Well, here I am! ;-)

[Jaycey]

A bit sooner than I thought but there's reasons for that...

My original target was 11 stone, but halfway through CD I changed it to 10½ as I was doing so well. I got down to about 10¾, and then went on holiday where I put on about 6½lbs. When I got home, I quickly got myself back to 11 stone again. At this point, my CDC advised me to start maintaining, as my size has got down to 14 (top) and 12 (bottom), which is miraculous for me. To be honest, if I were to go much smaller I would look a bit silly, being fairly tall (and I hate that Posh Spice "big head on thin body" look! - I have narrow hips and a fairly big head anyway, so that's not as far-fetched as it sounds).

The other reason is my fairly alarming hair loss, which began to worry me on holiday as I was losing brushfuls (despite shoving Hair-Vit and Silica down myself every day - and I was hoping the heat might make my hair grow quicker! ). So I decided to be happy with 11 stone, and maintain - if I lose a bit more, great - if I stay the same, not so bad - if I put on, shake 'n' blend until it's gone!

So here I am! I'm now seeing my CDC once a fortnight, and having CD porridge for breakfast most days - the rest of the time trying to eat healthily, using the valuable lessons I've been learning whilst on CD. I can now dig happily into a bowl of salad (which I hated before), chug back black coffee (ditto) and look upon a slice of buttered toast as a now-and-then treat instead of a daily necessity. (And my bread bin contains Nimble Danish and rice cakes, instead of the big white bloomers that used to live there! ) A good thing is that hubby is playing along with all this, and eating pretty much the same, so it's doing him good too.

My fave drink is a huge mug of my own recipe mocha (a level tsp instant organic coffee, a sweetener and a level tsp of Skinny Cow chocolate) - yummy. And I love to eat bacon and egg salad (to my big bowl of salad leaves, tomato & mushroom or whatever - yes, I've learned that there is life beyond lettuce! - I chop up and add two grilled rashers and a boiled egg), it goes down really well for lunch or dinner.

So - we're getting there! The journey wasn't too painful either, was it? Well worth it imho!

 

[LellyCD]

Hiya Jaycey, Big welcome to the maintenanace bit of the forum, it's great here!!
Well done on your fab losses and with the decision to move up the plans, sounds like you are doing really well and made lasting changes! Well done you!

Have a fab day!

xx

 

[curlywurly1234]

Hello Jacey..........
Nice to see you hon!!!!!! You have done so well and I am so pleased you have ventured over its great to have the people you travelled your journey with around the same board..
Sorry to here about the hairloss hon I think you have made the right decision for sure!! Well done hon you really have done so well!!!
Any more pics for us to see..
Keep smiling and welcome over here xx

 

[Jaycey]

Any more pics for us to see..

Is that just any more pix, or any more of me? (If I show you any more of me, they'd be positively indecent, lol! )

 

[Sunshine Singer]

Hiya and well done on your journey so far. It sounds as tho you have leant a heck of a lot on while you've been on CD. You're sounding really focused.

I'll look forward to following how you're getting on.

Good luck hun oh and a brilliant hair product to stop your hair falling out is Lee Stafford - for hair that never grows past a certain length. (that's what it's called ) and it's really fab. It's a treatment to nourish the roots and £6.80 in boots.... fusia pink tub. Well worth the money I promise xxx

 

[aussieraquel]

Well done Jaycey, nice to see you here.

Sunshine, I am going to check out that hair product you suggested, having the same prob at the moment. Ta xox

 

[Bess]

Jaycey, I remember that you mentioned the menopause somewhere. I've been very lucky and not had many symptoms at all, but I used to get hot at night. Since starting CD this stopped, which was great. Did you find the same thing?
Starting 1000 made it all start up again tho - pity.

 

[curlywurly1234]

Jaaaaaaaacey..
Where are you hon.
Hope all is ok.........xxx

 

[Jaycey]

Jaaaaaaaacey..
Where are you hon.
Hope all is ok.........xxx

Hi, I'm here and OK!

Visiting my CDC tonite (only once a fortnight now) which should be OK, as I'm just hovering under 11 stone which is as it should be. (Maintenance is weird - my scales nearly went down to 10½ stone last week, then crept back up again! I'm weighing every day, as KD recommended for maintenance - you do get some surprises!) I was having my CD porridge every day, but it's more like every other day now - I still have my CD bar for work, as it's so convenient. The rest of time it's mainly healthy eating! (Except for those days when I just have to have an ice-cream! ) It's not that difficult though - just take it easy on days after a mini blow-out to keep the balance. But I find I don't want to fill my face with 'bad' stuff now, I'm just not interested. (I'd rather make myself a massive salad, which is something I'd never do before CD!)

Things I do to keep on the 'straight and narrow':-

1) Don't buy naughties in the supermarket! (e.g. big white loaves, sweets, pizzas, crisps, etc.)

2) Keep a large and attractive fruit bowl going in the kitchen.

3) Stack up on lots of new and different salad veg (I'm eating leaves now that I didn't even know existed before!).

4) Have a bread bin but just have light types of bread in there (e.g. Nimble) and rice cakes. My CDC tells me that I've got to have some carbs!

5) Keep your CD food within easy reach - you never know when you might want to have some.

6) Don't stop the fluid intake (I get spring water delivered from my milkman now, to make sure I've always got enough - our tap water is gross, full of chlorine! :jelous.

I don't want to come over as preachy, and this is obvious really - but I've just found that these things help and thought other new maintainers might benefit! (And this food is for my hubby too - the only thing he has on top of this is his beer, but otherwise he's happy to eat 'my' food, apart from the CD stuff! )

PS. For Bess - I didn't find that CD made any difference to my hot flushes, I take Citalopram for them which has hugely improved them (they were horrendous before).

 

[aussieraquel]

Thats really good advice Jaycey, u seem to be going very well

 

[Jaycey]

Just one more thing - I've just come back from the osteopath (who just can't get over how much I've lost and how much my shape has changed! ).

For years, I've had trouble with my lower back and the muscles in my bum (they keep seizing up and she has to virtually punch them to sort them out - ouch!). Before CD, we were talking about acupuncture into the muscles, to get to the deeper ones underneath - but I kept putting it off (being a wuss! ).

Today I decided to be brave and bring up the subject again - only this time, my osteopath told me that that I didn't actually have enough flesh on my backside to have acupuncture at all! I've always had a smallish, flattish bum but CD has made it even smaller and flatter - practically non-existent, lol. I'd actually prefer it the way it was before but that's the way with dieting - you lose it all over, come what may!

So it was back to the pummelling this morning, lol - and I'm a teeny bit on the sore side!

 

[Bess]

Ouch! poor you. Don't ever worry about having acupuncture, if they can find somewhere to stick the needles!! It's fine, and really doesn't hurt at all. In fact the first time I had it done (for a bad back) I felt fantastic - just 'floated' up the road afterwards. Sadly that feeling didn't continue with subsequent treatments....
The only downside is that you can only give blood to other people who've had acupunture too, (the practitioner gives you a certificate.)

I bought the eyelash dye - dark brown - so we'll see how it turns out!

 

[Greeneyes11]

Hi Jaycey, I have been on holiday and missed loads of people joining this forum, so a big welcome from me. I feel really inspired when I read about people who are so positive about where they are and what they want to achieve and your posts have definately inspired me. I seem to be struggling at the moment with what I want to achieve, whether I want to stay where I am now, or whether to lose the extra 10lb and I feel a teensy bit jealous that you know exactly what you want. Well done on your weightloss, you should be proud of yourself, especially as you are managing to eat "normally" and maintain too.... that is my ultimate goal when I can decide where I am going. Sorry to hear about your hair loss, my friend also had the same problem and had to get tablets to help her, but she had suffered with it in the past, CD just aggravated it more, but she is fine now. I can relate to what you say about salad leaves, I used to hate salad but now I have discovered all these great salad leaves that i didn't know existed and I love them.... have even started eating celery in cooking which I couldn't stand before. Keep up the good work hon and I look forward to keeping up with your diary to inspire me to where I want to go.... take care

 

[Katycakes]

Jacey, lovely to see you on this board! Yay!!! You have done so well... and your tips for maintaining are great as well. Love to get new angles on it all, especially as I am struggling just now! Big hugs and a belated welcome.

xxx

 

[Jaycey]

Hi KatyCakes, nice to see you again, and everybody else of course! Well done to you all.

I went to see my CDC last night, and I was 2½lbs under 11 stone, which is pretty much what I was expecting (and hoping!). As I said earlier, I went down lower last week and then floated up a bit again - this daily weighing is certainly an eye-opener, but it does need to be done, otherwise I think it's harder to control the effect food is having on you - and learning what suits you too. (I even managed this loss despite getting through a tub of Ben & Jerry's last weekend, lol! 'Cheating' is fine as long as you follow it up with a healthy day!)

I still need to deflab though, and the WiiFit is still in the box, lol! Still planning some exercise classes, but it's difficult to plan anything right now because everyone's schedule revolves around holidays. (Nobody's ever around when you want them! ) I'm sure I'll get more organised once everyone is back to their normal routine!

At work today so it's my weekly charity shop trawl - haven't looked in them for a couple of weeks, so hoping for a good haul! (My wardrobe is already bulging! )

 

[LellyCD]

Hi jaycey, glad to hear all is going well with maintenance, love the new shopping changes it's a great new habit!
Hope you manage break out that wii fit, it's so much fun, even if it's just 10 mins a day!

x

xx

 

[Laura Croft]

Good luck with your maintaining Jaycey.

 

[Purplepixie]

Good luck with maintaining Jacey.

My CDC says i have to start to work op to maintanence now as well. Like you i'm tall, not a 12 on top and a 14 on bottom. My target was also 11 stones but that is just under 2 stones away and there is no way my frame would tolerate such a loss so plan is to hope up the steps and maintain around the 12 st mark.

Like you I also need to tone and deflab I have shed pretty much 5stone so I desperatly need that. Think as i tone up I will drop a size too.

 

[Jaycey]

Like you I also need to tone and deflab I have shed pretty much 5stone so I desperatly need that. Think as i tone up I will drop a size too.

That would be fab - I'm hoping for that too! (It all goes in when I suck my tummy in, but as soon as I let go - foooo!.......Flab City! I'm sure exercise will help that - it better had! )

 

[Jaycey]

Just back from a week's hol with my mum, involving plenty of hotel food, and scoffing of cream teas and ice cream....and guess what, I only put on 2lbs! I just don't understand my body since I started CD - my inches and dress sizes don't change even though my weight goes up and down, although I never let it hover too far away from 11 stone. It's almost like it has a 'memory' of what I'm actually wanting to achieve - but how weird does THAT sound?! :silly: