Exante Newbie - Top Tips! + Other Men?

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benjamin_

Member
Hi everyone,

So. With a plan to lose 3 stone I've ordered my first lot of Exante bits. A pick-your-own 28 day pack with discount and a free kickstart bundle (£141 all in). I went for a lot of variety (the spice of life and all that) with 8 spag bol, 4 chocolate orange bars, 10 toffee and raisin bars, 10 red bean chilli, 4 banana shake, 14 chocolate shake and go, 10 porridge, 4 tomato soup, 8 thai chicken soup, 4 vegetable soup, 4 mushroom soup and 4 apple and cinnamon porridge.

Just wanted to say Hi and ask 3 things:

First off, any hints of tips for any of those meals listed and/or generally? Things you've found that turbocharge your weight loss et.c. The starter includes a mousse mix and drink mix. Any experience of these?

Secondly, any men out there who can encourage me? The idea of a month of eating girl-sized portions is worrying me already if I'm honest.

Finally, (again particularly men) what exercise have you found works best? I'm pretty well muscled generally but wouldn't mind putting on some more. Do you go for weights? Cardio? Swimming? Any combination? Just don't ask me to run in public. I *hate* it.

Thanks everyone, Ben
 
Hi Ben, good luck on you weight loss journey! i was abit suspect about the meal sizes when i started too and feeling hungry but after the first two days i was in ketosis and my hunger pangs/cravings just disappeared, haven't really thought about food since to be honest.
As for exercise i tried a week doing some light cardio but found i get better results doing weights, also been doing some gardening recently and having to shift/dig alot of dirt which really feels like a good workout when your only getting 600cals a day, feels good though. I find after this i don't feel tired or exhausted but my body needs a sleep to rest, also trying to get in 2+ litres of water a day helps, the orange drink mix is ok.. less flavour but you get a sense of orange in your mouth lol.
For food though i just have 2 shakes and a bar a day now, usually get the handheld blender for shakes..
good luck again once your past first few days you'll be sailing, - all the best.
 
Hi Ben...


Firstly, good luck with your weight loss!

I'm not a man but I do have similar concerns. I did Cambridge before Exante and had a little rest between whilst training with a personal trainer as I had a goal to do mudrunner (which I did I might add ;) )

I found when doing vlcd before i had to be careful on what you do in exercise because for me, I lost very little weight when I was doing lots of weight training and cardio. I was doing HIIT (20 mins each day) on a bike and that worked and low weights but lots of reps was ok too but as soon as I did anymore than say three hours of exercise a week, my weight loss instantly stopped. Very disheartening. This time I'm planning on working with a kettle bell (12kg) sit ups, shoulder/chest presses and swings which will keep me toned as I normally work with a 24kg. I really don't want to lose the muscle I have built up over the last 6 months.

Regarding meals... You won't feel hungry after about day three when you are in ketosis. I think I'm probably already in ketosis now after two days and not feeling hungry at all.

Hope this has helped!
Hannah
X
 
Hi Sylar and Hannah, thanks for the advice.

On the exercise front I think I'll plan 4 30-minute sessions a week. 2 swimming and 2 doing light 20-30kg weights (i do love swimming).

So portion size is just a case of stick it through 4-5 days and you'll be fine? Well, I'd hope I have the willpower for that at least!

On the shakes I've got a fair amount of Maximuscle shakes too. If I took a multivitamin and subbed in these once and a while would you percieve any problems? They're similar calorie-wise (239 vs 200) but much higher protein and lower carbs and fat.

Thanks!
 
Hi Ben,

The shakes might make you come out of ketosis. I was going to do a bit more research about my protein shakes. I think you should try two weeks just exante then try a week with the other shakes added and see what that does (if anything) to your weight loss. I would be interested to see whether the extra protein makes a difference and the carb issue is worked out so precisely that it might take you out of ketosis.
 
Also, re portion size, I couldn't see anything on exante about plans for men. I know with Cambridge the 'man plan' and depending on height, they have four shakes instead of three but I did read that exante is always only three. If you have a lot of muscle (you would expect you metabolic rate to be high) then you could probably do the working solutions with a meal every day but look for the meals on the website which keep you in ketosis.
One thing... I cannot stress how important the water intake is. When I did it before I drank between 5-6 litres spread out over the day. It really makes a huge difference. The more you drink, the more go to the loo and the more glycogen you get rid of and when the glycogen is being replenished, you lose more weight. I tried weeks where I only drank 3/4 litres and my weight loss was noticeably different. I averaged 5/6 lbs per week but the 5 was due to the weeks I experimented.
 
So just had my first Exante meal (red bean chilli) and apart from feeling cheated that a lot of it stuck to the side of the bowl in the microwave it wasnt half as bad as I thought it was going to be.

Here we go....!
 
Glad it's nice! I ordered another 50 days worth yesterday and I'm planning on having a 'meal' tonight so I hope I like them.... I got spaghetti and shepherds pie too. Will let you know what they're like. I'm definitely in ketosis today : )
 
Spaghetti was good too. Added a few herbs and put some spinach with it. I cooked it in a saucepan though rather than microwave as I had read it was better to do so.
 
Just add the same amount of water and bring to boil and let simmer for about 7 mins or until its has thickened up a little. I added dried herbs (lots of) to give more flavour too. It was quite nice though.
 
Thanks Hannah. Sounds good.

I think I'm learning I prefer it with a bit more water too.

Had a v light day food-wise before starting and I'm pretty sure I'm in ketosis now. Not feeling hungry!!
 
I ordered the Irish cream coffee and its lovely!!

Just had the chilli... It's ok but I added more chilli because I thought it wouldn't be hot enough and it definitely was! Haha!
 
OK. So with a pinch of cayenne pepper I think I could live off the red bean chilli. YUM. Thai Chicken soup and Vegetable soup also get the thumbs up. Good times.
 
Glad you like them! They are ok buy the ones on Cambridge were nicer but this is half the price and I don't have to go and see anyone either. Maybe you cook it for longer or do you use more than 200ml for soup?
 
I haven't had a soup yet and also don't have any bought/stocked up. I used to use more than 200ml for Cambridge though and these seem to have more powder in them. Are you saying I'm fussy? ; )
 
Ha! No, of course not. Now I'm about to be fussy.

The porridge this morning was absolutely foul. Properly horrid. It didn't thicken up in the pan and then said to leave it to stand to thicken. Which I did and it then became like runny plasticine and tasted like it had been made with gone off milk. Urgh. Unfortunately I got 10 of those :(
 
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