bar for dessert if you wanted. It's just really focused on eating a lot of fruit and veg. I've got a food diary that you could take a look at and it may give a bit of a better idea as to what you can/can't eat.

What I usually do is buy a bottle of diet Mountain Dew (which is my weakness!) on a Friday night as a treat, then I'll drink it while watching a film with my boyfriend or gaming so because I've isolated it to Fridays, it doesn't really enter my mind the whole week.. then when it gets to Friday I'm like "Yay Mountain Dew!" lol

 

[BlodynAur]

I might start doing Success Express as often as I can then. At the moment, I'm only doing SW on days where I'm not eating out/out and about (and I'm eating out a lot since I'm on holiday), so maybe Success Express on the other days would be really good for me. When I count calories I don't think I eat enough fruit and veg - I'd choose a 100 calorie kitkat over a 100 calorie banana any day!

That's a good idea, would make fizzy drinks much more special!