Preparing for day one (again), of many more ahead.

I started to wean myself into the Exante Total Solution late last week by having a pack for breakfast and lunch but a meal at home.
Yesterday was the first day of me doing three packs and I found this ok. I successfully fought off any hunger pangs (was busy at work during the day, which helped) drank plenty of fluids, enjoyed my black coffee and had some bouilion when I got hungry in the late evening. I went to bed feeling very pleased with myself!

Today went off on a good start and I was confident that I'd be well distracted as I'm packing to move by this Friday. I had the porridge for breakfast at around 10am, the thai chicken soup for lunch at 2pm. I found today WAY more difficult than yesterday. I carried on with my packing...then disaster struck some time later at around 6pm; my brother turned up at the house to help and had brought take away with him. I hadn't thought to tell him I was on the diet beforehand as we never eat together so I really didn't anticipate him bringing a meal with him!
I did tell him once he was settled in the lounge and instead of staying strong I ended up caving in under a tonne of excuses that did not make it worth it at all. In my head I told myself that it was just one meal of the day so it wouldn't be so bad/I can start again tomorrow...but I could say that every day if I don't learn to say no!

I felt disgusted with myself afterwards but it made me think a lot about the obligations I must feel I have towards food in certain social situations, moods etc and how they have got me where I am today. This needs to change because I can't get where I want to be, unless I make the heartfelt decision that I will not stay where I am now.

I lost 5 stone in 5 months on Lighter Life before but could no longer afford it after a severe change in circumstances. I just came off plan and put it all back on (and more) but managed to lose some more through Atkins. I've decided to come back to a VLCD because I remember finding it easy and was so motivated by how quickly the weight came off.

SO...tomorrow I will start again and this time I will stick with it no matter what. I think the key is for me to keep busy and drink plenty of fluids. I have to keep telling myself that these cravings are not the same thing as hunger! I need to trust that what I have had is enough and the cravings will fade.

I did lose 5lb so far, despite doing part plan. I won't weigh again until Saturday the 1st :)

Good luck to everyone else on the plan :) Any advice on getting past the difficult days would be appreciated.
 
Hi SOL & welcome to the forum . Its a new day tomorrow so put the Chinese meal behind you.
Drink lots of water to try reduce the headaches that may appear in the 1st few days.
Keeping a diary will help keep you focused. There are a lot of useful entries to read. There are also some challenges that you may like to join once you get into the swing of things. Good luck with the coming week
 
Hiya slice!


As Susie says just move on. New day one :) if u read my diary, ul see I had lots of false starts. I'm day 12 now. On Friday I sat at a staff night out in an Indian restaurant! Everyone was tucking in but I just had sparkling water. Not bad fir someone who thought they'd never get to day 3!

Good luck chick :) x
 
Hi SOL. Welcome to the forum. How are you going today? Exante works but it isn't easy. The first few days are the hardest and continue to be at every restart! However the important thing is to make sure you do restart. The longer you stay off, the harder it is to start again. I've noticed that some people come on here and do really well for sometimes quite a long time and then they just seem to disappear. Some never come back; others return after days, weeks or months having gone totally off the rails and stayed off and put most, if not all or more weight back on. If you have a bad moment don't make it into a bad day, week, month or more, just put it behind you and start again. We all have blips, it's how we recover from them that is important. Even if you do have a big blip, don't stay away, come back for support. Read and keep up with other people's diaries. This is great for support and motivation. You will see we are all different and some lose weight a lot quicker than others. As a rule, taller people and those with a lot to lose tend to lose it quicker, as do men. Good luck with your exante journey, I'm sure you'll succeed!
 
Hello and welcome! :)

There is no doubt that the first few days are very tough :eek:

......but honestly it does get easier, and bit by bit becomes a way of life :D

Use the fantastic support here - everyone is here for the same reason, and we really understand all the issues around weight :rolleyes:

As Lynne says, if you stumble pick yourself up and get back on - don't disappear from view.

If you can just get past the first few days without starting and stopping it is SO much easier :)

......then you'll see the scales rewarding you week after week

Find some motivational things that might work for you - weight charts, graphs, stickers, non-food treats for achievements, pebbles in a jar .......... All sorts of things! :D

We can do this, together :)
 
Hi Susie, Thanks for your suggestions! I've just been going through and I feel much better having done so. I think I'll make time to do that every day to keep me going :) Today has been much better.

You're doing so well! Keep up the good work :)
 
Hiya slice!


As Susie says just move on. New day one :) if u read my diary, ul see I had lots of false starts. I'm day 12 now. On Friday I sat at a staff night out in an Indian restaurant! Everyone was tucking in but I just had sparkling water. Not bad fir someone who thought they'd never get to day 3!

Good luck chick :) x

Hiya! I've just had a read through yours and have found it a good help! Well done on sticking to your sparkling water, I remember doing that when I was on LL and I'd be so proud of myself afterwards, I used to have a coffee and a water to spread out over the time it took everyone to eat lol. I also found the smells of unhealthy foods foul after a while on plan, so I'm hoping that will happen again ;)

Good luck to you too x
 
Hi SOL. Welcome to the forum. How are you going today? Exante works but it isn't easy. The first few days are the hardest and continue to be at every restart! However the important thing is to make sure you do restart. The longer you stay off, the harder it is to start again. I've noticed that some people come on here and do really well for sometimes quite a long time and then they just seem to disappear. Some never come back; others return after days, weeks or months having gone totally off the rails and stayed off and put most, if not all or more weight back on. If you have a bad moment don't make it into a bad day, week, month or more, just put it behind you and start again. We all have blips, it's how we recover from them that is important. Even if you do have a big blip, don't stay away, come back for support. Read and keep up with other people's diaries. This is great for support and motivation. You will see we are all different and some lose weight a lot quicker than others. As a rule, taller people and those with a lot to lose tend to lose it quicker, as do men. Good luck with your exante journey, I'm sure you'll succeed!

Hi Lynne,
Thanks so much for taking the time to reply. I am doing very well today; just taking a short break from packing! I saw a post of yours somewhere where you suggested blending the shakes with ice and more water than usual and I did that today for breakfast (with espresso in it) and strawberry for lunch. I took my time to get through them so felt quite satisfied, will definitely be trying that again!
You are so right about ensuring I keep involved on here. The biggest difference for me between this and LL is not going to the groups which made me feel more accountable so I will make use of challenge groups etc on here :) I chose Exante because LighterLife is just too expensive at £72 a week but the packs taste EXACTLY how I remember them so Exante must be pretty much the same.

Hope you're having a lovely Sunday x
 
Hello and welcome! :)

There is no doubt that the first few days are very tough :eek:

......but honestly it does get easier, and bit by bit becomes a way of life :D

Use the fantastic support here - everyone is here for the same reason, and we really understand all the issues around weight :rolleyes:

As Lynne says, if you stumble pick yourself up and get back on - don't disappear from view.

If you can just get past the first few days without starting and stopping it is SO much easier :)

......then you'll see the scales rewarding you week after week

Find some motivational things that might work for you - weight charts, graphs, stickers, non-food treats for achievements, pebbles in a jar .......... All sorts of things! :D

We can do this, together :)

Hi Darcy,
Great advice, thank you :) I was thinking of doing the pebbles in a jar thing as I saw something similar where one is "pounds to loose" and another "pounds lost" so you can see the pounds lost mounting up and feel more accountable if you have to move any back to the other jar. I can see that really working for me. I also use Polyvore to make up outfits I'll be able to wear when I'm slim.

Hope you've had a good weekend so far! x
 
Hi SOL well done for getting right back on it, a blip is a blip and not the end of your diet, good luck with it, you'll soon be in ketosis and feeling much better :)
 
You're doing really well SOL. Well done
 
Hi Slice. Have you managed to get through today unscathed? Darcy's pebbles are classier than mine too Susie! I originally ordered some from Wilcos. I'm going to set up a pebble weight loss record at home too with the ebay ones.
 
Hi Slice. Have you managed to get through today unscathed? Darcy's pebbles are classier than mine too Susie! I originally ordered some from Wilcos. I'm going to set up a pebble weight loss record at home too with the ebay ones.

Good idea Lynne. I have a large grid on top of my hob which shows how many weeks I have been TS, if I have eaten & weight loss. Figured if its where everyone can see it I'm more likely to stay on track , Worked so far.
 
There are some good weight loss motivation chalk boards on ebay.
 
Well done SOL, day 2 will soon be day 20 :D

You're all so clever with your ideas for counting your weight loss, going to have to do something myself.
 
Day Two:

Breakfast:
09:30 vanilla shake blended with a cup of ice and 300ml of water + a shot of espresso. I loved this so will definitely do this again. The ice also meant it took longer for me to drink as it was so thick and that helped make me feel more satisfied.

Lunch: 14:30 I had the stawberry shake, same as above but without the espresso. Again, really enjoyed this and didn't feel particularly hungry and had to remind myself to have lunch. It took me about 45 mins to get through it.

Dinner: Spaghetti Bolognaise; not a fan! The taste made me think of the tinned stuff so I added garlic powder, lots of chilli and a pinch of Himalayan pink salt. This improved it slightly but I won't buy it again once I've got through this lot.

It's 20:55 and I'm still feeling satisfied so I hope the next few days will go as well as today. I was so busy packing and moving which I'm sure helped. I will have to start taking up more of my old hobbies once I'm moved on Friday as boredom won't end well m'thinks!

I have in the past used shirataki noodles when on plan, for the days when I might be more hungry. They are 20calories, zero carb, zero sugar and zero gluten. I believe that because of the high fiber in the noodles it's also considered a negative calorie food. I stocked up on these before I started the plan as I was doing low carb and will keep them so that I have a less damaging option for those days where I feel I might have a blip. Most likely to happen after having been to the gym or if I'm due on. Has anyone tried these before? I've seen other posts about people using them but I want to get used to the smaller portions for the majority of the time and have them as a treat.

Here's to tomorrow!
Thanks for all the support so far :)

x
 
Hi SOL. Well done for today. I like to have the shakes with lots of ice in them to make them thick. They last for much longer and make you feel fuller. I've never used the noodles but have seen that other people do. When I first started exante there were quite a few things I didn't like much - chocolate shakes, spaghetti bolognese, tomato soup, red bean chilli and mushroom risotto - but I have found that the tastes have grown on me. The only one I really and truly don't like now is the mushroom risotto which I find absolutely gross! hope tomorrow goes well for you.
 
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