Thread: My journey to lose anywhere between 10-13 stone!

I have never posted on this website before, I have however been blogging on the WW website but now I am following SW I wanted to start afresh so decided to post my blog so far on here and continue from there.
So a little bit about me......
I have a young kids, a boy and a girl. I am a full time mum and got married last year.
For my wedding I joined WW online and lost 6 stone in 9 months so I could fit in the wedding dress I ordered far too small! I did it and was so happy - then I went on an all inclusive holiday after the wedding and decided to relax WW while there, but of course I came home and could not get back on the wagon. Over the next 14 months I gained back the 6 stone I lost plus another stone on top! I tried countless times to restart WW but I couldn't last longer than a week so I decided it was time to ask my GP for help. My GP sent me to the dietician and she gave me 12 weeks free to join a slimming group of my choice. I had never been to a weight loss group before and I had to go on my own so I was more than a little scared!
Now I am going to C&P the previous blog entries and hope to add more as I go along x

15/06/12

I have put back on all the weight I lost while following WW plus another stone. I hated myself for a long time because of it, I was beating myself up about it while stuffing more and more chocolate in my face. I am over this now, I no longer hate myself about it and am completely ready to start again.


I have been ready for a good few months but I tried joining WWs again and I hated it, really hated it, the thought of tracking and counting points every day made me not want to diet. So basically as soon as I started I stopped. I have never been able to get my head around PPs, give me the old point system and I will follow it to the T buy not PPs the 49 messed my head up too much.


So I failed miserably, and tried calorie counting - needless to say that didn't last long, if I hated tracking and counting PPs I was never going to get on well with counting calories.


Next plan was just cutting down, reducing my takeaways by one a week, having smaller portions and limiting my chocolate. I don't think that one lasted a week either.


So I went to my doctor. I basically said I know what to do, I don't like being this big, I want to lose weight so bad but I can't seem to put it into practice. He made me an appointment with the dietician but I had to wait 2 months to see her (and I had a 2 week all inclusive holiday between.) It was last month I saw her and she offered me 12 weeks free for WW, SW or RC. I said I couldn't do WW again yet, I would dread it, and RC has always seemed to me like a starvation diet (although I have never looked into it before, that is just what has been stuck in my head) so I opted for SW as I have a huge appetite at the moment and I am not ready to feel the hunger pangs yet.


My 1st group was the 31st May, I was so scared, really petrified, I had to go in on my own and I was so scared about someone knowing my weight. I didn't even know my weight at that point as my scales didn't go up to my size - neither did the doctors (I refused to walk to the 'special' scales because I was too embarrassed).
I must have asked 3 or 4 times if her scales would go up to my weight and she assured me they did.
So I got on them knowing I weighed more than I did when I joined WWs in 2010 but hoping I wasn't more than a couple of stone more. I was 1st 4lbs heavier. Yes I was/am disgusted in the number I saw but I also knew this was the right time to do something about it.


I walked out of that group feeling really good - great in fact, I was ready for the week ahead and couldn't wait to just get on with it and see the result on the scales the following week.
During the week I was cooking fresh meals from scratch every evening and a major point of SW is that a third of every meal has to be fruit or veg so I am eating far more healthier than I ever had before. My husband though started saying I was eating far too much to lose any weight and so that planted the seed of doubt in my head, maybe I would gain instead of lose in my 1st week?


I went to the next WI and I was so nervous, I was shaking and had sweaty palms.
It turned out I had nothing to be worried about though - I had lost 8.5lbs and got my 1st half stone certificate and shiny sticker on my book. I was so happy. I have to stay to group every week to get my 12 weeks free and I am so glad of that, I do need that support, I have been sitting with a couple of really nice ladies, one has lost 4 stone, the other nearly 6! They have been really nice to me and again I walked out of group feeling really good - wishing the week away ready for the next WI again.


This week I wasn't as nervous and lost another 4lbs and got slimmer of the week! I had another certificate and loads of fruit given to me


Hopefully next Thursday will see me get my 1stone certificate.....

22 June 2012
I have tried diets many, MANY times. The first week is a novelty, I want to do well and I know if I do I will get a good 1st week loss. Week two, because of my big week 1 loss I am feeling confident and can stick to it all week.
Week 3 however I find tougher, you have a better grasp of what you have to do, you didn't have the big omph in your willpower from a big loss and you realise you are in this for the long haul. This is when my 'to hell with it' moods start and I fail 9 times out of 10 in week 3.
I was worried about this, I have had it happen to myself too often to not worry. I decided to just take it one day at a time, try not to dwell on it and just push on through.
I have to say I didn't find it hard at all, I just got on with it and did what I had to do.
The result? well I lost another 4lbs and got slimmer of the week for the 2nd week in a row!
So far I have had..........
Week One -8.5lbs
Week Two -4lbs
Week Three -4lbs


Grand total of 1st 2.5lbs in 3 weeks!
I know this is great, I am so scared of getting slimmer of the week again in case everyone ends up hating me!


Now I know I shouldn't set unreachable goals, but I can dream - right? I can't help thinking how good it would be to lose 4.5lbs this week to get my 1.5st award this week!?
I know I know, I am not expecting it in the slightest give it a couple of weeks and I will get it. No way will I cut down what I eat because that would leave me open to my chocolate temptation!
2lbs this week would be really great because that would mean I would pass my 5% (which I needed to get within 12 weeks to have another 12 weeks free) and I would be back into the next stone bracket.
So this weeks target 2lbs and I will be over the moon!

28 June 2012
This has been a difficult week for me, it is week before TOTM and I want to bite everyone's head off and eat everything in sight!
I have managed well in home, I only have my SW food in the house and I was quite happy sticking to plan
When I go out....well....
Saturday my daughter had a kids party I went without my lunch as it was a funny time of the day, they were offering the mums chicken nuggets, chips, ice creams, cakes - I managed to say no to everything and was really pleased with myself.
Saturday night I had an 18th party to go to and had a big dinner and decided to avoid the buffet. When I got there though there wasn't a buffet, there was a couple of bowls of nibbles on each table along with some cheese rolls and sausage rolls. It was staring at me all evening and I had probably 10 mini chilli rice thingys, like snack a jacks but you could tell they were fried or something?! Then I had a cheese roll and me and Mart decided to split a cheesy chips on the way home! Not huge portions but not syned either.
Sunday I stuck to plan all day again but that night I went to bingo with my aunt. I was starving on the way home so phoned Mart and asked if we could have a chinese so we did! Chicken curry with egg fried rice mmmmmm


Monday I was feeling mighty guilty and angry with myself so I have stuck to plan since then.
I made the mistake of having a SP on my scales yesterday even though I know they are wrong and it showed I could have lost 3-4lbs. That got me worried I would get slimmer of the week for the 3rd week in a row.


When I went to WI this morning I had actually lost 1.5lbs! Really pleased with that, no slimmer of the week this time.
I did however get slimmer of the month but she had ran out of certificates so I will get it next week, still got my sticker though! I will make sure I get my SOTM certificate next week because that would mean I would have 5 certificates pinned on my wall then!


Really pleased, hope for another 1.5-2lbs this week
Fingers crossed!

05 July 2012
Last week I though TOTM was on its way, I have had all the usual symptoms and craved stodgy food soooo badly! Well that feeling continued this week too.

Thursday was OK


Friday me and Hubby planned on having a KFC bucket to share between all 4 of us - which we did but the rest of the day was fine


Saturday was a bad bad day - subway footlong chicken and cheese with 2 cookies after - galaxy - then a chinese late at night


Sunday was even worse, I was in the well I have blown it now lets just stuff my face with anything I want - that equalled a trip to tesco for a tiger loaf, teacakes, 50g galaxy, 100g tesco chocolate, kitkat. All disappeared in a day

Monday I planned on getting back on track and opened a bag of snack a jacks thinking they are only rice, they will be fine on syns. Looked up syns as I was eating and it was 6.5syns wth!? So that night I ruined it with as many curlywurlys I could fit in. I did however have my usual meals and even swapped my chilli with rice for chilli with salad which must have saved a huge amount of calories

Tuesday was better - stayed in syns and had chilli with salad again

Wednesday I had a 100g bar of galaxy bubbly for breakfast! But was OK the rest of the day (we won't mention the 6 chicken nuggets I had from McDs at 10pm because I was at bingo and bloody hungry!

After all that craving for stodgy food my TOTM still hasn't turned up! I can't blame it on that any more! God knows where that has gone but my body is just weird like that! I a glad to say my craving have now gone too so hopefully I will be back on plan for a while again now.

I was well prepared for up to a 4lb gain with at least 2lbs. I have to admit I even thought about skipping WI I knew if I did have a huge gain I would struggle this week to keep going but I have to go every week to get them for free - so I had the choice of face the scales or give up completely.

I chose to face the dreaded scales, told the person WIing I was expecting a big gain...............some miracle I had lost 2.5lbs!!!!
She said congratulations to me and I didn't answer because I was so shocked. I couldn't believe it.
Now, I know how this works - I do have a chance of it catching up with me this week - I want to be super good this week so I can lose just a tiny half lb for my 1 and a half stone award. I WILL DO IT

I had a huge boost too. While I was queuing to be weighed the 2 women I sit with were looking at me and talking to each other, I couldn't hear what they were saying though - that always makes me paranoid! When I sat down though they started telling me they were looking at me in the queue and they both decided the weight I have lost is starting to notice. They said I am starting to go in at the middle. This is where I always notice my weight loss first but I haven't noticed it myself yet so for them to say it is a huge boost!

Next week I hope to be blogging about getting my stone and a half!

13 July 2012
I have been a perfect SW member all week and I have been rewarded with a 4.5lb loss!
Now my scales weigh me I kind of knew it was going to be between 3.5 and 5lb loss this week. No matter how hard I try I cannot resist the SP! So because of this I didn't have my nice surprise at WI, so much better if you aren't expecting it!

That means I got my 1.5stone award this week and I am now only 3 lbs away from 2 stone. I was hoping to get it this week. Yes I know, don't set unachievable target because you set yourself up to fail - but my average is just over 4lbs a week at the moment. Still early days for me and I do have so much to lose I think it is achievable - and if not then I will get it by the end of the month.

I am getting excited now, I can't help think if I am close to 2 stone then 3 stone should be mine by the end of August. I have only reached the 3 stone amount twice before - once when I wanted to lose weigh to get pregnant and the other time was my wasted WW experience. If I reach 3 stone again I will believe in myself again.
Looking too far ahead of myself I think, that has always been a big problem for me!

Back to the here and now....I am enjoying it still. Today I have had a McDonalds and chocolate but so what? I am still motivated, no excuses, I have done it, I have owned up to it and I will just get on with the rest of the week and see what happens, it shouldn't equal a gain for me this week but if it does then I know where it came from...we will see what happens, no matter what I can't see me given up, I will just keep digging away at it!

6 weeks into SW and have I noticed a difference yet? YES, I am feeling good! I used to feel sluggish and want to crawl into bed all the time but all this fresh home cooked food is really making me feel more awake. I am enjoying cooking too, something I have never said before. I am not as bloated and I have noticed because I am doing something good for myself and looking after myself my head is in the best place it has been for a while. Anyone that knew me from WW days would know how much I usually worry what others think and I am a panicker but not at the moment!


Onwards and downwards....

19 July 2012

I have learnt a couple of things this week
The main one being - no matter how confident you feel one day...the next you can totally ruin it, and the next, and the next....


As you can tell I have had a rubbish week this week. It all started last Thursday, I went to lunch with an old work friend and was really good. I ordered jacket potato with beans - asked for no cheese and butter. When it came out the side salad was covered in home made coleslaw mmmm. I love it and if something is in front of me I can't leave it - my willpower isn't that strong yet!
I went home feeling like a failure, god knows why, a little bit of coleslaw isn't really going to put all my weight back on was it? So I decided to be extra good the next couple of days....of course when I say that I see it as too hard then and it all goes to pot.
Friday was Mums birthday and we all went for a meal - the meals were 2 for 1 on all except sandwiches, jacket potatoes etc. There were 6 of us so we could all get buy one get one free. I chose chicken curry knowing the sauce was a tomato based one and the rice was boiled, I was planning on wiping my syns for the day. I forgot to ask for no popudom or naan bread though! And again of course, it was there so I ate it. Mum said to me 'oh Emma, you have been doing so well don't spoil it'. Now I am quite childish and if someone tells me to stop doing something I do it even more! So of course when everyone ordered dessert I had the banana, toffee waffle tower with ice cream *sigh*
I was really disappointed with myself after so you can guess the rest of the week passed in a chocolate and fast food haze. Then before I knew it it was WI again.

My feelings about it have swung dramatically this week. I started off the week wanting to cry over a little coleslaw, then after Mums meal I was a miserable b***h and just wanted to be left alone with only a bar of chocolate for company.
By Monday I knew I had to face up to it and FBed my leader asking for any tips she might have. She gave some good advice but I knew I was going to gain anyway so I thought lets just carry on with the chocolate this week. I stuck to my SW meals most days but snacked constantly on the wrong things.
By yesterday I was in a better, accepting mood. I thought 'it has happened, nothing can be done now, the worst thing I could do was not WI because I would never go back again' so I faced the scales this morning.


4lbs gain.


*sigh* oh well, it isn't like I didn't know where it came from - my thinking is I have had this life long addiction to chocolate, I turn to it when I am happy or sad (big argument this week, chocolate was my best friend to help me through it!) I am going to struggle to give it up.

I have tried having little bits each day, but truly it isn't enough for me and I find myself waiting all day for the evening so I can have some again. I don't want to do that - I focus on chocolate far too much. So I have made the decision to cut it out this week. I will still have my chocolate fix twice a day (anyone reading try adding a sachet of options hot chocolate to a small tub of total 0% yoghurt and add strawberries and raspberries-some even put it on merangue nests then cover in strawberries to make a 'cake' - it really is delicious, my favourite is the white chocolate options, but I like the orange or belgian chocolate ones too! - no idea on PPs but is only 2 syns on SW and really filling!) so with that I should be ok without actually having chocolate.
I am going to try adding more super free foods in with meals too.

I bought 'the amazing adventures of dietgirl' on my kindle yesterday. The 1st chapter is ME, I couldn't get over the simularities, only 3lbs difference in start weights and I am only 1 inch taller. Really looking forward to reading the rest, I have heard many times what a good book it is.
Set myself up a sreadsheet too (like dietgirl!) to show my percentages and BMI changes each week instead of just seeing how many lbs are off (or ON this week!)
Funeral next week so I have to WI Wednesday NIGHT instead!

25 July 2012
1 - MONEY! One of our dogs (my favourite) hasn't been well so I took him to the vet and he has done something to his back. The vet isn't sure if it is just muscular or his spine yet so we have to wait and see. He is treating it as muscular because then I only have to buy painkillers. If it is his spine then he will next x-rays, blood tests possibly an operation! Still have my fingers crossed it is just muscular as that still cost me £50 but no where near how much it could be!


2 - Respect for some people very close to me. I tried to stop my son sleeping in an environment that I see as dangerous and bad for his health but every time I tried to stop it I would get told yes of course - then as soon as my back is turned they go ahead and do it again! It has been dragging on for months without anyone listening so it has all come to blows this week. Now 2 people who are very dear to me are very angry with me. I got very upset for 2 days and couldn't stop crying but then I realised F THEM! I am just trying to do the best for MY child, if they don't like it then they can get as funny as they like with me, I know I am doing the right thing! They are the in laws - of course I am getting the blame although Hubby agrees and sides with me 100%, that is the thing with in laws though I suppose!


3 - Possibly helped by the amount of tears I have lost and the stress of those 2 upset days I managed to lose 5lbs tonight! I normally WI Thursday morning so I had myself ready for a gain through changing to evening WI so I was very happy! I have been SPing every morning and evening and I am always 2lbs lighter in the morning than before my evening meal. If I could of WI tomorrow morning I could very possibly lost 7lbs this week - that would of meant I would have my 2stone award!

There is always next week......


I also had an added bonus, I was no where near SOTM in my normal group but I got it in the group tonight so another shiny sticker! Feeling bad for the group though, their Slimmer of the Week left so they decided to give the fruit basket to SOTM so I stole their fruit too! What a cow I am! I offered to draw for it but they wouldn't let me.


Weight losses so far are
-8.5lbs
-4lbs
-4lbs
-1.5lbs
-2.5lbs
-4.5lbs
+4lbs!
-5lbs


Surely looking at that I can do 2lbs next week for my 2 stone? I have been looking at my trusty spreadsheet and it says my average weekly loss (including my 4lbs gain) is 3.25lbs - please let me get 2lbs next week!
Well I will have to wait and see! x

03rd August 2012

Nothing exciting this week, but I want to blog each week after WI to keep track of how I am feeling week on week.


Week 9 started out bad, I had loads of bread - not too much chocolate though which is something of a miracle for me, normally when I go off plan I head straight for the chocolate.
Monday morning I SPed and was 3lbs up from the last WI so I decided to try to salvage it and reduce my lose. I was really hoping to lose the 3lbs to get a STS but I only had 3 days to do it.
I don't know where it came from but I got my determined head on. I stuck to plan religiously. I even bought 8 mars bars and cut them up then put each seperate mars bar in a sandwich bag then they went in the freezer. That has helped. Sometimes at lunch I really fancy chocolate - but if I have it at lunch I have to go the rest of the day without. So I have been having one tiny slice after my lunch to cure the chocolate need (surprisingly it works!) and another piece as I am cooking dinner to stop me picking - then the other 5 pieces I have late in the evening after I have exercised.


Yep that is right! With my determined head on Monday I searched and searched until I found each piece for my Wii Fit (why I never stored it all together I will never know!) That night I did my first bit of exercise since I gave up last year.
I knew I was a lot less fit but I was pleased I wasn't as bad as last time I started. I managed an hour - which was my goal time - start with step - then 10 min boxing - then 3 min hula hoop - step - 10 min boxing - long distance jogging - 6 mins hula hoop - 10 mins free step
I have done the same routine every night since. Hope I can keep it up!


So getting back on plan, splitting my mars bar up, and exercising helped me for the last 3 days
I was so close to getting a STS a few people I am still in contact with from WW last time can tell you I was in a panic about it. I thought I deserved a STS and my scales were saying possibly a 1lb gain to a 1lb loss the night before.

When I officially WI though I lost 2lbs and had my 2 stone award! Just goes to show you can't really tell with a SP!


Really feeling motivated and good now, 7lbs for my 2.5st award AND I will get my 10% at the same time. I know if I am really good I can get it in the next couple of weeks but I am determined not to put the pressure on too much. It will happen when it happens.

09 August 2012
I have stuck to my exercise plan - 6 nights a week, an hour on the Wii fit. It still pretty much kills me off but I am one of those people that think if you are going to do something, make sure you do it well! This means even though I hate hula hoop(it really hurts!) I know it is doing more for me than the step - pain is good for you in other words! I don't see the point in doing something for an hour that only slightly gets you out of breath, I would rather be dying to sit down and catch my breath knowing I have tried my hardest - that is what gets results at the end of the day!
My food has been spot on, still having my daily frozen, chopped up mars bar and it has worked!

The only bad thing this week was pizza hut! I went after WI last week and was planning on having lasagne (lowest syns on the menu!) but I got there - saw the buffet was cheaper than the lasagne, my kids wanted pizza, my sister wanted pizza and I could SMELL pizza so I had the buffet too! I had 5 slices and a slice of garlic bread THEN a white chocolate and raspberry cookie dough dessert with ice cream!
In my defence I didn't have anything else for the rest of the day and the next morning it showed on my scales as only a measly half lb gain, so I was happy with that!

My leader is always saying if you plan on having something like pizza, save the syns up or use a few days up then go without syns for a few days. My mind doesn't work like that, I feel deprived so I just carried on with my 15 syns a day after the pizza!

Didn't matter too much though because today I lost 5lbs!!!!
That takes me to 2st 5lbs lost in 10 weeks, I feel amazing!
So today I have lost 5lbs, got slimmer of the week, Hubby told me he can notice I have lost weight now, into the next stone bracket and some silly person in group nominated me for motivational slimmer of the year (or something like that!), OK so I am one of maybe 6 nominees and I know I won't win it but to think someone thinks of big old me as motivational gives a huge boost!
On top of the world today!!!

So goal this week is 2lbs for 2.5st award and my club 10! Surely it is possible right?

16 August 2012
I don't know what has come over me lately but I have my stubborn head on.
I want to be able to fit into my clothes again
I want to be able to walk far and not be out of breath
I want to feel good about myself again
And I want to be a hell of a lot lighter for my Disney World holiday in around 8 months time - if I could get to my previous WW lowest weight I would be so pleased - but that is still a long way off and still 4.5stone away so we will see what happens with that goal!

My son goes to work with his Dad while I go to SW with my daughter. Every Thursday lunchtime he comes running in asking me if I have got another sticker for my belly getting smaller - he gets so excited bless him, he shouts YES and punches the air when I tell him I have. Looking forward to him coming in today because I got 3 STICKERS and certificates today!
I lost 3.5lbs - that means I got my club 10 award, 2.5stone award and SOTW again. I am now at -2st 8.5lbs in 11 weeks. There are 2 weeks until 3 month joining SW anniversary and am aiming for another 5.5lbs in the next 2 weeks so I can say I lost 3 stone by the 3 months. I keep comparing to when I did WW and that time I lost 4 stone by my 4 month anniversary (this was before PP came in, it all went downhill after that!), but I would be very happy with 3.5stone off by then!


I am doing SW by NHS referral - this was my 12th meeting and so from next week I had to pay but I got my next 12 week referral through the post this week so I won't have to pay after all! I also was sent an application for my 3rd referral term, all I have to do is lose another 1st 3lbs again and I will qualify for another 12 weeks! Really happy because I would have had to stop going if I had to pay. We are skint

Really skint this month anyway but last week my car broke, it has been at the mechanics since last Friday and we still don't know what is wrong with it. It could be one of 2 things - one costs £250 the other costs £1000+!!!!! We had to get a loan out to pay for it and the MOT is due next week and we have a bald tire so really really tight for money.

It is our sons birthday Saturday which I am doing a buffet for so I hope I can be good, I have planned on having a low syn egg mayo sandwich, bag of crisp and slice of cake so if I can stick to that plan then I think I should be OK this week


Really happy with myself, really proud - I am not used to feeling like it about myself TBH I usually find something to beat myself up about but not lately and I am really liking it!.


Some stats from my spreadsheet
I have now lost over 10% of my start weight
I am over a quarter of the way to my goal
I have lost over 15kgs
I have dropped over 5 BMI points
And my average weekly loss is 3.32 lbs


Looking good x

30 August 2012
I missed last weeks blog post - Not on purpose mind! I got to Saturday and realised I hadn't blogged yet so I thought I might as well wait until this weeks WI and do 2 in 1.
So lets start with last week.....

I had my sons party at the weekend and hardly any kids turned up, that meant we were left with loads of egg mayo sandwiches and sausage rolls. I gave a load to other people to take but we still had a tray of each left.
I wanted to enjoy my sons 5th birthday party and I knew I would gain but I could handle that, I don't want to be so strict on myself that I rebound again like last time. Parties and food do happen and I don't see why I can't enjoy them and then just get on with it the next week. I didn't mess up the whole week but the weekend was pretty bad
So I faced the scales knowing I had gained and I was right. I had gained 2lbs. Not the end of the world and I knew I would get it off this week. It took me back to 2st 6.5lbs loss though.

As for this week, well I have been really good. I have made my own SW soups and they are in the freezer and I have made loads of new recipes from their new magazine too, I have swapped and changed all week and still had my evening Mars bar each day.
No exercise though, I am in my lazy head again and I don't want to do it! I will get there again eventually but I will focus on the food for the time being.

So at WI today I knew I deserved a good number on the scales but I don't expect it. If you have your hopes up and you don't get what you want it can mess your head up. I got there early today and stood outside 4 of us were chatting and they started saying I was shrinking and really changing shape, I got so embarrassed!
Jumped on the scales and let out a shriek of delight and clapped like a fool. I had lost 6.5lbs this week!!!! I haven't lost that in a week since the first week!!!

So my total now is 2st 13lbs. It is my 3 month joining SW anniversary today so even though I was aiming for 3 stone for it I will take 2st 13lbs and run!
I also got slimmer of the month again, I have had it every month since I joined now which is nice! I also won the raffle of 2 recipe books so lots more recipes for me to try this week!


Really happy today, nothing is going to get in my way of getting my 3 stone award next week! x

Well done, you are doing fab. I'm a little stuck at the min. Ate soooo much crap over my birthday in the beginning of August and can't seem to get my head in gear again. Everything you had said, is just like me. Good luck.xx

Well done, am subscribing here too

Sent from my iPhone using MiniMins

Thank you. So hard getting back into it once you slip sometimes isn't it. I am sure you can do it!
Kids went back to school today so change of routine is hard work but so far I have stuck to plan. Really want to lose 1lb Thursday so I can get my 3 stone! x