Total Solution Fed up of the fat; Exante diet

ella78

Full Member
Hello.

I'm usually a blogger, but I'd promised myself is never do a weight loss blog, so I thought I'd do a diary on here instead.

I'm 35 and 18.5 stone.

I'm so annoyed with myself for letting myself get this fat AGAIN.

I've always been overweight, but until my mid twenties it was a couple of stone. I was usually a size 14-16.

Then, in 2006, something happened that basically destroyed my life. I turned to food as comfort and to build a protective wall of fat around me.

Within a year I had put on 7 stone and was 21+ stone and a size 26.

After a couple if years I started to feel more myself and tried to lose weight, but nothing worked. I went to my GP and knowing I had PCOS I had some tests and found out I was severely insulin resistant. They gave me medication and the weight just dropped off me. I lost 5.5 stone without trying. I ate normally, didn't do anything drastic at all.

Fast forward to 2011 and my past caught up with me. I became very depressed and was diagnosed with PTSD, relating to the trauma from 2006.
Again, I turned to food and stopped taking my medication.

So now I'm back at size 22 and am astounded every time I see a photo of myself. I don't look like me. My image if myself is not this gigantic woman that I've become.

I love food. I write a cooking blog, all recipes I've made up myself, and I disagree wholeheartedly with the old adage 'nothing tastes as good as thin feels'. Until now, eating something delicious has always been more important to be than being thinner, but something has to change.

I recently came back from holiday in a West Africa, and had vowed to go back to a low carb diet when I got back.

The night I got home, I saw a deal on ******* for Exante meal packs.

I'd never considered a VLCD before, but thought maybe it would be the kick start I need.
I live alone, and have literally just moved house, so there would be no cooking smells, no real food in the house to either throw away or get tempted by. I decided to do it.

So now I have 14 weeks of Exante packs and I'm starting tomorrow. I've prepared by eating only protein and non-starchy veg, as well as drinking more water than usual.

Hopefully I can succeed in getting enough weight off so that I can exercise more comfortably, and transition back to a 'diabetic' diet to do the remaining part of my weight loss.

I have 8 stone to lose, so I'm in it for the long haul.

I'll journal here and try not to just give up if I have a blip... Something I'm prone to do. I'm feeling very determined to change my relationship with food, though, and these little packets of dust might just be the thing I need to do it.

Ella
 
Hi Ella, welcome to the forum. Keeping a diary is a good way to hold yourself accountable & help you keep on track.

Lots of support here too & there are quite a few of us that are in it for the long haul.

You may start to experience some headaches & nausea but after the first 4-5 days is does get a little easier so come on here if you are struggling.

Drink plenty of fluid too as it can help with the headache but also helps to shift the weight. Good luck xx
 
Thanks Susie. I'm sure I'll be on here quite a bit. I'm not telling anyone about this diet, so will need somewhere to talk about it.

Luckily, I'm a big water fan and usually drink about 4 litres a day, so I'm hoping it'll help with the inevitable headaches and yuckiness of the first few days.
 
Sounds like you are well prepared Ella. Are they the bumper packs that you have ?
 
Yes. I bought a meals & bars bumper pack, a winter warmer bumper pack and also got a 6 weeks for £109 pack from a daily deal website. I've been having the odd product over the last couple of weeks just to try them out, and I can cope with most of it. I'm hoping switching from this week of Atkins style eating onto 100% packs will make the transition a bit easier.
I am well prepared, and have done a lot of research, I just need to set some mini goals... 8 stone is so overwhelming.

I'll weigh in tomorrow morning... Maybe I lost a bit during this low-carb week. Either way, I'm quite excited about starting properly.

How long have you been on VLCD?
 
Good luck you won't regret it.this diet gives you a better relationship with food,eating too much crap made me fat but now 4 stones lighter I crave fish,seafood and veg
 
Thanks Denise, and thanks for saying hi.

4 stone is a wonderful loss, well done. You must feel like a new woman.

In general I do make good food choices... It's the subconscious 'I need that to feel better' foods that trip me up. I'm hoping that this break from actual food will break me of my terrible, unconscious binging.

Do you find it easy to resist cravings now? How far away from your goal weight are you?
 
So, today is the first day of doing TS or TS+.

When I weighed last Monday, before I started my prep-week of Atkins style eating, I was 18.7 stone. I weighed just now and have dropped 8lbs, so am now 17.13 stone.

It's a positive way to start and will give me a psychological boost to get past the difficult bits.

Also, just tested and I'm already in ketosis, so I'm hoping it won't be too difficult to get into the swing of things.

I am going to have a bit of spinach with my evening meal, as the meal packs are too salty for me to eat in their own. Also, I tried the drink mix and find it entirely unpalatable, so will be having some sugar-free squash. The citric acid doesn't affect my ketosis, so I'm going to have a bit when I need it.

Have a great BH Monday x
 
Welcome Ella, I've just finished my first week without too many problems so will be posting on here too for several months. Good luck.
 
Thanks Cate. Well done on getting through the first week.

I've never done a VLCD before, so looking forward to some big losses.

I'm trying to hold off on taking my products for as long as possible, as I'm generally hungrier in the evenings, so I've already drunk 1.5 litres of water. I'm in ketosis already, so feeling quite dehydrated but water is helping stave off the hunger.
 
Halfway through day 1 and feeling okay. I've just had my first product, having had 3 litres of water to keep me going through the morning.

I've had the toffee caramel shake, but I added Beanies caramel coffee, more water, ice and a 25g scoop of high quality protein powder (96 cals, 20g protein, 1.5g carbs) and whizzed it n my NutriBullet.

I decided to add protein as I don't want to lose muscle tone whilst on this diet. I will be doing resistance exercises, but no cardio other than walking, and I want enough protein in my diet to feed my muscles... an added bonus is it will keep me fuller for longer!

Looking at the research into VLCDs, there appears to be very little difference between overall results in diets between 400-800 calories, so I've decided that even if an extra 100-150 calories a day makes me lose more slowly, I think it's worth it to keep my muscle tone.

I hope everyone is having a great bank holiday.


Start weight: 18.7
Prep week: 17.13 (-8lbs)
Week 1:
 
Hi Ella, I started Exante in January with a couple of unplanned mini breaks since then. I did LL about 5 years ago and lost 5st but due to my habit of loving chocolate it gradually crept back on. This time around was much harder to stick to plan though.

Its good that you have researched VLCD because at the end of the day we need to have a plan that suits each of us the best.

Hope today is going well x
 
Hi Susie,

I have read that a lot of people find it harder the second time around... Perhaps it's a subconscious thing, knowing you can lose the weight makes it easier to become complacent. I think that's what happened to me after I lost weight a few years ago.

I'm just going to take each day as it comes, and if I feel like I'm about to fall off the wagon, make planned adjustments to minimise the impact; I'm a project manager by trade, so have many contingency plans ready to implement if the BingeMonster creeps up on me.

Today is easier than I expected, I just feel a bit tired, but am not hungry or craving.

I do feel for people who love chocolate. The addiction to it is a very real thing... How unfair that something so naughty on the waistline releases the same hormones as being in love. I'm lucky as I hate chocolate and haven't had any for 20 years. Luckily, the chocolate shakes taste sufficiently non-chocolatey that I can cope with them if I whack a load of espresso in them.

I hope you've had a good day


Start weight: 18.7
Prep week: 17.13 (-8lbs)
Week 1:
 
I've just had my 2nd product of the day and feel really full!

I had the tomato & basil soup, but after seeing that most people hate it, I added LOADS of water and a teaspoon of Marigold, blended it, then heated it. It was perfectly fine. I managed to make it last an hour.

To keep myself busy I've been unpacking the few suitcases of clothes I have with me as I've just had my new wardrobes installed.

I only have size 20 and 22 here at the moment as the majority of my things are still in storage - there was a gap between leaving my last flat and moving in here, so I just had the bare minimum with me and was staying at my mum's for 4 months.

I'm so looking forward to being able to move down to size 20. Then 18. Then 16, 14, 12...
I was going to sell my bigger clothes as soon as I grow out if them, but I really love my dresses and they are all so expensive so I think I'll just put them away and then try to get them altered once I get to my target size. I have, however, just thrown out my winter coat. I've had it for 2 years and it has become a bit tatty (as wool does when you live in London and refuse to use umbrellas) so didn't want to give it to charity, but I'm determined not to spend another winter at this size, so I've chucked it on the clothes recycling pile.

I know this might seem a little premature, given that this is only day 1, but I'm really determined to do this...
Last time I was this determined was 2 years ago when I decided to stop drinking - I wasn't doing it responsibly or healthily- and I haven't drunk in England since (I allow myself alcohol when on holiday).

I'm prepared for this to be harder than giving up booze. With that I just pretended it didn't exist. I can't pretend food doesn't exist, but I can train myself to ignore food as a pleasurable experience and just regard it as fuel. It might take a while but I think this diet will be the one that works for me.

I've been dipping into lots of VLCD diaries over the last couple of days, and there are so many inspirational stories. I want to be one of those.

I'm not setting myself up for a fall, I know there will be bumps in the road and I'm not putting any pressure in myself, but I've felt a change in me since I came back from holiday and I really WANT to do this now. Not just feel like I SHOULD do it. My internal voice has changed from 'I want to lose weight' to 'I want to do a VLCD, retrain my behaviour around food, reach a healthy BMI, be able to run 5k without my knees and back and lungs bursting with agony'. I'm ready for the process, not just the result.

Oops... I didn't mean to go on that much. It's the blogger in me. Often I don't even realise I feel a certain way until I see myself typing it.

Have a good evening x



Start weight: 18.7
Prep week: 17.13 (-8lbs)
Week 1:
 
Well, the turkey dinner is disgusting! One mouthful and I knew I couldn't eat any more.

I hate the crispy bars too, weird, powdery texture, like gluten free bread products.

With the bars I have crumbled them up and left them to dry, like crunchy granola, and I'm having a bar's worth of 'granola' with some soya milk (just soya beans and water, no sweeteners/apple juice etc) instead.

For the first time today I suddenly got ravenous and was so tempted to just run over to Tesco for an egg mayo sandwich. Thankfully I managed to keep control, even after the vile that is the turkey dinner.

I've seen that some people make sort of stuffing balls out of those packs... I might give that a go. Have any of you done that? I suppose you just mix to a paste, roll into balls and bake until browned? If any if you do know, please let me know. Otherwise, I'll just improvise.


Start weight: 18.7
Prep week: 17.13 (-8lbs)
Week 1:
 
Hi Ella, here to subscribe to your diary.

Ive never tried cooking any of the Exante packs, I just have them as they come.

You're doing really well so far, stick with it and the weight will soon be falling off you :)
 
Hi Ella, here to subscribe to your diary.

Ive never tried cooking any of the Exante packs, I just have them as they come.

You're doing really well so far, stick with it and the weight will soon be falling off you :)

Hi Katie. Thanks for dropping by.

I think I'm going to be experimenting quite a lot to make some of it edible.

I think I subscribed to your diary this afternoon. I look forward to supporting each other.


Start weight: 18.7
Prep week: 17.13 (-8lbs)
Week 1:
 
Hi Ella. Just popping in to subscribe.
 
Morning.

I had a bit of a tough night, not falling asleep until after 5am.
It usally happens if I haven't eaten much.

I just lay on my bed, watching Netflix and dreaming about food.

I think I need some more sleep before I can face the day.




Start weight: 18.7
Prep week: 17.13 (-8lbs)
Week 1:
 
Sorry you had a rubbish night but well done on resisting the urge to rush to Tesco's for an egg mayo sandwich! I haven't tried the turkey dinner but have tried the chilli pack. It tasted OK but didn't look in the least bit appetizing. I also have the shepherd's pie and the spag bol to try and lots of people seem to really like these so fingers crossed. Hope your day goes well.
 
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