Venturing over...

[MissPinky]

Hi Miss P - Well done for maintaining so well! I'm wondering whether I'm pushing myself too hard. I have set diet tracker to 1200 as I would like to lose a few more lbs, but I end up going over regularly and maybe that's what triggers my wobbles. Maybe going up to 1500 or so would give me an easier and more steady journey...

Keep posting when you can - you are a true inspiration to those of us clinging on to maintenance for dear life

Good idea to try going up to 1500 - if you're routinely going over your body possibly needs that at present (I think the colder weather is having an effect because many folks I know both dieting and not dieting are commenting on increased intake for the winter - must be something human bodies do! )

You may have hit on something re: wobbles. Going over what we perceive as a limit/boundary typically has a kind of guilt and taboo associated with it - but if you set your target at 1500 then routinely find you're coming in at slightly less, for example, might you get the positive opposite of a wobble which then keeps you going? Just a thought.

 

[Wales]

Miss P, thank you for typing your experience. You should be incredibly proud of yourself, maintenance is the hardest to crack and it sounds like you are well and truly on your way.

Keep posting and let us know how you get on, and well done again!

 

[Katycakes]

Miss P, amazed I have not spotted your thread before, just read right through it and loved every inspiring word... you have done so well! And LOVE the engagement story and the way Cd has changed so many things for you. Happy, happy, happy. You make it look easy, and I know it isn't, but a lot is about attitude and I think that you have THAT pretty much sussed hun.

Lots of tips and wise words and just positive stuff I have taken from your posts, so big thank yous!

xxx

 

[KittyKat2010]

All I can say is WOW!! You are an inspiration! Congratulaions on your engagement and on your newfound headspace. I can feel your radience beaming all way from Sydney.. Thankyou for sharing your journey.

 

[MissPinky]

Evening, all. Another cr@ppy week of busy-ness and work-based insanity... some good some bad. No life to be had outside work... until the weekend. And today was a serious milestone in two ways.

Yesterday, a colleague/friend left work for her new life in Sydney, Australia and I did a cake (can't resist an opportunity), and there was a lunchtime buffet (I chose wisely but it was a carb-fest ) and then we all went for a drink in the workplace's adopted hostelry followed by a 3 course meal in the best Thai restaurant in town. The buffet was worrying (for a Maintenancer!) but I chose as best I could, avoided quiche and cheesy puffs (ew!), only had one each of the items I fancied (it was not unusual previously to take 2 or 3 items of each type, and have a small mountain on the plate - by heck that was tricky with mini bhajis!!!) and walked away before I felt stuffed. Instead of 3 Magners in the pub, I had one, then diet cokes - colleagues used to seeing me drinking a queue of 'apple juice' at the speed of a fish stood dumbfounded as I requested diet coke - I felt virtuous and pure! It felt quite good. And it was respected... whereas previously they'd say 'nah, you don't want coke...' and come back with another Magners... Then I chose as best I could in the Thai, but again came out feeling a little carbed out and anxious The scales bit me by a kilo this morning... but the milestone was my refusal to be downhearted and fly into a strop. It would have been so easy... but I caught it and denied it the satisfaction.

I've mentioned it before but graphing my progress has taught me that - in a sine wave like pattern - I have ups and downs in the course of a month, and the gain is still well within tolerances. Gain Panic is reduced, as I know that I'll drop again in a few days and all will be well. I've seen this before! It will happen. Before... well, it would cause depression, and then I'd eat, and eat and get filled with self hatred, and it would all get messed up and the weight would start growing... and so on. You know the cycle. I can still feel it now, but I have this abject fear of returning to where I was, and I cannot let it take hold as it did previously. It's not quite as cheesy as 'nothing tastes better than being slim feels' (which although admirable is still quite cheesy!), but it's very similar. It's mental pictures of me back then; it's the low feelings I used to have; it's remembering how bad the self-loathing felt; it's remembering how much I've lost in tangible terms - 3 bags of cat litter! Those all come back to me and the brain goes 'No! Keep on doing what you're doing - it will be fine, get back on track and accept the occasion for what it was'.

The second milestone was that today I did what I never ever ever thought I would... I took 2 dear friends to a bridal studio and they helped me to choose my wedding dress. (It's no rush-wedding... but VAT goes up soon and I want to get the order in before because I'm tight!!! ) It was blooming wonderful!!! They got me into a 10 in one style - and bridal wear is on the small side!!! I have found The Dress. I am having a common sense 'thinking on it' few days... but it will be ordered next week and a deposit paid. CD means it looks amazing, and I am utterly dumbfounded that I find myself in this situation... but obviously not in a bad way!!!

I later found out that my two friends had never ever been into a bridal studio - despite both being married - and had always wanted to go into one and do the choosing and viewing and umming and ahhhing!!! That was a fab one to share - it meant something special and deep to all of us.

Learned a lot this last week, and especially this last 24 hours.

Love and hugs to you all xxx

 

[Bess]

Glad you shared all this Miss P. So pleased for you, the dress sounds wonderful!! You'll look fantastic, have you set a date yet?

 

[MissPinky]

We're at that point where the initial arrangements - the synchronicity of registrar, venue and date - are still to be finalised... BUT it'll be late summer next year, posibly even early autumn just as colours start to turn.

Just reviewed the photos of me in dresses while the X Factor got a little boring. I was surprised all over again! I actually like the look of me in the photos even though they're phone photos and not that great. I've NEVER liked me in photos. CD changes everything. Magic!

 

[Bess]

Sounds lovely. Make sure you keep the things you don't want to a minimum. It's so easy to feel that there are things you 'have to do/have'; people who 'have to' be invited and so on.....bit of a minefield. We'll all keep our fingers crossed for the best thing of all though - good weather!
Mind you it was was horrible on my wedding day, if I could have cancelled it I would have done, and we got married on a Friday which I discovered later was very bad luck. But, we are very happy together (after 30 years! how on earth can I be that old?) and I wish just the same for you.

 

[MissPinky]

Hi all - hope everyone's okay. Been busy with pre-Christmas parties etc and 4 meals out all with naff crackers with manky plastic tat in them! Awwww.... wouldn't be a Christmas party without that!

The 4 parties have been a bit of a psychological challenge to be honest.

There's the 'humorous people' who think it's great to say (to pretty much everything that comes to the table) 'can you eat that on your weird diet?!' to which they know the answer is 'I've not been doing the diet for a while now' but they still feel compelled to say it!!! There's a word for those people but I'm too polite to even censor it here.

Then there's the urge to have a second helping. And I did on a few occasions. I have pretty strong willpower BUT you can't just have one mince pie - just the one gets lonely in your tummy! BUT I never had a second helping as a result of peer pressure - always by choice. There's something positive in that (I think!)

There's the second glass of wine challenge that kicks in then... and I succumbed just once, which I am quite pleased with. It gave me a bad head. Won't be doing that again.

But for all my willpower and PMA I have found myself quite anxious about the effects of the parties and 3 course meals, and have been tetchy and snappy with everybody as a result of the discomfort. To be fair, the discomfort has been exaccerbated by a stressful situation at work, the fact that I havn't had time to buy even token gifts for the family and that I'm not mad keen on Christmas being the way it popularly is (personal preference). But I am distinctly aware that some of it was (irrational?) anxiety about gaining weight. The last meal was yesterday... and this morning I have weighed lighter, and overall I have not gained at all over the last 3 weeks, so actually I should be scoring a success for myself... but why on earth can't I?! Hmmmm. Probably the fact that it's TOTM is making things fuzzy too!

It's a strange journey we're all on and no mistake.

On a positive note, I ordered my wedding dress in the week, and they ordered a size 12 with the intent of taking it in to get the right fit! I'm cock-a-hoop!

Just want to take the opportunity to wish you all seasonal greetings of a Happy kind, whatever background and belief you happen to be from - and thank you all for your support during my journey this year, and wish you all the very best on your journeys through 2010 XXX

 

[Bess]

Nice to hear from you Miss P, and I hope you have a great Christmas too. I admire your willpower and determination so much, I am just too laid back and sloppy I think, by far. Got to get a grip soon, before things get out of hand.

Exciting about the wedding dress!! a 12 Whoooop!! and might have to be taken in!! Wow!!

 

[Katycakes]

You're doing so well MsPink, fantastic about the dress... and Bess is right, you're so focused about all this... inspiring. (And right now I could do with the inspiration!)

Have a fab Christmas & a brilliant New Year...

xxx

 

[LellyCD]

Hi MissPinky,

Well done on getting through the party season unscathed and fabulous on the wedding dress!
Wishing you a lovely Christmas!
x

 

[Katycakes]

Happy Xmas Ms Pinky...

xxx

 

[MissPinky]

Hi all

Hope you had good festive celebrations, and are now recovering (if recovery is necessary ). If you over-indulged be kind to yourself and allow yourself the luxury, forgive yourself (I'm doing that right now for me!) and keep on going towards your goals.

I am just 'surveying the damage' with the aid of Perfect Diet Tracker and my spreadsheets (geeeeeeek!)... and despite my trepidation and anxieties it's not too bad. The graph shows an upward trend over the last week, and the scales do too, but keeping the food diary has helped to keep things mainly under control but in reviewable perspective - phew! Can't recommend PDT highly enough... but you all already know how much I love that software. I hope that in another week I can bring it back down again just by reverting to what I was doing before to maintain.

My top tip for avoiding excess alcohol consumption? - mini bottles of wine that contain just 2 glasses worth. And if you share, you get a good glass out of it but just the one - even better! I was rather worried about family celebrations and the tendency for wine to flow freely as if a vineyard were on tap... For me it's so easy to think 'if I leave all that wine in the bottle it'll go funny... must finish it off!' where red wine is concerned. Mini bottles rock because they take the temptation away with minimal calorie/liver damage. Anyone else found any top tips for keeping control over something during the festive season?

I havn't mastered chocolates in a similar way, sadly... but they're nearly gone, and won't be replaced when they have. I am pleased to announce I've still had no Haribo since I started CD!!! Cold turkey or what?!

3 months or so in Maintenance and I have noticed a few side effects - most probably from doing SS+ for so long. My hair has finally noticeably thinned. I was expecting it much earlier, but hey ho. There are smallish clumps coming out when I wash, and when I applied colour to my roots yesterday (party today - can't go with roots!!!) I terrified myself with larger clumps than normal dropping out BUT the roots are gone, and the hair I have is in brilliant condition thanks to supplements. I hope it stops soon... may have to have Cheryl Cole extensions to fluff it up for my wedding.

The other issue is muscular/nerve problems that my physio has said may be linked to the weight loss and the natural change of body shape and posture that comes with it. Being so overweight could have masked the problem, I'm told. In my case it's manifesting as carpal tunnel syndrome, but that may itself be a symptom of something else - the CTS extends much further up my arm than would be usual, apparently. Has anyone else experienced anything similar? Got to have that checked in the new year, starting with an MRI scan of the neck and upper spine area. Deep joy.

Am starting to think about goals for the new year - anyone else in that frame of mind?

 

[LellyCD]

Happy New Year!
Wishing you a fabulous 2010!

xx