140lbs+ to lose - walking it off!

[Gamy]

That's some really good weight loss if you can see the results. Well done on keeping on track even whilst out. I'm currently finding that my downfall as everything looks so good!

 

[Estameme]

I shall check out that hair dye, thanks Susie.

Yvonne, I don't know what church street looked like before really! It all seems to look the same as it's always done to me! All I know is that they need some shops with big girl control pants pronto.

-----

Had a rough day. Can't really explain because it's very private for my daughter. Looking forward to head hitting the pillow as I've been awake since 2am.

Anxiety cancelled out all appetite today (I must have been stressed!) so my food for the day has been poor:

B - three bites of an apple
L - nothing
D - half a shop bought sandwich that was probably full of crap.
Water - 1.5l
Exercise - 2164 steps (1 mile)

seems like quite a few people have been through the mill today so consider yourself group hugged. Night all x

 

[mariavon]

I was referring to not many shops on church street , quite a few empty units, if you want something to eat your ok as there' loads of them to choose from,

 

[ladyfelsham]

Oh sweetie sorry there's been some upset, hope it is all resolved and you've had a chance to relax and unwind today xxxx

 

[Estameme]

I was referring to not many shops on church street , quite a few empty units, if you want something to eat your ok as there' loads of them to choose from,

Yeah very true, there is a lot of tempting places to eat on that street! I like Debenhams for a sit down cuppa. To be honest, I like sitting down anywhere really haha. I'm a bit of a people watcher.

 

[mariavon]

Yeah very true, there is a lot of tempting places to eat on that street! I like Debenhams for a sit down cuppa. To be honest, I like sitting down anywhere really haha. I'm a bit of a people watcher.

Can't beat a bit of people watching
I've never been in Debenhams to eat or drink,

 

[Estameme]

They do a build-your-own breakfast in there. Scrambled eggs, tomatoes, mushrooms, bacon etc. For two people with drinks it came to about £8/9 I think, which isn't too bad at all. And the seats are big and comfy, none of those stupid cubicles or bucket seats that I have to avoid. For instance I can't sit in the cafe on the second level of Houndshill because my arse is too big for the seats. Future Essie will do a victory dance when I can sit in those seats (but then I'll walk out without eating there)!

 

[mariavon]

They do a build-your-own breakfast in there. Scrambled eggs, tomatoes, mushrooms, bacon etc. For two people with drinks it came to about £8/9 I think, which isn't too bad at all. And the seats are big and comfy, none of those stupid cubicles or bucket seats that I have to avoid. For instance I can't sit in the cafe on the second level of Houndshill because my arse is too big for the seats. Future Essie will do a victory dance when I can sit in those seats (but then I'll walk out without eating there)!

Hey that's not bad at all ,
I've only been upstairs in hounds hill once and thought the prices were ridiculous never even sat down lol,
I will look out for you dancing round the center lol

 

[ladyfelsham]

Future Essie will do a victory dance when I can sit in those seats (but then I'll walk out without eating there)!

Woohoo I love it!!! :banana dancer:

 

[chezz]

lolol love it

 

[Estameme]

Hi all, Hope you're all ok
Made it through afternoon outing and meal which I've been panicking about. Happy that I went, pleased that it's done though. Managed to stay on track using my Times and Plans technique from 'Eating Less', and I found it very empowering.

I've had loads of NSVs this week but I'm saving them for weigh-in tomorrow.

Food:
Breakfast - Bran flakes & half a banana
L - Slice of wholemeal toast. (We were at a greasy spoon cafe and that was literally all that fit)
D - Quorn and black eyed bean curry, basmati rice with pomegranate seeds, cavello nero cabbage with Brussels and sweet potato bits. Approx 600 cals
Water - 2.5l
Exercise - 2.2 miles

 

[mariavon]

Hi Essie
Glad you've had a good day , good looks yummy,
Good luck for WI, looking forward to reading your NSV ,

 

[chezz]

hi est meals look lovely

 

[ladyfelsham]

Managed to stay on track using my Times and Plans technique from 'Eating Less', and I found it very empowering.

Sounds like a fab day! And what's this, hun? Be interested to hear more about it xxx

 

[Estameme]

Sounds like a fab day! And what's this, hun? Be interested to hear more about it xxx

Its a way to observe and overcome your addictive desire to eat. The author talks about the importance of understanding what triggers your addiction to overeat - how over time we have programmed our brains to expect food at unnecessary times or in unnecessary quantities - triggers could be driving, cooking, watching TV, etc etc.

She says that weight loss programs don't tend to tackle the addiction, in fact they encourage you to feed it with 'free foods' so that we don't ever feel deprived but by doing this essentially the desire to eat still gets sated. The downside is that you may someday swap these free foods for unhealthy foods, once the shine has gone off your healthy eating plan, because the addictive desire hasn't been controlled.

How she suggests we begin to retrain the neural pathways is firstly understanding what addictive desire feels like, and learn to not give in and feed it. The first technique is to have breakfast, a meal you know should fill you up until lunch, and then set a time for yourself, say 4/5hours ahead, and refuse to eat until then. If you begin clock watching, or do an activity that turns your mind to food you can almost guarantee that it's your addictive desire that wants feeding because you can't possibly be hungry. Sit with that feeling. Acknowledge that it's your addiction. You are not denying yourself by not feeding it, you are denying your addiction.
When the time comes that you set yourself to eat there is another strategy to implement which is called Plan. Before plating your food up you need to imagine in your head what a reasonable portion size is, one with sufficient calories if you know them, taking into account any activities you have planned between lunch and dinner. Then plate up that amount of food, eat and then stop. For some people (me) once I start eating I find it hard to stop, I binge, my addictive desire is triggered, I go back for seconds, eat the scraps etc. If you are still wanting to eat after you've consumed the healthy portion that your body NEEDS you know that this is your addictive desire kicking in. Again, observe it and don't give in. Set a new time for your next meal and repeat. Over-time this can reprogramme our habitual eating patterns, so that your brain won't send the signals that it's expecting more food that it really needs. I guess it's like behaviour managing a young child - You can tell a child no, but if you give in after saying no 20 times all the child hasn't learned is that he needs to ask 20 times and he gets what he wants.

A big trigger for me is eating at my mums house, eating food that she makes. She makes huge portions, all self serve with the left overs in the middle of the table and everything tastes so good, it's like an open invite to never stop eating. The Plan strategy worked amazingly. After I finished I could have easily filled up on very low calories foods, I had a bowl full of cabbage right in front of me, but when I almost felt my hand reach out for the ladel I said to myself 'oh that's my addiction that wants more, not me' and the desire went away! I was sat surrounded by food, everyone was eating and I didn't care. Pretty awesome. If I'd filled myself to bursting with cabbage I may not have consumed many calories but I've still fed my addiction.
It does take time to retrain the brain though, im expecting that I'll have to keep it up for a long time. But I don't feel like I'm denying myself of anything. It's massively empowering.
Sorry for the essay, I'm trying to condense a lot into a small space! She does say that sharing this info with friends and family isn't the best thing to do, but said its ok to share with weight loss groups. I highly recommend getting a copy of the book, I got mine second hand on Amazon.

 

[Estameme]

I've lost 4.5lbs this week. I'm 310lbs now - 2 more and I've lost 2 stone!
My NSVs this week have been -

Buying a top 2 sizes down.
My mum buying me some workout pants in an XL and being able to get them on.
My daughters reaction to seeing me for the first time in a month.
Attending and enjoying all social plans set for this week
Daughters commenting on how much faster I'm walking
Bra size going down and other bras fitting me much better
Feeling in control without being obsessed with food in between mealtimes
Running for ten mins
Managing to keep in control during very stressful moments when I know I would have previously turned to food
Skin looking clearer, face less puffy.
Losing inches (although I need to re-measure myself because I've lost the paper I wrote them down on)
Feel like I have more energy, and I feel calmer in general.

So so pleased with all of these.

 

[jules1981]

Well done on your loss and NSV too I cant wait for my bra size to go down xxx

 

[ladyfelsham]

Essie thank you so much for taking the time for your previous post, that's really interesting stuff - I will give it a go!

And woohoo on that fab loss sweetie - we are neck and neck

 

[Estameme]

Essie thank you so much for taking the time for your previous post, that's really interesting stuff - I will give it a go!

And woohoo on that fab loss sweetie - we are neck and neck

omg so we are! I hadn't realised that we were the same weight, observation is clearly not my strong point!

 

[mariavon]

Well done lovely ,
Brilliant loss , and great NSV's

The book sounds good certainly makes a lot of to me ,

Enjoy your day hun xxx