Sleek_Chick's diary

Hey everyone,
I am Sleek_Chick. I successfully lost 5 stone a few years back on a VLCD and maintained for 2 years, but I have since regained all of the weight. I suffer from anxiety and depression, and turned to food for comfort. I know Exante works, but I need to work on my emotional ties with food to be successful in maintenance. I have just finished some exams. I would ideally like to lose 3 stones by September; having done a VLCD before, I know this is achievable.

Looking forward to reading some other diaries.

First day down - three shakes and 4 litres of still water down. It was not as difficult as I thought it would be; looking forward to shifting these pounds. Going to have a glass of sparkling water and then it will be bed for me.

That sounds like a good first day. Welcome to the forum and good luck on getting to your first goal. Yes, it does sound achievable.

Hi I also suffer from depression and anxiety and put on 5 stone through binge eating. I did exante a couple of years ago, lost 2 stone but put it back on again I'm on day 16 today and so far so good. Good luck xx

Thanks Cate for the warm welcome. We never know how our bodies will react, but I will keep trying. Your losses are great.

Thanks Hazel. It is so difficult; I feel as though I am fixated with food at times. Getting out of the house does seem to help with my depression, but I worry what people think of my weight. The media portrays obesity and being overweight in such a negative light; people assume to think it is a case of eat less and move more. I know this is true to an extent, but most people have deeper issues with food. Eating less and moving more may help to shift some of the excess weight, but it will not prevent you from regaining it. I use food as a comfort, when I should see it as fuel.

Well day 1 is done and dusted. I woke up with a headache this morning, but I am not feeling that hungry; being a daily weigher, I popped on to the scales and seem to have shifted 4lbs. I know this is an anomaly, as I did have a feast on Wednesday, so gained a lot of water weight. I will definitely feel much better once I am in the 15s. Here is to another successful day.

Hello Chick! Welcome! good luck to you with your journey! I am sure all of your goals are achievable! How was your second day?

Thanks for the warm welcome Metallichick. I agree completely with what you have said; I do believe food addiction is one of the hardest addictions to crack. Sometimes I do think a lot of it boils down to metabolism and genetics; I do have friends who eat copious amounts of food, who maintain their weight. I would like to be that type of person, but I know I never will be. I do want to make the right choices, not just to maintain my weight, but to ensure I am as healthy as possible. How is it going for you? 4 days is great - I bet you're looking forward for your weekly weigh in.

Hi Ginger! Thanks for the warm welcome. My second day was not too bad, but I struggled; I have remained 100% TS but it was difficult. Hopefully, today will be much easier. Not in ketosis yet, as I feel hungry. I have been drinking lots of water. I hope your day went well.

Happy to report a 1.4lb loss overnight. I am hoping it will continue this way; I keep having an irrational fear that it won't work for me this time. I hope it does; I cannot imagine staying this weight forever. I have gained 3 stones since September last year; I am so disappointed. I wish I had tried TS then or at least tried to maintain it. I let it get too out of hand. It could be worse, so I shouldn't be too hard on myself. I really just want the weight to come off. I am not a confident person to begin with, but when I gain weight, I lose all of the confidence that I do have. It sounds really silly, but I feel as though people treat me differently too.

I hope everyone is well. Here's to another successful day for everyone.

It has been over a week since I last posted; I have remained 100% and managed to lose 9.6lbs in my first week. I decided that I would only weigh once a week - I refuse to let the scales dictate my mood and I refuse to be a slave to them. I must admit that it is rather liberating; I do feel less stressed. Daily weighing has been my downfall and partly responsible for my gain. When the scales are up, despite my efforts to eat well, I enter sabotage mode and comfort eat. I cannot allow little fluctuations to get me so wound up. I have to look at the bigger picture, instead of all those incremental, daily losses.

I have felt rather depressed and tearful this week. I have let my weight get in the way for all these years and I am honestly so fed up. I will not do another VLCD again. Once I reach my goal weight, I will sign up to my local gym and start weight training. I have yo-yoed up and down - that alone must have put so much stress on my body. Yes, being overweight/obese is not healthy but neither is yo-yoing and binging.

I have been reading up on weight training and the more I read, the more I am certain I will incorporate it into my life. It has numerous health benefits: raising metabolic rate, building muscle and strengthening bones. The more muscle you have, the more calories you burn and the more you can eat; it also improves the appearance of your body. When I reached goal, some years ago, I was slim, but I was not happy with my body. I loathed it - hated my arms and still had back fat. I want to be toned and decrease my percentage of body fat, and I know weight training will help me to achieve this.

I will also be doing a full metabolic reset to repair my metabolism and get it to function as well as it possibly can. When you diet, your metabolism adjusts to a lower intake and burns calories less efficiently. If you repeatedly yo-yo, your metabolism can adapt to such an extent that you may even appear to be gaining on 1200 calories, making it difficult to diet like 'normal people' i.e. those who have never dieted. Resetting your metabolism involves increasing your calories slowly, week by week, up to the level of calories you burn daily. You then need to continue to eat at that amount for around 6-12 months to repair your metabolism; it can be less, but if you are a typical yo-yo dieter then a longer period of time will be required. You may gain some weight during that time but if you increase calories very slowly, it will be minimal. Once your metabolism has been reset, you will find it easy to lose weight eating 100/200 calories below your daily expenditure.

Sorry for such a long post. I thought some may be interested.

Hi SC, well done on a fab first week loss. I am sooooooo with you on the daily weighing thing.

I found your post really interesting re. metabolic repair. I'll be looking into that more myself. As you say, this is absolutely the last time I do this. Twice is enough for anyone. I'll be going onto some form of intermittent fasting diet when I finish in order to maintain but I'm keen to learn as much as I can about all kinds of maintenance tips and strategies while I'm doing this so the weight doesn't go back on when I finish. Last time I just pretty much went back to my normal eating patterns which were equally destructive after I'd lost the weight as they had been before! Funny that. What's the saying? ....."if you keep on doing what you've always done, you'll keep on getting what you've always got". Why on earth I thought I could go back to my old eating habits and keep the weight off is frankly beyond me because I'm really not that stupid!! LOL. I look forward to keeping up with your progress.

Hi SC. Just caught up with your diary. Welcome and well done so far! I found your last post interesting too. Can't wait until we're all maintaining and passing on knowledge to each other!

Hi sleek_chick that is really interesting I think I need to look into that too. Well done on your loss that's brilliant!

Xx

Hi Cate. It is really good that you have started thinking about maintenance; intermittent fasting sounds really interesting. It is advocated by a lot of people and apparently helps with sugar cravings. I will probably follow the Cambridge steps, as they slowly introduce carbs over a period of 6 weeks. I'm really keen on following a Paleo style diet, but not completely sure whether I want to omit rice/pasta/porridge from my diet. I don't think there is anything wrong with carbs, provided you're not eating the refined types.

Hi Lynne, thanks for the warm welcome. I found it quite interesting. I will post more on it as I approach goal.

Thanks Hazel - well done on getting your first stone off!

So today is my second weigh in and I have lost 4.2lbs - just 0.2lbs off 1 stone! So close. I have found this week much easier, compared to the first. Feeling much more positive about reaching my goal for Christmas. I was talking to my friend and she has taken up strength training; she's tiny anyway, but could not recommend it enough. She was telling me that she doesn't snack - she has porridge for break, a sandwich for lunch and a salad for dinner. Sounds like an approach I need to adopt! I don't buy processed foods and make most of my meals from scratch, but my downfall is chocolate. I may limit them to once a month. I have just been reading over the EatMore2Lose group at MyFitnessPal; it's really interesting. Some people are lifting weights and maintaining on over 2000 calories and the results they have had with lifting are great. Can't wait to start.

Have a good day everyone.

Great loss. A stone in two weeks is fantastic. Well done.

Thanks Cate! I was chuffed about that. Hoping it continues; feels like I have a lifetime to wait to reach goal! I lost 3.2lbs this week, bringing my total loss to 17lbs in 3 weeks. Would love to hit 1 stone and a half by next week, but I never usually lose over 3 lbs, so we will see. Pleased with my losses, but can't wait to hit the 14s!

Sleek_Chick said:

Thanks Cate! I was chuffed about that. Hoping it continues; feels like I have a lifetime to wait to reach goal! I lost 3.2lbs this week, bringing my total loss to 17lbs in 3 weeks. Would love to hit 1 stone and a half by next week, but I never usually lose over 3 lbs, so we will see. Pleased with my losses, but can't wait to hit the 14s!

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Well done. Hope we're both in the 14s before too long!!

Hi Slick, just read your diary, well done on an excellent weight loss and such a positive attitude. Found your post about resetting your metabolism really interesting. Keep up the good work x

Thanks Cate! I hope I am by Monday - that would be great!

Thanks Crisp. Glad you found it interesting; I have read up so much on dieting/fitness, and it's great to disseminate the information.

Managed to lose 1.2lbs overnight, which I am really pleased about. Usually, I lose in increments of 0.4 and 0.6lbs so it was nice to have a whoosh. Would love to lose another 2.8lbs by next Thursday, but I won't be greedy. Looking forward to finally getting out of the 15s. I still have lots left to lose, but focussing on these mini milestones really helps.

I can't wait to fit back into my smaller clothes and enjoy shopping once again. I am not a naturally confident person, however when I am slimmer, I feel much more content and happier with myself. It would be nice to start dating too - I'm 23 and have never had a boyfriend. When I first lost weight, it was really strange getting male attention; I didn't really like it. I was so used to blending in, and found the attention overwhelming. I guess it doesn't really help that I am shy, as well. I just want to finally be able to do the things that I have put off for so long and begin to enjoy life; it's easy to get into the habit of merely existing and living from day to day. I no longer want to do that. Here's hoping 2015 will bring me new found confidence and happiness.

Looks like you, CP and I will be in the 14s to 13s thread all together on Monday!!!!! :cross:

Sleek_Chick said:

Pleased with my losses, but can't wait to hit the 14s!

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It's very close chick great losses & well done on another 1.2lb through the night

Sleek_Chick said:

When I first lost weight, it was really strange getting male attention; I didn't really like it. I was so used to blending in, and found the attention overwhelming.

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I really hated the male attention when i lost the weigh first time round too, in fact i used to get really annoyed with it'. At the time i was working on the hospital wards & many of the males staff didn't really converse with me when i was fat,the porters were the worse. But as soon as i become 'slim' all the morons suddenly wanted to speak to me!!! A very close friend of mine is convinced i subconsciously put weight on to blend back in? Who knows she may have been right to begin with?! xxx