Updates from Random Name

I've been lurking on this forum since I heard of exante and ordered the products. I just signed up today to keep a bit of a record of how things are going for me. It was really helpful to hear about other people's experience and there's no reason why I can't add to that myself!

I started 10 days ago, weighing 11 stone 8 pounds. I lost 6 pounds the first week. I'm currently in my second week. I swap between total and working solution, mostly skewed towards working solution. For my work solution days, I usually only eat about 100 calories of extra food and only ketogenic stuff so it's pretty close, but it makes a huge difference for me.

Immediate goals: get under 11 stone, loose exactly a stone & reach normal BMI (for me: 10 stone, 2 pounds).
Longer-term goals: get under 10 stone, loose two stones & hit 9 stone.
Long-term goal: maintain, maintain, maintain.

I'm guesstimating that it will take about three months. Ideally, I'd set my final target weight a bit lower than this, shed another stone and still be in the healthy range, but I think that's a goal I should revisit once I've successfully maintain weight at 9 stone for say three months. It can be my 2014 resolution!

It's going quite well actually. The soups are the worst part, but I really don't mind the shakes and bars. A shake is a great way to start day. I'm not much of a morning person, and literally only eat to break the fast, so something easy and quick like a shake is perfect. I could see myself sticking to that long-term. The bars are also fine. The soups, however, are killing me. Really dislike! I'll be relieved once they're out of the way.

Good afternoon Random and welcome!

I'm not a fan of the soups either. I stick to the shakes and the odd Ultraslim bar xx

I'm just under 11 stone (10 stone 13 1/4 pounds, but who's counting? ). Goal one accomplished.

I'll be starting week 4 tomorrow, averaging 3 pound loss per week (skewed heavily towards the first week). I'm predicting 1.5 pound loss this coming week, which is just off my next goal to loose a stone. That's a goal for my 2nd exante month. I wasn't really sure if I'd keep this up, the one month was a test, and it's going okay, so I'll add on another month. It's much easier to take it that way. Real food doesn't seem too far away, just a manageable distance.

I've started to lean heavily on coke zero these days. Usually, I'd drink soft drinks about 2-3 times a month and that's changed into 2-3 times a week. I'm usually doing working solutions, so I'm also eating a tonne of chicken, much more than usual, it's my new sneaky snack throughout the day in place of a banana or breakfast bar. This diet is doing wonders for my protein levels.

I only updated this thread after a week, but I really checked my weight far more often than that (twice already today see if the under 11 stone reading was an early morning fluke). I have software that plots graphs and stuff (weight, carbs consumed, protein consumed, various body measurements...). I feel like maybe I'm too aware and invested in this, that scaling back on the monitoring would be much healthier. Much easier said than done! The sanctification of looking at the snazzy downward graphs is more than matched by unchanging days. I'll probably keep doing it, but I wanted to note it here for down the line (once my weight is in a better place) to reconsider what's best for me.

Hi and welcome. You seem to be doing very well. I find it really difficult not to weigh in every day. I think it is ok to do this if you are aware that weight can fluctuate.

That's it - 4 weeks done!

I feel quite proud of myself. It seemed like an awfully long time to be eating the same 10 things and avoid a lot of food I liked. Impossible, even. Now, I haven't been super strict as I initially vowed to be, but it was strict enough compared with what I had been eating in June. And it's been working!

I lost 1.5 pounds last week. My weight loss for the month was 11.3 pounds, which is on par with estimate on Exante's website, putting me at 10 stone 11.75 pounds. I've also made good progress in terms of inch lost and fitting back in my usual clothes size too - 3.5 inch loss from waist, 1.5 from hips and 1.5 from bust.

Usually, I tend to loose weight from my bust before anywhere else. This time, I'm doing a different sort of exercise and obviously a much different diet so I guess that might contribute to this new pattern. It's a preferred one alright! My waist could use the inch loss much more than my bust!

Here's to another 4 weeks! The aim for this month is to finish off my next two immediate goals: shifting a stone and hitting normal BMI. To do this, I'd need to loose 10 pounds, which is probably overambitious. I'm predicting about 6 pound loss. I'll probably manage the first one. It's hard to say. Next week is the TOTM and the week after I'm visiting my parents so the weight loss will probably be modest.

I'm feeling bored of this diet lately. Three more weeks feels a bit like a life sentence.

I'll be 5 weeks on Sunday and even getting through the next 3 days until this point feels like a long haul. I'm just tired...

It's hard to keep motivated without weight loss. I've never really dieted before, not intentionally. I would loose and gain weight, but this was more so to with my activities rather than food, so while I saw my weight drop or stay the same, I wasn't really making any sacrifices to do it so wasn't quite so invested/fixated. I didn't have any solid targets or deadlines either. Things are a good bit different with exante obviously!

How do people do this for weeks or months or years on end? Much respect for you guys. The novelty has kinda worn off for me! It's not like I'm giving up, not yet, but definitely considering calling it a day once my current supplies run out in spite on targets reached or not reached, doing the stabilizer program and sticking at whatever weight I'm at rather than attempt to loose more.

Suppose I'll just wait and see and try to focus on getting through the next few days.

Okay, not much progress on the weight loss front, but I’ve gotten over my funk so that’s a good start! I’ll wait ‘til tomorrow to give my official end of week 5 number.

I couldn’t tell you exactly what my lowest weight was in recent times due to poor tracking. Low 9 stones, I guess. I also can’t say what my average was either, just that it was probably high 9s, if not low 10s.

My latest aim is to go back to average. I don’t really want or need to be the lightest me possible. For my BMI, that’s something like 7 and a half stone, which seems insane. I don’t really want to go there (not that I’d say no or anything if someone could wave a magic wand, but not enough to put in real effort). I’m choosing getting back to average me.

Average is that my measurements mostly match up with ones I recorded two years and that my clothes from then are comfy. I’m not a million miles away from this. The number on the scales seems to suggest it’s a lot further off than it is.

To fit this, I’ve changed my goals slightly, and given myself more mini targets to achieve:

Goals:

1. Get safely into 10 stone (i.e. 10 stone 10 pounds)
2. Loose exactly a stone (10 stone 9 pounds)
3. Reach 10 stone 7 pounds
4. Reach 10 stone 5 pounds
5. Hit normal BMI (10 stone 2 pounds)
6. Stay there for a week
7. Stay there for a month
8. Stay there until Christmas

Time frame? As long as it takes, I guess. I figure the first two goals should be do-able in the next two weeks. Roughly, this is the diet plan:

July: Working Solution (done, lost about 10 pound)
Aug: Work Solution (in progress, expecting about 5 pounds)
Sept: Simple Solution
Oct: Stabilizer

Official Sunday morning weigh in: 10 stone 9.8 lb.

That's goal number 1 (kinda). I'd say that number is about a half pound extra a couple hours later on. It's a safe bet for next Sunday.

That was a 1.9 pound weight loss this week, which is a lot higher than I was expecting really. This last week, the weight went down, then back up and stayed there, so it was looking like a stay the same week, at best, so seeing the 2 pound loss was a nice surprise!

Here's hoping for 10 stone 8 lb next week.

I’m a day earlier this week for the official weekly report (Week 6).

I lost 1 pound this week, which brings me to 10 stone 8.8 lb.

In the 6 weeks, I’ve lost just over a stone. Comparing numbers here it feels unimpressive, but we’re all on different journeys, so it’s not really fair to compare.

I’ve successfully accomplished the first two goals on my list anyway and steadily making progress towards my final target. I’m 60% there, so over half way, but weight loss isn’t exactly linear and steady so I still have some bit to travel.

It was a bit of a dodgy week, with extra treats and skipped packs, but it could have gone a lot worse really! I’ll be back to my usual routine next week so I’m not going to dwell on this.

Similar loss next week will bring me to my next target (10 ½ stone).

Updated Goals:
3. Reach 10 stone 7 pounds (ETA - week 7)
4. Reach 10 stone 5 pounds (ETA - week 8)
5. Hit normal BMI (10 stone 2 pounds) (ETA - week 9)
6. Loose another 2 pounds for safety margin (ETA - week 10)
7. Stay there for a week
8. Stay there for a month
9. Stay there until Christmas

I had a bit of time today that I might not have tomorrow so I wanted to do a proper update. There will be another quick one tomorrow, not that there will be any huge differences between now and then!

A stone in 6 weeks is impressive. You can't expect to lose at the same rate as some of the bigger ladies. You haven't got far to go at all. You'll soon be at goal and maintaining!

I’m up 3 pounds this week.

Strangely, I was being much more rule obeying compared with the previous week. (but not as much as normal). It seems a bit backwards, but maybe there was a weight delay or something?

I could see this happening all week and was hoping for a stay the same. I even turned down a night out too (although I was out for a dinner last night and had to make the best out of bad options). It’s a bit disappointing. I’m right back where I was 3 weeks ago.

However, big picture, 3 pounds isn’t really a big deal. Measurements are all the same. My clothes are still fitting better etc. The weight gain probably a fluctuation. Also, I was using a different scales last week, so perhaps that one was slightly more generous than my usual one. I’m probably overdue a week like this anyway.

It looks like I spoke too soon last week about meeting goals. I’ll be attempting to achieve those goals again this week. Ideally, those 3 pounds will vanish this week and it can be a minor blip that would have gone unnoticed with irregular weigh ins. It’s more likely that I’ll only loose a pound though. I’m hoping for 1-2 pounds.

Thanks for the encouragement, lunneonexante!

Week 8 (I guess????)

I'm back at 10 stone 9 pounds. That's goal 1 and 2 knocked off the list again (hopefully for the final time).

It was a bit of a dodgy week, probably on par with the week before last. There's really no telling how the weight loss works! I lost three pounds this week, which is the most I've lost since week one. Not that I'm complaining! But it doesn't seem terribly logical.

I have a strange assortment of products left because on the boxes I ordered and what I've been eating, so lots of ready meals and shakes and limited bars and soups. I typically do shake-bar-meal per day meaning my choices are buy more bars or change that pattern up up. I must do a bit of a count and see how many days I have left and figure out if and when I should order more products.

This week flew by! It’s been a bit mental, a lot of stuff came at me at once this week, but luckily I managed to survive it all and even lost some weight!

Official weigh in: 10 stone 7.25 pound. Steady progress towards my next goal. I haven’t exactly followed the diet this week, which is basically my normal habit now, but I didn’t do the usual exercise either and I indulged in some stress snacks (e.g. a massive moro bar and tea). I’m a bit surprised!

Next week will be a bit crazy too. I’ll be out of town for a couple of days on work. It’ll be awkward trying to do the exante diet. I’ve read tips here on how people manage, but I don’t think that they’ll really work for me; I’m still keeping this a secret and I’ll be sharing a room. It’s looking like I’ll be abruptly back on normal food.

I’m looking forward to trying the new shakes! The new ready meals overall were a bit disappointing, a huge improvement over the soups, but not something I’d really order again. Next order will be just shakes and bars. I wonder if there are any new bar flavours coming out soon? I must put in an order today.

Posting a day early and reporting a STS!

I’m quite happy at that. I was attending a catered work event out of town and had limited (to none) good food options and lots of temptation. This meant mini croissant with tea, sandwiches at lunchtime, drinks in the evening and basically no exercise. This seemed like it should add up to a lot of damage…except I dodged that bullet. I suppose I was being sensible with portions and sticking with the one pastry rather than taking two or three like most people and loading my plate up with fruit rather than sandwiches.

Since I started exante, it was the first time I didn’t have access to scales for several days. It was basically the first thing I did this morning getting back home! I’m still just over my next goal of 10 ½ stone, but will hopefully knock that one out next week and make progress towards the next one.

My latest order arrived yesterday. I’ll have the tried and tested reliables and the new exante shakes to keep me going for the next month. I’m feeling quite positive about the upcoming month!

Good luck for next month. You've done really well so far and should reach goal soon if you keep it up.

Yes I'm echoing Lynne, good luck for this next month xx

Thanks, guys!

I'm away this weekend again and haven't got access to scales so I'll be doing my official weigh in and update tomorrow. I just wanted to pop by and visit my diary. It's quite interesting looking back at things, isn't it? I'm terrible for remember details and specifics, so normally I'd have forgotten most of the stuff I've written here, but it's very useful to track progress this way.

Good morning and good luck with your weigh in xx

10 stone 7 pounds - averaging out at STS despite increases and losses.

I liked the mint chocolate shake, but the smell was much nicer than the taste! I drank it warm. Now that we’re getting into autumn and winter, a hot drink rather than a milkshake sounds more appealing in the mornings.

My stats here are a bit misleading. I’m actually between 5’3 and 5’4 and it isn’t possible to put the exact number in so I rounded up. According to that, I’m just off my normal BMI, which isn’t quite true; I’m actually 4 pounds away.

I’m excited about being so close! I’m 2-3 weeks away from normal BMI! This specific goal is a key one, for me. I’ll be aiming to loose a little more for a safety cushion and the novelty of being in the 9 stone zone, but the big thing was always hitting normal BMI.

By my estimates, I should reach normal BMI and a bit extra by the end of October. That’s it. The end of weight loss and the start of weight maintenance. Timed for the most dangerous part of the year unfortunately (with Christmas and Thanksgiving and Halloween and all these celebrations).

10 stone 5.5 pounds.

I'm not properly following the working solution plan anymore. Or even stabilizer. Food is usually two exante products and another normal meal (plus snacks). I'm torn between the convenience of the packs and wanting normal food, so I've made up my own version, which is working alright! It's probably a bit slower than following a plan, but it's easing me into real regular life I suppose.

I had a hot chocolate shake for breakfast, cooking a quiche now, and probably have an exante bar later. I've also had some cheese, strawberries, an orange and some dark chocolate. I'm not sure how many calories or carbs that is, but it doesn't seem like too much. I must start drinking more water. I'm slipping back into old habits on that front. My aim this week is to drink at least a litre of water each day (plus the water in tea/coffee).

So yeah, everything is going okay, inching my way towards normal BMI, but feeling good about it. It will probably be the end of October by the time I get there. That's fine though. I'm feel quite happy with my clothes fitting and my appearance so I don't feel that seem pressure to loose quickly. Slow and steady wins the race, right?