Putting my faith in JUDD for Christmas Maintenance and Beyond...?

Alex_1978

Gold Member
Hi Everyone,
My name's Alex, and I'm a newcomer to this corner of the forum, but not to Minimins or dieting in general as you can tell from my stats!
I won't ramble too much about my story, as it's well documented on other parts of the forum, but basically I started my weight loss journey back in 2001 at 20st 11lbs. I've done every diet you can think of along the way, but the most recent has been a VLCD which I started in September 2011. I'm absolutely thrilled to be able to say that I've finally reached (and surpassed) my goal weight, which was 10st 5lbs...but now I need a plan for Christmas and for maintenance in general.

Doing a VLCD was the best thing I could've done for myself at the time. I took food out of the equation, the weight dropped off quickly to begin with at least, and I rediscovered my motivation for weight loss. However I've been on 650 calories for so long that I am literally terrified of increasing my calories, losing control and gaining weight back on again.
So far since getting to goal I've increased my calories to 850-1200 and I haven't gained yet! If Christmas wasn't around the corner I'd probably carry on increasing calories slowly and then make the switch when I was up to about 1500. Sadly, time is against me as I have a Christmas do on Wednesday and then I'm away staying with friends next weekend so won't be able to restrict calories to stay within my current comfort zone.
Which is how I came to be starting Judd today! I figured that I just needed to take the plunge, start this plan on a completely normal day when there's no need to overindulge, and I can keep an element of control. Tomorrow will be a DD, Monday UD, Tuesday DD and then it's my first indulgent UD on Wednesday.
To be honest I'm bricking it about the potential weight gain...not because I don't trust Judd, more because I don't trust my body! I'd be far more relaxed if it wasn't for Christmas but at the moment I feel worried that if I do have a big gain this week, then I won't have chance to reassess and do something about it, because there'll be another social event to navigate and another and another...
Anyway, that's the negative slant over with...what I'm reminding myself is that I do have 5lbs to play with as I'm currently 5lbs below goal. I also don't mind too much if I start the new year a couple or so lbs above goal. So I guess I've got a good half stone to play with really. I am realistic that I will probably gain over the Christmas week itself, but I am desperate to rein myself in the rest of the time, have treats when I fancy them but do it like 'normal'people do, without chomping their way through a whole box of celebrations in one sitting! Last year I gained 18lbs over Christmas but I know for definite that I've come too far to allow myself to do that again!
Anyway, that's enough of my self indulgent rambling....I do get a bit too analytical at times!
Today I've had a sachet of porridge with milk and a few sultanas, a skinny cappuccino, a panini with chicken, mozzarella and tomato relish (400 cals) and half a bag of Malteasers. Tonight I'm having a salmon fillet with roast carrots, butternut squash and sweet potato, and I'll probably have a slice of chocolate Tiffin/tray bake later and maybe an options hot chocolate. The Malteasers and the Tiffin are the only things that feel naughty really. But I'm going to have them and enjoy them, as tomorrow is a DD and I'll be having mostly soup, fresh fruit and jelly!
Well I'd better go as my tea is nearly ready and I've probably bored you half to death by now!
I'll look forward to getting to know you all soon, and I just hope Judd works as well for me as it does for all of you :) I've been stalking diaries for a while now and I'm so reassured that others have made the switch, even had bingey days and not ruined their losses...
x
 
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Well done on your weight loss so far. I have taken the JUDDD plunge for Xmas/maintenance/new way of eating too. I want to lose another 7-10lb over time but am in size 12s just now so I'm happy to do it slowly. I look forward to reading how you get on with JUDDD. x
 
Thanks for the warm welcome everyone. My first official DD has gone pretty well - even if I do say so myself ;)

So far I've had
Sainsburys carrot & coriander soup with half a WW bagel with a scraping of extra light soft cheese (179 calories)
Home made beef/quorn bolognese with Slim Pasta (170 cals)
150ml milk - measured but not all used yet (51 cals)
6 strawberry tic tacs (11 cals)

And this is what I've got coming up.....
Frozen summer fruits set in blackcurrant jelly (30 cals)
100g fresh strawberries (28 cals)
Options hot chocolate (40 cals)

That comes in at 499 calories!! I couldn't have planned it better if I'd tried....but to be honest I may not eat everything on the list as it's 7:45pm now and I want to be in bed for 9 ish tonight as it's my first day back at work after a week off.

So far I feel strangely calm about JUDD which is a miracle for me considering that I've been anxious about the transition for weeks! I did eat a few other bits last night - just a couple of cadbury's chocos and two pieces of hard toffee, but my total for the day was about 1900 which I didn't think was too bad for my first day of freedom!
As I said, I'm back to work tomorrow and my first day is an UD - I've got porridge, fruit, Heinz Big Soup and half a bagel planned and packed, but I've got a few other healthy bits in my bag that I can nibble if I want to. My evening meal will be a spaghetti bolognese ready meal (about 420 calories), and I may have a little carrot cupcake as my treat for the day.

I just hope my DD on Tuesday will be as easy as today has been :D I really am going to LOVE this plan if I manage to maintain on it!
x
 
Welcome to the best lifestyle ever! Sounds like you had a fab DD, well done :)
 
Thank you :) I'm loving it so far...but I guess the proof of the pudding will be on the scales ultimately :eek:

My second UD today has gone really well - I've had porridge for brekkie and soup with half a bagel for lunch. Tea was Tesco light choices tagliatelli with left over roast butternut squash and a pesto bread/dough stick type thing. I've also had SF jelly, fruit, a few choccies and my carrot cupcake (as planned) and I'm on roughly 1600 calories for the day. I say roughly as the cupcake was from a local bakery, but I compared it to an ASDA extra special carrot cupcake at 275 according to MFP. It wasn't a huge one so I think that'll be about right.
In theory I suppose I should/could have something extra today, but I'm off to bed shortly so it seems a bit daft really. Think I need to get out of the habit of saving all my calories for late in the day...that's something else I've picked up whilst I've been VLCDing.

Anyway, DD number two tomorrow and it's my first one at work. Think I'll be fine though I've got my skinny soup, crackerbreads, jelly and fruit packed so I'm ready to take it on ;) Need to pick up the last of my Christmas shopping after work so at least I'll be busy, and I've already got my tea cooked so just need to warm it up (I'm not usually this organised!)
Wednesday is my works Christmas do - I'll be driving, so alcohol won't be a factor but I've ordered the mushrooms, steak with stilton sauce and Bailey's 'pot' for desert. Good job it's an UD really!
 
I'm doing really well with the plan thanks...unfortunately the scales are letting me down a bit. I weighed in yesterday morning after 6 days on plan (3 UDs and 3 DDs done alternately) and was a bit shaken to see that I'd put just shy of 3lbs on. At the midway point on Wednesday morning I'd only put 1lb on so I can only assume this extra weight is due to my big UD on Wednesday night when I had my works do.
Either way, I'm sticking with Judd for the time being and trying to keep the faith. I'm trying to talk myself into believing that I cannot have gained 3lbs of pure fat when you look at the average of my weekly calories, so it can only be water, or my body's reaction to the swap after so long on a VLCD.
I'm away staying with friends this weekend which I think will be good for me. Yesterday I was sensible during the day...porridge, soup, WW bagel, berries, yoghurt etc. And for tea we had fish finger sandwiches (haven't had one for so long) but after that I lost the plot a bit and washed it down with a bottle of wine a slice of yule log and a fair amount of chocolate.
So that was my first uncounted UD (I stopped counting/recording at the time I left work) and today will be my second. I read other peoples diaries and I see that other people eat like this at weekends, but I still haven't got complete faith that I won't keep gaining as a result.
So my plan is for a DD tomorrow. I can still eat breakfast with my friends before I go home so it won't ruin any plans there. Then I'll have a look at the scales on Monday morning and potentially do another DD if the result isn't good. Tuesday will be an UD but I have the potential to do DDs on Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday if I need to in the lead up to Christmas.
Hope everyone else is doing well
x
 
Sounds to me like a normal JUDDD weight fluctuation. The scales can be very strange when you first start this plan, but it nearly always settles down after a couple of weeks. I'd be very surprised if it does not show a loss or at the worst a STS after 2 weeks!!
 
I haven't dared get on them yet! Let's just say, Saturday was definitely a big UD! I didn't binge during the day but I had chippy fish and chips, Yule log, rose wine, Lindt chocolate and god knows what else during the evening.
So that's the bad news....the good news is that I got stuck into a DD yesterday despite the fact that I was still with my friends, and I actually managed to end the day on around 400 calories. Today is my second DD and I've only had velvet crunch crisps, skinny soup, SF jelly and milk in tea so far. I think I might have a sneaky peek at the scales tomorrow which will be an UD as I'm at my aunts house for tea.
After that I have the potential to do another double down, but we'll see what the scales say.
Thanks for your support though...I keep reassuring myself that things will level out but I'm really panicking after everything I've had this weekend. Hopefully I'll relax if I do see a STS by the end of the week :) x
 
Well the scales weren't too horrendous when I got on them this morning. The result was 10st 3.75lbs (I was just under 10st 3 last Friday). Today has been a semi-controlled UD....meals have been sensible but I've had a handful of haribos, a biscuit, and half a double decker duo with a hot choccy. Think I've ended the day between 1700 - 1900 calories (depends how naughty my aunts pie was!) so not too bad on balance. Tomorrow and Thursday are both DDs so I'm hoping the week might result in a STS. I can cope with slipping over my goal during Christmas week itself but I'd like to stay the right side of it until then!
x
 
Just popping in to say that today I love my scales, and I love Judd!! I weighed myself this morning after my UD yesterday to see 10st 1.5lbs looking back at me!! So that's a drop of 2.25lbs after an UD :eek: I can only assume that I was still retaining water from my naughty weekend, which has now dropped off :D
Today and tomorrow are still planned as DDs even though I'm fairly comfortable with today's weight - it's all about a Christmas buffer now really because looking at my calendar I have about 4 potential DDs until 4th January!! Ah well, I guess I have to remember that there's always IDs to fall back on. 'Normal' people don't gain lbs and lbs just by going out for a meal, so there's no reason for me to make every social event an opportunity to binge.

I think the thing I'm going to struggle with most over Christmas is my 'now or never' mentality....so I'm going to make a note of a couple of things I want to remember:

- Not every UD has to be a binge day, and not every meal has to be a gourment feast (i.e. it's okay to just have beans on toast rather than preparing a panini with chicken, roasted peppers, tomato salsa and mozarella (as nice as that would be!))
- The food will still be there on the next UD, which is just around the corner ;)
- UDs won't stop after Christmas as long as I'm careful.....this is not a time-limited opportunity to enjoy myself.
- It's OK to say no and to be selective about what I eat.
- Think - would I buy this for myself at home and really enjoy it? Am I just eating it to be polite/because it's on my plate/because someone has offered it/because it's in a nibble bowl at the side of me?
- Would I eat this food, in this quantity in public/amongst family or friends or is this secret eating?
- Would someone without 'food issues' eat what I've eaten/planning to eat today.
- Am I really hungry? Does my stomach rumble? Or am I eating for another reason (and if so, is it worth it)?
- Can I do some exersise today?

And that's enough to be going on with I think! Obviously I'm not going to run through that list every time I put a chocolate raisin in my mouth (I'd end up crazier than I am now) but they're just things I want to be mindful of based on old patterns of bevaviour...
Hope everyone else is doing well
x
 
Thank you :) now I just need to work on asking myself those questions when I'm drunk ;)
Well my official weigh in on Friday was 10st 2.25lbs, so a loss of just over half a pound :) I was pleased with that considering that 2 of my 3 UDs were big ones and also because my body is still getting used to not being on 650 calories a day!
Since then I had a controlled UD on Friday with the exception of a couple of drinks that I didn't count, and then Saturday was an UD.
I was throwing a bit of a pre-Christmas thing at my house so I knew it'd big UD. Having said that, I did go for a 2 mile brisk walk/jog and I was sensible during the way before people arrived. What I'm disappointed about is that I indulged in a bit of unnecessary/uncontrolled eating after people left. It was a case of being weakened by alcohol, being faced with leftovers that I knew I couldn't eat today, and being greedy basically. So on top of all the nibbles I ate during the evening, I also had (after people left) half a slice of pizza, a slice of quiche, 2 mini cheese and onion pastry things and a piece of garlic bread. And then I had a little slice of iced Christmas cake with a mini mince pie and a spoonful of brandy butter, and to round off proceedings I took 3 squares of chocolate up to bed with me!
I know this might not sound like a mountain of food but it was all consumed after 1am, and to be honest I wasn't even hungry, I just wanted it!
So I think I do still need to work on this tendency to think food is a now or never thing, and also to remember that most food does last more than a day, so whilst it might be a DD tomorrow, there'll be another UD soon enough!

So today is a DD, and I've not really had anything yet, but I'm planning some skinny butternut soup, with roasted butternut squash added to it, and a weight watchers bagel with a scraping of extra light Philly. That comes in at around 350 calories so I've got leeway for a couple of extras later. I've also been cleaning the house all day and I've been for another 2 mile walk/jog so I'm not going to beat myself up too much if I have a square of chocolate later.

Tomorrow, Christmas day and boxing day are all UDs and then I have to plan it by ear as I've got my friend's birthday to celebrate, a meal at my boyfriend's mum's house and new years eve/new years day, which I want to be UDs. It's going to be tricky as my only definite day for a DD is this Thursday and then it's a case of seeing what gets planned for the other days. Worst case scenario would be that I just try a few IDs here and there because I can't turn down the social stuff (not after putting my life on hold for so long on a VLCD). What I need to do is to avoid nights like last night when I cram it all in just because I can!

The scales have also been put away because they're likely to stress me out at the moment. The plan is to wait until I've managed few consistently stable days and then see what the damage is! ;)
X
 
Happy new year everyone! Hope you've all had good christmasses/new years! :)
Mine has been lovely - lots of food, plenty of alcohol, but also a few controlled days to balance things out a bit!
Since I last posted, it's been a bit like this:

Friday 21st: Weigh in 10st 2.25lbs (as above) - controlled UD (1500 cals)
Saturday 22nd: Big UD (entertaining)
Sunday 23rd: DD
Monday 24th: UD (not bingey eating bit plenty to drink)
Tuesday 25th: UD (not too bingey but still overate and drank plenty)
Wednesday 26th: UD (toast and porridge during the day, but BIG meal at night)
Thursday 27th: DD (work)
Friday 28th: Controlled UD (850ish cals)
Weighed myself Saturday morning - 10st 6.25 (+4lbs from last week)
Saturday 29th: Controlled UD (ate sensibly but went out drinking - 1700ish cals)
Sunday 30th: Controlled UD (ate out at boyfriend's mum's house - 1700ish cals)
Weighed myself Monday morning - 10st 5.25 (-1lb in two days)
Monday 31st - Big UD - plenty to eat and drink - some of it a bit OTT
Tuesday 1st - Big Big Big UD (roughly 4000 calories of cooked brekkie, pizza, choccy and various other bits)
Wednesday 2nd - DD (Trying for a 0 calorie day after taking exercise into account)

And the plan for the next couple of days is:
Thursday 3rd - DD (back at work)
Friday 4th - Possible DD/ID depending on early morning weigh in
Saturday 5th - UD (curry with friends)
Sunday 6th - Big UD (Boyfriend's choice of meal before starting his diet on Monday!)

To be honest, I know I gained 4lbs in 8 days, but I wasn't too bothered by that given that we had Christmas Day and Boxing Day that week. What I'm more interested to see, was that I managed to lose a lb over the course of a couple of days whilst still eating 1700ish calories. That really reassures me that maybe my metabolism can adjust post-VLCD and I don't need to go back to 650cals forever! ;-)
I was also chuffed to end the year only 0.25lbs over my goal weight - that was a big psychological boost for me :) I just hope I didn't do too much damage to that with my two BIG UDs over the new year. I really did put a shed load of food away - hence the double/triple DD that I'm doing now to make up for it. Either way, normal life starts again on Monday - my boyfriend is re-starting his VLCD then, so there won't be any temptation to binge at weekends with him. In fact, I expect I'll probably end up doing at least one DD at weekends to support him and make things easier.

Right - enough rambling from me - I'm off to eat my stir fry now that I'm making with slim noodles, vegetables.....and Skinny Thai Soup! It works great for a sauce, and so low in calories!
x
 
DD number two done and dusted more or less, and if I eat everything I've planned, it'll come in at just shy of 500 calories. Not too bad considering that it was my second out of three! I know I probably should have thrown an ID/UD in today to get the calorie swing, but I really am feeling huge after everything I ate on Monday/Tuesday so I'm really trying to claw it back before my weigh in on Saturday morning.
To be honest I just can't wait until next Monday when I'll really be able to give JUDD a proper go with true alternate days. My fella is currently taking a break from his VLCD so Christmas had been one long 'last supper' for him before he re-starts next week. I've tried to be independent over Christmas and stick to my own plans but part of me has felt like a party pooper when I refuse any of his suggestions, but part of me really wants to join in and order a pizza or whatever he's got planned!
It's probably something we need to work on in general actually - we are true partners in crime when it comes to food, we tend to encourage each other to be 'naughty' and neither of us feel any reservation or shame about eating huge amounts of food in front of eachother - not like you would if you were eating with friends, or in public. Obviously this is all very well and good occasionally - everyone eats too much now-and-then, but I think we sometimes live in a little bubble where we normalise the kind of eating that really isn't normal.

When we were both doing a VLCD we channelled this partnership into helping to support each other, but things are definitely a bit skewed at the moment. I can tell he's a bit frustrated that I'm not joining in....and I veer from one extreme to the other - sometimes I feel concerned about his motivation/ability to get back on track...and other times I find myself turning into a 'feeder' - suggesting and cooking massive unhealthy meals for him, even when I won't be eating it myself!

If only food was just fuel hey?!
 
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