http://www.minimins.com/blogs/pete10141748/ Weight loss support forum, to help others lose weight with various different diets. A large community of people trying to lose weight on their Weight Loss Journey. en Fri, 10 Feb 2012 08:31:08 GMT vBulletin 60 http://static.mmscdn.com/misc/rss.jpg http://www.minimins.com/blogs/pete10141748/ http://www.minimins.com/blogs/pete10141748/1607-holy-heck-time-getting-away-me.html Sun, 28 Dec 2008 22:58:08 GMT In my last blog I was suprised that I hadn't posed an entry for a fortnight...... this time, it's been a month! :eek:

It's seriously weird to think how long I've gone without eating food already, how much time is left, and how soon I'm going to be at goal! Scary! But also very very coooool :cool:


Inspired by SlendaBlenda, this blog is partly going to be reflection on the year gone by, as after all, we are so so so close to 2009 at this point! Barely seems a day since the "new millenium" was rolled in with our street party and fireworks, but hey hey, life rolls ever forward at increasing speeds it seems!


So, what has happened in the past 12 months? Well, of course, LL is the biggest thing I've achieved this year (well, perhaps a close second, but we'll come onto that later...)
but I've also prompted myself to look at other areas of my life as well, such as achievements at work, that I've always found hard to do.

But after some real digging, I've realised just how much I have really done in 2008, and funnily enough, how much of it has happened since losing weight! Strange that co-incidence, eh?

Off the top of my head, this year has seen me;

• move house,
• make so many new friends,
• re-establish old friendships,
• travel,
• party,
• learn new skills
• brush up on old ones,
• really get back into playing guitar,
• broaden my creativity and (for the first time in ages) write new songs,
• make leaps and bounds in my job and establish myself as an integral part of the school instead of just being the neccassary "IT guy",
• begin to like myself a bit more,
• enjoy seeing photo's of myself,
• open up and talk about things I never would have before,
• generally feel like life is now worth living and not just 'existing' through

It's such an amazing thing to have changed so much in 3 months that I can barely even comprehend it; all I know is, LighterLife will always be the way that I got my life back on track, according to my rules and with my firmly in the driving seat, and I will always love it for giving me the chance to prove that to myself :)


Now, not least of the things that I love about the new me is my confidence, and whoa, where did it come from?!??!! On occasion it's like watching myself from accross the room... I can't believe that it's ME doing these things.

the most prominent case of this, of course, occured just the other night, when I got to asking a lovely lady friend of mine for a dance, sweeping her off her feet (literally!) and proceeding to have the greatest dancefloor experience of my life, as well as a nice conversation/slow walk home with her, and the most wonderful kiss of my life :D

and the best part was, not once did I ever have thoughts along the lines of "I must look so dumb dancing here", or a bad thought about my size, or anything like that. I just felt normal. ME! normal! I never imagined such a thing! I'm still grinning about it now!

Christmas has been great as well, so many friends and family members giving me lovely strokes, being able to resist all the food around me, observing the behaviour and how changed I really am already through something as simple as sitting at the dinner table during the Xmas meal... everything about it has been a learning curve, and the learning has been a wonderful experience.


I can't wait to get stuck into 2009, I know it's going to be the best year of my life so far, and best of all I know that it's all thanks to me. I did it, no-one else.



2008 will be remembered as the year I took control of my life.

2009 will be the year I keep it. ]]> pete10141748 http://www.minimins.com/blogs/pete10141748/1607-holy-heck-time-getting-away-me.html http://www.minimins.com/blogs/pete10141748/1530-whoa.html Thu, 27 Nov 2008 17:09:25 GMT So, it's just occured to me that I haven't written a blog entry for over a fortnight now! :eek:

So here's a fresh one.


I'm now coming up on 5 weeks of LL being done, and my goal of losing 2stone in 5weeks has played out great, and actually, I think I've done it already; I had to lose another 3lbs to hit 28lbs total, and that was since last Friday. I reckon that a loss of 3lbs over the last 6days is quite feasible, I certianly will be dissapointed if I haven't lost the 3lbs when I have my WI on Friday, but so long as the scales go down, it's all good.


These last 5 weeks have really enabled me to learn a lot about myself, not just my eating habits, but all kinds of aspects of my life have been given serious thought in a way that I've never done before.

I feel like such a different person already, as though the negative layers of my personality are peeling away along with the physical layers of me, it's quite amazing, I have to keep reminding myself that I am actually still me!

It almost makes me laugh at myself when I now look back at how I was living my life before, the hiding away in my room, the secret eating, the coming up with excuses not to do social things, the hating whatever I was wearing, and the denial at the size I really was. Sitting here now, I can't truely comprehend why I didn't decide to do something about it sooner, but hey, I guess I just wasn't ready.

The comments from my family and my group have been so encouraging, not to mention the wonderful comments and help from so many people on here :) as has been my own changing perception of myself - the weekly photo's I have been doing really show me the change, even though I often struggle to see it when looking at myself during the day.

My group and my immediate family are still the only people who know I am doing LL, my friends and extended family are going to find out at Chirstmas, when the see the difference they're going to be so suprised, and I think at that point I'll be dying to tell at least some of them about my proud achievements (I hope).

The LL group I have is so good, 5 of us guys, 1 of whom coincidently lives about 2minutes from my house and gives me lifts to and from the meetings :cool: and although it's not really the right attitude to have, being the lightest one in my group gives me such a buzz each week, it's so so rare that I am ever *not* the biggest one in the room, I love it, and it's just another thing that keeps me going as I know that sometime soon, I can feel that way about whatever room I walk into.

Right, well, blog over, I have to get up now as my bum hurts from sitting down for a bit too long - there's quite a bit less padding than I had before, I might have to buy a cushion or two! :D ]]> pete10141748 http://www.minimins.com/blogs/pete10141748/1530-whoa.html http://www.minimins.com/blogs/pete10141748/1457-there-goes-fortnight.html Sun, 09 Nov 2008 20:29:37 GMT Well, I've done it! 2 weeks of 100% LL'ing! So please with myself, and it shows that I can have the will and restraint if I really want to.

As of Friday night, I'd lost 14lbs in 12 days, which is great by my reckoning, and I'm hoping that I can achieve my next goal of another 14lbs over the next 2 weeks.

It's strange, in some ways this fortnight past has gone kinda slow - it seems like forever since I last ate "real" food (but I don't care, hooray! :D ) but on the other hand, it's sped past and I can't believe the difference I'm seeing in the mirror already!

I keep saying to myself, well if you've done it for 2 weeks already, whats another 6? or 8? or 12, if needed? Let's hope I manage to keep the upbeat attitude I've currently still got :)


Piccies of the 2-week change are in my album (again, a shirtless shot for my own benifit, so brace yourself if you are faint of heart or consider yourself pure lol :p )


Arriverdechi y'all! :cool: ]]> pete10141748 http://www.minimins.com/blogs/pete10141748/1457-there-goes-fortnight.html http://www.minimins.com/blogs/pete10141748/1445-wheres-time-going.html Thu, 06 Nov 2008 12:30:42 GMT I can't believe I'm going to another weigh-in tomorrow already! It barely seems a second since I started this thing, now it's nearly 2 weeks!

Had a great morning this morning, putting on my work trousers and belt, I realised that I am now (comfortably!) 2 notches down from when I began! Put a HUGE :D on my face!

I remember writing in an earlier blog post (or perhaps it was a thread reply, can't remember now) about how "i hope the next week is as easy as the first one was", and I'm so pleased to find that it's been easier still! I think my mind must be in a total and utter 100% LL/Keto mode :D

Sadly, I got home last night really looking forward to my hot chocolate (which has become an "after work" routine now :p ) only to find that I'd used up all my choc packs :(

Oh well, I get more tomorrow, and this time I know to get a few more choc than banana lol

Will post weigh-in results tomorrow night, which I'm ally looking forward too again! ]]> pete10141748 http://www.minimins.com/blogs/pete10141748/1445-wheres-time-going.html http://www.minimins.com/blogs/pete10141748/1424-day-6-almost-week.html Sat, 01 Nov 2008 17:46:56 GMT This time tomorrow, I'll have done LL for 7 days, and wow, has it gone by fast!

I send huge thanks out to everyone on here who has commented, replied to my posts and generally inspired me to really keep myself on track this week (Martyn, BL, flirty40greeneyes, wants2bnormal, elle, and all the rest of you :D )


I'm off out to the casino tonight for my Mum's birthday, going to have to be strong and not join in the celebratory drinks (well, besides water I mean), but really looking forward to it.
Last time I went, I won just over £100! :cool:


Today, I decided that I would try and do some proper exercise, and so went for a "power" walk (and I ran as much as I could, which wasn't much, sadly X_X )
I went for about 3.5 miles, and by the time I got home, I felt soooo sleepy.
I know it wasn't the walking itself, as I happily have walked almost twice that far just to get home from work on regular occasions, so I figure it's gotta be the result of being in the K-mode, and not having as much "normal" energy as I would normally have.

So a word of warning to anyone thinking of getting on a treadmill when in Ketosis - be prepared to need a damn good nap afterwards; you'll feel like crap otherwise!


I tried to make a muffin earlier - sadly, it tasted disgusting, stodgy, barely any flavour, and then I stupidly tried to add more water to turn it into shake - ended up with very lumpy, cold water :( Had to just neck it, but was almost sick becuase of it, and I'm pretty sure I wrecked most of the nutrients in it :( So that's that, 2 failed attempts at "cooking" packs, and I'm not going to bother anymore. I like the shakes, so I don't know why I'm bothering to try and cook them anyway, just curious I guess! ]]> pete10141748 http://www.minimins.com/blogs/pete10141748/1424-day-6-almost-week.html http://www.minimins.com/blogs/pete10141748/1416-day-3.html Wed, 29 Oct 2008 23:16:25 GMT Well, today was my first day off work while on the LL program. I was all geared up for it to be a hard day, having heard that the 3rd and 4th... Well, today was my first day off work while on the LL program.

I was all geared up for it to be a hard day, having heard that the 3rd and 4th days seem to be the hardest ones, combined with the fact that I would be in an environment where food could still be available quite easily (the rest of my family have to eat normally!)

Really happy that the day turned out to be great!
I've felt better today than I did on either of the past two days, and wasn't tempted to eat anything from the kitchen at all.

This evening I had my first-week mid-week drop in with my LLC to pick up my packs until a week Friday, and weigh in for the first time.

I have to say, I was VERY nervous about the weigh in, as in myself I didn't see or feel like I had lost anything at all; how suprised was I to find that I'd actually lost 6lbs!
I think my face must have said it all, as my LLC simply said "Yep, didn't I tell you?"

Now, I'm really looking forward to my first group session on Friday night, not sure what to expect, but eager nonetheless!

Chilled out with some Fable 2 and then Pulp Fiction tonight, worked on my new song a little too. I almost forgot to have my last shake, I was keeping myself so occupied! lol


Here's hoping the rest of the week is as easy as I've found the first few days! ]]> pete10141748 http://www.minimins.com/blogs/pete10141748/1416-day-3.html http://www.minimins.com/blogs/pete10141748/1412-day-2-burgers-buses-before-photos.html Tue, 28 Oct 2008 19:18:50 GMT Well, day 2 started off with one thought - "Jesus! How frickin' cold is it this morning!!!"
I swear, it took me at least 30 minutes just to get up the courage to run to the bathroom and back under the duvet again!

Yes, it's been cold today (news said 6 degrees, with a possible -3 tonight! eek! ), even for me, who doesn't usually feel the old at all; I was sitting at my desk almost shivering!

At least I had a nice, hot, not lumpy! drink to warm me up when I got home :D

This morning I decided to have a Vanilla shake for brekkie (7am), as yesterday my lumpy one tasted like porridge. Sadly, I think that may have been the lumps/my brain telling me that to enable me to drink it, as this morning, smooth from the blender, it seemed to have no taste at all :( I even made it thick on purpose to try and "concentrate" the flavour, but to no avail.

I think that Chicken Soup and Vanilla Shakes are definately on my "won't bother again" list, although I've yet to try the chicken crisps so not 100% on that one yet.

After that, I managed to get all the way through until almost 4pm before I felt a slight rumble in my stomach - but thankfully that went away very quickly thanks to glugging water, and I've had no hunger pangs since! HOORAY!
No headache, no dizziness, no faint spells, and I gotta tell you, I feel better than I have done in a good long while!
Wether that's just positive thinking at this early stage, or the actual effect of the foodpacks remains to be seen.
All I know is, I'm a very happy bunny right now!

However, I wasn't so happy sitting on the bus ride home - after about 2 stops (with 18 to go till my house) a whole family got on board, sat in front of me, and proceeded to tuck into their Burger King meals. Now, I don't like Burger King, or McD's/Wimpys for that matter (the one thing I have never liked is that kind of "junk food", give me a fresh Subway anyday), but the sight of them looking so happy as they all ate made me miss that feeling, just a little. Still, I knew that what they felt from eating that will be nothing compared to what I'll be feeling in 3 months time, and I got out my phone, and spent the rest of the journey home flicking through my personal "before" photo's, as I had planned to do in a situation like that one. It bloody worked too!

Anyway, once I was home, I decided that, as it was cold, I was going to try a Hot Strawberry shake for my 'lunch' (I say 'lunch' as this was around 3.50pm - and yes, I get home that early, but only this week as it is Half Term and the school shuts at 3pm, normally it's around 6pm) and I was pleasantly suprised, it tasted rather nice, though I think I prefer it cold.
(on a side note, I can't help thinking about a Strawberry muffin, with some leftover thick strawberry paste on top.... I got the idea from one of Martyn's posts.... thanks mate! Can't wait to try it! Sadly I'm all out of strawberry now, but I might have a go with my Banana one....)

I quickly downed a runny choc shake for tea (too much water, realised too late), and got back on with various things to keep my mind occupied - mainly checking in here, my Xbox 360 forum, my Guitar forum, and starting to write a new song - guitar playing is difficult when your fingers are freezing cold!.

Now we're heading for 7pm (EDIT 1: actually it's pretty much here - EDIT 2: in fact, it's taken me so long to write this it's past us by already!), and I think I'm going to try either the Veg soup..... or the Banana shake with ice.... or attempt to make Chicken Crisps... or the Banana muffin...... - bah, decisions decisions! I feel spoilt for choice!!

Have to say, I'm really glad I read up on the recipies beforehand you know, it helps keep me (slightly) sane knowing that I have all these potential "foods" to turn my foodpacks into besides just the standard shake or soup.



Lastly, I got set a real incentive today; my parents said that, as they are proud of me for doing this, if I manage to lose at least the 3stone by Christmas/New Year time, and keep it off until my birthday (middle of June, so 6 months from Xmas essentially) then they'll buy me a PS3 for my birthday! SWEET!


Well, all that said (and wow there was a lot!), I'm clocking off for another day. I'd pat myself on the back for another successful day, but my arms don't reach around far enough yet :p

Guess I'll have to settle for a little self-praise instead :cool: ]]> pete10141748 http://www.minimins.com/blogs/pete10141748/1412-day-2-burgers-buses-before-photos.html http://www.minimins.com/blogs/pete10141748/1405-my-first-lighterlife-day.html Mon, 27 Oct 2008 18:17:31 GMT Today started really well.
I got up an hour earlier than normal, mainly because I was dying to have my Strawberry shake! I made it up with 350ml's of water, but to my horror I seemed to produce a thin, pink-watery like drink filled with lumps :(

I put that down to it being 6.30am, not being a "morning person", and it being my first try at making them, so I just took a deep breath a necked it.
It tasted alright actually, and my long-standing ability to down a pint without tasting the beer was put to good effect!

That done, I toddled off to work. I made it all the way to 1.30pm before I even thought about needing something to eat (I'd drunk about 1.5 litres of water by this point, which looking back wasn't really enough as I've still got almost 2 litres to drink between now and 11).

As it was "lunchtime" I made myself a hot Vanilla shake, which again went lumpy :( discouraged, but not defeated, I slowly drank it, and found that it actually tasted very much like porridge, which I really liked!

I have to say though, on the bus ride home my stomach sounded like an angry wild dog, so much so that as soon as I got in, I made myself a Chicken Soup pack - 3rd time lucky? NOPE. Still lumpy, and I really didn't like the taste either - reminded me of the cheap-ass Chicken Noodles I used to get from Costco! So no more chicken for me, I'll stick to shakes I think, at least I know like the flavours.


Still, today is almost done with, and more than anything else I'm suprised by the fact that I haven't been tempted to eat anything "real" all day; even when sitting there watching the Site Agent eating his 6" Sub of the Day, I honestly didn't want it.

I guess that's the power of positive thought!

A nice little "encourager" I came up with is to keep a copy of my "before" picture of myself (which I took myself at home, shirtless) on my phone - as soon my though strays to food or something that isn't in keeping with LL, I just whip it out, and spend 10 seconds looking at that picture - that's all the encouragement I need to carry on!

Anyway, here's hoping tomorrow is as "easy" as today was. Though I have to say, typing this now I am feeling ever so slightly light headed - but I guess that's just my Carb-withdrawl symptom coming on.


Anyhoo, I have a nice relaxing night planned for tonight - a little chat with family, finish reading a white paper for work, then spending a good few hours playing Fable 2 for my Xbox 360 :)

Hooray for time-wasting RPG polygon goodness! :D ]]> pete10141748 http://www.minimins.com/blogs/pete10141748/1405-my-first-lighterlife-day.html http://www.minimins.com/blogs/pete10141748/1401-preparing-first-day.html Sun, 26 Oct 2008 23:39:00 GMT Right, so, in 31....no, 30 minutes time, I start my LighterLife journey.

I've said goodbye to crisps, so long to cake, arrivaderchi to biscuits, farewell to Cadbury's and...erm.... "later" to potatoes and bread :p

I've gotten rid of all my little "stashes", donated my "real" food to my family, and am already creating a little recipie book for potential foodpack inventions :D

I've got my packs all organised for my next 3 days, after which I return to my LLC to get more and my first "on the programme" weigh-in, hopefully at which I should see some progress already.


And the reason I'm posting this at 11.30pm is that I am excited, nervous, scared, thrilled, apprehensive, ponderous and truely exhuberent to be doing this for myself! I just hope that feeling keeps up come days 3/4, which I hear are the hardest.....

I've made myself have a good "preperation" weekend as well, not much in the way of Carb's to try and 'ease' into having very few, drinking the 4 litres of water a day already.


Now, how do you round these things off? erm......

Caio? :cool: ]]> pete10141748 http://www.minimins.com/blogs/pete10141748/1401-preparing-first-day.html