The really slow loss team!

[charl_young]

I never eat mug shots, or pasta n sauce and stuff like that, but looking back over MFP I def have had a lot of salt this week so maybe it's that. Also been looking at all this aspartame stuff too. I don't have sweetener in tea or coffee but mullers have a lot of it. Oh well! I'm feeling super super bloated too, so that probably doesn't help. Here's to trying a green week and seeing how that goes!

Thanks latte xx

 

[Latte]

Try natural yoghurt with fresh fruit instead of processed yoghurts
I think if you can go as natural as possible and don't add salt to anything plus drink at least two litres a day to flush things out

 

[Pommette]

Charl - salt & sweetener . . . mmmmmmmmmmmm . . . could be this. But . . .
It's the carbs for me - they make me retain serious quantities of water. Hence I used to stick to red days and try to keep any manufactured carbs out of my diet completely. That included even wholemeal bread, wholemeal pasta and all rice. I just stuck to having spuds - baked or SW wedges/chips.
I know lots of people say Mullers cause them problems - try looking at maybe Activa 0% fat youghurts instead. They have bifidus in and are supposed to help with bloat more - don't know if they are full of sweetened though, you'll need to check as they are blumin' expensive here so I don't buy them. I do get a local bifidus 0% fat yoghurt though which does help my bloat.

I've had a quick run through your food diary and it looks okay to me, if maybe still a bit carb heavy even on your red days. When you say you have 100g of wholewheat spagetti - I hope that's cooked weight? As all you can have is 35g dry weight - i.e. just over 1 oz which is a teeny portion and your piccie of your spag bol looked a bit pasta heavy for a red day.

I normally have spag bol on green days. I either do it with quorn mince (which I'm not that keen on because of the texture) or by using beef or pork mince and bulking 80g mince out with 40g grated carrot. You can hardly tell the difference and in fact I now prefer my spag bol with carrot than without! Tastes better to me. It means I can also have a normal amount of pasta and not feel ravenous or deprived!

But the big thing I had to do was cut out snacks completely. I know that's not the SW "purist" advice - but if I snacked I just didn't lose at all this time round. 1st time round when I was 5 st over weight I was able to have the odd bit of fruit and yoghurt as a snack. If had things like Alpens or stuff as a snack then I didn't lose. This time round with only 3 stone to shift it was virtually impossible to lose anything if I had a mid-morning or afternoon snack. I just made sure I had enough to eat at lunch time - although not over stuffing myself - so that it would see me through to evening meal. Remember SW does say it should be Superfree as your first choice for snacks - not free, so avoid the meat, the cereals, the bars etc.

On my DGs fred one of our girls had just become a consultant and she is getting so mad about this 1/3 superfree with every meal. And rightly so as she rightly points out that you don't need to eat it if it's just for eatings sake. She said to us:

The advice is this, it is a recommendation to have a third superfree foods with your meals, where you can and where it makes sense to do so.
You don't have to put fruit on your weetabix or have mushrooms with your eggs on toast if you don't want to, you are adding food for the sake of it.

Superfree is recommended on all plans but not a rule. The advice is that the more Superfree you eat (as opposed to free foods), the better your losses but nothing is forced.

It's all been blown out of proportion over the last couple of years and has become "you must"

Great advice imho. If you just ate cereal for breakfast before SW why INCREASE your intake by adding fruit to it. Grrrrrrr

And Mug Shots are the bane of SW imho. They may not have any "artificial colours or preservatives" but are between 166 and 268 cals. That's 8 - 13.5 syns that you are eating really!

 

[Pommette]

. . .Do you all eat all of your syns. I feel as if I shouldn't but that is probably a throw back to another diet. I think that coming to places like this will help me to keep on track so you will probably get lots of rambling from me - but I can see that you all ramble anyway

I HAVE all my syns every day - although not necessarily in food form! I'm the liquid syn queen and consume them as wine :8855:
SW is designed to give you something of everything for a good balanced diet.
Superfree - low calorie bulky fruit and veg
Free - for protein (beans on green and meat on red - or both on EE)
HexA - calcium
HexB - fibre
Syns - your treats to keep you on track

And as Latte said - you should try and drink 2 ltrs or 8 large glasses of water a day, of which 1/2 can be as tea or coffee or diet drinks but do try and get the other 1/2 as plain water to keep things moving. If you can't stomach plain water (like me) try adding some NAS squash. Vimto or Blackcurrant light are my faves in the winter when I have them hot to stop me shivering.

All the various elements combined is what gives you the balance and the syns are there to let you enjoy the plan and keep you on track.
Use your syns. At least 5 a day and as many as 15. I know lots of people who try to stick to around the 10 mark on Monday - Friday and save the rest for extra treats at weekends. Again not strictly the "purist" line on SW but many people do this and it works for them.

Never used to work for me though as my WI is on Monday and if I have loads of extra syns at the weekend my weight goes shooting up. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

PS Ramble away - I do it par exelence!!!!

 

[Pommette]

Try natural yoghurt with fresh fruit instead of processed yoghurts
I think if you can go as natural as possible and don't add salt to anything plus drink at least two litres a day to flush things out

Deffo agree with the natural yoghurt and as much natural food as poss.
Only problem I think though is that it is hard to get low fat natural yoghurt.
But I'd rather have the full fat stuff any day to processed. Hard to get here though :cry:

 

[conlou1]

I steer clear of bananas and millers. They make me gsin, the only time ill have a banana is in place of breakfast if I'm in a rush. I try to snack on apples as it satisfies that crunch craving when you just want to eat something snacky. Pink ladies are great if y have a sweet tooth.

 

[charl_young]

Hey bev! Thanks! Yep it's always 100g cooked weight, I bulk it out with grated courgette tho so that's why it may look like a lot more pasta.

Def going to cut the mullers as that's quite a new thing for me. So maybe that's it! I also used a few of my weeky SYNS on maoam chew things which I never usually have I just had some from the boys birthday party so thought might as well!

So no more of them either!

Thank U for looking, I always weight my hexB's on red so my potatoes/pasta are always correct amounts. Grr! It's stupid I feel like I know this plan inside out now and I could make it work before even if slowly but this last week has me stumped as I've never not lost doing all reds before.. Like I said maybe its the new things xx

 

[conlou1]

Charl you may have just been bloated on that particular day hun, it's quite normal for weight to fluctuate by 5 pounds, it doesn't necessarily mean you've not lost any weight, it could be water retention. Defo cut the millers out though! They are the devil lol.

I've been totally off plan since Tuesday, not purposely just not planned too well and been so busy. I deserve a gsin on Tuesday, I realised today that I hit 10.7 last year around September I think it was, and all I've done is hover around that weight. When I've lost weight before I've never gotten below 10.7, it is either a me tal block or my
Natural weight. I'm determined to get into the 9's but I'm worried that its going to be so hard that I can't maintain that weight. Has anyone else experienced this??

 

[charl_young]

Lou I'm pretty much having the same problem, the least I've been in my adult life has been 13st5 and I've been hovering in the low 13's for 6 months now, kinda maintaining but not getting lower than 13st2.. So yes.. I am starting to worry this is my natural weight as I'm quite tall, quite a big frame etc so thinking is there a reason I'm bouncing here really? And what am I going to have to do to get past it?! Pretty much the same concerns as you love. Xx

 

[conlou1]

Lou I'm pretty much having the same problem, the least I've been in my adult life has been 13st5 and I've been hovering in the low 13's for 6 months now, kinda maintaining but not getting lower than 13st2.. So yes.. I am starting to worry this is my natural weight as I'm quite tall, quite a big frame etc so thinking is there a reason I'm bouncing here really? And what am I going to have to do to get past it?! Pretty much the same concerns as you love. Xx

The thing is I feel ok the weight I am and in clothes I know I look ok, but I want rid of the back fat, the overhang over my
Bra, the bingo wings and the belly that sometimes escapes over my jeans lol. I want to feel happy with my weight, not just ok. I won't give up but it does worry me that ill never do it. I think for me I need to exercise more, do you exercise much? I walk everywhere but I need to do specific toning exercises I think. I need to break out the shred again x

 

[Pommette]

The thing is I feel ok the weight I am and in clothes I know I look ok, but I want rid of the back fat, the overhang over my
Bra, the bingo wings and the belly that sometimes escapes over my jeans lol. I want to feel happy with my weight, not just ok. I won't give up but it does worry me that ill never do it. I think for me I need to exercise more, do you exercise much? I walk everywhere but I need to do specific toning exercises I think. I need to break out the shred again x

Lou are your stats right? If so your BMI is already at 23.8 so pushing it lower IS going to be hard.
I know you're an inch or so shorter than me and have about 20 years on my age but maybe this is your new body weight.

I was 9 st 5 lbs at age 20 when I got married but there is no way I'm going to loose another 2+ stone to look like that again.
For a start I was probably actually TOO thin for my build, and if I even lost another stone I would look really dreadful.
I've got too much wrinkly skin already from all the weight I've lost - don't want any more.

The belly over the jeans is probably due to childbirth so you are really going to struggle on this one hun.
The bingo wings - are they flab or skin? Mine are mostly skin with a tad of flab still, so without surgery they ain't gonna go.
My hubby has bingo wings - and his BMI is currently at around 20!!! His are age - so not gonna get rid of them.

So maybe the only thing you can really do anything about its the back fat.
Hunt the web for exercises. I have a couple that I think I've sent you before that tighten bingo wings and back fat and they are easy to do.
They haven't got rid of mine entirely but have helped.

The other thing to factor in, is that it has actually taken just over 12 months for my body to re-adjust.
I had an absolutely dreadful roll of fat on my tummy when I first got to target in November 2011.
OK I've lost a few more pounds since then but it has got better since then.
One of the guys on here (Jim) lost 180 lbs and reckoned he had a full apron on his stomach.
2 years later he said it had virtually gone.

 

[Pommette]

Lou I'm pretty much having the same problem, the least I've been in my adult life has been 13st5 and I've been hovering in the low 13's for 6 months now, kinda maintaining but not getting lower than 13st2.. So yes.. I am starting to worry this is my natural weight as I'm quite tall, quite a big frame etc so thinking is there a reason I'm bouncing here really? And what am I going to have to do to get past it?! Pretty much the same concerns as you love. Xx

Charl - my advice to you would be that may be you need to give your body a bit of a kick start.
It might be worth going back to absolute basics and do a week 1 again - as though you were a new starter.
Get you books out, be 100% on plan and angelic and see if that helps.

There were times when I was losing that I hit a bit of a sticking point. Twice I hovered for weeks at a time.
It took me 28 weeks to lose the first 2 stone - I was ecstatic as I was actually averaging a lb a week which is brilliant for me.
Then a further 10 weeks to lose 2 blumin' lbs. I was gaining and losing the same 2 lbs. (I was stuck at 12:7)
And then when I decided I needed to lose just a paltry 3 more lbs after I hit my originally target that took be 3 LONG MONTHS!

 

[charl_young]

Thanks Bev.. I did that about 3 weeks ago.. I had been about 80/20 with the plan since sept just happy to maintain for a while as I kinda lost my enthusiasm for dieting, and I really think if your hearts not in it, theres no point. So yes, I maintained well (until xmas anyway!) But now have my enthusiasm back (for the most part.. or rather that drive to get there.. even if I do have the odd weekend of doing what I want and it taking longer to get there, thats fine with me) so I went right back to basics, none of my tweaks I did as you do when you've been doing the plan for quite a while, and lost 2.5lbs, but then nothing since, my red week last week also 100%. No alcohol (as I honestly find when I drink I just gain, even if it is within syns drinking). But yes I have been referring to my books a lot this last few weeks, and being really sure about syns etc.. One of my friends copied the new SW books HEX info for me so I have correct and current measurements of everything. And definitely going to keep referring this green week. Thanks for all your guidance Bev, its so helpful, and your experience is appreciated a lot.

Lou, I walk loads too, but when it comes to toning it just doesn't work for me at all, the best thing I did last summer was alternating the shred and swimming. I looked WAY more toned, my arms got pretty lean really fast, and my stomach pulled back in a bit too, which was fab as after being pregnant with twins and a c-section my stomach is awful.. restarting the shred today actually as I really think it helped my losses last summer, i was very very slow until I started upping the exercise a lot and then got consistent 1.5-2lb losses a week for about 5/6 weeks, which was fab! I know lots of people say you don't need exercise to lose, but to tone you most certainly do.

If you have a smartphone theres an app called skimble, its fab for lots of workouts, all kinds of things that can fit into anything from 1min - an hour. The planks are AWFUL, but great for toning backs, upper arms, and stomach. x

 

[conlou1]

Thanks Pom and charl. The arms is defo fat not skin, I just don't seem to lose weight off there until the last but, I carry my weight pretty evenly but it seems to come off randomly. My friend is a good 2 stone heavier than me get her arms are much slimmer, it's really weird. I never used to have fat arms and back but since the last 2 pregnancies theyve gotten really bad, I used to have a lovely back really toned but now despite being a size 12 I have back boobs if I move in certain positions and if my
Bra is a bit tight. I hate it. I think it's skin though on my back as I had 2 pregnancies one after the other with 8 1/2 pound babies and that skin that stretches is also on your back. I hope it goes back with time ill download that app and have a look. If I was toned and my arms and back wasnt flabby if actually call target now, it's those areas that are keeping me going x

 

[charl_young]

In that case I think swimming would be fab for you love. It's brilliant for pulling everything back in, swim if you can then put on plenty of palmers skin stuff and you should be grand, probably will see the benefits fairly quickly as well, a month ish xx

 

[conlou1]

In that case I think swimming would be fab for you love. It's brilliant for pulling everything back in, swim if you can then put on plenty of palmers skin stuff and you should be grand, probably will see the benefits fairly quickly as well, a month ish xx

I'd love to go swimming but I can't afford it, well not more than once a week, and I was a member at the leisure centre but cancelled cos we couldn't afford it but didnt give 3 mo this notice so I'm still paying that off so I can't even do a membership. It has to be exercise that's free

 

[charl_young]

Ah I see, in that case do you have any free weights in the house? Dan has some fairly heavy hand weights and at the same time in the summer I used to just watch the tele and so lots of weights, curls and stuff (I don't really know the names I just used to do diff positions) this really helped too. To tone you need to build muscle and weights are way way better for toning than any heavy cardio stuff, you don't get actually muscly so don't worry about that, but strength training is amazing for your body shape x

 

[conlou1]

Ah I see, in that case do you have any free weights in the house? Dan has some fairly heavy hand weights and at the same time in the summer I used to just watch the tele and so lots of weights, curls and stuff (I don't really know the names I just used to do diff positions) this really helped too. To tone you need to build muscle and weights are way way better for toning than any heavy cardio stuff, you don't get actually muscly so don't worry about that, but strength training is amazing for your body shape x

Yeah I have free weights, ill start doing some every night, ill get that app and have a look cheers hunni x

 

[Pommette]

Well it's Monday again and I've faced the scales. I'm stunned, amazed, my gast has never been so flabbered !!!!!

Had a mixed week food wise last week. Out at friends houses for meals a couple of times and although what I had was on plan, guess what they both served with dinner? Pasta . . . hey ho, Bev got bloated and I was showing another blumin' gain (if only slight) by Thursday. So I decided to have a carb light weekend with mounds and mounds of veggies and avoid the processed carbs like pasta and rice and bread . . . and I've had a ruddy great whoosh!

Not only have I lost the pound I put on last week but another one besides.
So I'm over on the naughty step. Strictly I don't have to buy any drinks but I'm feeling generous and want to treat you all.

No doubt I'll gain a bit back as I have carbs again - but doing SW wedges tonight with the left over pork, and at least spuds don't affect me as badly. In fact they aren't even SW wedges as I just bake them in the oven without any fat at all! They go all crispy on the outside and light and fluffy on the inside. Even hubs likes them.

 

[Latte]

I need to be strong and cut down on carbs I don't think I eat a lot as I don't eat bread during the week but I do live off potatoes sometimes pasta and rice as well.

Congratulations on the loss