Time for change...

[BlackCat]

Yep, life just gets in the way - for sure.

I've gotta be honest and realise this is going to take some time - I'll do my best to be 100% and there will be more days that I do, than I don't. But I know from time to time I will 'add'. I can now really only have the shakes as a hot drink - so I'll have the Choc ones hot, will add coffee to the Vanilla and then when my supplies run down will probably just order the cafe latte type ones for that. I do like making the mouse type desserts on the weekend using vanilla, strawberry and banana shakes. Just gives me a little variety. I'll probably now stick mostly with the porridge and soups. I'm not a fan of the 'meals' - but then again maybe I should try a few.

Gotta be honest Elm2 - don't quite know how you do this with the sort of travelling you have to do. What is it you do? I work at a University - am what we like to call a 'professional administrator' -basically means I keep the wheels turning. I have a love/hate relationship with my job.

 

[BlackCat]

Well I'll put yesterday down as 90% - had my 2 shakes, but then skipped the soup and just had some chicken and mushrooms (dry fried) in a bowl. Was the equivalent of one small chicken breast and a handful of mushrooms. Probably should have grabbed a chicken soup to go with, just to keep up on the vitamins and nutrients.

Today the plan is to have 2 shakes turned into 4 hot drinks spread throughout the day (on my second as I type) - then will defo go with one of the soup packs for tea. This time no adding. Hubby brought home 2 steaks yesterday and wanted to cook me one up for my tea -but I've declined. It's so easy to slip into 'eating' in the evenings and I really need to get serious with this. I ought to have lost more than 7lbs in two weeks, so I want a good loss this week to put me on track for the 1 stone in 4 weeks. I'd lose that on a 'normal' diet -at least I would in the first month, so I need to see better results. Of course I realise it would be better if I would just 'step away from the food'. I started off so positive, then the dready lurgy hit and I've used that as an excuse - so no more.

 

[BlackCat]

Well here's to my new chapter, although its a bit quiet over here on the 'other diet options' page.... ah well, I guess I'll keep myself company and maybes some of my Exante buddies will pop in from time to time

So, I've made the change and have swopped over from Exante to Shake That Weight. I know I'd only been doing Exante for a short while (well, this time around anyway), but I just felt like doing something different. I do like Exante products, but they stopped offering the plain porridge and there were a few other things I used to like they had stopped doing also. Plus, wasn't impressed when emailing to query things I never received any sort of response.

I chose STW only because I was researching alternatives and the website and options appealed to me - also you can purchase a trial pack of 5 products for £4.95, so I though 'why not'. I've found them very palatable (as vlcd's go) and the prices are reasonable. Basically the more you buy, the bigger the discount -which I find easier to navigate. I'm loving the noodle soups at the moment and the fact that because I'm following the ketosis plan I can have 4 things per day and still keep to 600 kcals and under 60g of carbs. They also mix up well, no lumps - even when mixing with a fork.

So -at the end of October I'd reached my first 1 stone goal - took 6 weeks (because I wan't really going at it 100%) but I'm okay with that. I'm trying my best not to get hung up in the need to lose a stone a month, but if I do then great! At the moment I'm 'adding' to my soups (of which I have one per day) and by that I mean a few pieces of cooked chicken with the chicken soup, small pieces of ham with the pasta and ham soup - and so on. Some may be of the view that if I'm not doing it 100% why do it at all - well, for me its simple. I don't have to 'think' about food - just grab a pack of whatever and go. Right now that suits me and also I can be sure I'm getting the right amount of minerals and nutrients. That's it in a nutshell.

Am sat now with a nice cold pint of flavoured water -having completed a 2 1/2 hr housecleaning marathon. I have 3 fur babies and with the weather as it is, they are bringing a fair bit of dirt in with their little paddy paws. Thankfully I have tiled floors, so its easy to sweep, mop and sterilise. Bless them. Gosh, that makes it sound as if my house is filthy... its not, I'm just fussy.

Am going to sit for a while longer, then jump in the shower and start my day I've already done around 3.800 steps so far with the cleaning - and will go out for a nice brisk walk later, if the rain holds off. Then maybe a bit of beading (I bead weave jewellery and structured objects like boxes and ornaments). Have completed my first Xmas ornament for my daughters Xmas tree, but it needs a bit more work. I also love paper crafting and have seen a few projects I want to have a go at.

Well, it'll be a hot 'mint' chocolate for me later, breakfast was porridge and tea will be either the chicken noodle soup or maybe tomato - not sure yet.

 

[enlightenme2]

Hi BlackCat! well you seemed to have your weekend organized! What kind of ornament did you make. It's been a while since i've arts-and-crafted anything - used to love it as it relaxed me to no end. I used to make pottery but then had surgery for carpal tunnel and stopped throwing big lumps of clay around.

I spent some time playing baseball with my son this afternoon so that was therapeutic - I really wanted to go for a run this morning, but with the rain (hairdresser was only yesterday ) I decided against it
They go back to school - thank goodness- tomorrow, so that means I'll be popping in the office as well. I'm trying to wiggle myself out of a couple of business trips this month, just so I can buckle down on the plan - I'm officially off Vlcds as of January - i've been reading up on the 5:2 plan, what do you think?

Anyway, hope this week will be 100% (or your version of it)!

 

[tipperary]

Morning blackcat, I really admire how you are sticking to a meal replacement plan. I would never be able to do that, never mind getting hungry do you not get weak during the day.
I have a gang of fur babies too and as it was cold last night to two kittens came in and curled up beside me and fell asleep on the couch.

 

[BlackCat]

Hi Elm2 - baseball sounds fun. I don't run myself, its little too energetic for me I'm more of a 'walking / rambling' kinda gal. I do like to get out on my bike when I can though, I have an electric bike that just gives you a little bit of oomph when you need it up hills. For the ornament I made a star within a star - so to explain, its a crystal star suspended in the middle of a 3D open framed star shape beaded with teeny tiny 11/0 glass seed beads. Took me ages, but I do enjoy it. I've made her a teensy triangle beaded box too and am going to pop a wee charm of some kind in it for her Xmas gift. One of those Pandora type charms. The 5:2 options sounds like a good next step - gets some good write-ups in the media. I've read online that 'fasting' one or two days a week is actually good for general health and wellbeing.

Hello Tipperary (love the avatar) - my furbabies were really not happy the last two evenings with the whizz, bang, pops of the fireworks going off around us. There's a small park/playground at the back of our house and local folks decided to have their own little fireworks display. Now I'm all for people enjoying themselves, but not happy having to pick up the 'spent' rockets from my garden in the morning. All a bit too close for my (and my fur babies) liking. We get that on new years eve as well. Doing a vlcd isn't for the faint hearted for sure, but you kinda get used to it. I don't feel hungry no, but then my dietary habits over the past several years has been pretty appalling - going without breakfast and lunch most days! I have well and truly messed up my metabolism and have a lot of very stubborn fat cells as a result

Well the weekend wasn't as 'good' as it should have been -but I managed to keep carbs out of the equation. My other half really wants me to eat with him over the weekend, so I'm compromising by having one meal as long at its just meat and veg. Another reason I don't think I'll achieve a 1 stone per month loss. But as I've said before - I'm in this for the long haul, so might as well make it as doable as I can.

Have quite a few meetings stacked in my diary this week and a good few deadlines approaching. Meetings during the day tend also to span across the typical lunch hour, so I need to work around that and its turning so chilly that I've got a hankering for something nice and steaming hot! I find I can get 3 hot drinks from the shakes (about 2 teaspoons per cup), so am switching between 'lively latte', 'mint choc', 'choc' and 'vanilla'. Haven't tried mixing up a soup at work yet - but will have a go with one. Am lurving the plain porridge (yum) and am going to attempt to make some 'biscuit' type things from the choc porridge (a recipe found in the STW facebook group).

I've also decided I am not going to weigh myself weekly and am going to hold off until the end of the month and do monthly weigh-ins. Now of course that might all change if by weighing monthly I use it as an excuse to slip off track -but I don't want to get all obsessive about a number on the scales which, for me at least, does fluctuate. But we'll see... it'll be hard not to be tempted!

 

[BlackCat]

Well. I've been gone for ages and so thought it time to pop back on and update where things stand, in case anyone is interested - but also just as a record for myself. I know my diary is sitting in the VLCD forum and so this will probably be my last post here (because I can't see a forum for my new WOE).

Anyways - after another 'failed' attempt at this (VLCD malarkey, which worked great for me the first time around) I just decided enough was enough and stopped around Christmas. I did no particular eating plan over Christmas and started the new year feeling pretty miserable. All I could see ahead of me was yet another year feeling fat and unhappy. I stayed in that particular (negative) mindset until just before the Easter Bank Holiday period here in the UK and over that time my sister pointed me towards some books on fasting, intermittent fasting to be precise and from that I started to do a lot (and I mean mega lots) of reading up on the Ketogenic way of eating.

I know its controversial for many who think cutting carbs down/out is not a balanced diet etc. and so forth -and to those I would say 'each to their own'. Folks have gotta do what they gotta do and we are all different. Everyone has to find their own way and do something they feel is sustainable. Me, well 7 weeks in and I'm 25lbs down and I feel pretty great. Getting into what is referred to as 'nutritional ketosis' wasn't hard for me, I guess because I'd done the VLCD method before and knew what to expect and what to do about the 'keto-flu' symptoms. My hunger is in check and I feel really positive about this.

Its still a long road ahead (I have another 70lbs or thereabouts to go) -but I now view this not from a weightloss perspective, but a 'getting my body well' perspective. My IBS symptoms are diminishing and I feel so much less bloated. I sleep better and bounce out of bed in the morning, rather than drag myself up. I do sometimes get carb-cravings, yes, but I'm able to manage those and hope eventually they'll disappear.

Well, that's me and I hope everyone out there is achieving the results they seek

 

[Ioi8*]

25lbs down is amazing, well done! x

 

[enlightenme2]

Well. I've been gone for ages and so thought it time to pop back on and update where things stand, in case anyone is interested - but also just as a record for myself. I know my diary is sitting in the VLCD forum and so this will probably be my last post here (because I can't see a forum for my new WOE).

Anyways - after another 'failed' attempt at this (VLCD malarkey, which worked great for me the first time around) I just decided enough was enough and stopped around Christmas. I did no particular eating plan over Christmas and started the new year feeling pretty miserable. All I could see ahead of me was yet another year feeling fat and unhappy. I stayed in that particular (negative) mindset until just before the Easter Bank Holiday period here in the UK and over that time my sister pointed me towards some books on fasting, intermittent fasting to be precise and from that I started to do a lot (and I mean mega lots) of reading up on the Ketogenic way of eating.

I know its controversial for many who think cutting carbs down/out is not a balanced diet etc. and so forth -and to those I would say 'each to their own'. Folks have gotta do what they gotta do and we are all different. Everyone has to find their own way and do something they feel is sustainable. Me, well 7 weeks in and I'm 25lbs down and I feel pretty great. Getting into what is referred to as 'nutritional ketosis' wasn't hard for me, I guess because I'd done the VLCD method before and knew what to expect and what to do about the 'keto-flu' symptoms. My hunger is in check and I feel really positive about this.

Its still a long road ahead (I have another 70lbs or thereabouts to go) -but I now view this not from a weightloss perspective, but a 'getting my body well' perspective. My IBS symptoms are diminishing and I feel so much less bloated. I sleep better and bounce out of bed in the morning, rather than drag myself up. I do sometimes get carb-cravings, yes, but I'm able to manage those and hope eventually they'll disappear.

Well, that's me and I hope everyone out there is achieving the results they seek

Hey Blackcat congrats on the weightloss! I've been looking at intermittent fasting as well, do you have a book or 2 that you'd consider absolute "must-reads"?

 

[BlackCat]

Hey Blackcat congrats on the weightloss! I've been looking at intermittent fasting as well, do you have a book or 2 that you'd consider absolute "must-reads"?

Hey Blackcat congrats on the weightloss! I've been looking at intermittent fasting as well, do you have a book or 2 that you'd consider absolute "must-reads"?

Hey Elm2.. great to hear from you

My go to book for IF is "The Complete Guide to Fasting" authored by Dr Jason Fung. That's the book that started me on this journey, he also talks a lot about the low carb high fat (LCHF) lifestyle - which he uses in conjunction with fasting to help cure folks who are suffering from type 2 diabetes. Having read that I then spent a lot of time researching LCHF and there is a lot of conflicting info out there, but I've focused on scientists and doctors (rather than folks who follow the lifestyle and then claim to be 'experts'). So if you are interested google Dr Eric Westman as well as Dr Stephen Phinney. The latter has co-authored a book with Dr Jeff Volek called 'The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living'.

On researching IF and LCHF it certainly resonated with me.. lots of the symptoms of what is called 'Metabolic Syndrome' are what I suffer from, as well as 'Insulin Resistance'. All I can say is for me this is working and I don't find it hard to restrict carb intake and having done so I feel great. I'm being really strict right now, keeping my total carb intake to less that 20g per day.. but that's only until my body heals. With that said I will never become the carb eater I was

Oh, and, just to add - this is not 'Atkins' because it promotes only a moderate amount of protein - so I don't eat plates of meat and eggs at every meal. My carbs come from green veggies mainly and the fat comes from fatty cuts of meat. I don't 'add fats' other than to cook my meat in butter, avocado oil, coconut oil or lard.

 

[BlackCat]

Another good week and am hoping to hit my 2st target this Friday - which would be awesome. Am still keeping things simple and doing my research. There are so many resources now promoting the 'low carb' way of eating and it can be a bit overwhelming. So my approach is to follow medical practitioners who can demonstrate the science behind their methods -rather than others who have jumped on the 'low carb' bandwagon. I'm also not into 'adding fat' to my plate (beyond the odd knob of butter or olive oil dressing), at least not at this point in my journey because I have lots of on-board storage of fat to get rid of, I don't need any extra

Work is keeping me busy, but I'm enjoying the spate of sunshine we are getting at the moment - funny how a bit of sun really lifts ones spirit. When its a little more consistent I plan to get back to walking to work of a morning. I had a go one day last week and it took me close to an hour, but when I was several stone lighter back in the day, I could do the same in around 40 mins. What I am finding though is that my asthma is improving and I don't need to reach for the inhaler quite as often. So that's a plus.

Oh and I had one of those welcomed NSVs over the weekend, when I found I could wrap one of my large (not XL) bath towels around me and the ends crossed over

 

[tipperary]

Great news.about the towel, its things like that I find that make more of a difference than actual numbers

 

[BlackCat]

Thanks Tipps, hope all is well with you

Well, what a great weekend. Decided to do a surprise visit to my peeps who live in South Devon for the bank holiday weekend and it was just fab. Have to admit I rather hoped people would notice a 2 stone'ish loss - they didn't, but never mind. I guess it takes probably 3 - 4 stone before its noticeable to others. With that said I stayed on track as much as possible and only put on 2lbs -which when on a Keto plan will definitely be water weight. I ate well, but drank more alcohol that I ought to which will likely be the reason. I was worried I would struggle with food choices whilst eating out (which we did every day), but it was surprisingly easy to ask restaurants to modify dishes and remove carbs from the plate.

So yesterday I'm back on track already and aim to lose the 2lb gain in the next couple of days and focus on the next stone. I've also started my non-food reward plan, which is/was to purchase a Pandora bracelet and add a charm for each stone loss. So whilst visiting the family I bought a bangle and two of the Essence charms (each carry a meaning) and will wear it everyday as a reminder of what I've achieved and to keep me focussed.

 

[tipperary]

I like treats like that.

 

[BlackCat]

Feeling a bit anxious today - nothing diet related, but I have to undergo a dental procedure later this afternoon and I have a real dentist phobia
My dentist is lovely, but as soon as I sit in that chair I start to shake and have to really focus on not jumping straight up and out of the surgery.

Today its a tooth extraction, a wisdom tooth gone bad, as well as a deep clean because I'm suffering from some gum issues - yikes! So I'm going to be feeling very sorry for myself later.

On a positive note - I'm using this as an opportunity to fast, something I'm comfortable doing since Low-Carbing and that should also help with getting rid of the 2lb I gained last week. Tomorrow morning I'll weigh-in and post results.

 

[BlackCat]

Phew. The dental work is all done - was in the chair for almost an hour but the dentist was very patient and careful. Am feeling a bit sore -had a (wisdom) tooth extracted and some periodontal work done, so that's to be expected.

So I fasted from 7pm Weds eve until 11am Fri morning and that coupled with walking to work twice earlier in the week meant that I'd not only lost the 2lb gain the previous week, but I dropped another 2lb. Am very pleased with those results

I plan to throw in the odd fast here and there - not necessarily 36hrs, but a 24hr fast maybe once or twice a week for me is doable. Then when I'm at my goal weight I think I'll fast once or twice a month and maybe they'll be slightly longer fasts up to 48hrs, but not longer. I'm not in favour of extended fasts personally, although I'm aware some folks are.

At the moment my food choices are a little limited because of the dental work, so I'm mainly having eggs, cheese, mushrooms, avocado -basically soft food that easy to chew. Am going to treat myself to a few strawberries and cream later today -yum

 

[BlackCat]

Another quick weigh-in update and I'm pleased I've now broken the 2 stone barrier and am on the way to the 2 1/2 stone mark (and have already spied the essence charm to mark the 3 stone award).

This morning, however, I've had one of these NSVs moments and I just felt the need to share Not one for the lads out there, but the ladies will understand this. Over the years, as my weight has increased, so has my bra size (which some might think a good thing I guess) - but it reached a point where whilst the cup size stayed the same, my back expanded - so, I had to invest in some of those 'extender' thingamajigs. Recently my dear OH commented that I seem to be always fidgeting with my bra and I replied its because the back keeps riding up -which is odd because it didn't used to. Anyway, this morning as I was dressing I had a look at the extended and noticed it had stretched a bit and I sighed, took it off and looked to pick up a different one. Then I thought to myself, let's just try it on without the extender to see how far I've still got to go for the ends to meet and.....drum roll.... it fitted, admittedly only on the longest set of hooks, but it still fit.

It's a small victory, but it didn't half make me smile

 

[tipperary]

That's a great NSV, well done.

 

[BlackCat]

A brief update for my diary - which, admittedly I don't spend much time on lately.

Was hoping to drop below the 16s mark today, but am determined that I will have done this time next week. I've removed my goal weight, because in truth I find it a little counterproductive for me. I want to focus on the journey, rather than the end goal -and with a fair bit more to lose seeing such a big number ahead can be a little daunting.

The weight loss has settled into a steady, slow, pace which I'm okay with. I'm eating very tasty food and I rarely feel hungry. I've added intermittent fasting into my regime - but I'm not overly strict. I do throw in a couple of 48hr water fasts each month and that suits me well. I'm now no longer 'morbidly obese' on the BMI scale and am into the 'obese' category (although I do hate those terms).

So am currently 37lbs down and my next 'goal' is to hit the 40lbs mark

 

[tipperary]

Congratulations on your loss.